Value in Las Vegas is mostly a matter of dates. Rates follow the convention and event calendar more than the weather: in 2025 the Strip's average room rate was $164.58 in July and $219.56 in October, weekends ran at 88.8% occupancy against 76.6% midweek, and weeks such as CES, from 6 to 9 January 2027, lift prices across town. At all five hotels here a weeknight costs less than a Saturday, often much less.
Then the extras. Every one of our ten adds a nightly resort fee of $50 to $55, and room tax applies to it too, so a $200 Strip room with a $55 fee comes to about $289. Since the fee goes on everywhere, look at what surrounds it: parking is free at SAHARA Las Vegas and Red Rock Casino Resort & Spa, and Circa Resort & Casino's fee includes two pool passes a night. Downtown hotels averaged half the Strip's rate in 2025.
SAHARA Las Vegas has the lowest rates of our ten: about $55 a night on a Tuesday in mid-May, before tax and the $54.95 fee, in a resort its owners spent more than $200 million renovating between 2018 and 2023. Parking, self and valet, costs nothing for any guest, and entry to The Pool, under a 240-foot LED wall, is free for hotel guests of all ages from March to October. The resort has its own Monorail station, with trains every four to eight minutes and Horseshoe/Paris, the stop for the centre Strip, 11 minutes down the line.
The price belongs to weeknights. The same room costs several times as much on a Friday or Saturday and in big convention weeks, so arrive early in the week and leave before the weekend. For dinner, Kwame Onwuachi's Maroon means no ride at all.
The room to book
Alexandria Iconic King
about 490 sq ft (46 m²)$115 a night
490 sq ft against the Blanca King's 325, with a banquette, a work desk and a two-sink bathroom in the 2014 Gensler and Philippe Starck design, for about $60 a night more.
Circa Resort & Casino gives a midweek rate a pool day to match. Rooms start at about $170 on a May Tuesday, and the $50 nightly fee includes two general-admission passes a night to Stadium Swim, subject to availability. Its six pools are heated and open every day of the year, on three tiers that face a screen 135 feet wide with the games on. Every room has a king bed, a fridge, twin basins and a walk-in shower, and the entry Single King is 439 sq ft.
Downtown is the cheaper side of Las Vegas: in 2025 its hotels averaged $98.75 a night against $197.45 on the Strip, and Fremont Street's free light shows and concerts are outside the door, with the Mob Museum eight minutes on foot. Everyone in the resort must be 21 or over. Come midweek, since Fridays and Saturdays can cost about three times a Tuesday.
The room to book
Single King
439 sq ft (41 m²)$169 a night
The entry room is already on the quieter north side, away from Fremont Street and the pool, with a couch, a fridge, twin basins and a walk-in shower with a bench.
The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas has the lowest starting price of our four hotels around the Bellagio fountains, from about $135 a night midweek before tax and the fee, and the best buy is not the entry room. The City Room is 460 sq ft with a large marble bathroom but no terrace. For about $43 a night more, the Terrace Studio King Fountain View adds 160 sq ft, a full-size bubbler tub and a private terrace facing the Bellagio lake, where the fountains play every 15 minutes from 8pm to midnight. Private terraces are rare on the Strip.
The address saves money too. The lakeside pavement and Paris are each five minutes from the Strip entrance and Caesars Palace 13, so most evenings need no taxi, and China Poblano, a MICHELIN Bib Gourmand, is the good-value table in the building.
The room to book
Terrace Studio King Fountain View
620 sq ft (58 m²) plus a 110 sq ft (10 m²) terrace$258 a night
160 sq ft more than the City Room, a bubbler tub and a private terrace facing the Bellagio fountains, for about $43 a night more: the step that buys the view.
Red Rock Casino Resort & Spa has the biggest entry room on this list. From about $250 on a May Tuesday, the Luxury King is 515 sq ft with a Calcutta marble bathroom, a soaking tub and a separate shower, and booking the canyon side, facing the Calico Hills and the Red Rock mountains, adds about $10. Parking, self and valet, is free, which makes this the one hotel of our ten where a hire car earns its keep: Red Rock Canyon's scenic drive is 12 minutes away by car, and evenings on the Strip start with a drive too.
