Strip or Not to Strip? That is the question.

For hotels (this is a clean blog, people)

For a town with over 150,000 hotel rooms (according to a dated New York Times article), figuring out the best place is a bit of a trick. To answer, you need to ask a few questions.

Who's going? You and your honey, you and your friends, you and your family, or just you.

How much do you want to spend on a room per night?

Is it your first time to Las Vegas?


Answering those questions will determine the best hotel for you. Some people chose the place with the cheapest hotel prices. That's fair too because I do the same thing.

More guidelines later. But here are some general rules to start with.

If it is your first time to Vegas, stay on the "Strip". The Strip is S. Las Vegas Blvd. (type it into Google maps. From the southernmost hotel (Mandalay Bay) to the northernmost (Stratosphere). The hotels between those two points are considered the Strip. Pick one of those hotels. Once there, you can walk or take a quick cab to anywhere you want to be.

Also, if you can, be flexible on the dates you can go. The best deals for hotel rooms are between Thanksgiving and New Years and, after the Fourth of July to Labor Day. So, plan around the times when rooms are cheap.

Finally, weekends will see room rates double or triple. No matter the time of year. So go during the week or be prepared to move into a cheaper hotel for the weekend. So look for weekday prices and weekend pricing if you are going to be in town for the weekend.

Even in this economy, there are still deals to be found if you look for them.

Vegas solo vs. group

A popular question that comes up is can I go to Las Vegas alone. How safe is it? What do I do? etc.

I guess it depends on what you want to get out of your trip. For example, I wanted to go to Vegas with someone I was dating at the time. She doesn't gamble. I do. She loves shopping. I don't. She would like to go to a show. I would tolerate it. So my choices were to do separate things or one person hating what they were doing while on vacation.

So, if you go with a group, make sure you are all of like mind. If it's a gambling group, go gamble. If it's a clubbing group, hit the clubs. If it's a poker group, then play poker. If it's a sightseeing group, then see the sites. So at least have a mix of people so one person doesn't feel like an outcast from the group.

FREE TIP OF THE DAY: If your group scatters, always have a set time to meet every day either for a meal (lunch usually) and gameplan the rest of the day. Trying to do it on the fly causes problems. It doesn't have to be in the room. It can be in the lobby of your hotel.

Going solo

No big deal. It's not a hassle to eat in restaurants. There are people eating by themselves all the time. It's actually easier to get tickets to popular shows. For some shows on Saturday night, it could be impossible to get 2-4 seats together. Finally, you are not on a timetable. You can do what you want when you want.

It's also safe as long as you don't act like an idiot or flash cash on the streets. Be smart and stay relatively sober.

Bottom line

Don't fret if you can't get a group together for a Vegas trip. Trust me, you will have fun going solo.