Las Vegas! The name alone conjures up images of lavish hotels, big expensive shows and high rollers. If you're going to Las Vegas, you better take a wad of cash!

Think again. You actually can visit Las Vegas on a budget. It's just a question of taking advantage of opportunities and setting your priorities.

Las Vegas is a fascinating mlange of contrasts. On one side of the street you'll find the new Wynn Hotel and Casino, opened just over a year ago. It was the most expensive privately financed building project in the United States coming in at a cost of $2.7 billion. By comparison, estimates for reconstruction of the World Trade Center site are $1.7 billion. Walk into the Wynn and you are in a world of opulence and luxury. Polished marble floors, detailed woodwork, lush gardens, a waterfall and pond and even a Ferrari-Maserati dealership. And it has one of the poshest nightclubs in Vegas, the Tryst.

On the other side of the street sits the old Frontier Hotel with Gilley's Bar. The big sign reads Gilley's Cold beer.dirty girls. Not what you thinkthey have regular mud wrestling tournaments. The real dirty girls are advertised in flyers in street boxes all along the strip and on billboard trucks with signs reading "Hot Babes Direct to You".

At the Frontier you can get a Margarita for $1.99. At the Wynn it will set you back $12. So there truly is something for every budget and taste in Vegas.

But let's look at a real budget holiday. My wife and I spent a week there in August 2006 and saved money in myriad ways. First off, we are owners of a timeshare exchange program (RCI), so we exchanged our points for a week at the Hilton Grand Vacations on the Strip. This new hotel is located at the north end of the strip, just a block from the Sahara and the Stratosphere. Cost just $160. Paying full price for this luxury one bedroom suite complete with full kitchen and washer and dryer would have set us back between $1000 and $2000. Strip rates for four star hotels at Expedia.com run from C$185.52 at Treasure Island to C$352.85 at the Wynn. Three star hotels run as low as C$63.24 at the Sahara. Two star hotels are even cheaper. And of course, these are hotel rooms and do not include the kitchen and other amenities of a timeshare exchange.

One of the advantages of a timeshare, of course, is the kitchen. You can save a bundle by preparing your own meals. In our case we just cut down to two meals a day, breakfast in our room and dinner out.

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