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My wife is going to Vegas in August and she is interesting in doing things other than going outside in the daytime or to a techo club every night.  If it was me going, I'd just hang out in Caesar's all the time, but I'm not.  I asked her what she wanted to do but she doesn't have any idea except not standing in line for some club and not shows.  Also she isn't much of a gambler.  I'm putting the feelers out to try and find little-known or niche areas to go and do things that most people might not want to do or be aware of.  Vague!

For about 200$ you can put her on a coach to go and see the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon. For about another 100$ she can have a helicopter and boat tour of the canyon and for about 5k they'll forget to bring her home. Meanwhile you can play the tables and letch at the hostesses in air conditioned comfort.

There's also a lot of high end shopping in LV if your budget can handle that and cool stuff that you can just walk up and see. Pick up one of the many 'What's on in Vegas' magazines that are in every taxi, bus and hotel lobby.

Tons of shopping, dining of all levels, drinking, sightseeing, lounging by the pool, bowling (Rio has an alley, and I think there is at least one more on the strip somewhere, or at least there used to be), gondola rides... If you are bored in Vegas you are broken.

I would highly recommend foregoing the 'no shows' thing to see LOVE. It was absolutely amazing, and I plan to see it again my next trip.

Vegas is a pretty shallow town there aren't a ton of entertainment choices that don't involve gambling and what few there are don't generally come cheap.  Does she like strip clubs? 

No shows on top of everything else limits the choices quite a bit in terms of things that can burn a good chunk of time. If she's an "outdoorsy" type and she's not afraid of dying of heat stroke she might want to go visit places like Red Rock Canyon. If she likes good food there's quite a number of high end restaurants.

Find the hotel with the best food and spa and there is no reason to go anywhere, although a trip to see the sites ala IainC would be nice, too.  Then back to the spa.

Has she been before? My first time there, I wasted an entire day just going one end of the strip to the other with my camera. The heat's bareable, because you keep ducking in to the ac'd casinos. Spots like the Venetian will waste an hour alone just looking around.

We did the outdoor thing plus Hoover Dam last time, also we ogled the Venetian and Bellagio already, stayed at the Mirage.  It was April 1st-ish which was great, but August is completely different.  I'm not going, just her and her friend.

So far, bowling and spa are some good suggestions.  That's what I'd probably do, also the restaurant thing, if I wanted to do something different.  I don't have any idea why she's asking me this stuff, it's not like travel info is hard to find, but I think she's trying to do some nonmainstream things and I'm one of those people that knows things no one else does.

That's because you make them up!

I lived there for 6 years, it really is that shallow and there really aren't any hidden gems.  About the best I can come up with is going to the top of the strat and taking pictures.

The high lite of my 6 year stint in Vegas was getting invited to game night in the warehouse housing what was quite possibly the largest private pinball collection in the world.  Who knows it's been 10 years since I have been back maybe the guy has turned it into the largest public pinball collection in the world, if so go see that.

edit: if the imperial palace auto collection is still around thats worth doing but not many chicks i know would give a crap about that.

edit #2: oh wow he did go public, go play some pinball here: http://www.pinballmuseum.org/ (http://www.pinballmuseum.org/)

Actually in addition to being a must see vegas attraction for any gamer http://www.pinballmuseum.org/ (http://www.pinballmuseum.org/) probably deserves it's own thread as that guy is wearing like one of the 1st money hats to be produced by the gaming industry.

I'd recommend going to see Ri Ra play at the Nine Fine Irishmen at the New York, New York. You go for a dinner at 8(to avoid the cover), show starts at 9, and they play till 2. They play Irish folk tunes and some covers. It seems like it could be dull but they really know how to rock the house, and the crowd is generally in a really good mood. They have a really talented Irish step dancer who performs as well. My favorite part is there is a wide range of ages and people. Frat boys, retired couples, and bachelorette parties all just rock out together singing bawdy Irish tunes. I <3 it. A lot.

The dueling pianos bar in NY/NY is cheesy good times as well.

Bellagio has an art exhibit that is usually very good.

Pinball museum is a good sample of what I'm looking for.  I'll pass that to her, maybe she will try it.


Someone suggested this to us as a great place to go last week as we were discussing Bobby Yang going to Vegas for three months, so I'll bring that up again.

I'll also mention the art exhibit since one of them is big into fine art.

I was just looking at the Bellagio stuff.  Art exhibit, botanical gardens, luxury spa, nice restaurants, Cirque du Soleil.  I'm not sure why anyone would have to even leave the hotel.

To get a meal under $50 or play table games under $15. Stayed there a few years ago, and did all my non-poker gambling off the premises.

I went to Atlantic City once.  I found that I dislike gambling.  I might like to see Las Vegas one day, though.  It's so strange with all the world landmarks scattered around.  Helicopter sight seeing would be awesome.

