Back in the spring my girlfriends and I took the ultimate girls trip to Las Vegas to shower our friend Amy before she got hitched. This bachelorette party was the perfect, quintessential Vegas girls trip done in a very classy, “were entering our 30s” type of way.

I’ve been to Las Vegas for a lot of different celebrations. I’ve gone for my birthday before, friend’s birthdays, to see concerts and shows, but this was my first bachelorette in Vegas. We had a few first timers to sin city, including the bride, and it was so much fun to show them around and do everything Las Vegas.

What we did:
Friday we got in and hung out in our suite for the day and just relaxed. Like I said, we are all pushing 30 and my visits to Vegas now have been a little different than when I first started going 7 years ago. (Grandma’s got to take a nap!) We got ready and grabbed some drinks and appetizers before heading out to a club. Saturday, we woke up early and went down to the Mandalay Bay pool where we split our time between our cabana and the lazy river. Saturday night was our nice dinner out, but more on that later on.

After we had food we did what every, and any bachelorette party in Vegas should do. Thunder From Down Under. And wow ladies, that was an experience. Not something I need to do again but done, complete, checked off the bucket list. After the show, we went up to the Foundation Room in Mandalay Bay which has amazing views of the strop. Oh my goodness. Defiantly one of my favorite spots to get drinks in Las Vegas. You are 62 floors above the strip with panoramic views all the way down to the Stratosphere.

Sunday morning was another early morning, since we had to get up early to get ready for a pool party. We should have known better but it took us a little bit to get moving and we actually didn’t make it to Encore Beach Club to see David Guetta until about 2. Which, honestly, was perfect because I am not sure if we’d all be living if we were there much longer.

Needless to say after day 3 we were all in bed and asleep by 10pm.

Monday morning, since we all had flights at different times, we packed up our room, left our luggage at the bell hop’s desk and headed down to finally explore the strip. This may have been my favorite day because exploring is my favorite part of Vegas. This town is constantly changing. There is always a new show, or restaurant popping up and it had been about 8 months since I’ve been to Las Vegas. Lots had changed.

We got to check out all of the casinos, eat some noodles (which was a big goal on the trip), and watch the water show outside of the Bellagio. I had to head out early to catch my flight, but some of the girls were even able to catch and early Cirque du Soleil show.

Where we ate:

A lot of our weekend, and I mean a lot, was centered around our snacking. We are all big time foodies and defiantly love a good meal. Here are my favorites from the weekend.

Holsteins was our apps and drinks place the first night we got there. I am pretty sure we just ordered one of everything at this cute little place in the Cosmopolitan. We kind of just stumbled upon it while exploring the beautiful Chandelier Bar inside of the Cosmo, and Holsteins had no wait so we decide why not. The lobster mac and cheese was hands down my favorite. But the philly steak egg roll and buffalo chicken dip both came in a close second.

We knew we wanted to do some type of nice, sit down dinner for the night before the male review and when the maid of honor read the reviews for Crush, she knew she had to try it. This MGM restaurant defiantly did not disappoint! Their prefixed, sharable menu was absolutely fantastic. We had arugula salad, veggie risotto, stead, salmon and gnocchi to feed an army. (Thank God for the vegetarians that allowed for that gnocchi to be possible!) Literally not one thing that I did not love. I cannot wait to go back there for dinner again.

The bride did have one major request for the weekend. Noodles on the last day. (You know, so we didn’t have to get in a bathing suit again.) We ate at Noodle in the Bellagio and while the service was a little on the slower side, the food was definitely worth the wait. I was a little basic and ordered their Pad Thai, dim sum and miso soup. A-mazing!

Where we stayed:

Mandalay Bay is by far one of my favorite hotels on the strip that is pretty budget friendly. This four diamond hotel is at the very south end of the strip, just by the “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign and across from the airport. We had a panoramic queen, two bedroom suite for 8 of us and it was comfortable. With one girl on a rollaway and one on the couch, getting ready defiantly had to be organized and planned out but otherwise, we had plenty of space. I had stayed in one of these rooms before with a big group, and I would definitely recommend it. There is two living areas, that are a little bit separated from each other, two bedrooms sleeping 6, and most importantly, two bathrooms. And our view of the strip didn’t hurt either.

To me, the amenities at Mandalay Bay are really what makes me love it. I love their pool area. With a lazy river, wave pool, adults only area, and Jacuzzis there is something for everyone. Whether you are taking a girls trip, family trip, or couples getaway, everyone will be happy. Last time I went to this pool was in October and there were significantly less families than this time, but that’s what you get around spring break or during the summer in Las Vegas.

How we survived:

So surviving Vegas was something we actually had a discussion about. Actually, a few discussions. We know our limits (well sometimes) and we definitely cannot hang like we used to. We wanted to be able to do everything there is to do, while not draining ourselves so we had built in relaxation time. The first day we got there, everyone was a little woozy from the crazy wind during the landing and waking up on the east coast super early in the morning. So we grabbed some food and laid on the couched in the suite and just hung out. Super teenage girl sleep over status but we needed it before going out that night.

Splurging for a cabana was WELL worth it for Saturday when we just laid by the pool. We had a server for drinks and food, and plenty of food. Water and sleep were also our friends! Best friends. Since I had drove from California I brought a case of water bottles from Costco and we drank every last one.

A lot of people have a weird preconceived notion that Vegas is just clubs and strippers but it really isn’t true. I love Vegas, and I hate clubs… and strippers… Anyone can really have a great time in Vegas.