Friends who know I have been to Vegas multiple times, often ask me what to do in Las Vegas. Las Vegas can be a very expensive place if you like to gamble, or see a lot of shows. But there is plenty do without spending a dime.
First of all just wandering around the strip and seeing the casinos can be very interesting. Las Vegas is filled with edgy architecture all trying to outdo the rest. My personal favorite is the Luxor which is designed to look like a giant glass pyramid. At night it shoots a beam of light straight up into the sky. You can wander through the hotels and casinos seeing what there is to see. For instance they have a canal inside the Venetian.

The Mirage has a volcano right on the strip that erupts every 15 minutes in the evening. This includes smoke, fire, stuff shooting up and out, and deep rumbling noises.

The Bellagio has a lake that is equiped with water fountains. The fountains will perform dances that are synchonized to music.

In the evenings, Treasure Island has a great show called Sirens Of TI. Get there early, and stake out a spot as it will get very crowded. There are woman dressed in sexy outfits singing and dancing on a ship. Then a pirate ship comes sailing around the corner. There is more singing and dancing, and fighting, cannon fire, burning buildings. Eventually the priate ship is sunk. It is a great show, and it is free.

If it is still there, The Mirage has a display of white tigers that were used in Sigfried and Roy’s magic show. This is inside the hotel/casino.

Up in “Old Town” there is the Fremont Street Experience. Las Vegas’ oldest casinos are located here. This is where you will find the the (Binion’s) Horseshoe and the Golden Nugget casinos. The have a large canopy that cover the street for about four blocks. The canopy is actually a huge LED tv screen. About every hour of so, they shut off the lights at the front of the casinos, and then play an animated show on this giant screen, with full color and sound. This is very cool!

Various casinos have free chances to win stuff. When I was there, Caesar’s had a thing that you got a free pull on a slot machine for a chance at a million dollar shopping spree. You only had to sign up for their player’s club…which is free.

Speaking of which, Caesar’s Palace has a huge underground mall called Caesar’s Forums. If you like window shopping, this is the place to go. They have many VERY HIGH END shops here. The ceilings are painted with clouds, and the lighting of them changes with the time of day. They also have some interesting animatronic shows down here, which are free to see.

Something else you can do for free is over at the Las Vegas Hilton. There they have The Star Trek Experience. That costs some money, but is fun. But for free, you can go down by the store and Quark’s Bar. There are often actors here dressed up as Klingons or Ferengi. They were more than happy to pose for pictures, and I have a picture of myself with a male and female Klingon. Pretty cool!

The last couple times I have been to Vegas, there were place offering free stuff to take a tour of some condos, or timeshares or stuff like that. We considered doing it. Maybe an hour or two, and we could have gotten free tickets, and gift certificates to a restaurant or stuff like that. There was a booth set up in front of Treasure Island. If you commited to doing the tour, they gave you access to a special reserved area where you could see the Sirens Of TI up close, and in comfort.

I am sure there is plenty of other cool free stuff here that I am not even aware of!
Anyway, that some of what to do in Las Vegas.

Posted by RJ in Travel on April 6th, 2006 | No Comments