Hi everyone,
I am trying to plan a surprise long weeked to Las Vegas for my husband's birthday in April. We wouldn't be going in April, more like the end of June or maybe even Oct.

We are coming from Boston -- is three nights enough to get a quick taste of Vegas? We will just want to lay by the pool a bit, take in a show, walk around and enjoy all the hotels, and gamble a little. Should I extend to 4 nights, or will 3 give what we are looking fo? I am nervous to do four only because of my husband's vacation time -- obviously he won't know about it advance!

3 nights is enough.

We just got back from 4 nights in Vegas, including 1/2 day to Hoover Dam. If we go again, which we probably will, definitely only for 3 nights. We didn't begin to see everything that we wanted to see. But still, at the end of the trip we were sooooo ready to go home. We had a blast, and we'll just have to plan another trip in the future to see more stuff that we missed this time around. If you add a 4th day you may find it to be too much since Vegas is so full of stimulation.

Thanks for the replies.

I guess 3 nights just seems short to me, coming all the way from Boston, which would most likely mean a late flight in and an early flight out...leaving really only 2 full days to hang around and sightsee.

But I see your point on the overstimulation, too, I have heard that from friends who have been.

I did the birthday surprise trip last year as well...it went over beautifully!!!We stayed 3 nights last April and wished we had one more night.Its a bit over a 3 hour flight for us and I just wished we had had one more day.In fact we are going back in May and staying 4...have fun!

Thanks, jlm! Took your advice and booked plane tickets for 3 nights at the end of June...My husband's birthday is in April, so I don't know how I am going to wait 2 months to tell him Now I have to pick the hotel!

Capri -- did you post a trip report after you returned?

I was going to post suggesting that you try to get a red-eye flight home if that would work with your schedule, but it's too late.

Still, we went from Michigan so not much longer flight from Boston. If anything, it will leave you wanting more, but not sick of it!

What hotel budget are you thinking? My best advice is to sign up for email offers from any hotels that interest you and make a cancellable reservation somewhere, then keep changing if better deals come in by email. There's a lot of good vegas info here, and even more at www.lasvegasadvisor.com (which has a free vegas forum).

No, I didnt post one...although it was a great trip and I should have.We stayed at the Mirage primarily because it is in a great location, the pool is awesome and I always do well with their slots.The pool is really so much fun and the atmophere at the Mirage is nice without being stuffy.You will probably be fine with 3 nights(esp. in June)..just try and make sure you do well with flight scheduling.

We always go for three nights - it's long enough.

But what about all the wonderful drives you can do from Vegas? Red Rock Canyon and Valley of Fire State Park have wonderful scenery and walks, and are so different from the East. Mount Charleston for snow, even skiing - I could stay there a week!

I typically go for 5 nights, get in early and leave late. I am in Washington, DC so the long flight aspect will be similar.
I have never run out of things to do, but I also go with a few events planned. For a long weekend, I'll have a show or concert that I am going to see. For a week, I'll have 2 or 3 shows lined up. I took my girlfriend to Vegas for the first time last year. We ended up taking 4 trips and spending 18 days there. On 3 of those trips we landed in Vegas by 10am. On 2 of the trips we caught the red-eye back. It maximized our time in Vegas which was good, but on the last trip I had to head straight from the airport in to work. I'm never doing that again. I even had enough winnings to upgrade to First Class, but it didn't help. Now my standard pattern is to get in to Vegas around 10am and depart around 4pm.
Even with all of those trips, I haven’t had a chance to show her everything in Vegas and there are still things that I haven’t seen.
Your 3 day trip should be a good whirlwind tour. There is a lot you won’t be able to get to, but there is a lot of fun stuff you can do.
I’d be happy to make some suggestions of things to do if you let me know what some of your interests are.

Have Fun,
Mark

Depends on your age. At 25, I could probably handle the late nights, the smoke, and the booze for at least 5 nights. At 39, with job and family responsibilities, I'm shot for a good two days after I've been in Vegas for 3 nights.

I guess it really depends on how much sleep you think you can get by with and still function once returning to Boston.

NEVER! But if that's all ya got, go!

Hi.

It sounds like this will be your first trip to Vegas. For that reason, I'm posting a trip report from the first time I took my girlfriend to Vegas. It is a LONG narrative and includes things you probably won't be interested in, but I think the details will be more useful in this case than a cut and dried report.

