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"Okay, Vegas it is, but where should I stay?"
Las Vegas has a couple of different "areas" as far as Hotel/Casinos
are concerned. The two most well known are "The Strip" (Las
Vegas Boulevard) and Downtown (now the FSE
- Fremont Street Experience ). There are also a number of Hotel/Casinos
on Boulder Highway - a few miles from the Strip, the other side
of Interstate 15, and a smattering of casinos just off the Strip or just
outside of Downtown. Each area has its own appeal depending on
what the visitor is looking for.
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| The Strip is the land of the Mega Casino. Development of the Strip in recent years has been non-stop and frenzied. Each casino is larger or grander than the one before it. Since there is a limited amount of prime real estate on the Strip, recycling is often necessary. The Bellagio sits on the site of the old Dunes, the Venetian on the site of the Sands (check out Con Air if you want to see the Sands!), the Boardwalk is on the site of well, the Boardwalk. The old Boardwalk was torn down and rebuilt as the Boardwalk Holiday Inn, just as the Aladdin pulled a Phoenix and rebuilt on its site. The Mandalay Bay was built on the site formerly occupied by the Hacienda. LasVegas just keeps redefining and changing itself. Is it an improvement? That is hard to say. Is it different? You bet. | ||||||||||||
| The Downtown area has undergone dramatic changes in the recent past. Several blocks of Fremont Street, kind of the main drag of downtown, was closed off and turned into a pedestrian mall. The street was covered with a canopy of millions of computer controlled lights that reveal a light show set to music provided by a kick-a$$ sound system as soon as it gets dark and approximately every hour until midnight. The casinos seen in many movies are found Downtown. The Golden Nugget, Binions Horseshoe (home of the World Series of Poker), the Fremont and 4 Queens to name a few. There are 10 casinos that are involved in the Fremont Street Experience, bordering Fremont or nearby. The FSE has definitely revitalized this area of Las Vegas and provides competition to the Strip for the tourist dollar. | ||||||||||||
| Boulder Highway, east of the Strip is home to many of Las Vegas casinos. Sams Town, Boulder Station, the Reserve (a personal favorite, in Henderson, without a website at this time), Sunset Station and the Showboat to name a few. These casinos attract tourists looking for a good deal and locals who don't want to deal with the traffic on the Strip. Many have very good buffets at prices lower than can be found on the Strip. The casinos her tend to be spread out further apart requiring a car to casino hop. | ||||||||||||
| ...and the rest are located throughout the Las Vegas area. West of Interstate 15 is home to Rio, Orleans, Gold Coast and others. A pedestrian path was recently built to reduce the risk of walking (a far walk) from the Strip to the Rio. Again a car is needed to vist the casinos on this side of Interstate 15. The Hard Rock Hotel and the San Remo are both off the Strip but relatively close to the Strip (though I'm not sure I would want to walk to the Hard Rock). |
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