Table Of ContentPocket Rough Guide
LAS VEGAS
written and researched by
GREG WARD
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Contents
INTRODUCTION 4
Las Vegas at a glance .................7 Itineraries .................................8
BEST OF LAS VEGAS 12
Big sights ................................14 Shopping .................................22
Shows .....................................16 Thrill rides...............................24
Restaurants .............................18 The deserts .............................26
Offbeat exhibits .......................20
PLACES 28
1 The South Strip ..................30 5 Downtown Las Vegas ..........86
2 CityCenter and around ........44 6 The rest of the city .............94
3 The Central Strip ................54 7 The deserts .......................104
4 The North Strip ..................68
ACCOMMODATION 112
ESSENTIALS 122
Arrival ....................................124 Festivals ................................134
Getting around ........................125 Chronology .............................135
Gambling ................................127 Index ......................................138
Directory A–Z ..........................129
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INTRODUCTION TO
LAS VEGAS
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O A dazzling oasis where forty million people a year
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C escape the everyday, Las Vegas has made a fine art
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IO of indulging its visitors’ every appetite. From its
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A fountains, adrenaline-pumping zip lines and jaw-
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V dropping stage shows, everything is built to thrill;
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A as soon as the novelty wears off, it’s blown up and
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replaced with something bigger and better. Not
only does the city hold the largest hotels in the
world, but that’s pretty much all it holds; it’s these
extraordinary creations that everyone comes to see.
THE EIFFEL TOW
ER, PARIS
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Best places to get a view of the Strip V
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Although towering hotel blocks jostle for position along the Strip, there AS
are surprisingly few places that offer non-guests a panoramic view of
the whole thing. Possibilities include the summit of the Stratosphere
(but that’s a little far north and not quite aligned with the Strip), and the
Voodoo Rooftop Nightclub at the Rio, off to one side. So the winner is – the
observation platform at the top of Paris’s Eiffel Tower (see p.57), perfectly
poised to look north and south along the Strip’s busiest stretch, as well as
west, and down, to the fountains of Bellagio.
Each hotel is a neighbourhood theme, be it an Egyptian
in its own right, measuring pyramid (Luxor), a Roman
as much as a mile end to end; extravaganza (Caesars Palace),
crammed full of state-of-the-art a fairytale castle (Excalibur) or
clubs, restaurants, spas and a European city (Paris and the
pools; and centring on what Venetian).
makes the whole thing possible In 1940, Las Vegas was home
– an action-packed casino to just eight thousand people. It
where tourists and tycoons alike owes its extraordinary growth
are gripped by the roll of the to its constant willingness to
dice and the turn of the card. adapt; far from remaining kitsch
Even if its entire urban area and old-fashioned, it’s forever
covers 136 square miles, most reinventing itself. Entrepreneurs
visitors see no more of Las race to spot the latest shift in
Vegas than two short, and who has the money and what
very different, linear stretches. they want to spend it on. A few
Downtown, the original years ago the casinos realized
centre, now amounts to four that gamblers were happy to pay
brief (roofed-over) blocks of premium prices for good food;
Fremont Street, while the Strip top chefs now run gourmet
begins a couple of miles south, restaurants in venues like
just beyond the city limits, and Bellagio and the Cosmopolitan.
runs for four miles southwest. More recently, demand from
It’s the Strip where the real younger visitors has prompted
action is, a visual feast where casinos like Wynn Las Vegas to
each mega-casino vies to outdo open high-tech nightclubs to
the next with some outlandish match those of Miami and LA.
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NEW
YORK–NEW
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The reputation Las Vegas still prison; the Strip has therefore
enjoys, of being a quasi-legal opened out, so that much of its
adult playground where (almost) central portion now consists of
anything goes, dates back to open-air terraces and pavilions
its early years when most of its housing bars and restaurants.
first generation of luxury resorts The city may have tamed its
were cut-throat rivals controlled setting, but the magnificent
by the Mob. In those days wildernesses of the American
illegal profits could easily be West still lie on its doorstep.