January 2004:
We took Friday off and made a long weekend specifically to go to Las Vegas to see David Bowie at the Joint at the Hard Rock. This was Michelle's (my girlfriend) first trip to Vegas. We left DC at 8am and got to Vegas a little after 10am on Friday. We picked up a rental Mustang Convertible and immediately headed to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway to see the Shelby Museum. It was closed. The only info we could get was that it was closed while they were moving. The people at the Motor Speedway Gift Shop didn’t have any more useful info either. I did a massive search for info on the web after the trip and couldn’t find info on it anywhere. Even contacting the Shelby company via their website got no response. It was like the museum never existed.
We did take advantage of where we were and took a picture of the Mustang in front of the LV Motor Speedway sign. We headed back to the Strip to search for lunch. I parked at NY-NY. After a little wandering, we went to Nine Fine Irishmen. The food was good and the beer helped our spirits After lunch, we cruised the Strip with the top down and headed to the Stratosphere to check in. The line was short. We got to our room and were able to collapse for a moment. The room was nice for a basic room. There was an entryway/sitting area and the bed was in a separate room (with a doorway, but no door). Soon, the bell desk called and brought up the flowers that I had ordered. It was a beautiful bouquet with stargazers and lavender. It made the room smell nice for the entire 3 days. I had ordered them for Michelle to celebrate her first trip to Vegas.
Michelle took a nap and I headed down to the blackjack tables. I played for a little over and hour and walked away with $200. We got a little more rest, cleaned up and headed over to the Hard Rock for the show. Both of us were a little tired from traveling, but it was hitting Michelle really hard. The sensory overload of Las Vegas wasn't helping her either. We got to The Joint as they were opening the doors. We had general admission standing room tickets, so we went in. I was ready for a show, but I could see that Michelle wasn't feeling great and a night of standing wasn't going to help. We got our hands stamped and headed out to sit for a while. She played some slots to pass the time. We were right in front of The Joint, so we could hear Macy Gray (the opening act) and even see her from time to time. We went back in at the act break. We eventually worked our way down fairly close to the stage, along the house left wall. It was a great vantage point. Our location and Bowie's performance were great. The audience was horrid. Horrid. They were drunk, noisy and obnoxious. I’m a big David Bowie fan and I had been following the set lists from previous shows. When he got to the usual pre-encore break, he didn’t stop. He cut a few songs from the set, played straight into the encore songs and called it a night. He wasn’t happy with the audience either.
When we got back to the Stratosphere we got dinner at the diner. It was good and simple. We both felt a bit better after that.
Saturday morning I got up early and went down to play for a while. I can’t sleep for very long in Vegas. I just can’t. I can feel the shift from neon back to sunlight and I wake up. My traveling companions have always been ready to sleep for 12 hours. I played blackjack for a while and ended up $50 ahead.
We did a bit if a whirlwind tour on Saturday. We missed a lot of things that I view as crucial Vegas attractions, but were able to see the Botanical Garden at the Bellagio, the Lion Habitat at MGM, M&M World (we are Mark & Michelle …), Desert Passage shops including the rainstorm. We went to the Luxor Buffet for a late lunch. It was exactly what we needed. It has become a standard part of our trips since then. Michelle loves the cottage cheese there. I like the overall quality and selection. The price is right, too. We drove back to the hotel as the sun was fading and the casino lights were taking over. We caught a glimpse of a lit Fountain Show at the Bellagio and the end of the Volcano eruption at the Mirage. We rested a bit more and decided to check out the Stratosphere. We got a drink at one of the lounges. It was OK, but nothing fancy. We found ourselves back at the diner. It was convenient and served the purpose. We soon called it a night.
Sunday morning I got up early, played a little with the matchplays we got at check-in (losing each time I used one) and tried to find out what my comp balance was and if I could get any of it put towards our bill. I knew it wouldn’t be much, but it was worth pursuing. The pit boss said I had to go to the Ultimate Rewards desk. It was closed and wouldn’t be opening until after checkout time. Grrrrr. This experience and the long delays with valet parking left a bad taste in my mouth. The rest of the service and accommodations at the Strat were OK, but not good enough to overcome the bad things.
After we checked out, we headed to the Hard Rock to pick up some souvenirs and have breakfast before catching our flight home. Even though Michelle didn’t feel well for part of the trip, she was still happy with what we were able to do and see. Trying to pack so many things into 3 days was a bit overwhelming. I’m glad that we had been able to go to Atlantic City before this trip so she could get an idea of the sensory overload possible in a casino. I was disappointed that we had missed a number of things that I viewed as Vegas Must Sees. Within a month I started planning our September trip …

Wow, thanks everyone!

I booked plane tickets and we are going for 3 nights in June, can't wait! I think it will be a good first taste, but I'm sure we'll return again if we have fun

I guess it's too late but no...3 nights is not enough if a good portion of it is taken up traveling.

Have fun!

I personally wouldn't wait the two months to tell him. Half of the fun is the anticipation and if you can't share it with him he'll miss out on that part. Perhaps thats just my rationalization for not being able to keep that kind of secret.

amwosu: It's defintely going to be hard to keep it a secret for 2 months, but his birthday is in April, and we're not going until June, so he'll still have 2 months of anticipation! Hopefully I can keep quiet for the next 2 months!

I just saw on ABC that Barry Mantilow has a new show there!!!

FYI. transportation... The new monorail is open but $10 day and the Vegas Strip city bus has a 24hr. pass for $5. Try Vegas.com for info. The dots on the maps for hotels are much farther apart than they look.
Just came back this am...