Things to do in Vegas
 

Planning a family trip to Vegas in November. Have never been there before and am have made a reservation at the Rio. What is this hotel like? Looking for as much information on things not to miss, best buffets to eat at, etc? Thank you for your help!!

Hi there. If you are travelling with a family, I would not stay at Rio. It is well off the strip and requires a car/cab to get anywhere. It is very geared to young (barely legal) partiers - think Spring Break. Have you checked out Mirage or Monte Carlo or even Caesars or Aladdin? What is your price range? How many/old are the kids?

My parents are in there upper 40's and 3 are in there 20's. Are much are the cab fairs there? Doesn't sound like the Rio is the place to stay for us. I would like to stay on the strip to where everything is.

Check out www.lvmonorail.com. It's the website for the new monorail in Vegas. The map shows you what hotels it stops by - you'll be able to get around to lots of sites for a lot less than cab if you stay near one of the stops. Cabs aren't cheap in Vegas.

cdo

The Rio actually has a free shuttle to the strip but I still would not recommend it for a first timer.

6470 had some good ideas..especially Monte Carlo. It would be helpful to know what is important to you and your price range. NYNY is good fun, try the dueling Piano Bar. Harrahs has an outdoor party area with live music plus an indoor dueling piano bar. Flamingo has a newish Margaritaville which looks great.

Visit the Paris (maybe even stay there) and go up the Eiffel Tower (try the buffet) and of course the Bellagio fountains plus the indoor flower garden are must sees.

the shuttle runs frequently from the rio but i personally would not like having to rely on a shuttle or cab to get to the strip. the flamingo or bally's are great hotels for location. i think november is a big convention month...you might want to book soon.

Type in hotel name.com and check specials, or call hotel direct. Monte Carlo, TI are good choices.

www.vegas.com is another useful website, operated by the LV tourist board.

try www.cheapovegas.com

If I were to bring a family, I'd probably stay at Ceasars. There is a lot to do there and it has a mall. Great location. We just got back from the Flamingo, and I'd recommend that as well. Lots of families there, across the street from Ceasars.

My best bit of advice - if you do get a Ceasars property (also Bally's, Flamingo, and Paris) Make sure to check in at the aiport. You'll be so glad you did! Saves a ton of time.

Austin, I have a question about the airport check in for hotels. How accomodating are they in being able to give "a room with a good view" or even an upgrade? I've asked this before when checking in at a hotel, but I wasn't sure if the airport checker-inners have the same pull.

They use the same system at the aiport .....I got upgraded last month when the lady noticed it was my bday on my DL. Its definitely worth it to check in at airport, no lines vs a long line at the hotel. Its great to just be able to go right to your room.

Treasure Island is offering some good rates right now. I just had an email ad from them for $69 a night. I'm sure the others will have similiar rates. Call around or check out the hotel websites. I agree the strip would be better. What kind of buffet? Las Vegas has some really good ones. How much are you planning to spend?

when you arrive, FIRST go see how the lines are for checking in--sometimes they are worse than the atlanta security lines. if so, either leave your bags with the bellman, or don't even bother taking them out of your car. we just returned from the luxor, and it was easy to change into swimming suits (shorts and tops over them)and then hit the pool. casual dining--mickey d's and the like--is available in the indoor 'food court', as well as the buffet, or you can enjoy 'adult beverages' out by the pool. and, rates are MUCH LESS monday through thursday nights. enjoy!

Austin: Is there any way to get a cheaper room at Caesar's than by going to their website? $500 for Sunday night is a bit out of my range. Any possibility of getting Caesar's on Priceline or Hotwire?

Having recently stayed at Caesar's, I would not recommend it for a family. The pool, while it is huge, is not kid-friendly. It doesn't have the waterfalls, slides, lazy river, or wave pools like other Strip hotels' pools. And, there is a topless bathing area, which is not family-friendly. The hotel itself has NOTHING to amuse kids like the other hotels' white tigers, dolphins, lions, shark reefs, Mardi Gras floats, etc. (It does have a mall, but even that is more adult-oriented with very upscale stores.) The Caesar's casino is great for adults, but that's really the only draw.

Honestly, for a family, I would choose Mirage or Flamingo. These are MUCH more fmaily-friendly, and still have the great center-strip locations.

