Customer Reviews

The Unofficial Guide to Las Vegas 2005 (Unofficial Guides)

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Unofficial Guide to Las Vegas, 2000, is the only book you'll want to read when planning your trip. It goes into great detail about all the hotels and casinos, what their rooms are like, what the hotels offer, what the casinos offer, and lots more. It tells you how to obtain "comps" and how to play the games, with easy to understand rules and diagrams. With their 100+ pages of Dining and Restaurant information, you know where to find the best food and the best prices. The Hotel Information Chart in the back is extremely helpful because you can compare hotels without having to flip through a lot of pages. Chapter 5 talks about shopping and the sights around Nevada, in case you plan on doing more than gambling. The Unofficial Guide gives you the pros and cons of each show so you can decide wether or not it's worth 100.00 a person, to see Siegfried & Roy at the Mirage. There is also a little section that tells you where you have the best odds of winning at each game, and at which casino. Another great thing about this book are the maps of The Strip and of Downtown. It lets you know how far you are from point "A" to point "B", because hotel properties are deceiving in their size. A walk from your room at the Venetian, to Caesars Palace may take 20 minutes or so. All 544 pages are packed full of helpful and accurate information. The Unofficial Guide made planning our trip extremely easy. I highly recommend this book, and only this book, to anyone planning on going to Las Vegas!

We originally bought the 1996 version of this book before our first trip to Las Vegas. We used it as a bible of sorts. We found its reviews to be on target. The authors are not afraid to give advice on where not to go and what not to see. It rates hotels, casinos, restaurants, shows and about anything else you could want rated. It also provides the basics of gambling and even gives tips for planning your trip. We have since made Las Vegas our adult vacation spot, a place we go without the kids once a year. We always bring the book and read it ahead of time. We decided to get the latest 1999 edition prior to the trip we are taking in about a month. The book has only minor changes since 1996 and does not have much of anything on any new hotels which opened after New York/New York. The shows information is pretty much identical to the 1996 edition, save a few new shows. My suggestion is to buy the book if you do not have a fairly recent edition. It will more than pay for itself with excellent advice. It also helped us save about a hundred dollars by giving suggestions on booking the trip. If you have a 1996 edition or newer, you really don't need it unless you have worn your other copy out.

Like the rest of the "Unofficial Guide" line, this book tells you how to visit, rather than just what to visit. That is, in addition to fairly encyclopedic information about transportation, hotels, restaurants and attractions, it provides a good deal of useful information about how to get the most out of your vacation.

For example, rather than just providing a guide to hotels, it prefaces the detailed listing with a section discussing the pros and cons of different accomodations. Motel or hotel? Small casino or megacasino? Downtown, the Strip or further out? Similar help is available for picking what games to play and where to gamble, what shows to see (and where to sit), and so on.

This guide provides the sort of "I wish I'd known that" information you gather on your first trip to use on your next trip. This lets you avoid many of the common mistakes your first time out. Obviously a lot of this is subjective, and you won't agree with their assessments every time, but overall their evaluations are fair, and their tips are exteremely useful.

When I was planning my trip to Las Vegas, I went to the largerst local book store and looked through all Las Vegas tourist guides which they had. I found this book by far the best, and my opinion did not change after the trip. Instead of providing a directory of hotels, restaurants, and attractions as it is done in most travel guides, the authors write about their own experience of staying at hotels, going to shows, eating at cafes, etc. This makes the book very practical. I used the recommendations and evaluations of the book to make a detailed plan of my Las Vegas trip, and I enjoyed every minute of that stay. I am sure that I would get lost in the miriads of attractions that Las Vegas has to offer without this guide. I agree with one of the reviews posted on Amazon earlier that a slightly more critical attitude of the authors would not hurt, and can add to it that I would make the index at the end of the book more detailed than it is now to make search for a specific information easier. Nonetherless, its a great book,which is worth every penny of its price.

I have been to Vegas only once in my life for a conference and now I am going back as a tourist I loved it so much. This book is good for either the tourist or the business traveler...very effective and detailed compared to many other Travel Guide books for Las Vegas. Very informative and insightful...It's a strong essential to have from the planning of your business trip or vacation to the time you are in Las Vegas!

This volume will show you everything you'll ever want to know about the true City That Never Sleeps. With new casinos opening on almost a monthly basis this unbiased source will direct you to the nicest hotels, the biggest buffets, the best gaming opportunities and all the attractions Las Vegas has to offer. Want the inside scoop on how to score free rooms? It's in here. The list of the Top 10 free attractions? It's in here. Best bargain hotels? It's in here. The best pools for sun worshippers? You know what I'm gonna say. Also includes an expansive guide to gambling and a detailed listing of restaurants and nightspots, with price guidelines and clientele to boot. You will not need another guide for your vacation.

This book is amazing. After visiting Vegas and loving it, I decided to buy this book to prepare myself for the best value dining/entertainment/hotel money can buy on my next visit. I discovered more then I bargained for in this wonderful book. The book is completely comprehensive, it gives you information from flights to Vegas all the way down to golf courses, ranks best resturants/buffets/hotels/shopping centers/shows and much much more. Reading this book you can really see that the people who wrote this knows what they are talking about. From my experience, I agreed with the authors selections (for example, the best seafood buffet Rios). There are details not only on the Vegas strip but downtown Las Vegas. This book is a must if you want to experience the best of Vegas. Highly recommended.

I have been buying Bob Sehlinger's "Unofficial Guide to Las Vegas" each year it comes out. I am a seasoned Las Vegas tourist, having been there 20 plus times and let me tell you that he and his staff of writers are always on target. This book is a must for anyone who is going for the first time. Much more friendly and in depth than Fodor's or Frommer's releases, it is written to be, well, readable. You may be asking yourself why I need to keep buying his book year after year if I have gone to Las Vegas so many times. Well, the best answer I have is that the chronological coverage he gives to this dynamic destination is top-notch. I am able to keep abreast of the latest developments and prices within the city. The review for a specific hotel, restaurant, or casino may change from year to year. Anyway, pick one up. You won't be dissapointed.

I buy a current copy of this book each time I go to Las Vegas

This book is great for the first time visitor or the thousandth time. It rates and reviews everything imaginable from the hotel rooms to golf courses to clubs and shows. I never knew there was so much to know and I have been there many times. I found the information helpful and thorough. There are charts to help you de-code the information and the complex rating system used by the author and his staff, but overall it is an excellent guide for anyone wanting to know more than just meets the eye.