My husband and I decided one day to plan an adults-only trip with friends (another couple). Sans kids. For us, vacationing without kids is about as common as a total solar eclipse. But, occasionally, you find yourself in need of an adult getaway with some adult conversation and probably some adult beverages. We considered a few different places to go, but soon settled on Las Vegas.

Because really… Is there a city that is more “adult” than the city of Las Vegas?!

This was going to be our first trip to Las Vegas and we had one big concern. None of us are big gamblers. I mean, is it even possible to enjoy Vegas if you’re not mindlessly slipping coins into a slot machine?! Are there enough things to do to keep us occupied? Is it even worth going to Vegas if you’re not going for the casinos? Let me help you out if you, too, have these questions…

So we booked our trip for August. Hot, I know, but we wanted to get in a fun, adult trip before the kids went back to school. Because let’s be real… the back to school craziness really doesn’t slow down until after December and I’d feel guilty passing off our chaos onto grandma.

We booked our trip for four whole days. Let me repeat that. FOUR. The flights getting from Ohio to Vegas are super annoying. They’re super late, super early, or super expensive. So instead of leaving early and losing a day, we opted to stay another whole day and take the red-eye. Now, not only were headed to a town that we weren’t sure would be any fun for us, but we were going to be there for 4 days.

Let me cut to the chase…

We had an ABSOLUTELY amazing time. Amazing like, I’ve never laughed so hard in all my life. Also amazing like, we are still laughing about how good a time that we had. And finally, amazing like, we can’t wait to go back. When people ask me what we did while we were there, my reply (without hesitation) is always, “What didn’t we do?” Seriously, we did almost everything that Vegas had to throw our way. Let me walk you through our trip.

First thing’s first-

Buy a Las Vegas city pass! If you are planning on being in Vegas for more than one day and visiting attractions, definitely consider buying one of these passes. It ended up saving us so much money. I’ll show you just how much at the end (and for each attraction that we attended). I was hesitant to purchase one of these passes because they aren’t exactly cheap.

I believe that we bought a 4-day pass for $250 a pass. One of my biggest concerns was that we would purchase them and then not be able to use them or have issues with the passes. You don’t get any physical passes, the tickets are on your phone- which was incredibly convenient. And let me just tell you that we never had one single problem with anyone taking our passes. Every attraction that we visited was extremely familiar with the passes. Here is a link to the pass that we bought 👇🏻

We chose the all-inclusive pass that offers you one premium (choose from 7 options) experience and UNLIMITED non-premium experiences (choose from over 40 options). There were very few things that we wanted to do that weren’t either free or covered with the pass. It ended up working out so fabulously and I can’t recommend getting one enough.

Here’s what we did 👇🏻

---

On our First Day:

The Roller Coaster at NY, NY

The NY, NY Hotel is really neat on the inside. The main floor is a beautiful maze of shops that are designed to look like the streets of Manhattan. I really enjoyed simply walking around to check them all out.

Running through the NY, NY Hotel is a roller coaster. Yeah, a roller coaster. Let me just warn you that it’s a bit of a bumpy ride, but we found it fun and laughed about the fact that it was the first thing that we checked off of our list. You can buy a “ride” photo, but we opted not to. Give it a try! Your neck will forgive you later. 🤪

Cost: $15/ per person

Toured the Conservatory & Botanical Gardens at Bellagio Hotel

My mother in-law visits Vegas every year with a group of her friends. And every year she comes back talking so highly of the gardens at the Bellagio. So I had to check it out. It did not disappoint. Absolutely stunning.

Cost: FREE

Also at the Bellagio that is worth noting: the Bellagio has an amazing selection of shops and restaurants. They also have an amazing pastry cafe with the most incredible chocolate fountain.

And be sure to check out the famous Bellagio fountains located in the front of the hotel. The fountains are choreographed to music and are so fun to watch. I would recommend watching the fountain show both during the day and at night.

We spent the remainder of the first day catching our bearings and walking through some of the other resorts. Resorts that we thought are super pretty to walk through include: Paris Las Vegas Resort, The Venetian Resort Hotel (and Palazzo), Mandalay Bay, and the Wynn Hotel.

On Our Second Day:

Bodies Exhibition- Luxor Hotel AND Titantic: the Artifact Exhibition

Sorry, no pictures of these exhibits; photography is prohibited. I will say that they were both incredibly fascinating. We really enjoyed walking through these exhibits. Allow yourself at least an hour per exhibit. The Bodies exhibit, while a little creepy in some spots, was extremely informative. The Titanic exhibit was both sad and interesting. You’re provided with a passenger pass (of an actual passenger) at the beginning of the exhibit and at the end, you’re able to find out if your passenger had survived.

Cost: Bodies Exhibition $35/per person, Titantic Exhibition $35/per person

Las Vegas Monorail 24 Hour Pass

The Las Vegas Monorail is a delightful way to get around parts of the Strip. Plus it will give you a well-deserved break from the heat in the hotter months. There was never a line when we used the Monorail and it was much quicker than walking some of the longer distances. If you buy the City Pass, you can get a Monorail pass each day that you’re City Pass is good for.

