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Age Considerations

You must be 21 to enter a casino, gamble at a casino or drink alcoholic beverages in any Nevada casino. Children accompanied by adults are allowed to walk through a casino on their way to various non-gambling activities.  Children are not allowed to wander off the walkways connecting the elevators, restaurants, pools, activities and hotel exits.  Children are not allowed to loiter in casinos or wait for parents who are gambling.

Children, of course, are welcome at hotel swimming pools and many hotels provide areas with video game arcades and other activities geared towards younger kids.

What seasons are the best for visiting?

In the past few years, seasonality has all but disappeared from the tourist migrations to the city, with every month attracting approximately three million visitors. The lightest traffic is from November through February when room rates are usually the lowest, although this is the time of year that attracts some of the city’s biggest conventions (and rooms rates during conventions may astound you, so always ask).   

What to wear

Distances and transportation

Everything in Las Vegas looks larger than life. Perhaps, that is because it is! Of the 20 largest hotels in the United States, 17 are in Las Vegas. When you add all of the fountains, shopping areas and casino gaming areas with the hotel space, you wind up with large properties. Walking from the street into most of the casinos is a hike (especially the MGM Grand) and walking between the casinos, which are spread, somewhat uniformly along the Strip is good exercise, but if you would rather gamble, attend a show or eat at another hotel, you will soon be looking for an alternate way to get there.  See our Map of the Las Vegas Strip, which shows the distances between major intersections along Las Vegas Boulevard,

If you are going to wander out of town to Lake Mead, Hoover Dam, Red Rock Canyon, the Valley of Fire or other areas, you will need to rent a car. If you plan to stay close to the Strip, there are several public conveyances that work well. If you plan on hitting some of the off-strip casinos, consider taking a cab, as the bus service away from the Strip is inconvenient.

                 

There are several options that make traveling the Strip quite easy.

The most convenient transportation is the Deuce Strip Transit Service that operates twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Deuce service features a new series of energy efficient, double decked buses that cruise the strip every 7 minutes between 6:45 a.m. and 11.30 p.m. with slightly longer intervals (10 to 15 minutes) at other times of the day. The Deuce has stops near all major hotels and cost $2 for a one-way ride or $5 for a twenty-four hour pass. You need bills or exact change for the on-board automatic ticket machine, as the driver does not carry any cash. Some stops have Ticket Vending Machines where you can also purchase tickets for the Deuce. For more information see this site. 

We tried the Deuce recently and found it to be a clean, fast, and efficient way to travel between hotels on the strip. If you are a shopper, you can ride the Deuce to the SSTT (South Strip Transfer Terminal) and catch the Deuce Outlet Mall Circulator for a chance to snap up some bargains at the outlet centers. Buses run from 820 a.m. to 10.30 p.m. every 25 minutes from the SSTT to the Outlet Malls

If you are looking for a different form of transportation, you might be interested in the futuristic, Las Vegas Monorail, which runs from the MGM Grand to the Sahara Station (just past the Las Vegas Convention Center and the Las Vegas Hilton). The monorail charge is $5 a ride or $15 for a one day pass. The Monorail operates between 7 a.m. and 2 a.m. Monday through Thursday, but runs until 3 a.m. on the weekend (Friday through Sunday).

The monorail travels the east side of the Strip and makes the following stops: the Sahara, the Las Vegas Hilton, the Las Vegas Convention Center, Harrah’s/Imperial Palace, Flamingo/Caesar’s Palace, Bally’s & Paris Las Vegas, and the MGM Grand. For more information see the official web site at http://www.lvmonorail.com/.

Although the monorail ride is pleasant not all of the stops are at hotels considered major attractions. In addition, the walk from Las Vegas Boulevard through the MGM Grand to its Monorail station takes forever. We think the Las Vegas Monorail is fun, but prefer the Deuce, unless you need to head to the Las Vegas Convention Center for an event.

There is a free monorail-like tram, on the west side of the strip that runs from the Excalibur to the Luxor and on to the Mandalay Bay. Also, there is a tropically themed tram that runs between the main entrance of the Mirage and Treasure Island.

The Las Vegas Strip Trolley http://www.lasvegasstriptrolley.com/ is a small trolley-like bus that travels two routes on Las Vegas Boulevard. One is called the Strip Loop, which runs between the Stratosphere at the north end of the Strip down to the Mandalay Bay. On the return trip (north) it travels from the Tropicana to the Las Vegas Hilton. There is a second loop that includes the stratosphere and downtown Las Vegas (including Fremont Street). One ride costs $2.50 and an all day ride on the trolley costs $.6.50. The Trolley operates from 9:30 a.m., to 1:30 am and runs about every 15 minutes, traffic permitting.

Click any section of the circle below for our page containing that information. The segment shown in gold indicates the section of the guide you are viewing.

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