fiona

Have opted for the Platinum hotel. I am now working out what to do in our 5 days. Casinos are out( but will probably have a go at a slot machine!) I have too many options for shows But what I am really stuck over is- Grand Canyon or not? At the moment I am assuming that we will only be in Vegas once. But I don't want an overnight somewhere else and have been reading that you should go to the south rim rather than the west rim.
What I did really like the look of was
http://www.papillon.com/popris/show_...261&lang=en-US
Papillion Indian Adventure with Skywalk.
Has anyone here done this? Is the West rim really not nearly as good as the South rim?
One further thing- has anyone here used the hop on/off bus? Is it worth doing?

kingalien

See if any of these might help.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/las-v...ns-thread.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/las-v...im-3-days.html

fiona

thanks- it was useful. I have another company to investigate

DMark

I am sure those other threads will have more info, but briefly:

Grand Canyon is about 300 miles from Las Vegas, so a bit of a schlep for a single round trip in one day. South Rim is more popular - more overlooks and touristy things.

You might want to consider www.thetrain.com as a place to stay a night and then take a train to the rim.

Should you rent a car and drive, there are other sites to see along the way - the Hoover Dam, maybe Oatman - a ghost town, not far from the town of Laughlin which is a little town with lots of (inexpensive) casinos on the Colorado River.

Still, with only 5 days in Las Vegas, even as non-gamblers, you won't be bored here. Lots of shows, restaurants, buffets, shopping, quirky museums, people watching...most people I know that come to Las Vegas for the first time come armed with a list of "must do's". About 99% go home with that same list under their arm, with plans to do them "next time". It is amazing how time flies while you are here.

Have fun! Wear comfortable shoes!

fiona

The list! I've done that in several places! I learned early on, you can't do everything in one visit, without ending up absolutely exhausted back at work!
Thanks, that is almost reassuring.
Grand Canyon- we wont be hiring a car so will have to go on an organised excursion of some kind. I wonder if anyone goes to LV for their one and only trip and doesn't make it to the Grand Canyon?

DMark

Once you get here and get to your hotel room, you will find at least one, if not more, free magazines telling you what is going on in Vegas - one is cleverly titled "What's On". Those magazines are chock full of ads, and you will find a lot of companies that specialize in these trips - bus tours, helicopter rides and plane rides to the Grand Canyon. Obviously the bus is cheaper, but the helicopter and plane rides are not outrageous, just a bit pricey. You can book those trips the same day, or for the next day or whenever. Usually, they will even send a bus to pick you up at your hotel (at some ungodly hour in the morning.)
This is how most tourists get to the Grand Canyon.

That said:
I know I will be slammed by many people, but the Grand Canyon is really beautiful and awe inspiring for, uh, about 10 - 15 minutes. Granted, taking a mule trip down, or helicoptering down inside near the river would make it a bit more fun, but just standing at the rim looking? Well, at least for me, it was about as thrilling as watching paint dry. Basically, you are looking down at a huge hole.
One story - I had two German women visitors who were dying to go to the Grand Canyon - so I called around and with amazing luck, found them a great little motel that is normally booked a year in advance. The two Germans drove and drove and drove and finally they saw that the motel was only 1 mile away. They were about in tears - they felt cheated that it was not close enough to the Grand Canyon and even said so to the woman at the check in desk. She looked at them in surprise and said, "The Grand Canyon is only about 100 feet from here! Right out the door to the left!"
Sure enough, there it was - but the women had always assumed they would be driving IN the canyon and looking up - it never dawned on them they would be at the top and looking DOWN. (P.S. - this is why it is called a Canyon.)

So - while it certainly is one of nature's great wonders, and quite pretty to see, 300 miles (600 round trip) is a long way to drive to see it. Unless you plan on doing something else while you are there, it is pretty much a half hour photo op, tops. Thus, if you can spring for it, I would take a helicopter tour, or plane tour, and get a bird's eye view, get those photos, and be back at the hotel in time for the dinner buffet. Just my humble opinion.

Gregory Nelson

Well, there ARE canyons where you can easily drive to and/or lodge at the bottom - Palo Duro Canyon, the (distant) #2 canyon in the USA, is a prime example.

But you make an excellent point. A canyon is far more awe-inspiring at the bottom looking up. At the top looking down? You're going to do a Clark Griswold and then want to be on your way.