Cost: $13/ per person (per day)

Eiffel Tower Viewing Deck at Paris Las Vegas Hotel

I’d highly recommend this experience. An elevator takes you up 460 feet to take in 360 degree views of the city. It’s an absolute gorgeous way to check out the Strip. It’s also the coolest way to watch the Bellagio fountain show, so try and get your timing right. While the original plan when building the Eiffel Tower in Las Vegas was to build an exact replica, it’s proximity to the McCarran International Airport prevented that from happening. Even though the Las Vegas Eiffel Tower is a half-size replica of the actual tower in Paris, it’s still a ton of fun to experience.

Cost: $18/ per person

Some other things worth noting on our Second Day- plan a visit to The Chandelier in The Cosmopolitan. It is an absolutely stunning bar. Even if you don’t have a drink there, it’s totally worth a peek.

Zumanity by Cirque du Soleil

So I wasn’t very sure as to how much I would enjoy this, but I must say that it was actually INCREDIBLY entertaining. It was the right amount of raunchy for an adults-only trip. Beware- there is a fair amount of audience participation. And the closer that you sit, the more likely that it is that the entertainers will come looking for you. Side note: while the alcoholic beverages here are rather pricey, they are amazing!

Cost: about $104+/ per ticket

On our Third Day:

Hoover Dam Tour

The Hoover Dam is about 30 minutes from the Las Vegas Strip. Included with the City Pass is free transportation to and from the Hoover Dam along with entry into the Dam as well as access to the Visitor Center. While I wasn’t exactly thrilled with the ride and the tour guide (oh Reggie, we are still laughing about you), this was a really cool experience and I’m glad that we did it. I would set aside about 4-5 hours of time for this activity. You will get some free time to explore the top of the Dam on your own, as well as the visitor center, gift shop, and the Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge.

Cost: $59.99/ per person

Senor Frogs Open Bar

After a long hot day at the Hoover Dam, free drinks for an hour was just what we needed. With our City Pass, we were able to drink free for an hour and get 20% off of food and appetizers.

Cost: $28/ per person

Fremont Street Experience

If you make the trip to Las Vegas, visiting old Vegas is a must. To be honest, what I was expecting of Fremont and what Fremont Street was actually like were two totally different things. I won’t spoil anything, only tell you that you have to go there to, well, experience it. So grab a drink and take all of it in.

Cost: FREE

On our Fourth Day:

Most people would probably take it easy on their last day. We did the opposite.

Marvel Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N

My family is a HUGE fan of all things Marvel, so of course, my husband and I insisted on visiting this spot. It is a museum chalk-full of Marvel artifacts and it’s incredibly cool. Even if you aren’t a big Marvel fan, it would still be a really fun spot to hit.

Cost: $39/ per person

Madame Tussauds Las Vegas

I had never been to a Madame Tussauds before visiting Vegas. I’d have to imagine that if you’ve been to one, it’s pretty much like you’ve been to them all. Sure, they probably have different wax figures of different people in different locations. I will say that one thing that sets the Vegas location apart from the other locations is The Hangover Experience. That’s right, folks, Madame Tussauds Las Vegas has a whole area dedicated to the movie The Hangover and it’s completely awesome. I guess that you have to be a fan of the movie to really enjoy it, but my guess is that if you’re in Vegas, you probably are.

Cost: $29.95/ per person

Fly LINQ Zipline

For about one minute of your time, I’m going to go ahead and say that it’s totally worth the 30 bucks! The Zipline at the LINQ is a ton of fun! You’ll reach speeds of about 35 mph as you race down the 1,121 foot long zipline, 122 feet in the air above the LINQ promenade. You can race up to ten people at a time and get a commemorative picture at the end. It’s a must do!

Cost: $30/ per person

High Roller Observation Wheel at the LINQ

This is another tourist attraction that I would absolutely recommend. There is just no better way to get a look at the city than from the top of the High Roller. There is a bar in the lobby where you can grab a drink before hopping into your observation pod. The wheel takes you 550 feet above ground, giving you beautiful 360 degree views of the city for a 30 minute ride. It’s one of the coolest places to take pictures in the city.

Cost: $25/ per person

The Strat Observation Deck

I’m not going to lie, I may or may not have had a few drinks in between the High Roller and The Stratosphere. And I may or may not remember a whole lot about the Strat. What I do remember, though, is that it was pretty cool. It is a hell of an elevator ride up to the observation decks of which there are two- an indoor and outdoor. If you’re crazy enough, you can even sky jump, do a guided fall, get married, or ride one of their three thrill rides (the Big Shot, Insanity, and the X-Scream).

Cost: $30/ per person

Here’s the Rundown-

The total cost of all of the experiences that we completed was $461.94, which meant that we had a savings of $211.94 per person. We purchased our passes for about $250 per person (we had also used an online promo code to discount the price). If you’re planning on doing a lot of touristy things besides gambling, purchasing a City Pass may be the best way to go. I will say that we all really enjoyed doing all things that we did! All in all, I can honestly say, without a doubt, that it was one of the best vacations that I have ever been on. I would definitely go back and I would definitely get the City Pass again and cross even more things off the list.

Side Note:

While we are not huge gamblers, we did still hit the casinos as well. A few of our favorite casinos included: The Palazzo and Venetian, the MGM Grand, the Casino Royale (while it’s kind of dumpy, they are very generous with free drinks), and the Cromwell (also kind of dumpy, but generous with free drinks).

Have you been to Las Vegas? Have you tried any of these experiences? Please leave me your thoughts in the comments below.