Las Vegas with a Baby: 8 Do’s and 1 Don’t for a Smooth Family Vacation
Las Vegas with a Baby: Sin City. Gambling Capital of the World. Land of Licentiousness and Excess. These—and many others—are the names that have come to mind my entire life at the mention of Las Vegas. But my husband and his family (also devout Christians) have been traveling there since he was a kid, and he has assured me as long as we’ve been together that Las Vegas is more than just strippers and gambling. I didn’t get to see for myself until this past July.
A few weeks after our son was born, my husband’s family started planning a summer trip to Las Vegas. I knew our son would be four months old by the time the trip rolled around, but the thought of traveling with a baby filled my heart with fear. On top of that, I had no idea what to expect in Las Vegas and despite everything my husband told me and his theories about how much I would love Vegas, I was extremely apprehensive.
Some family circumstances arose that required us to travel to West Virginia two weeks before our Las Vegas trip, and I realized that traveling with our baby was going to happen, and I needed to figure out how to make things move as smoothly as possible. Since our son was born, we have been of the perspective that we want to fit our baby into our lives and not fit our lives around our baby. To remain authentic to this idea meant traveling was inevitable. I’ll have to write another post about traveling with a baby because both trips went fantastically smoothly, and our son did great on the flights!
But Las Vegas specifically is interesting to me because when I Googled baby-friendly Las Vegas excursions prior to the trip, I didn’t find much on the subject. Reddit was even worse. The two posts I read were full of people echoing the idea that Las Vegas is not for kids and definitely not for babies. I even read one comment about how people with babies in Vegas do what every other person with a baby does in America: stay home.
What’s sad is that the commenter probably believes that really is what’s best when you have a baby. I’m sure a lot of people with babies believe that’s what’s best. And that’s why people don’t want to have kids until they’re in their thirties. Because baby = boring. But this is just such a pernicious lie. While some parents do prefer to stay home with their children, and this is well and good, that’s not the only way to be a family with kids.
I was pleasantly surprised with how baby-friendly Las Vegas was, and while I would not recommend every location, I do have a few things I enjoyed doing with my family as a young mother.
DO walk from casino to casino
By far, this is the best activity because there is so much to see on the Las Vegas Strip! We stayed at the Luxor and walked from the Luxor to the Excalibur, NYNY, Park MGM, the Bellagio, and Caesar’s Palace in a single day. We could’ve continued from here to the Venetian and the Wyn, but we visited these on separate days. While a “casino” in and of itself might not sound very baby-friendly, these casinos are so much more than gambling pits. Each one is themed and so intricately designed. The Luxor is a pyramid, Excalibur a castle, the Venetian has an indoor river and gondolas, and the Wyn is full of flowers. Each one is gorgeous and unique in its own way.
The one thing to be aware of when doing this is that the majority of the casinos do allow smoking. Thankfully, a lot of the staff are very friendly and can give you directions to go around the casino as opposed to walking straight through it.
DON’T spend too much time outside
The heat in Las Vegas is crazy. It was 100°F when we landed at 10 p.m., and it felt atrocious, even as a Texas girly. We had a little fan that we blasted at our son any time we set foot outside, but we tried to limit those occasions to five minutes or less. Thankfully, the casinos are all pretty close to each other, and some of them are even connected from the inside. Another reason to avoid the outdoors is because I’ve also heard that’s where you’re more likely to run into showgirls if that kind of thing concerns you.
DO visit the Bellagio Conservatory
When it comes to ogling the different casinos, the Bellagio is definitely the most ornate. They have gorgeous artwork throughout the hotel and a variety of luxury shops you can walk through. They even have a water show that happens in front of the hotel every fifteen minutes at night or every thirty minutes during the day. But by far, the best part is Bellagio’s conservatory. They change the display five times a year, and it is truly breathtaking. When we visited, it was full of floating flower-covered hot air balloons. It was also so much fun to hold up our little guy to look at the visually interesting displays.
DO stroll through the Venetian
Despite the beauty of the Bellagio, the Venetian was my favorite hotel to visit. We only walked through it once, and I wanted to go back for the duration of our trip! We didn’t actually partake in any of the activities at the Venetian, but just walking through it was such a relaxing experience. On our next trip, I would love to grab coffee or dinner alongside the river and just take it all in. I saw a few moms who were baby-wearing, which is also an option for walking the Strip. We kept our little guy in his stroller or just carried him in our arms.
DO ride the High Roller
The High Roller is a giant air-conditioned ferris wheel and Las Vegas’ version of the London Eye. It was pretty easy to enjoy with a baby. The cabins are large and spacious, and you can keep your little one in their stroller or carry them up to the glass so they can see out the window. The ride is also about twenty or thirty minutes, so it’s a nice way to relax after a long day of walking.
DO grab lunch at Eataly Italian Market
Eataly is located inside the Park MGM casino, which is botanically themed and one of our favorites. The casino is actually smoke-free, so this is definitely the best place to stay with little ones if it’s within your budget. It was such a relief to not have to speedwalk past the scent of cigarettes. Eataly itself is a really cool Italian market that’s enormous. The coffee wasn’t my favorite that I had in Las Vegas, but the pasta was fantastic. We also had a really good deep fried alfredo? And I bought myself a tube of Italian pistachio butter as a little souvenir.
DO grab coffee and a pastry at Urth Caffe
As much as Las Vegas has to offer, this was my favorite attraction. Urth Caffe is a coffeeshop from Los Angeles that offers delicious lattes (we tried the Spanish Latte and Honey Vanilla Latte) along with decadent pastries. We visited twice, and the first time we went, I saw that they had an Earl Grey tiramisu that I just had to come back and try before the end of our trip. It’s also located inside the Wyn, which is a gorgeous hotel full of fresh flowers. I love sitting and chatting in a coffeeshop, and this is one of the nicest coffeeshops I have ever been in. There’s also enough ambient noise that you don’t have to worry about any chattering your little one might need to do.
DO visit Area15 and MeowWolf’s OmegaMart
We generally stayed on the Strip to avoid the cost of long Uber rides, but Area15 is a really cool spot, especially for kids. There are a lot of bright lights, if that’s something that concerns you with your little one, but I can’t wait to come back here with future kids. The best part of Area15 was a separate interactive grocery store-themed exhibit. There was so much to see here, and we easily spent a few hours exploring. One thing to be prepared for is that they don’t allow strollers, so baby would have to be worn or in arms.
DO travel with family
This is my number one tip for traveling to Vegas with a baby. The more hands, the merrier. While there’s a lot that can be enjoyed in Vegas with your little one, it’s also such a wonderful relief to have people you trust who can watch him. There are other activities that would have been either difficult or impossible if we made the trip on our own, such as visiting the Sphere, riding the Big Apple Coaster, watching David Copperfield perform at the MGM Grand, and playing blackjack at the Luxor. We were even able to get a hotel room right next door to my in-laws so they could help with our little guy in the mornings when we were getting ready. If you don’t have family you can travel with, try to travel with close friends you would trust to help out with your children.
Overall, it was a wonderful vacation and so much more wholesome than I expected. The staff were so friendly and kind to our little guy, and the restaurants we ate at were phenomenal. There were so many sights to see and so much to explore. We were even able to check out a local church on Sunday morning before heading out to the airport (shout out to Our Lady of Victory).
While it’s ultimately up to you and your family how you travel with your baby and where you go, don’t count Las Vegas out when you’re planning your next vacation! I can’t wait for our next visit!
Verily,
Kyrie
