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Nevada
Travel Nevada

Lake Tahoe

Blue Lake Tahoe

Southwest Airlines has packages to Lake Tahoe from San Francisco. There's lots to do there -- biking, hiking, gambling, eating, boating. Plenty of fun for everyone!

Las Vegas

How to get there: Southwest Vacations has package deals including flights, hotel, rental car, and tickets to attractions and activities.

Stuff to do: Gambling! Live shows! Shopping! Eating, whether it's cheap or fancy! Golf! Getting married! There's so much to do in Las Vegas, and Visit Las Vegas has lots of ideas and suggestions.

For gambling, Caesars Palace may have the absolute best sports book, and the Mirage is very similar. Caesars is also next to Forum Shops, a high-end shopping mall that has a really cool round aquarium in the middle. Take a walk through it to at least check out the tank and people watch. Slots-A-Fun, next to Circus Circus, has $1 blackjack tables and $1 hot dogs. The Imperial Palace, conveniently located across from the sports book at Caesars Palace, has cheap Coronas. TIP THE BARTENDER, and when you come back, he'll attend you immediately. Even if you sit at the nickel slots, waitresses will come by to bring you complimentary drinks. Tip when they take your order, and they'll come back right away.

The fantastic and popular Cirque du Soleil has a number of shows running in Las Vegas. Blue Man Group is another perennial favorite. If you want to see some shows but also save some cash for gambling, try getting discounted show tickets at one of the Tix4Tonight locations. Whatever show you decide to see, if you have assigned seats, go to the box office 10 or 15 minutes before show time and discreetly ask if any upgrades are available. There may be some choice seats available for no additional coin. If you have to be seated by a host who guides you to unassigned seats, discreetly grease his/her palm with a 10 spot. Doing this could really improve the viewing.

Have a drink at Shadows at Caesars Palace. Women dance apparently nude behind gauzy curtains behind the bar. Check out the lounges and bars in the Venetian as well as the Voodoo Lounge on top of the Rio and have their house specialty, the Witch Doctor. Get there before 10 p.m. for no cover charge. The Bellagio's Light nightclub is a fun, elegant spot. Rain Las Vegas at The Palms hotel is a happening place, and the clubs in the Luxor, the Rio, and MGM Grand are also popular.

For food, downtown is the place for low budget deals. Chow down at the Buffet at the Golden Nugget. It is one of the best deals around, both in price and quality. Some hotels just off the Strip give out coupons for free champagne and 2 for 1 breakfast buffets. Get funbooks from each hotel you visit for coupons for free hot dogs, popcorn, pretzels, and other snacks to tide you over between filling up at buffets. You can also get free cheesy souvenirs with funbooks.

Imperial Palace has a cool auto collection, and you may be able to get a comp pass or at least a coupon for reduced admission. The Bellagio and Venetian have art exhibits, and the interiors of these hotels are must-sees themselves. Check out the lobbies of both. For a cheap thrill, go to the top of the Stratosphere and ride the Big Shot or go to New York New York and ride the roller coaster. For something a little calmer, take a ride on the Monorail. If you've got a couple of spare hours, go on a time-share tour and pick up some free show tickets. The tickets will be for a not-so-popular show, but it will probably be a lot of fun. The time-share tours are in lobbies of hotels.

Take advantage of all the free hotel shuttles on the Strip to avoid paying for a cab or taking the regular city bus -- traffic makes it a nightmare. Generally, the older hotels on the Strip, like Harrah's, the Flamingo, the Tropicana, and Bally's, have better deals for free stuff and coupons. For general tips on saving money and what to expect at various clubs, shows, etc., visit the Cheapo Vegas web site.

Where to stay: Try Hotels.com for good deals or check out the following:

* Binion's: Primarily a gambling spot with rooms that are often very cheap; in the heart of downtown Las Vegas; one of the oldest clubs left in town

* Circus Circus: On the Las Vegas Strip; hotel rooms and RV park; their Adventuredome is the only theme park on the Strip; popular with families

* Excalibur: In the heart of the Strip; promotes itself as "fun, not fancy"; popular with families

* Fremont: Located downtown with a shuttle to the Strip; close to the Fremont Street Experience

* Imperial Palace: Cheap rooms; mid-Strip location

* Monte Carlo: Friday and Saturday stays are pricey, but Sunday through Thursday the rooms can vary from $49 to $99; the hotel has a very fun microbrewery with live bands; convenient to everything; it also has a tram to the Bellagio

* Palace Station: Off the Strip, but a shuttle can take you there; tower and courtyard rooms are constantly updated; cheap margaritas

* Paris Las Vegas: Great location across from the Bellagio; connected to Bally's; rooms are big with two queen beds instead of two doubles; bathrooms are big and have nice French soap

* Rio All-Suites: Every room is a suite, and there's over 2500 of them; cool club and lounge; shuttle to the Strip

* Sahara: On the Strip; it's been around since the early 1950s; cheap room rates can be had, depending on when you go; has some of the cheapest gambling around and some decent lounge music

* Tropicana: Older property with rooms at low rates, often $49 a night midweek; in the thick of the action on the Strip

Side trips: Head out to Red Rock Canyon for a picnic, hiking, biking, or rock climbing. There's a scenic drive for sightseeing and photographing spectacular views of the Las Vegas Valley. There are a number of operators who run tours to Hoover Dam. Ask about these at your hotel's information desk. If you want to explore more of the American Southwest and use Las Vegas as your jump-off point, a Canyons of the West tour from Green Tortoise Adventure Travel might be just the thing for you.

