Destinations Las Vegas Hotels & Casinos – Some Brief Reviews

My brother and I recently vacationed together in Las Vegas for a few days. He had been there many times, but it was the first time for me. He showed me around the city and took great pains to make sure that I got a feeling for Las Vegas and its lifestyle. In the process, he took me to quite a few of the more famous hotels and casinos in the city. The following briefly summarizes my impressions of some of them:

THE VENETIAN: Clearly one of the nicer hotels. We stayed in a luxurious, multi-level suite there. The rooms in the hotel were, in general, extremely nice and, in this economy, fairly reasonable (even if you weren’t “comped” based on your gambling history there). The casinos were nice and the pool areas were very adequate. The reproductions of Venice, mostly in miniature, were very well done, including canals and a mini-San Marco square. However, they looked like they had been completed yesterday, showing no stains, no dirt, no cracks, etc. So, it didn’t seem to be like Venice at all. But, it was all in good fun. I don’t remember the “real” Rialto Bridge in Venice having moving sidewalks…….

BELLAGIO: Indeed, a beautiful and elegant hotel in every aspect, even the casinos. We ate dinner at the Grand Buffet there one evening and found it disappointing.

PARIS: Once again, a very nice hotel, but the mock-ups of the streets of Paris had the same flaw that was found at the Venetian: all the buildings looked too new and too perfect.

PLANET HOLLYWOOD: Very nice and very lively. The “pleasure pit” was very enjoyable, and some of the dealers (pretty girls in their twenties) there could certainly distract even the most serious of gamblers.

CIRCUS CIRCUS: Here was a hotel and casino that had seen better days. It was a bit seedy and was falling into a state of disrepair. The crowd in the hotel matched its decaying ambience. The waitresses and hostesses had also seen better days. One pleasant surprise was the hotel’s steakhouse, which still has an excellent reputation. The meal we had there was as good as any other we had during our stay in the city. But, unfortunately, that was the only highlight for Circus Circus.

THE HARD ROCK: The Hard Rock had a much younger crowd than in many of the other hotels, and the atmosphere was exciting and vibrant. It was a lot of fun. I was particularly impressed with the collection of guitars that were displayed on the walls.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK: We found the reproductions of the streets of Old New York to be far more convincing than in Paris or in the Venetian. Not as spacious a feeling as in some of the other hotels, but a fun atmosphere and the casual restaurants were quite good.

LUXOR: We stopped by to look at the pyramid from both inside and out and to see some of the Egyptian reproductions. Nothing was particularly special here. We had a Caesar salad at the delicatessen on the main floor and it was simply awful.

THE WYNN AND THE ENCORE: While I found the Wynn to be elegant and quite nice, I was quite disappointed in the Encore, whose red plastic décor was sufficiently disturbing that I couldn’t wait to leave.