We love a good liberation moment, and when we watched the hero of our new Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas ad bust out of her sad desk job right onto Fremont Street, it gave us some ideas.
In fact, some of our favorite haunts for high value, low spend appear in our commercial. To approximate her experience—and get even more out of it—put on your black sequined suit (optional, but daytime sequins are a yes) and follow along.
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Breaks through to Las Vegas, rides her office wall down S. Casino Center Blvd.
Our escape artist is in a prime spot, right in the center of the Fremont Street Experience—the pedestrian-only corridor through glittering historic casinos like the Golden Gate, the Four Queens, and the Golden Nugget. It’s all covered by the 90-foot-high LED canopy screen Viva Vision—the largest in the world—that explodes with songs and 3D effects starting at 6 p.m. every night and where free live music plays in the summer. You can take advantage of that two-hour, $15.99 prime rib happy hour advertised on the marquee behind her (at Tony Roma’s at Fremont Hotel & Casino). Lines are long but move fast.
You might have arrived on a budget, but across the street at Binion’s, you can take a free photo behind a pyramid stacked with one million dollars on the casino floor and send it right to your phone. On the second floor of The D Hotel & Casino, look for Sigma Derby—the vintage mechanical horse racing game with 10 betting stations (one of only two in the U.S.). It only takes quarters (the minimum bet is 25 cents) but there’s a change machine close by. Head across Main Street to the Plaza Hotel & Casino, home to some of the best values we’ve seen this year, including a weeks-long all-inclusive deal. Its Carousel Bar right out front is the perfect front row seat to the Plaza’s free summer fireworks. You can play pickleball on the Plaza’s 13 rooftop courts for only $20 a session. If you need to refuel, join the late-night partiers at Hawaiian-themed California Hotel & Casino (The Cal). Its Market Street Café starts serving its iconic oxtail soup at 11 p.m. and doesn’t stop until 6 a.m.
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Cruises up to the blingy porte cochere at Circus Circus, hops onto the red carpet
Catch this classic slice of vintage casino magic in the afternoon, when the free daily circus acts start on the Carnival Midway. Acrobats, twin juggling masters (!), and aerialists perform every hour on the half-hour at Circus Circus starting at 1:30 p.m. on weekdays and 11:30 a.m. on weekends.
You may know about the five-acre Adventuredome theme park inside (it’s been running half-off ticket promotions for people who buy in person). But you might not know that one of locals’ favorite dining secrets is here: THE Steak House—think dark wood, red leather booths, glass-enclosed dry aging rooms—whose specialties include 21-day dry-aged Midwestern beef cooked over a mesquite charcoal broiler in the center of the room. Prices aren’t cheap—you’re getting top-grade steak with a distinct char, after all—but where splashier steakhouses on the Strip go a la carte beyond your steak, this restaurant includes sides like salad, vegetables, and baked potato with every entrée, which can make a world of difference when the bill comes around.
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Carries a boxer through the ring at Orleans Arena
The NOLA-themed Orleans Hotel & Casino, just west of the Strip on Tropicana, has great values in arena entertainment in its 9,500-seat Orleans Arena, which hosts concerts, sporting events (boxing for under $70!), and family shows, as well as NCAA basketball tournaments and Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live.
The Orleans has a couple of other don’t-miss attractions. From 9:30 pm to midnight on weekdays, the 52-lane Orleans Bowling Center hosts All You Can Bowl for $15—including shoe rental. Ondori Asian Kitchen is another dining venue that locals closely guard. Its enormous menu of Japanese and Chinese dishes, from congee with salty pork and 1,000-year egg to seafood hotpots, to a wide variety of sushi and sashimi is all accessibly priced in a chic dining room that stays open until 1 a.m.
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Shimmies in a gondola at The Venetian
Our formerly drab office worker is now rocking her sequins in a gondola at The Venetian. There are a few strategies to getting the best price on a ride: Check the website, which publishes promo codes that will save you $10 per ticket for rides from 7 p.m. to close when you buy them in advance.
Some dates have special pricing (you’ll find a pricing calendar when you reserve on the site), and you can book up to 60 days in advance. In the last few months, The Venetian Resorts have offered two-for-one gondola rides, dining credits and even spa credits for Canyon Ranch Spa & Fitness for two-night minimum stays. And although the current discounts end on September 30, fall and winter values are already rolling out for dates through mid-January. If you’re less a gondola passenger and more a scenery watcher, head to Cañonita restaurant which sits right on the water in the Grand Canal Shoppes. You can drink $7 specialty cocktails and wine and get great dining deals during its 2-5 p.m. happy hour Monday through Thursday. If you want to feel a little more, well, Italian, Canaletto’s tables overlook St. Mark’s Square, the Grand Canal, and the gondolas. Its happy hour goes from 4 to 6 p.m. and includes 50% off pizzas. The Venetian has also published an entire page of special dining values across the resort.
Check out more great Vegas values here and find all our inside secrets to spending less and staying fabulous.