Stratosphere Tower and other Las Vegas, NV Things to Do Tips

This is by far the tallest building in a City of immense structures. Wherever you go in Las Vegas, the Tower is visible like a long thin needle with a wide cap.

I decided to combine my visit with a trip to the wonderful revolving restaurant at the top, but that's the subject of another tip. If you don't want to go to the expense of dining here, you can buy all sorts of day passes at very reasonable prices. From the top of the tower you can see all over the City, and this is especially spectacular at night. The place is crowded, though, and you will get a far more private view by going for dinner.

It also houses the highest of the many Wedding Chapels in the City.

There's an enormous, busy, and rather scruffy casino downstairs and I got the impression that perhaps it's not in the best area of the City, but it's a magnificent structure and a real "must do" on your Vegas trip.

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Phone: (800) 998-6937
Address: 2000 Las Vegas Boulevard South
Directions: At the very tip of the South end of the strip - you simply can't miss it.

I know it sounds cliched, but I simply couldn't resist taking a gondola ride at the magical Venetian hotel.

There are two options available - the gondola trip in the lake outside the hotel, or another on the second floor. I opted for the first and as I didn't see the second I cannot comment other than to say I know it's slightly more expensive. My choice had nothing to do with cost, but we had a dinner reservation in Bouchon at 8pm and the outside one was beside us.

At 12.50 dollars per person it was delightful and very well worth it. Our gondolier sang two Italian songs to us and we travelled the little lake, under the ornamental bridges, as the sun set over the City.

Photographs in a presentation wallet cost an additional 20 for one or 25 for two. The queues were short and it was a great deal of fun. Thje price I paid was for a shared gondola with two other people, but if you want to be romantic you can of course hire the gondola for two.

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Address: 3355 S. Las Vegas Blvd.
Directions: Right at the front of the Venetial hotel - you can't miss it.

My main reason in going to Vegas was to visit the Grand Canyon. However, as it's not actually in Nevada at all I am going to write my details GC tips in an Arizona page that I'll be creating.

The title of this tip is meant to be taken literally, though. When you visit the GC from Vegas, fly there. Many options are available by both helicopter and plane. I got some incredible aerial pics because I flew - the bus or four wheel drive tours won't show you the same from the same vantage points. I also saw Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, and The Colorado River from on high!!

You can even be more adventurous than I was and book a chopper ride to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and have a champage lunch there. I plan to do that next time aorund.

One other thing - before I left for my trip, friends of my sister said the GC was a waste of time. I don't know what they were thinking. I would not have missed this for the world.

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Directions: I travelled with Scenic airways, but ask your hotel concierge for recommendations.

When I speak of Star Gazing, I'm not talking about the celestial kind of bodies, but rather the tanned, toned, gorgeous movie star bodies:-)

To be frank, I think I saw more movie stars in Las Vegas than I did in all of Beverly Hills.

Indeed, lazing by the pool in my hotel was none other than Charlie Sheen. I couldn't think of his name - I just stuttered...."It's, it's....one of those Sheens." It wasn't till I came home that I saw him on TV and got the name on the credits. He was so ordinary and nice pool side.

That's one of the things about star spotting - you can seldom think of the name when you see the person, as you are so used to seeing them on TV and playing a role.

I also thought I saw Mariah Carey by the pool one day, but Mariah has such a name for being a Diva that I doubt she'd get all hot and oily with the rest of us - even if it is the Four Seasons!

I have a list of others, but these two were by our very own pool.

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Directions: Throughout Las Vegas.

They say that most people go to Vegas for the Casinos, though from my visit there I'm more convinced that it's for the drinking and clubbing and all night partying!

I'm sure, however, that there are others like me - people that don't know the first thing about gambling. The closest I've come to it is putting a tenner on a horse in the Grand National, or pennies in the slot machines in Tramore.

Nevertheless I was determined to try my hand at something....anything, just to say I gambled in Las Vegas.

Night one, there we are, ambling almost carelessly into the casino at Mandalay Bay determined to, eh, spend a penny...or two...on the slot machines. Be warned, it's nothing like it is at home. You need to become a "member" of your casino and they give you a little card. Membership is free. When you play the slot machines you build up your credits (if you get any) on your card and cash them in later. We had to ask several people to tell us how to go about it.

There are all the things you'd expect - I saw a man lose a fortune on roulette, having first won a fortune!

It's not glamorous like I expected it to be. I got all glammed up the first night and felt a bit out of it as most people were casual - you know how glammy they look at the casinos on tv?

It was fun. In the end I didn't gamble, but there were promises of great prizes - even cars and Harley Davidsons.

Sexily dressed hostesses go around the casinos filling you with free drink all night. I thought they were all very glum looking - then I realised that the trick was to give them a nice tip; that brought a smile to many faces. They'll fill you with drink even if you just LOOK as though you're gambling. I felt a bit sorry for them as none of them looked really happy.

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Address: Throughout the Casinos of Las Vegas.