I LOVE Vegas! I've stayed at the Mirage, Hard Rock, Paris, and Tropicana. I definitely recommend staying somewhere on the actual strip because it'll be way more convenient. We always stay in basic rooms, and of all of those the Mirage and the Tropicana had the nicest.
The Tropicana also had the nicest staff, we go to Vegas at like 11am, obviously way before check in time, so I went up to the desk and asked if they could just hold our bags while we walked around, got lunch, etc., and then we could come back and check in. The guy said we can actually check you in right now, and if you want, we can upgrade you to a higher floor with a view for no charge. We were like uhhh yeah okay that works. hahaha it's completely remodeled and VERY nice inside, but it's a very south on the strip so if you don't mind walking its great, but if you do mind then I would recommend staying somewhere mid-strip. They also have a very nice restaurant inside where we had our one nice dinner while we were there, the filet mignons were around $32 and I remember looking before we left and this was the best price I found. We were the only people in the entire restaurant and the food was great!
The basic room in Paris was nothing crazy, I don't really remember it too much which definitely says something. But since we've stayed there we always go back for breakfast and indulge in their amazing cinnamon buns... yummmmm! And they are in a great location mid-strip.
Hard Rock was nice, but it's off strip so I wouldn't recommend staying there for your first visit.
I really liked the Mirage, it's a great mid-strip location like Paris but a little more upscale in my opinion. They have a lot of delicious restaurants inside and I really liked how they were constantly handing out free drink tickets, who doesn't like free drinks?!
As far as food goes, there are so many affordable and delicious options in Mandalay Bay. We stopped at one place called Ri Ra before we went to the Brad Paisley concert and it was delish. I highly recommend seeing Love like sgf2 said, it's incredible. Especially if you're a Beatles fan, it's a MUST. We also did a a horseback riding excursion in Red Rock Canyon the last time we were there and it was breathtaking, I would definitely do it again. If you're interested I'll find the name of the company for you, they included either lunch or breakfast in the rate and the food was off the charts good. We always make a point to have lunch at la cantina (love their margaritas) and el diablos whenever we're there, they're right across the street from each other on the strip.
Next time we go we want to stay in either Monte Carlo, Caesars, or Mandalay Bay. For a honeymoon, I think Caesars would be nice, it's in a great spot. Or the surrounding hotels like Aria and Cosmopolitan would also be great, just make sure those other hotels have a casino inside the resort if thats important to you. Most of these resorts are actually connected so you don't have to walk around outside if you don't want to, and if your resort doesn't have a casino you can just walk right next door to the one that does. You might be able to get a great rate if you're going right after your wedding date because as it gets hotter the prices get better. We got an amazing deal for the end of July, but it was 112 degrees out, literally. Anyway, I'm sorry this got insanely long lol but I HTH and let me know if you have ANY questions at all, I'm happy to help
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