Food
1. Drink your nutrients for free: If you are playing slots or table games, you get free beverages from the waitresses. Order orange juice, tomato juice or "virgin" bloody mary, milk, coffee instead of booze. While the drinks are free, if you want to see the waitress again be sure to tip her.2. Groceries: There are some "quick marts" on the Strip. There are also "quick marts" in every large casino hotel where you can buy chips, drinks, snacks, nuts, soft drinks, beer, wine, liquor.
3. Fast Food: There are McDonalds, Wendys, Burger King in most casino hotels as well as scattered on the Strip. There are also other fast snack bars in every casino - they don't want people leaving to eat! Often you can get a hotdog or sandwich for a very cheap price at the bar or snack bar in a casino.
4. Buffets: Every casino hotel has a buffet - look in the visitors guide for the cheapest ones. If you are not embarrassed to take home some fruit and rolls for later, this is the place. The Bellagio and Wynn buffets are not cheap but they are a GREAT value - eat gourmet food in unlimited quantity. If you want a "splurge" this is the place.
5. Restaurants: There are some cheap places on the Strip - Denny's and the like. The hotel casinos have a variety of restaurants for every price range. Cheaper places to look: Excalibur, Holiday Inn Boardwalk, Circus Circus. Most expensive and exquisite dining: Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, Wynn, Palazzo, Venetian.
6. Food Malls: The Caesar's Forum Shops have a variety of restaurants. New York New York has a city motif with a big variety of walk-in service counters for deli, Mexican, hotdogs, pizza, etc. The Fashion Show Mall on the strip has a real mall food court with a good variety.
Gambling
1. Cheap craps: Casino Royale (between Imperial Palace and The Venetian) has a $3 table on weekdays, which opens at 10 am. They have 100x odds which means you often see very high rollers at this cheap table. It used to be dollar craps - I miss that but the dealers don't. Off-strip, Boulder Station and Nevada Palace also have cheap craps.
2. Cheap blackjack: Blackjack is no longer cheap anywhere. Casino Royale and Slots-o-Fun have $5 dollar blackjack tables. Most big hotel casinos have minimum $10 tables and those are hard to find. The folks on the cheaper tables often seem to be having more fun.
Non-Gambling Fun
There are thrilling free shows all over town to lure you in, including:
1. Fountains at Caesar's Forum Shops: Two fountains have a light and sound show hourly with animated statuary.
2. Sirens of TI Show: Sexy sirens fight sexy pirates in front of the hotel, see posted schedule on the sidewalk.
3. Volcano at The Mirage: Erupts hourly after dark.
4. Fremont Street Experience: Take the bus or cab or car down to downtown's Fremont Street which is covered by a canopy of lights, with regular music and lightshows all evening.
5. Bellagio Fountains: The fountains dance in time to a musical serenade every half hour - amazing sight.
6. Hotel pool: If you are staying at a large casino hotel, the pool area is usually awesome.
Entry fees for:
1. Roller Coasters: At New York New York, Stratosphere, Circus Circus. Also other thrill rides at the MGM Grand Adventures, climbing wall at GameWorks, motion machines at Excalibur, Luxor, Caesar's Forum Shops.
2. Star Trek Experience at Las Vegas Hilton: Great Trek museum and role-play on realistic Trek sets. Free entry into great gift shop, and I LOVE the food and drinks at Quark's. Need a Romulan Ale?
3. IMAX Theater at Caesar's Palace.
Non-smoking
1. There are non-smoking blackjack tables in every large casino.
2. The big casinos usually have good air handlers which draw the smoke up and away.
3. Count on all of your clothing being saturated with nicotine no matter what, this is a smoking town.
4. Decide that you only start a winning streak when some idiot is blowing smoke in your face and you get a new attitude about it.
Walking and Jogging
1. The Strip is a very safe place to walk or jog as long as you are careful at crossings.
2. Favorite training lap: The sidewalk in front of the Bellagio fountains is very wide and if you want to get in some laps that include a hill, start at the check-in lobby, go down around the lake to the corner, turn around and go back = 1 kilometer. If you are racewalking or jogging to get a workout, this is a nice safe lap route.
3. Go out for a walk or jog between 6 am - 9 am and you will have very little pedestrian traffic, although the rush hour car traffic is heavy.
4. Learn where the pedestrian sky bridges cross the major streets and use them in your route.
5. There are AVA/IVV sanctioned volkssport walking year-round routes, sign in at the Best Western Mardi Gras Hotel (off the Strip on Paradise near the Convention Center). If you walk from your hotel to the Mardi Gras before signing in, you have likely been on one of the routes, so sign in, stamp your books and pay, and continue the walk with the map and end up back at your hotel. Don't worry about not getting stamped at the checkpoints, I haven't been "called" on this one yet. Ask at the hotel desk for the "Walk start box" which is a hotfile box. They have always known what I was talking about.
6. If you want a walking companion, call the Las Vegas High Rollers and Strollers and they may have a member who would like to walk with you. See contacts on their year-round page
