LakesideChick

Hi everyone

I am in the early stages of planning a trip to the USA and am concentrating on our Vegas leg! We will be away for around 6 weeks altogether, and plan to do a Honolulu stopover, and see National parks like Yellowstone... and go to San Francisco.

How long should we allow for Vegas? We are keen to go to a few shows, do some shopping, wander the strip and play some poker! We plan to go to see the Canyon as well but will go there for a couple of days, not as a day trip from Vegas.

Any other Vegas recommendations / tips appreciated!

Cathy

abram

We liked: Hoover Dam, Lincoln County Heritage Museum, Atomic Testing M<useum, Imperial Palace Car Collection, Red Rock Canyon, Liberace Museum, Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay, seeing the lions fed at MGM Grand, Dolphin Habitat at Mirage, cheesy fountain show at Caesar's, seeing the Bellagio fountain show from the Eiffel Tower, Freemont Street Experience, Springs Preserve, backstage tour of Jubilee at Bally's. And, of course, just wandering through the hotels

We didn't have time to hike the Valley of Fire, and since we were there in mid-December, many things were closed for renovation. We spent five days there, and one more would have been ideal.

LakesideChick

Thank you!! I am really excited about going. Did you go to any of the National Parks?

emalloy

In addition to what abram said, You could do Valley of Fire as a day trip from Vegas. I would want to take a couple of days and go to Zion NP(3 hours drive from Vegas) and Bryce NP (an hour and a half from Zion) and loop around, stopping at Grand Canyon. Depending on when you would be there, after Bryce, you could stop at the North Rim, go on to Page, visit, Antelope Canyon, take a smooth water raft trip on the Colorado River from Glen Canyon Dam to Lee's ferry, go for a ride on Lake Powell, then loop around to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon .

If you plan on doing more than a couple NP's it will be worth your while to get a park pass at the first one. These let all in your car into all parks for a year for free.

LakesideChick

We are planning on spending quite a bit of time in National Parks so thanks for the tip! How many days would you allow for Zion and Bryce? We are avid photographers and enjoy (shortish!) hikes as well. The smooth water raft trip sounds great!

emalloy

Depending on how much hiking you would be doing, you would want to spend at least a full day and a night in Zion and also in Bryce and Grand Canyon. I prefer to stay in the parks so I am there at sunset and sunrise and get the views in the light at different times of day, without having to drive to get there. We've stayed at all three and if you call and they say they are full, take the numbers and call back as cancellations happen all the time and they don't always show up on the web.

If you would like to see a few pictures of trips we've taken in the area go to www.flickr.com/photos/emalloy2009/sets in the 2008 and 2009 sets.

Have a great time planning and taking your trip.