Tuesday, February 24, 2009

The Strip or Downtown in Vegas

By William Linch

Recently I visited the wonderful city of Las Vegas. It was my goal to figure out which was the best value, the strip or downtown. It didn't take much, I stayed 2 nights at each place and concluded that Freemont Street was the place to go. It is cheaper, more historical, better to gamble on and you still have easy access to the strip.

The rooms are so much cheaper downtown that you can really save a bunch of money. You can stay downtown sometimes as cheap as eighteen dollars per night. The hotels are not as nice as they are on the strip, but they are still decent rooms. How much time are you going to spend in your room in Las Vegas anyway.

These historical buildings are so neat. The highlight of our trip was to go into all of these buildings and just take a peak at what they contained. They have old fixtures and furniture. The setup of the casinos is even different. The rooms are not the luxury type rooms you will find on the strip, but to me the history of the buildings and the prices were more important.

If you need food, you can eat for a day downtown for the price of one meal on the strip. I ate at what I thought was an awful restaurant on the strip in the MGM. We paid $90 each for a meal that was not worth the money. When we got downtown I went and ate a wonderful cut of prime rib for just $10 per person. Breakfast was steak and eggs and it was $3.95.

So though I really don't gamble, I did when I was down town. I mean why not I was saving so much money, I might as well try my luck. The slots have a pay out that is much better than on the strip. I play blackjack. I was with my girl, and I wanted her to learn how to play too. I was teaching her and even the dealers down town were helping her. I would never get service like that on the strip. Even the pit boss was taking time out to help us play.

You can still get to the strip, there is no reason you have to stay downtown. You can catch a cab for about $20 one way, or the best deal is the bus that goes back and forth from downtown to the strip that is seven dollars per person for an all day pass.

So my conclusion is that you should stay downtown at Freemont Street. I will visit the strip, but I don't see why it is so expensive.

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