The resort fills the days in between, with a 3-acre pool area open all year, a 24-hour gym and Downtown Summerlin's shops and restaurants four minutes' walk away. Come from Sunday to Thursday, since a Friday or Saturday can cost about twice a Tuesday.
The room to book
Canyon View King
about 515 sq ft (48 m²)$259 a night
The same 515 sq ft room and soaking tub as the cheapest rate, booked to face west to the Calico Hills and the Red Rock mountains for about $10 a night more.
Caesars Palace is the famous name on this list, from about $160 a night midweek before tax and the fee, in the middle of the Strip. Much of the value comes with the room key. The Garden of the Gods, five acres of pools on three levels, is free for hotel guests from March to October, four to a key, and the Forum Shops and The Colosseum are on site, with the Bellagio fountains six minutes away on foot.
Choose the tower with care, because the entry room is not the best buy. The Octavius Premium Room gives 550 sq ft for about $20 a night more than the 360 sq ft Julius entry room, in a tower opened in 2012 with no renovation announced. Sunday to Thursday nights cost less than Fridays and Saturdays.
The room to book
Octavius Premium Room
550 sq ft (51 m²)$274 a night
190 sq ft more than the Julius entry room for about $20 a night, with a bath, at the pool and lobby end of the resort, in a tower with no renovation announced.
Every room at The Venetian Resort Las Vegas is a suite of at least 650 sq ft, remodelled in 2024 and 2025, the largest entry room of our ten, with a living area, a sofa bed and a Roman tub in the middle of the Strip.
On most midweek nights in June and July, Fontainebleau Las Vegas costs less than half its mid-May rate, for the Strip's newest big resort with its six-acre pool deck open, and its resort fee includes self-parking.
From about $165 a night
Questions people ask
Good questions about Las Vegas
How much are the resort fee and tax in Las Vegas?
Every one of our ten charges a resort fee: $50 a night at Circa Resort & Casino, $54.95 at Caesars Palace and SAHARA Las Vegas and $55 at the rest. Room tax is 13.38% on the Strip and 13% downtown and in Summerlin, and it applies to the fee as well as the room, so a $200 Strip room with a $55 fee comes to about $289. Since May 2025 hotels must include the fee in the total price they show. What it buys varies: two Stadium Swim passes a night at Circa, in-season pool entry at SAHARA.
When is the cheapest time to stay in Las Vegas?
Midweek, and high summer. In 2025 the Strip's average room rate was lowest in July, at $164.58, and highest in October, at $219.56, and weekends ran at 88.8% occupancy against 76.6% midweek. Big conventions and events cost most: CES runs from 6 to 9 January 2027, SEMA from 3 to 6 November 2026 and the Formula 1 Grand Prix from 19 to 21 November 2026. At SAHARA Las Vegas, the room that is about $55 on a May Tuesday is about $400 in CES week. The catch in July is the heat: days average 104.5°F (40.3°C).
Is it cheaper to stay downtown than on the Strip?
Yes, by about half. In 2025 downtown hotels averaged $98.75 a night against $197.45 on the Strip. Circa Resort & Casino, at the west end of Fremont Street, starts at about $170 on a May Tuesday, with two Stadium Swim passes a night in its $50 fee and the Mob Museum eight minutes away on foot. The trade is the ride: the Bellagio fountains are 11 minutes by car, and the Deuce bus runs between downtown and the Strip around the clock, $8 for 24 hours.
Yes, if you stay at the north end. SAHARA Las Vegas has its own station, at the back of the resort near the Alexandria Tower, and trains run every four to eight minutes, reaching Horseshoe/Paris, the stop for the centre Strip, in 11 minutes. A ride is $6.25 and 24 hours of unlimited rides $15.50 at the station. Trains run from 7am until midnight on Mondays, 2am from Tuesday to Thursday and 3am from Friday to Sunday. On foot, the Bellagio fountains are about 50 minutes away.
How did you choose these hotels?
Independently, through extensive research, trusted sources and first-hand visits. Hotels cannot pay to be included, and every one of the ten has to exist for a different reason.
The smart money
