Las Vegas, Excalibur Hotel

The Excalibur had a fairly good position on the strip, next door to the mgm, New York, Luxor & Mandalay bay all connected with moving walk ways (just as well the size of these hotels being enormous). The Excalibur not being as up market as some of the other hotels had a more relaxed atmosphere, it catered for all age groups. The rooms in the Excalibur were quite tatty and worn (could do with some refurbishment) although the beds were very comfortable. The furnishings are very dark and dreary which make it look worse. This hotel & casino is a very child friendly place, Having been to Florida on a few occasions, they were very strict on a booze & gambling environment for children, got the shock of our lives at this hotel never seen as many children running round a casino (although they could not gamble or drink you need to be 21). If your looking for an adult only holiday then the Excalibur is not for you (or as near to as you can get anywhere) then the Excalibur is not for you.

We are 4 adults who went to Las Vegas for 8 nights for new year, this was one of the best holidays and New Year we have ever had, we would thoroughly recommend it to anyone (although we would try a different hotel next time), like the mgm, Venetian, caseurs palace, Monte Carlo to name but a few. The Rio hotel although not on the strip (behind caseurs palace on flamingo rd) is a fantastic resort hotel with lots of fine dinning in its many restaurants with prices to suit all budgets, for example the grand world buffet (eat as much as you like including soft drinks) for about $65.00 for four of us. The atmosphere in the Rio is very friendly and relaxed, the casinos in Las Vegas are a sight to be seen on their own, every hotel has one, there's no avoiding them even if you try, every door in every hotel leads into the casino first before you see anything else. We had never gambled before until going to Las Vegas but you just cant help but get into the swing of things (lucky for us we won quite a bit over the 8 nights).The helicopter trip over the grand canyon is a fantastic trip, its cheaper to book it while your over there rather than before you go, Lots of availability. We hired a car the day after we arrived even though taxis are plentiful and fairly cheap, a car just allows you to see a bit more of the resort and shopping malls which are a fair bit away from the main strip area, it cost us a few hundred dollars fully inclusive for the week. If you have time to fit a show in the choice is endless with shows to suit everyone, they go down in price a lot after the 2nd January when all the Americans go home. On new years eve Las Vegas is something else, every hotel lets off an array of fireworks from the roof tops and it just lights the strip up like you would not believe, but if you don't like crowds then New Year is not the time to go to Las Vegas because 400.000 people check in for new year from all over the world, and for new years eve we would recommend making reservations for restaurants or shows about 4-6 months before you go. We stayed around the hotel and had no problem booking a meal because we were resident at the Excalibur, just before midnight they came round with champagne for everyone and outside we all went to watch the fabulous array of fireworks, then it was party time. If you stayed in Las Vegas for a month you would still not have enough time to do all that is on offer, we think we will have to do it all again next year but at our lucky hotel the Rio. (book early)