i'm planning on visiting vegas for about a month in the near future and wanted to know if it would be better to drive out there or fly. i live in indiana so i'd really rather not drive if possible. how close to the strip would i need to be to get by with public transportation and walking? also, would a hotel be the best option for that length of time or should i try to find an apartment that does a month to month type situation? i'd really rather not spend over 1k/mo on a place to live, so i'm probably going to have to be a decent drive from the strip i would imagine. i'm just looking for some basic advice for now. any help is appreciated.

the drive will be pretty rough if you decide to do that. for only a month stay, i don't know if it's worth it. when i made the drive there were three of us driving in shifts, and we went straight through the whole way.

you have it backwards as far as housing prices go in vegas. directly on the strip, yes it's expensive. however, the apartments that are a couple of blocks away from the strip are fairly cheap. there are month to month places all over town and surrounding the strip for transient people like yourself, hookers, strippers, con artists, criminals, etc. siegel suites is one i can think of off the top of my head, but there are a couple more.

the month to month places will be furnished so you don't have to worry about getting a bed or TV or anything. the neighborhoods closest to the strip aren't the greatest, they are filled with mostly lower-class working folks doing casino jobs. the residential areas right next to the strip are technically within walking distance but we're talking at least 2-3 city blocks to the nearest month to month complexes. i can do a little more research on the month to month complexes if you would like me to.

one argument for making the drive, though, is that vegas is pretty hot in the summer, and you won't want to have to walk 3 city blocks in the summer to get to the casino. you could also fly and have your car shipped if you have the money to spend. i think shipping a car one way would be between $500-700 from indiana.

For just one person, flying is probably best. For two or more people, driving starts to make sense.

I live ten-hour-drive away. I usually drive, but I also stay for 12-days usually. Indiana seems kind of far to drive.

road trip

Wouldn't be too far to drive. I've only driven once, but it was a one-way trip from Vegas to Minneapolis and it was on 3 hours of sleep over the course of two nights with a buddy in a similar situation. It was hell, but we managed. For the length of your trip, driving doesn't sound too bad. Especially if a car would be useful.

When I was in college, we drove because it was cheaper and we had more free time.

Now that we all have full time jobs, flying just makes sense. Don't want to waste 5 hours each way (in our case) on driving when we only get 10-15 days vacation a year.

Also, the drive to Vegas isn't bad, but the drive home, if you do Vegas right, is horrible.

This all doesn't really apply to you because your drive is longer than 5 hours and the stay is longer than a long weekend so you shouldn't be hungover on your drive home.

You can probably get a flight for $225-$250. A month to month place like Siegle apts would probably work, for a month there i think its like $800. You can check it out here. http://www.siegelsuites.com/
The one on Tropicana and Valley View is closest to the strip. Like Augie said, it's filled with trashy people but it's close to Inn n Out burger! I had a friend stay there 3 years ago, the rooms were fine and the pool was fine. Def rent a car, it's worth the $300-$400 for the month especially if your coming here during the summer. You don't want to be waiting for a bus in the 110 degree heat! Anything else ask away.

If your budget is 1K for living expenses for the month and money is not as big as concern as safety/comfortability, then I would suggest driving and living a little further from the strip. You can find apartments in either Henderson, Summerlin area, or southwest vegas for your price range. The places would be unfurnished but if your not that picky you can just buy a bed and simple furniture for cheap on craigslist and just trash or try to sell them when your month ends.

I lived out there last summer and drove straight from dallas, about a 20 hour drive by myself and actually wasnt all that bad. The drive back was a little worse but still worked out better to have a car out there.

Drive. You will be miserable in Vegas for a month with no vehicle. Eating the same food day after day instead of driving to the store. You will find your choices of where to play, and what to do, or what to eat being heavily influenced by the location and schedules of bus stops.

My buddy that lived in Indiana would drive out to southern Arizona (about the same distance as Vegas) every year for a week-long stay. You can take as much stuff as you want, like your compuer, monitor, etc, and more than a week's worth of clothes so you're not at the laundromat all the time.

I saw Siegel being walking distance to Downtown. It reminds me of the three nights I had to spend just about 500m east of Downtown five years ago. It was a cheap hotel, like $30/night and when me and my friend checked in...a homeless, toothless, guy (hanging around in the lobby) approached us and and asked if he could sleep on our floor! Uhm..

Police and ambulance sirens in the area throughout the day, every ten minutes.
I always stayed in the poker rooms on the Strip until the morning sun light came, was too scared to go back in the dark.

And when we checked out we almost couldnt get a taxi. Nobody wanted to go there! Finally we got a ride and the taxi driver was happy we were normal people and was surprised we hadnt been robbed during those three days.

Never been to Downtown since then and never will. This was only a few minutes walk east of Binions and everything. Sick!
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I cant be of much help with your actual question but if you can find a friend to go with you you should just stay at the Venetian, get poker rate and pay about $1500 each for the whole month. No car rental necessary obviously.

Yeah downtown is pretty vile, but if you stay under the fremont experience and don't wander the side streets after dark you will be fine, there are a lot of Metro bike cops down there all day.

Yeah, staying at Golden nugget or something shouldnt be bad I guess.

BB>> Do you know if its possible to stay at MGM Signature for something like $1500/month? Staying just one or two months.

I always go with friends but Id rather go by myself soon to really really focus on playing poker and nothing else. Also want a kitchenette and of course want it at least pretty cheap and within walking distance to Wynn/Caesars/Bellagio/Venetian. MGM Sign. seems nice for that.

$1500 per month for MGM Signature is probably not possible. Look at VRBO.com for examples of owner rentals there, when seem to be significantly cheaper than the hotel rates. I don't think you'll be able to find anything there for less than $2500-3000/month, though, based on my browsing.

Ok thanks James, Ill have a look. At that price I might as well stay at Venetian or something. Would be nice with a kitchen though

thanks for all the advice guys. i think i might just bite the bullet and drive out or rent a car so i can stay off the strip. i'd rather not be in a really shady area near the strip. it sounds like Henderson and Summerlin are what a lot of people recommend here and in other threads. what kind of drive is that to the strip from those areas, like 15-20 min? i'd like to be a bit closer to the action but i could probably deal with that.

Most people underestimate the cost of driving because they omit the wear and tear on the car. AAA estimates the cost of driving is $0.52/mile and the business reimbursement rate is $0.55/mile.

This is probably cheaper than flying if you're driving from Arizona to Vegas, but more expensive than flying if you're driving from Indiana to Vegas, since air fare is less than proportional to distance traveled.

Yeah, 15-20 minutes generally, maybe more, depending on where you're going on the strip and where you're coming from. Henderson's a hair closer. And you don't NEED to be in Henderson or Summerlin to be safe, there are plenty of in-between neighborhoods that don't suck as bad as what's closest to the strip.