Who would think that early December is a great period to visit Las Vegas, Zion, Bryce canyon and more? We ended-up going at this time of the year for a short week and we were impressed by how good this decision was. The post below focuses on Las Vegas. We spent 2 days and 3 nights on the strip, which is a good amount of time to have a taste of this astonishing place. The next post here, focuses on a short 3.5 days road trip to Bryce, Zion, and The Wave.

Welcome to Vegas!

We arrived at Las Vegas airport late on a Thursday evening, we went to our hotel on the strip via Uber. The airport is very close to the strip so this was a very short ride. For the hotel we stayed at the Luxor which is on the south part of the strip.

Day 1: Strip visit, Brew Dog, The Sphere (Friday 8th December)

Our main objective of the morning was to go to Dominique Ansel Bakery for breakfast and to visit the strip. We started from the Luxor and walked North. We first crossed the Excalibur, then the New York New York. In the morning the area was not crowded and perfect to visit. We continued north along the Paris to finally arrived at the Caesars Palace. Inside the Caesars palace we stopped at Dominique Ansel Bakery for a Cronuts. We where surprised to see that Dominique Ansel himself was in the shop trying some of the deserts and discussing with the staff.

After the breakfast it was about 9:30am, we crossed the street to go to the Venetian and strolled along the Grand Canal shops. Seeing this mall reproducing a fake Venice was a cool experience. And at this time of the day the shops are just opening and the place is mostly empty.

We then headed south to the Link promenade and to the mall of the Hollywood Casino. This mall is funny because a part of it kept the old decorations of a Middle East souk coming from the previous casino named “Aladdin”. After all those mall visits we started to be hungry. We did a quick stop at our hotel and went for a late Lunch at Brew Dog on the top floor.

Brew Dog is a Scottish craft brewery, in Las Vegas they have a great tap room just north East from the New York New York. They have 2 floors including a great terrace. We enjoyed some beers and burger while sunbathing. Everything was a little bit overpriced (Even for a Bostonian…. Welcome to Vegas), but the terrace and the French fries were very enjoyable.

After lunch we headed south for a quick visit of the MGM. We then went back to the hotel to get ready for the U2 Concert at the Sphere.

U2 Concert at the Sphere

We went to the sphere walking coming from the south of the strip. There was no clear direction and we ended crossed a parking to find our way. We arrived just after the gate opening at 6:38pm, passed the gate and stopped at the first merch shop to by a t-shirt. We then took an elevator to reach the main lobby. The main lobby is a large open area nicely decorated, with blue lights and the escalators going to the different floors. We took a beer and went up to our seats.

When entering the concert room area the screen was displaying the image of a concrete wall. A DJ was present on the floor in a small car and was mixing music in the middle of the people with general admission ticket. Just after 8:30pm the show started.

Overall we were both very impressed by the show. There are some amazing effect on the screen but they are not used 100% of the time. This is I think a very good mix because using the screen all the time could have been too much. In addition of the impressive screen effects that we were expecting, something that standout was the quality of the sound, it was just perfect. This is for sure a very expensive show but the experience is amazing.

Few practical information if you plan to go to the Sphere: (This is based on what we experienced during our visit):

• Doors open at 6:30pm. Lot’s of (expensive) merch shop are available at the entrance or in the Sphere main lobby
• The show official start time is 8pm but the show really started at 8:30pm.
• The show lasted about 2hours.
• Food and drinks are expensive but available inside the Sphere
• If you are coming from the south of the stip. Accessing the sphere walking can be confusing.
• We were not in the general admission section but from the top, the area was not looking too crowded.
• Be careful about ticket in the lowest section of the Sphere (100) you may have only a partial view of the screen.

After the concert we went back to our hotel. Just doing a quick stop at the Honolulu Cookie Company in the Linq promenade. It was already a long day with about 40km walking.

Day 2: Strip visit, NBA Play in tournament (Saturday 9th December)

For our second day we went back to Dominique Ansel bakery at the Caesar Palace for breakfast. We tried different sweet pastries that were delicious. This time we continued north after the Caesar Palace to visit the Wynn and the Encore. We enjoyed visiting these two casino which have nice decorations.

After the Wynn and the Encore we headed south and went again to see the Grand Canal. I still don’t know what to think about this canal which is at the same time great to see, but also useless and using water which is limited in the region (but I guess this comment is true for all the city). We then crossed the street to visit the Bellagio and it’s botanical garden. The botanical garden was having Christmas decoration and was packed with people.

Our next stop was to visit the Paris. At this stage I think we were close to a casino and mall overdose so the visit was fast. We went to Eataly to buy bread for our coming road trip, and then for lunch near the New York New York that we visited quickly. We then went to our hotel room for a quick break.

Before going to the In Season NBA tournament we went walking to the famous Las Vegas city sign which is south of the Mandalay Bay. When we arrived we were surprised by the number of people waiting for a picture. There was a significant line to get the perfect picture (maybe 30min). On our side we just squeezed in on the side to take a quick picture and walked back to the T-Mobile Arena for the NBA game.

NBA in Season tournament final

We arrived around 4:00pm for a game starting at 5:30pm. In front of the T-Mobile Arena few games and TV set were present to add a little bit of animation. Inside the Arena we were surprised by the emptiness of the Arena.

The game was the Lakers against the Indiana Pacers and the key players from both franchise were playing. It was a cool game, even if we could have guessed the winner before the start.

At the end of the game there was a small trophy ceremony. Our Las Vegas visit was planned to see this event. But this is potentially the part of the trip that we enjoyed the less. (The fact that we are Celtics fans might be a slight contributive factor). We were hopping to have the Celtics in the game and we are comparing our experience to what we are use to have in the TD garden which is maybe one of the best arena to visit.

After the game we went to the Target in the strip to buy some groceries for our trip. We then visited quickly the Mandalay Bay and went back to our hotel to pack our bags for the next steps of our trip: Bryce, Zion and the Wave (trip notes here).

Reflecting on our 2 days in Vegas:

Gambling: We are not gambler, but going to Vegas we could have played few bucks to win a car or something. The facts that most of the machine are electronics and worked directly with the credit card added a barrier for us and we didn’t play any money. So we will not comment on the gambling part.

Is early December a good time: Visiting Las Vegas during early December was a nice period. A light jacket was needed on the morning and the evening but the temperature were ok. It seems that this part of the year is often dedicated to “Cowboy Christmas” and there was a lot of Rodeos. It would have been fun to see one but our nights activities were already booked. Also, something to consider is that at this time of the year most of the Casino pools and gardens are closed.

Budget: It’s expected, but everything in the Las Vegas strip is expensive. If you are looking for cheap alcohol you can play few bucks in a Casino or buy some alcohol at the grocery shops on the strip.

Airport: For a city that welcome so many travelers we were expecting a faster airport. From the rental car center we had to wait maybe 20min for a bus to the airport, and in the airport we waited about 30min for the security line. Keep that in mind and don’t arrive at the last minute.

Itinerary: If you are just coming for a quick visit I think one or two days is enough. We didn’t explore the Fremont street area and this is certainly something we should do if we go back. Booking good shows is part of the Las Vegas experience and the U2 concert in the Sphere was amazing.

Overall: Las Vegas is something to see one time in your life. The energy and all the buildings are impressive, but it also feels very artificial. Seeing a show in the Sphere is a must do if your budget allows it.

The next part of our trip to Bryce, Zion, and the Wave was amazing! All the info here.