For more hotel info, check out www.cheapovegas.com

Try hotwire.com. They have great package deals. We are going in mid october and got air, car rental and four nights at the Bellagio for 1500. We thought that was a great deal.
Good luck
Marykc

That is a great deal Marykc! I'm gonna have to check it out! Bellagio is great.

dwoodliff,
It's tough to get a cheaper rate at Caesars. I've never seen them come up on Priceline and they guarantee that their website is the cheapest rate you'll get. They do get very pricey on certain days.

cdo, if you are staying at the Rio you should check out their seafood buffet. Also, they have a free show--I think it's called "Mardi Gras in the Sky"--that is fun and our 20 year olds loved it.

At Caesar's, there is a game room downstairs that the kids can go to. At the mall, there are a couple of rides (one was Race for Atlantis) that our kids enjoyed. We all really liked the mall at the time, but last time I was there it seemed that they had taken out some shops & restaurants that we enjoyed. FAO Schwartz is still there, though.

If you have never gambled before: Check with your hotel on free gambling lessons. Most big hotels offer this service. It's always best to learn how to drive before you take the car out!

If you re-read the original poster's posts, it does not appear that they are traveling with children so the comments about Caesar's not being kid-friendly, while accurate, are not relevant here. That being said, there must be something going on at the hotel if you are getting room quotes for $500. That's way too much to spend at any of the Las Vegas hotels.

tom42: First, I apologize to the OP for injecting my question into this thread.

Second, I already have tickets to the Elton John show at Caesar's for a particular date (a Sunday). It was only on this one day that the room rate was $500. Just my bad luck. Guess we'll stay somewhere else.

Looks like Rio is not getting many good reviews. Why, what kind of hotel is it? A few people suggested staying at Flamingo, what are your thoughts on that hotel??

Rainbow - We checked in at the airport for the Flamingo and asked for - and recieved - a renovated room with a view. Shouldn't be a problem at all if they have one.

CDO - The Flamingo is family friendly. It's across the street from Ceasars. It's reasonably priced and has a great pool, decent buffet, medium sized casino, etc. There are some shows there - Gladys Knight, Second City Comedy, and another one or two I can't remember. It's right in the middle of the strip and a stop on the Monorail. Can't go wrong there! I highly reccommend it.

CDO: I'm afraid some of us misunderstood your "family trip"! Now that I read your 2nd comment I can see that everyone in your group is over the legal age of 21. In which case Rio is most likely ok. My husband and I prefer the luxury of some of the newer strip hotels but wouldn't turn Rio down if we had to miss a chance of visiting Vegas! We were at Rio a few months ago for the Penn & Teller show and the Casino seemed nice enough. Also, Rio has a very nice shuttle bus that we took after the show. I think it dropped us at Harrahs. Anyway it was some place kinda center strip and we only had to walk a few blocks to our hotel.

By the way yopu asked about buffets and no one ever mentioned the Luxor that I can remember but we had free coupons and ate there in April and it was very good. We enjoyed it as much as the Spice Market at Aladdin, which was much more expensive by the way.
Have a great time!

We were just in vegas. Drive time from the venetian, to Mandalay Bay is approx. the same drive time from the Rio. The Rio, is not far from the strip at all.
Have fun.

I have been to Vegas more than 10 times and have stayed at different hotels each time (over 20 years, I might say). We went to the Rio Suites for the first time last March. I would absolutely recommend Rio Suites because of the size of the rooms and their impeccable service and reasonable rates. Your family is old enough to appreciate all of the fun things going on at the Rio. Using the shuttle worked fine for us and we never waited more than 10 minutes to be picked up. We could have easily walked from the strip to the Rio Suites, but we had done so much walking during the day (from Stratosphere to Luxor) that we needed a break. The buffet at Excalibur is fabulous. There is also a Cheesecake Factory in Caesar's that's always good. Don't miss fat Elvis at the Imperial house (I think). NYNY roller coaster is fun as is all of the free shows at night. Oh, the pools at the Rio Suites are great, too. If you can swing it financially, tho, stay at Mandalay Bay. They have sand and waves in their pool area. The vodka bar and shark viewing is great, too. We are planning to go back to Vegas in the spring and will stay at the Rio again.

There is nothing wrong with the Rio. The rooms are quite large and pretty nice, although not in the same league with the Venetian, Bellagio or Caesar's Palace. Rio also has some very good restaurants and decent nightlife. I could do without the Masquerade in the Sky show but people seem to like it. The only drawback for first time visitors is that it is not on the strip. For me that's not a problem because I don't walk from one hotel to another anymore. However, if you plan on doing that, the Rio's location makes it somewhat less convenient than say, the Mirage or Monte Carlo or Harrah's, and others.

Start by checking the rates available at some of the hotels. November has big conventions and some hotels are already sold-out or overpriced. This will limit your choices right off the bat.