recommendations for a cheap week in Vegas

Hello again, as mentioned in my first thread I%26#39;m going to be in vegas with my other half for a week. It was a slightly unplanned trip resulting in me going to Vegas with far less money than most. I%26#39;m staying at Mandalay Bay so accommodation is taken care of (courtesy of my g/f%26#39;s company) but I don%26#39;t want to spend a week just lying on their beach. Can anybody make some recommendations as to what a 38 yr old with not a lot of cash can do in Vegas for a week (most of my money will be spent making her happy for her 40th). Thanks in advance.

recommendations for a cheap week in Vegas

http://www.cheapovegas.com/index.php

But how much or little money are you really talking about ?

recommendations for a cheap week in Vegas

What do you like doing? Have you been to Vegas before?

Link to free stuff to do

vegas.com/attractions/freeattractions.html

NOt sure how much I%26#39;ll be able to lay my hands on but possibly $500ish. I%26#39;m not a gambler, as such, but it would be a shame to come to LV and not try to win a little (or avoid losing a lot). I like the idea of the gun range I%26#39;ve heard of, I like photography and will be bringing my DSLR with me so any excellent photo opportunities you know of would be most appreciated. There%26#39;s gonna be a big rodeo not too far away when we%26#39;re there, i can only imagine that would be a grand spectacle for a brit, please tell me if I%26#39;m wrong.

Thanks for the replies and links LV%26#39;ers, I%26#39;ll be giving them a good looking over

I%26#39;ve never been to vegas before and kind of never expected to ever visit, either. I%26#39;ve got a week mostly on my own so any more ideas for some cheap fun would be most appreciated.

A week on 500 is gonna be TOUGH! Everything is expensive there, but you do have the exchange rate on your side.

as steph said, it will be difficult with that amount of money...don%26#39;t know when you are going but perhaps you can take on some extra work, part time job, something to earn a few more bucks. while you do have the exchange rate in your favor, i think to be an asset to your gf, rather than a pita, you need to bring at least an additional $500, and that%26#39;s being extremely conservative. good luck.

Hi thcmetoo - we did a ';no expense spared'; trip last year, staying in a suite at TI and doing every attraction. We spent about 拢1500 (plus flights and hotel).

This year we are going again and staying at Bills but we don%26#39;t plan on spending anywhere near that amount this time. In fact, we are going to see just how ';cheap'; we can do it.

As we saw the majority of the attractions last year (Mirage tigers and dolphins, Mandalay Bay aquarium, Stratosphere tower, Grand Canyon, Strip helicopter flight etc.) we dont plan on doing much other than spending time in the hotels and enjoying the free entertainment (Bellagio fountains, Mirage volcano, Sirens show at TI, free lounge acts in hotels).

Like the previous poster suggested, have a look at Cheapo Vegas, particularly the section on eating and drinking. I have picked up lots of tips for eating out very reasonably. Last year we found that eating at one of the buffets for breakfast would fill us up until the evening.

On our last trip we felt that we spent a lot of money unnecessarily on taxis. Make the most of the monorail (you can get a day pass for $9) and use the shuttles that take you between hotels. I also think there is a monorail from the Mandalay Bay that goes up the strip as far as the Excalibur or New York New York so that will save you some shoe leather!

I would love to hear how far you got your $500 to stretch. Please do a trip report when you get back.

M husband and I went to vegas a few weeks ago and we took $600.00 in cash and came back wirh $100.00.

I celebrated my 45 birthday and had the best birthday ever. We stayed down town where it was cheaper. We did take the bus to the strip for one afternoon into the evening and took in a coule free shows. We ate steak and lobster and prime rib downtown. We aren%26#39;t big gamblers but I did hooked on some slot machines my husband did win 60 dollars and cash outed I%26#39;m sure we put it back in somewhere eles. If you spend the day downtown it is alot cheaper. They had free concerts down town the weekend we were there also. If you check for tips and coupons you can have alot of fun with out breaking your bank. We can%26#39;t wait to go back.

Thank you all for your replies, this is a very nice forum.

I%26#39;ve checked out the freebie sites and there is plenty there to pique my interest, I don%26#39;t think I%26#39;ll find it too much of a problem spending a week cheaply.

There is more in the budget for the lucky birthday girl, at least another $500 for the day from her mum, so some kind of helicopter trip may come into our plans. Either that or we%26#39;ll recreate fear and loathing in las vegas via a classic hire car and a big suitcase full of drugs and alcohol and just tell her mum we visited the canyon

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