First of all , not that many people who come to Las Vegas for the first time are even aware that there is a Downtown area of town .
There is and it’s actually the oldest section of town .
The Las Vegas Strip is the place that most everyone knows and associates with Sin City .
All those fancy and flashy hotels all in your face .
Not to mention the fancier nightlife with the clubs all trying to outdo each other with well known djs .
But some of you would be surprised to learn that all those casino resorts from the Mandalay Bay at the beginning of the Las Vegas Strip all the way down to the Stratosphere at the end of the Strip are actually located in the incorporate city of Paradise , Nevada .
But I guess if you win a lot of money at the tables and slots , you’d be in Paradise for awhile , too .
Seriously , though , lots of tourists who have never been to Las Vegas or even the ones who have many times, want to know :
When I come to Las Vegas , should I stay on the Las Vegas Strip , also known as Las Vegas Boulevard or should I stay in Downtown Las Vegas , where most of the hotels are on Fremont Street ?
As someone who has lived and worked in Downtown Las Vegas for three years and has been to the Las Vegas Strip more times than I have fingers and toes , I think I have some street cred here .
Where should you stay?
It all depends , really .
Do you want to be where the major action in Las Vegas is?
Or do you want it quiet?
This is Las Vegas , folks , good luck with that quiet thingy .
The Las Vegas Strip or Downtown Las Vegas can give you both .
The hotels on the Las Vegas Strip are the ones that you see in every picture of Las Vegas .
You want to see The Eiffel Tower without traveling to Paris , France ?
There’s the Paris Las Vegas Hotel with the smaller version of all things Paris , France right in front of you .
You don’t want to travel to Egypt , but that hotel that’s shaped like a pyramid looks very interesting to you .
That’s Luxor , people .
Or maybe you want to see a replica of ” the glory that was Rome ” ?
The ginormous Ceasars Palace is the place you want to be.
You say that you want to stay on the Las Vegas Strip but some of these hotel casinos are way too overwhelming for you .
How about the quiet elegance of the Bellagio or the simple elegance of The Wynn or its sister property , Encore at The Wynn ?
You say that you brought the kids with you ?
How about Circus Circus or the Excalibur ? Or even The Stratosphere ?
Now that you’ve heard about the Las Vegas Strip , just what does Downtown Las Vegas have for you ?
Will you see things that you’ve never seen before like on the Las Vegas Strip ?
This is Las Vegas , folks .
Of course you will .
Where else would you see a Dennys Restaurant with a wedding chapel or a restaurant called The Heart Attack Grill where people can weigh themselves right outside of the restaurant ?
Want more craziness ?
Take a ride on that zip line that flies over you and several thousands of visitors at the Fremont Street Experience .
Yes , that is a humongous slot machine that people are shooting out of .
The zip line is called “Slotzilla .
There’s not a lot of casinos Downtown .
There’s only 11 of them and most of them are located around the Fremont Street Experience .
If you want a friendly atmosphere , Downtown Las Vegas is the place for you .
There’s a light show every night here from 8 pm until Midnight .
It’s loud , but this is Vegas after all .
From Seventh Street up to 111th Street , this area of Downtown is known as Fremont Street East .
You’ll find clubs, restaurants and a place called the Downtown Container Park where everything seems to be made from old shipping containers .
There’s even a Praying Mantis in front of the building .
This being Las Vegas , even the insects have to put on a show , so at night , the Praying Mantis lights up too .
I would say that this is as far as you should venture on Fremont Street .
After 11th Street , there’s no need to venture any further down Fremont Street .
If you decide to stay on the Las Vegas Strip , but you want to go Downtown , you can get there by public transportation , either the Deuce or the SDX can get you there and back .
So where would I advise you to stay ?
In spite of the glitter and glamour of the Las Vegas and the fact that some areas around Downtown are sketchy , I would still say stay on Fremont Street , Downtown Las Vegas .
The hotels are much cheaper and unlike many , if not all the casinos hotels on the Las Vegas Strip , some of the hotels don’t have a resort fee , where you basically pay for everything on top of paying for your stay and not to mention that they charge $100 for incidentals , which you get back when you check out.
Providing that you haven’t used up $100 worth of incidentals , of course .
Some of the hotels collect the fees when you check in , others when you check out .
Paying the resort fees are not optional , by the way .
For the Las Vegas Strip hotels , the fees can range from $23 a night all the way up to $35 a night .
The hotels Downtown that do have a resort fee charge $ 9 to $20 a night , and no not paying the fees isn’t an option here either .
From Las Vegas McCarron International Airport , shuttles can get you to both those fancy hotels on the Las Vegas Strip as well as the not so fancy hotels Downtown that you and the family decide to stay at.
