How to Save Money While Visiting Las Vegas

As Las Vegas has grown in recent years, so too have many prices in and around town. Gone are the days of the $3.99 steak-and-egg breakfast, here are the days of the $400 pool cabana. Despite this evolution, you certainly don’t have to break the bank to have a memorable visit. Here are some tips to help you get the most out of your budget on your next trip to Las Vegas.

Capitalize on free stuff.

Believe it or not, some of the best—and kitschiest—stuff in Las Vegas is totally free, and most of it is smack in the middle of the Las Vegas Strip.

The best show in town is still the Fountains of Bellagio, where more than 1,000 fountains erupt from a manmade lake in front of the resort and sway and move to music like ballerinas. Each “performance” lasts about five minutes, and the action goes off every 30 minutes in the afternoon and every 15 minutes at night.

Also at the Bellagio, be sure to not miss the larger-than-life floral displays at the Bellagio Conservatory & Botanical Gardens in the atrium just west of the check-in desk. A team of horticulturists and engineers change the exhibit five times a year.

Near Caesars Palace, in the Forum Shops at Caesars, the Fall of Atlantis show in front of the Cheesecake Factory is a campy wonder that (somehow) incorporates animatronic characters, splashing water, shooting flames, and music so loud it will shake your eardrums. The show runs every hour until evening on most days.

Other free stuff is at either end of the Strip. To the south, paying homage to the circa 1959 “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada” sign is a great way to commemorate your visit with a selfie. To the north, the “Oceans” kinetic sculpture at Fontainebleau Las Vegas comprises 483 brass-tinted bars that move in time to tides and winds in different coastal destinations around the world. The effect of this undulation is entrancing and oddly calming amid the hubbub.

Go downtown.

While prices in Vegas are highest on the Las Vegas Strip, things are (generally) more affordable downtown.

The biggest spectacle in this neighborhood has to be the Fremont Street Experience, a five-block-long pedestrian mall covered by a canopy that comprises more than 49 million LED lights. Images on the giant screen change pretty much all the time; it’s like one long TV. Beneath the canopy, the Downtown Rocks free concert series goes from May to October.

On the side of Fremont Street east of Las Vegas Boulevard (this is known as “Fremont Street East”), check out the Downtown Container Park, an open-air mall that features a giant tree house with a three-story slide and a tremendous praying mantis that breathes fire at night.

In the Arts District, one of the most popular neighborhoods downtown, thrift stores abound: Check out Alt Rebel and Buffalo Exchange for higher-end items at discount prices.

Elsewhere in the Arts District, save time to explore the Arts Factory, a cooperative space that is home to more than 30 independent artists and art galleries, all selling work made locally in Las Vegas.

Mix up meal times.

Food fanatics often plan their Las Vegas visits around big, expensive dinners. But not all meals must be extravagant and spendy. Generally, most lunch menus offer more all-around value—especially fixed-price, multi-course menus designed to be deals. 

Perhaps the most famous lunch deal in Las Vegas is the one at Estiatorio Milos on Restaurant Row at the Venetian. For $45, guests get a three-course lunch special that includes an appetizer, entrée, and dessert. Another great lunch deal: the $34 three-course menu at Cipriani inside the Wynn Plaza Shops between Wynn and Encore Las Vegas.

At the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Momofuku offers a four-course lunch menu for $48 that includes the restaurant’s famous ramen and a scoop of ice cream for dessert. At Le Thai, a popular Thai restaurant downtown, a $12 weekday lunch special includes a choice of seven entrees. Add a Thai iced tea or coffee for $3.

Hit up happy hour.

On the Strip, Brera Osteria at the Venetian, offers an “Aperitivo Hour” during which meatballs and charred cauliflower are $9 apiece and there are discounts on select cocktails, beer, and wine. Elsewhere, at 108 Drinks, a bar atop the tower at the Strat hotel, the “Sky High Happy Hour” on Monday through Thursday, 3–7 p.m., boasts two-for-one cocktails, including mixed drinks, beer, and wine, along with a few small bites.

About a mile west of the Strip, the iconic Herbs & Rye has a daily Happy Hour from 5 p.m to 3 a.m. that features drink specials and up to 50% off steaks and other menu items.

Rethink getting around.

Most visitors to Las Vegas get from place to place in taxis or rideshares. At busy times, these methods can become expensive. A cheaper alternative, of course, is walking. Many casinos are connected by tunnels. Others are connected by pedestrian bridges that stretch over traffic on busy surface roads. It’s possible to walk roughly 3.5 miles from Mandalay Bay all the way to Encore Las Vegas without walking outside very much at all—a bonus during summer months.

There are also two free trams that link casinos on the west side of the Strip. One connects Mandalay Bay, Luxor, and Excalibur, and the other goes between Park MGM, Aria, Vdara, and Bellagio.

On the east side of the Strip, the Las Vegas Monorail runs from the MGM Grand behind the big resorts all the way to the Sahara Las Vegas. A single ride is $6, and a pass for unlimited rides in a 24-hour period is $15.

For those who prefer the excitement of traveling on the Strip itself, The Deuce, a double-decker bus managed by the RTC of Southern Nevada, is the way to go. This bus stops in front of most casino resorts and runs 24 hours a day. A single ride is $4, a 24-hour pass is $8, and a three-day pass is $20.

Hunt for value.

You might be surprised by the deals you can find. One of the most incredible is the Pinball Hall of Fame, an attraction with hundreds of pinball machines that visitors can play. None of the machines cost more than a dollar, and many of them only require a quarter. 

Several of the driving ranges in Las Vegas offer similar value. For anywhere from $49 to $82 per hour, destinations such as Atomic Golf and TopGolf enable you to whack balls with up to three other friends.

Vegas.com and Anthony Curtis’ Las Vegas Advisor both offer rock-bottom discounts on show tickets and tours; one secret to finding them is looking for mid-week options in winter.

Finally, regular visitors to Las Vegas casino resorts can unlock deep discounts and freebies by signing up for loyalty cards. Collectively, they’re known as “players’ cards,” and they are designed to track how much money you gamble or spend on-site. By and large, the more you shell out, the more you are entitled to get back in another form. If you’re shelling out anyway, you might as well get something for it.