Comments:

Rumor was a few years ago that while all the other places on the Strip are now owned by big hotel chains or Disney or whoever, the Tropicana is still 100% operated by the Mafia so that right there adds to the authentic Vegas experience plus big fake Easter Island statues. You can't go wrong. I wouldn't hesitate to stay at Circus Circus if it's the cheapest; you just have to recognize that you'll probably want to go somewhere else to gamble, due to the kids factor and the old-and-ratty factor.

Circus Circus is too far down the Strip for it to be any fun. I always stay at the Palace Station. They have a really cool cover band that lets you dance on stage with them. I get courtyard rooms because I like to be near the pool. I stay away from Circus Circus like the plague. It's pink, and the entire place smells like cotton candy, although it's next door to Slots-A-Fun which has $1 blackjack.

Dude, I'd stay away from both the Circus Circus and the Excalibur. They are overrun with kids. I stayed at the Sahara a year ago. It wasn't that bad at all and very cheap.
The Palace Station is clean and cheap. Staying off the Strip isn't too big of a deal because of all the free shuttles.

Palace Station is a good spot for walking around downtown. Blackjack at Binion's and the Fremont are 2-3 deck shoes, good odds, and always try for the last seat at the table! With a two-deck game it's worth seeing a few hands played out before you hit! I spent most of three months at these two casinos living off my blackjack winnings. Don't pass up the OLD one-armed bandits at these clubs -- way down towards the back there's some old mechanical nickel machines that will give you the real feel of old Vegas. If you've never played at a big casino with mega-slot machines, remember to check that the machine is set for payout!!! I've seen many people win, only to walk off wondering why the machine didn't spit out coins -- it was set to rack up credits!

You won't want to miss the Fremont Street Experience -- as if there weren't enough neon and flashing lights in Las Vegas, the Fremont Street Experience takes it to a whole new level.

I saw Cirque du Soleil's *O*, and it was amazing! I highly recommend seeing it.

Blue Man Group at the Luxor was one of my favorite shows I've ever seen.

I would stay at the Paris again. We had dinner at the buffet, and the food was really good, better than the Bellagio in my opinion. However, the pool is small and not very interesting, but it's in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. The line to check in was long, even though we were there on a Sunday. With a good taxi driver who uses the back street parallel to the Strip, it's only an $8 fare from the airport. The French music in the elevator got irritating pretty quickly, but I would recommend staying there.

If you have a car, are sober enough, and the weather is cool enough, go out to Red Rocks Canyon. It is quite awesome to hike around in.

Drink lots and lots of water -- Vegas can be brutally hot and dry. I think you have to ask for funbooks at the information desk at your hotel. Time-share tours pick you up in a mini-bus, take you to a time-share condo, walk you around the model unit, and then put the hard sell on you.

Here is my buffet tip. My husband and I stayed in Vegas for six days one summer, (and yes, it is Horribly Hot) and most days we did a late breakfast buffet (I like Paris best). Then go into the lunch buffet about 30 minutes before it switches to dinner, like 4:30 or so. It's about ten bucks cheaper, and they bring out the dinner food soon after you get there (i.e. crab legs, etc.). You can stay as long as you want. My favorite lunch/dinner buffet was Bellagio and second was Paris, and I normally hate buffets. These are not your Ponderosa-type places, though. Enjoy!!!

Vegas is fun in a Disneyland-for-adults-smarmy-sinful kind of way. Most things are horrifically expensive there so if you want to save some cash on things like non-alcoholic beverages, bring a cooler for your room and stock up at the 7-11. It's also a good way to get prelubed for a night of drinking because sometimes it takes a while before the free drinks start coming. The free drinks aren't all that free because you still have to tip the waitress if you want her to come back. Cabs are one of the few things that are relatively inexpensive. Because there really isn't anywhere to park and unless you're planning a trip to Red Rocks or to Hoover Dam, skip the rental car and reallocate those funds to taxi fares. Overall, Paris is my favorite casino. It's a little smaller, but they have a great creperie there. I also had a wonderful experience in the back bar when it wasn't busy. The bored bartender gave me a free vodka tasting of high-end vodkas, and I tipped him well. I love the roller coaster on top of NYNY, but it's expensive.