From the moment my toddler and I got on the shuttle bus to the Las Vegas Strip until the flight home, I had a conversation very similar to this with everyone we met:

“Are you visiting family here in Vegas?”

“No.”

“Oh, well, where is your husband?”

“At home working.”

“So, you just came on a vacation to Vegas with your baby?”

“Yes.”

I can see why people thought it was strange. They were in Vegas to indulge in any number of sins and just don’t think of  it as a family-friendly destination. But it is. Las Vegas can be one of the cheapest family vacations around. Since hotels there will do just about anything to get you to walk in their doors (and hopefully gamble away all your money), you can find a nice room plus lots of extras for super cheap and then visit free or cheap attractions at other hotels. Not including airfare, we spent around $200 for a three night vacation.

I found a deal at Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall for around $35 a night for a nice, clean hotel room right on the famous intersection of Flamingo and Las Vegas Boulevard. Plus, I booked it on Orbitz in order to get a coupon book with $700 worth of savings. I also took advantage of an Orbitz discount code for another 10% off. Talk about an affordable vacation.

Bill’s is a great place to stay with kids. It’s a small hotel, unlike some others in Las Vegas that are like cities in themselves. This meant that from our room, we just took the elevator down, stepped out the doors and we were on the strip. No mile-long hike through a smoky casino. Also, we had no wait to check in. Other Las Vegas hotels can have you in line for an hour. Plus, room service was really affordable, which was so great. I could just order up some milk for Jack before bed or breakfast in the morning.

Also, Bill’s has no pool of their own, but with your room key you have access to one of the best pools in Vegas next door at the Flamingo. There are waterfalls and slides and a nice shallow ledge for tots to crawl on. There’s also a free Wildlife Habitat near the pool area that’s worth going to see. If you get hungry at the Flamingo, avoid the overpriced, tasteless buffet and check out Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville.

One of the few attractions we paid for while we were there was Siegfried and Roy’s Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat at the Mirage. In addition to dolphins, this is also home to the famed white tigers and lions, along with some alpacas and various other animals. Well worth the $15.

We also paid $4 a ride at the Adventuredome, billed as the world’s largest indoor amusement park. The Adventuredome itself is pretty nice. Jack LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it. He wanted to ride the ferris wheel with balloon-shaped cars over and over. However, the Adventuredome is located inside Circus Circus, which is scary, creepy, stinky and just generally yucky. Above the casino, they have some circus acts and carnival games, but it’s not worth seeing in my opinion. Just walk FAST through the casino, straight to the Adventuredome.

We spent the rest of our time checking out the various free family attractions Vegas has to offer, including the gorgeous Bellagio Conservatory and Botanic Gardens, the Bellagio Fountains and the Imperial Palace Auto Collections (there is a charge to get in here, but you can easily find a free coupon).

We also went up to the top of the Eiffel Tower at Paris Las Vegas, which we had a free coupon for. It is a good view, but Jack could have cared less about it and we had to wait in line forever in order to get the elevator back down. And we went on a Tuesday during the day. I can’t imagine what it’s like during peak hours. But you must go to Paris for the buffet! Awesome.

There are tons of other family-friendly Las Vegas attractions that we didn’t have a chance to see. There’s the Shark Reef aquarium at Mandalay Bay, the Lion Habitat and Rainforest Cafe at MGM Grand, gondola rides at the Venetian, and for older kids there’s Madame Tussaud’s wax museum, the roller coaster at New York New York, Blue Man Group and more. I guess we’ll be back again!