Have Fun in Reno on a Budget

If you love gambling and casino city life in a quieter setting than Las Vegas, Reno Nevada is the place for you. I recently traveled to Reno for an entire weekend with my boyfriend with only $750 between us. We were celebrating my cousins 21st birthday so I needed to make sure we had enough towards a nice birthday dinner. We love to gamble so we decided that $400 would be split between the two of us for two and half days for gambling. Once that was spent, that was it. That left us with $350 for two days for food and entertainment.

Eating in the casinos doesn’t have to be expensive. Of course, you will find your share of ritzy steakhouses or seafood joints but here is how we saved. When we checked into our room at Harrah’s we first asked if they were having any promotions. They gave us each $30 in free chips and 25% off food and spa. It was about lunch time, so to save money, we bought a sandwich and soda at the Quizno’s Sub in their casino for $10 total. We also brought our own bottle of liquor to keep in our hotel room. After having a few drinks to relax, we took our drinks down to the casino for some gaming. We were both able to make our $100 last us for three hours by taking our time and scoring free drinks in the process. Before finding a place to eat for dinner, we walked around “The Biggest Little City” and enjoyed ourselves.

Saturday was going to be our nice dinner out, so we opted for a cheaper choice for this night. We went to Carvings Buffet. The cost was $14 per person and the options were limitless. There is a salad bar, carving, Italian, Mexican, and even a confections station. I can’t remember the last time I felt so full after a meal.

Later that evening we spent $25 each on tickets to Eli Kerr’s magic show. It was a fun and entertaining event for a reasonable price. Friday night we spent only $88 not including our gambling money. Saturday we woke up and had Starbucks and a Starbucks breakfast sandwich. Our total was $18 for breakfast. Again we used our allotted $100 each for day two of gambling. After that, we went to two museums for free: The National Automobile Museum in Truckee and The Nevada Museum of Art.

We met up with our family members for a late lunch where we ate at Cafe Sedona in The SIlver Legacy resort. They offer $6.95 specials from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily so our meal was about $15. We hung out in our room for a few hours drinking via our bottle of alcohol we brought with us. Then we headed out to The Stage at The Zone in the Harrah’s resort. It’s a venue for free that features live bands and great night life. We had a blast and spent about $20 (drinks were only $4 a piece). Then we went back to The Silver Legacy for dinner as that was where our family was staying.

We ate at Sterling’s Seafood Steakhouse. Now this place is pricey but the food is great, and it’s a very nice restaurant. I had the pan seared sesame Ahi tuna for $31. My boyfriend had the 12-ounce filet Mignon for $38. With a drink each our bill was $100 with tip. It was a very long day full of activity with a late dinner. Sunday came too soon and our weekend was over but a success. We spent a total of $641 which was $109 below our budget.