Atlantic City is a pit.

It's true.  There is nothing I want to see in Atlantic City from a helicopter.

Not sure how much money is in the budget but when I was there last month we rented a cabana at the "Go Pool" at the Flamingo. You get your own nice semi-private area and there are misters in the cabana so it's fairly cool.

It's not cheap though. $300 for the rental + a one bottle minimum, although their bottle prices were no where near as bad as bottle service at a night club. I think a bottle of bacardi was around $120.

It may have helped that I was at a bachelor party and the Go Pool is "European" but whatev...

You could also send her to the Gun store over on E. Trop to shoot an AK-47. Seems like a girlie thing to do...

Necroposting for the win.

It's been about a year since the last post  but I'm bumping this because it's related.

I'm going to have about one day to myself in Vegas. I've been there a few times, always working, so I have very limited exposure.

Beyond getting smashed, which I can handle pretty well on my own - if you had just one day in Vegas, and you had your wife in tow, what would you do to have fun without blasting thousands of dollars away? (No hookers or drugs.)

Sit at the airport waiting for the plane to leave.

I'm actually in the middle of moving to Vegas, and due to my wife being from there, we have spent quite a lot of time around the area visiting friends and family. I am coming from the perspective that, due to you mentioning you had been there strictly on work, that you have only experienced the many conference centers. I will assume a virgin "real" Vegas experience. Now that my parameters are setup...

• (Cheapish) If you have not seen a Circ de Sola, I HIGHLY recommend it. There are numerous versions from different casions, the Bellagio has it's O version, MGM has it's Ka version which is "Circ de Sola meets Ancient Kung Fu". Seriously awesome.
• (Free!) The Bellagio is an attraction unto itself, be sure to see the fountain display outside (not hard, runs like every 15 or 30 minutes). Nice and romantic, guaranteed to generate at least 3 tight hugs from your wife.
• ($50 for 2) If you're into biology, the Luxor has a Bodies Exhibition. I was dead bored, but my wife being a Veterinary Technician loved every second of it.
• (Cheapish) Like the fishes? Hit up Shark Reef in Mandalay Bay. It's pretty cool, plus you get to pet stingrays! Generally a good sized lineup there.
• (Flexible) Come to think of it, Gameworks is a huge arcade on the strip. I haven't been there myself, just walked by it.
• ($28 for 2) If you like rollercoasters, hit up the rollercoaster at the New York New York. The lines are generally short, and its a great time. You're like 500ft above the strip ripping around in a rollercoaster, its a lot of fun. Half price if you want to ride a second time! We go on it practically every time we're down there.
• (Kinda expensive) As a gamer, I don't know your experience but I've played plenty of FPS's in my time, but I never have actually handled a semi automatic weapon. There's a nice little gun range south of the Strip on Blue Diamond road. They have everything imaginable, handguns, semi automatics of every kind, etc etc. Your wife will likely want to just stand behind the glass and wait until you're done, but if you've played FPS's all this time and haven't had the chance to fire a few real clips from the same weapons, I definitely would recommend it.
• (Free!) Again in the Bellagio (really, its my favourite), the Conservatory is breathtaking. The setup they have is always full of color. If your wife loves chocolate, there's a sick chocolate shop just down the hallway to the Conservatories left.
• (Expensive)Additionally, if you're in the mood to drop some cash on food, hit up Sensi in the Bellagio. Oh. My. God. My brother in law is the Assistant Executive Chief there, we've been a handful of times and it's incredible. I recommend the Kobe Beef.
• Just walking the strip can be a nice adventure. You'll likely find something interesting just browsing around, its quite enjoyable. There are tons of malls and shops. You can go checkout the insane prices, like $400 for a pair of jeans. Actually I'm pretty sure I saw a standard cotton tshirt at one place for $800. Great for lols!
• Warning: The Adventure Dome SUCKS. Do not go. Do not get in line for the Spong Bob POS "motion ride" they have, no matter how badly your niece and nephew want to see it. They will be disappointed. You will be disappointed. You will die a little inside. You have been warned.
• (Free!) Check out the lions in the MGM Grand. I recommend getting there around 11am, as they are let in at 11:15am. Standing 5ft away from a lion with only (really thick) glass between you is fantastic. If you don't arrive early in the morning, they'll probably just be asleep =/

Anyhow, a great resource is actually lasvegas.com. A good starting point might be: http://www.lasvegas.com/attractions/, and perhaps even better would be: http://www.lasvegas.com/attractions/freeattractions.html

If you're going to be down there soon, be sure to at least get within viewing distance of the Luxor hotel. Right now there's this HUGE Optimus Prime graphic on its Strip facing side. Two glowing blue eyes as well. Great to check out :)