How Much Money Should I bring to Vegas?
Many of you ask this question and the answer of course starts from… Your budget. You can easily find cheap yet great accommodation in Vegas for as little as 20 dollars per room a night (NOT on weekends or national holidays, or special celebration days). We have listed some of the cheaper resorts and how to get cheap deals on Vegas resorts on cheap hotel deals in Vegas. If you must go on weekends or special days, then be prepared to pay three times the price or at least double. On special events, the prices are even 10 times higher than on ‘cheap nights’. It’s all about demand and supply in Vegas, and the secret is to go when fewer people go, if you want to get amazing deals.
You can get a nice enough room such as in the middle of the Strip (Flamingo, for example, but their bathrooms aren’t that great) for very low rates + resort fee, as long as you stay away from weekends and national holidays. Or a much better one at TI (Treasure Island, small but nice rooms and a nice resort overall) or Mirage (which is a stunning resort, by the way, definitely the best in their room rate range, let’s hope they keep it reasonably classy). Otherwise Rio has suites at low prices, with free shuttles to many areas of the Strip. Palms resort is great if you can find a deal, with very high end suites, and you can use the free shuttles from the very cheap Gold Coast in front or from the Rio, a few steps away too (in theory you cannot, but they don’t really check).
Food: skip expensive restaurants if you are on a budget, and treat yourself to high end yet affordable Vegas buffets such as the beautiful Aria, Studio B and even Palms and Red Rock (much smaller but much cheaper too). Mirage (they emphasize ‘freshness’ these days, which is very good) is always a good affordable option if you are in the area. Bacchanal (though very good) is a bit too pricey if you are on a budget.
If you are on a budget, avoid gambling unless you want to be comped next time or you are trying to have your expenses paid by casino marketing (but it can work out costly if you lose money). For more on this, you can read how to get free stuff in Vegas.
Drinks are expensive so – if you are on a budget – order them when you gamble if you gamble. You may get cheaper drinks in downtown Vegas, and we talk about that on the page cheap drinks in Vegas.
Clubbing is also expensive. Entry fees will vary, though at times you can get in a club for free; but it’s the drinks which will ‘hit you’ when in the clubs, from 12 dollars to 20+ dollars for mixed drinks… I think they figured out that, if you don’t gamble, they must get your money some other way… 🙂
All in all, you can spend as little as 70 dollars a day for 2 people including a cheap meal (you may also want to read our cheap Vegas meals page), unless you were comped of course, to as much as… the sky is the limit. An average price range would be, if you want to try a few things, 100 dollars a day per person, which will include several ‘treats’ for yourself: as to which ones, you really have to decide for yourself and, for that, you may want to read must-see and must-do in Vegas as well as our section Best of Vegas. We hope this is useful and we are trying to keep everything updated, since Vegas is an ever-changing place. Do not hesitate to ask us a question if you can’t find the answer on our web pages.