Top line - unless you're going to do the mule trip, helicopter ride, boat journey, or SOMETHING to get you INTO the canyon, it's not worth the time and trouble. The skywalk, in particular, rates high on the tourist trap ripoff scale. Besides, your flight into LAS may very well give you a nice overhead view. Tick the box and move on.

fiona

Thanks both for the advice. It certainly makes a difference. I have been looking at trips- some of about 4 hours and some 6 and a half. Also looking at the skywalk. Now I'll just go for the one that takes you into the canyon. There and back by lunchtime.

lands

I don't agree with the 5 minutes and it's boring remark, or that you have to go down inside to appreciate it. BUT, I also would consider either staying overnight or taking the copter ride early and making a day of it. It's an amazing place (if you enjoy nature and just being in the middle of it).

Good luck

cogitate

Really the best thing is to do a one-day Scenic Airlines round-trip to the South Rim. They will pick you up at your hotel early in the morning, take you to their airport right next to LAS McCarran airport, fly you to the South Rim with phenomenal views during the flight. The plane will have floor-to-ceiling windows giving you an unobstructed view. They will give you commentary during the flight. At the South Rim you will get lunch and a couple of hours to roam around. The scenery will be breathtaking. They will fly you back to Las Vegas and drive you back to your hotel in time for dinner.

For details, see http://www.scenic.com/scenic/show_pa...267&lang=en-US

fiona

Sorry for not responding sooner( hopefully email notifications will be up an running again soon). I'm beginning to think that with only 5 days in Vegas we should just concentrate on there. If we need a full day then perhaps its for another time. I appreciate that south rim is best. I'm not usually this indecisive.
I plan all of our holidays and can happily sort out everything for multi destinations so I am not sure why its so difficult for me to sort out what to do in LV

The _Banking_Scot

Hi,

Red Rock Canyon is a beautiful place to visit and you can get there in about 30 minutes from the strip ( or you can take a half day tour)

The Valley of Fire is about 90minutes from the strip and is well worth a vist with a scenic drive amongst all the beautiful rocks with different coloured strata ( layers). There are tours going there but it does take most of the day so with only 5 days I might leave it for another time.

Enjoy Las Vegas.

Regards

TBS

Triker

I see you're from Scotland, be ready for the jetlag or rather being bright eyed and bushy tailed at ...erm...about 3am However as Vegas is a 24 hour town it'll be no issue to have a wander, grab some food and just people watch.

We did the Papillion tour, a small plane from Boulder City then a helicopter...sadly the whole experience was wasted on me as I had developed a crushing and irrational vertigo issue so spent the day terrified, staring mainly at the back of the respective pilots heads....oh and praying.

However the bits I did see, of the Canyon, were beyond spectacular, I would recommend though I'd do the visit day 4, when you've got used to the time difference a bit.

Heartily agree, Red Rock and Valley of Fire are well worth a visit, Bryce Canyon is still on our list of things to do, Death Valley is doable if you hire a car, atmospheric and prehistoric, again an amazing place to experience.

Vegas is so much more than the casino's, it's just fantastic and we love it, we keep going back, 2 weeks last year and we still didn't get to do a third of what was on our vague 'we must get round to doing/seeing this' list.

My top tips...comfortable shoes are essential, maybe some lip balm, it's very dry heat, see what's on whilst your there by having a looksy here http://www.accessvegas.com/#

Head also downtown to Fremont Street for the light show, its worth a looksy.

Enjoy Vegas...it's just fantastic.^

fiona

Thanks both. Believe it or not- I have labyrinthitus which means I also struggle with heights. But I've just come back from Siem Reap where I managed to climb the temples, something I wasn't at all certain I would succeed in. So a helicopter is a bit of a gamble. But then its not me having to move.
I have had someone else mention Red Rock and Valley of Fire but haven't researched these yet. No-one else I know has mentioned these so I wasn't sure if these were suggestions for those who have been several times to Vegas and wanted somewhere else to see, or if they are "must sees" for first timers.
Shows- the more I look, the more I want to see
As for being wide awake into the early hours, have to say am usually the exact opposite! Have to force myself to stay up( but then, to be fair, wake up at 5am unable to get back to sleep)
We are there in October so hoping it makes all the trailing about a bit easier.