My wife and I spent over $4,300 to visit Las Vegas for 5 days. Here's how we spent it and what was worth it.

09.08.2024 - 18:28 / insider.com / Bruno Mars

In 2010, my wife and I met in Las Vegas at The Little White Wedding Chapel parking lot. Fourteen years later, we returned for five days to renew our vows and enjoy all the things the city has to offer.

In those intervening years, Vegas has not lost any of that magic I've felt as a UK tourist. The Strip has gotten bigger, and the prices have gone up, too.

There's no denying that what was once a cheap trip is now a much more expensive one, but it's easy to splurge when you're celebrating. Fortunately, we used points for our flights so we saved there.

Here's a breakdown of some of our spending, including what was and was not worth the money.

I love saving money by staying off of the Strip and adore the Virgin Hotel.

It has huge rooms — sorry, "chambers" — and a fairly quiet casino that makes the hotel seem relaxing after a busy day.

On this trip, we stayed at the Ruby Tower grand-chamber corner suite. We loved the split-usage room design, huge bath, Strip and Sphere views, and cacti throughout the hotel.

The bed was also so good that, after one night's sleep, I was Googling to see if I could buy one to bring home.

We paid just under $1,500 for our stay, including the $45-a-day resort fee (which most Vegas hotels charge). I thought this was excellent value compared to many other suites in hotels on the Strip, which started at $600 a night.

Although we weren't on the Strip, which would've been convenient, our Uber costs still weren't high enough to make this less of a bargain.

LPM in The Cosmopolitan is less than a year old, but it is currently the best-kept dining secret in Vegas.

Everything about our dinner was exceptional, from top-notch service to delicious Mediterranean-inspired food to buzzy, beautiful vibes in the dining room.

I still dream of the escargot and sea bass with lemon and chili confit. Oh, and the burrata, cocktail list, baguettes … pretty much everything on the menu.

We paid $346 for three courses and a cocktail each. We ate a lot of good food on our trip but LPM was the best of the best.

We also stopped by Bruno Mars' Pinky Ring at the Bellagio, a one-of-a-kind cocktail lounge that recently opened in the middle of the casino floor.

We walked past the singer's Grammys on the way into this small womb-like space. It had vintage vibes and a splendid cocktail menu, too.

We got to see his longtime band, The Hooligans, perform, which made us feel like this was the most exclusive place to be that night.

We paid $56 for two cocktails, plus tax and tip.

We heard good things about Bazaar Meat by José Andrés at the Sahara from Vegas locals.

So, when we visited, we chose the most expensive tasting menu.

We were served caviar, cotton-candy foie gras, liquid sphere olives, three different types of