If you’re visiting Las Vegas for the first time, we’ve got some essential Vegas tips to make your first visit as incredible as possible! Visiting Las Vegas is definitely an amazing experience and is on many people’s bucket lists. However, if you’ve never visited Sin City before, you may not know exactly what to expect. Las Vegas is like nowhere else on Earth, so we’ve curated this list of Las Vegas tips to help prepare you for your first visit. Let’s dive in and see what you should be aware of.
Bring More Money Than You Think
One of the most important tips we can give you for visiting Las Vegas is to bring a lot of cash, and then bring some more, just to be safe. To be clear, we mean actual cash, not just money in your account. Casinos in Las Vegas are largely not cashless, so they will require real money for chips. On top of this, any ATMs on the strip are almost guaranteed to come with a $10 convenience fee, so withdrawing money from the ATM will get expensive quickly.
Avoid Driving in Summer
Las Vegas gets really hot in summer. As such, it is generally recommended that tourists avoid driving as much as possible in the summer months, from May until October. Rental cars generally don’t come with a sunshade for the car, so you’ll need to buy one, or you will have to look for shaded parking. The vehicle’s interior could get as high as 150 degrees without a sunshade or shaded parking. This is enough to melt water bottles, explode soda cans, and even cause your dashboard to start melting.
Don’t Play 6:5 Blackjack
Finally, an actual tip for the casinos! If you see an open seat at a Blackjack table, do not sit down if that table pays out 6:5 for Blackjack. Most games pay out 3:2, and many gamblers do not know how much money they lose with 6:5 Blackjack. If you bet $10 and get Blackjack, you’d win $15 with 3:2, but you only win $12 with 6:5. This increases the house edge to 1.77% and means you will lose money faster.
You Can Drink on the Strip, but Be Careful
Legally, you can drink in public on the Las Vegas strip. It’s not even a crime to be publicly intoxicated on the strip! However, that doesn’t mean there are no rules. You can drink if your beverage is in a plastic bottle or aluminium can.
If you buy from a bar on the strip, they know the rules. But if you buy a beer bottle from the supermarket, you cannot drink it from the glass. Breaking this law is a misdemeanour with a $250 fine, but it could also land you in jail for up to 30 days.
Watch Out For Scams
Anytime there are a lot of tourists, there are many people trying to scam them and make a quick buck. Vegas is no different, so make sure you don’t get caught by a scammer. While not everything listed here might necessarily be classed as a scam, they are just things to watch out for so you don’t lose money.
If you want to pose with someone in a costume on the strip, understand this isn’t free. They will expect $10-20 as a tip and can get very unfriendly if they are unhappy with how much you give them. Also, be careful of anyone claiming to be the official photographer at the famous “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign. There is no official photographer, and they will demand payment. Instead, hand your phone to one of the other people waiting in line because there will be a line of other people waiting to do the same.
A big one to avoid is tents that promise to give you Free Show tickets. Usually, these are timeshare salespeople who will give you a free ticket but force you to sit in a presentation room for hours. The salespeople are experts in manipulating people and will deceive and pressure you into buying their product.
We also recommend that you do not pay any attention to unsolicited activity recommendations, especially from taxi drivers. These often involve strip clubs, and the driver is incentivized to deliver passengers to the location. These places usually don’t get many clients and little positive word-of-mouth advertising because they’re not nice places.
Avoid Drugs in Vegas, Including Weed
So, it is legal to consume weed in Nevada, including Las Vegas; no problem then? Not really. If you smoke in a hotel room, you’re safe from the police, but hotels will add a $250 or more deodorizing fee. Legally, you cannot smoke in public, so that will get you in trouble with the police.
The only legal place to smoke is a private residence or at various cannabis lounges. However, none of these have opened yet, due to delays with regulations and laws. It’s best to avoid weed in Vegas.
The same is true for all other drugs. As is always the case, there’s no way to know if they’re contaminated with something else. This is far more common in Las Vegas because of the tourist numbers. Hotel workers are unlikely to help, so avoid them and stay safe.
Be Careful of Attractive Women Drinking by Themselves
If you’re drinking at the hotel bar and you notice an attractive young woman drinking on her own, dressed in some skimpy dress, be very careful. If you’re wondering if someone is maybe an illegal sex worker, then they’re probably an illegal sex worker. Do not engage with her; whatever you do, do not invite her to your room.
She could quickly get you in a vulnerable position and steal your watch, jewellery, phone, and all the money you brought to avoid the ATM fees. This is a big problem in Vegas and is known as trick-rolling. The other issue is that it is challenging for the police to prosecute the women because you must admit what happened. This often makes the news, revealing your name to any potential future employer who looks you up.
While Sin City has many billboard trucks and scantily clad women handing out phone numbers, always remember that prostitution is illegal in Las Vegas, which falls under Clark County. The nearest legal and licensed brother is a 90-minute drive outside Vegas.
Additional Las Vegas Tips
Here are a few additional tips to make your trip to Vegas a pleasurable experience.
- Power Brick and Charger – When you leave your hotel room in Vegas, you never know what might happen and how long it will take until you’re back. You might run into an old friend or hit a hot streak at the casino. So, make sure you have a working charger on you and an external phone battery to keep your phone charged.
- Hailing Cabs on the Strip – Don’t even try. It is illegal for taxis and rideshare services to stop on the strip to fetch you. You cannot avoid the lines of taxis at casino resorts.
- Book for Dinner – Always make dinner reservations. Even if you found a place empty once, it could have been discovered by an influencer and now has a long line. Just be safe and make a booking.
- Avoid Trendy Nightclubs – Many trendy nightclubs in Vegas can have very long lines to enter. Some can see you waiting an hour or longer if no women are in your party. This can quickly ruin your night before it even starts.
