A Comprehensive Guide To Vegas (Insight Guides: Las Vegas Insight City Guide - Brian Bell)

Member Name: Andy.mack

Product:	Insight Guides: Las Vegas Insight City Guide - Brian Bell
Date:	02/11/09 (38 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Tells you all about the casinos, museums and what to see and how to do it

Disadvantages: Doesn't list prices despite updates

When I knew I was going to be in Las Vegas for a few days I knew I had to find out a little bit about the American Gambling paradise. I knew of course that there were a large number of casinos and the Grand Canyon wasn't far away, but I didn't have a clue what else there was to actually do. I knew I didn't fancy spending all day in the casinos so wanted to know what else Vegas had to offer. I borrowed this book from someone at work to give me an idea of exactly what Vegas had to offer and I was totally blown away.

The book does focus on the main pastime of most who visit Las Vegas, which is the casinos. In fact they even have a handy couple of pages that actually tell you how to play each game. It also covers just about every other aspect that Vegas can offer the simple tourist like me. There is also a little bit of history about the town itself and the desert that surrounds it, all of which makes for interesting reading on that 9 hour flight out there.

It is made by a company called Insight Guides who specialise in creating travel guides to various places around the world. The company was founded in 1970 with the first guide created by German Hans Hoefer as he travelled from Europe into Asia. He then went on to produce a number of other guides to the Asian cotenant before moving onto the rest of the world. He then sold his shares in the guides to a German company, who formed the Insight Guides concept, producing 400 different guides in association with The Discovery Channel.

The book itself is a pretty comprehensive guide to Vegas. It lists each of the hotels as a paragraph section and where necessary also tells you what there is to see in each hotel. I found this to be one of the books best features as it helped me decide what I personally wanted to see or suggest to the others might be worth visiting. Overall the information in the book is very accurate as it is updated regularly, meaning if something has closed recently or opened it will have been changed to suit.

The other main bonus I felt with this guide compared to a couple of others I'd looked at in the book shop was the amount of other data. It didn't just focus on The Strip like a lot of the others. We never made it to Downtown but the book also gives you tips on the places to visit to add to the whole Vegas experience. It was interesting to read about them even though there was no time to visit any of them. Again there are similar sections on areas outside the town such as the desert and the Hoover Dam, which really gives you a taste of what is available around Vegas.

The final sections of the book deal with how to get around in Vegas. It provides information such as how to get there using the main means of transport and how to get around once you are actually there. They also suggest places you might like to try for eating and drinking but we didn't use these sections settling for the hotel instead. There are however a number of recommendations in there and if the rest of the guide's anything to go by I'm sure they'll be pretty reliable. At the back there are also pages and pages of useful numbers for during your stay, such as show ticket lines and restaurant phone numbers to make all important reservations. A number of maps are also included so you can see where everything is in relation to your choice of hotel, which saves a great deal of time.

The guide can be picked up from all good book stores for £15.99 or from amazon for £8.99. It is excellent value for money if you want to do a lot more than sit in the Casino all day. It lets you know where there is to go and what there is to see and proved very helpful in making the most of each day there. They also have a pocket sized guide available but this full sized one, about the size of a video box, contains just about everything you'd need to know. If I had one complaint it would be the lack of ticket prices but as an ever changing item this is just a small point. If your planning on a trip to Vegas then I'd certainly recommend picking up a copy of this.

Summary: A Comprehensive Guide To Vegas