“skimmed” off and respectable Dramatic parks like Red Rock
investors steered clear. Then, as Canyon and the Valley of Fire
now, visitors loved to imagine are just a short drive away,
that they were rubbing shoulders or you can fly to the Grand
with gangsters. Standing well Canyon, and Utah’s glorious
back from the Strip, each casino Zion National Park makes a
was a labyrinth in which it was wonderful overnight getaway.
all but impossible to find an
exit. During the 1980s, however, When to visit
visitors started to explore on
foot; mogul Steve Wynn cashed Visitors flock to Las Vegas
in by placing a flame-spouting throughout the year,
volcano outside his new Mirage. however the climate varies
As the casinos competed to lure enormously. In July and August,
in pedestrians, they filled in the the average daytime high exceeds
daunting distances from the 100°F (38°C), while in winter the
sidewalk, and between casinos. thermometer regularly drops below
With Las Vegas booming in
freezing. Hotel swimming pools
the 1990s, gaming corporations
generally open between April and
bought up first individual
September only.
casinos, and then each other.
The Strip today is dominated by It’s which day you visit that you
just two colossal conglomerates should really take into account;
– MGM Resorts and Caesars accommodation can easily cost twice
Entertainment. Once you own as much on Friday and Saturday as
the casino next door, there’s no during the rest of the week.
reason to make each a virtual
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LAS VEGAS
AT A GLANCE
>> EATING epicentre of the world.
While Elvis may have left the
Las Vegas used to be a byword building, headliners like Elton IN
for bad food, with just the John and Celine Dion attract TR
occasional mobster-dominated thousands of big-spending O
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steakhouse or Italian restaurant fans night after night and U
to relieve the monotony of all the major touring acts CT
the pile-’em-high buffets. pass through. Meanwhile the IO
Those days have long gone. old-style feathers-and-sequins N
Every major Strip casino now revues have been supplanted TO
holds half a dozen or more by a never-ending stream of L
high-quality restaurants, many jaw-droppingly lavish shows by AS
run by top chefs from all over the Cirque du Soleil, plus the V
the world. Prices have soared, likes of the postmodern Blue EG
to a typical minimum Man Group. A new generation A
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spend of $50 per head at of visitors has been responsible
big-name places, but so too for the dramatic growth in the
have standards, and you city’s clubbing scene. Casinos
could eat a great meal in a like the Cosmopolitan, the
different restaurant every Palms and Wynn Las Vegas
night in casinos such as Aria, now boast some of the world’s
Bellagio, Caesars Palace, most spectacular – and
the Cosmopolitan and expensive – nightclubs and
the Venetian. ultra-lounges.
>> DRINKING >> SHOPPING
Every Las Vegas casino offers Shopping now ranks among
free drinks to gamblers. Sit at a the principal reasons that
slot machine or gaming table, people visit Las Vegas.
and a cocktail waitress will find Downtown is all but devoid
you and take your order; tips of shops, however, and while
are expected. In addition, the the workaday city holds its
casinos hold all kinds of bars fair share of suburban malls,
and lounges; very few tourists tourists do almost all of their
venture further afield to drink. shopping on the Strip itself.
Along the Strip bars tend to be Their prime destination is the
themed, as with the Irish pubs amazing Forum at Caesars
of New York–New York or the Palace, followed by the Grand
flamboyant lounges of Caesars Canal Shoppes at the Venetian
Palace; downtown they’re a bit and Miracle Mile at Planet
more rough-and-ready. Note Hollywood. There are also a
that the legal drinking age is 21 couple of stand-alone malls –
– you must carry ID to prove it. Fashion Show opposite Wynn
>> NIGHTLIFE Las Vegas, which is the most
useful for everyday purchases,
The Strip is once more riding and the very high-end Crystals
high as the entertainment in CityCenter.
OUR RECOMMENDATIONS FOR WHERE TO EAT, DRINK AND
SHOP ARE LISTED AT THE END OF EACH CHAPTER.
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Day One in Las Vegas
1 Jean Philippe Patisserie,
IT Bellagio > p.51. Head to the back of
IN Bellagio to enjoy a morning pick-me-up
E and pastries while admiring the world’s
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A largest chocolate fountain.
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IE 2 The Conservatory, Bellagio
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> p.49. Part greenhouse, part camp
and colourful fantasyland, Bellagio’s
indoor flower show must be seen to
be believed.
3 Eiffel Tower Experience > p.57.
Ride into the skies atop Las Vegas’s
own miniature version of Paris and look
down on the rest of the Strip.
• Lunch > p.64. Enjoy a
quintessentially French bistro
meal, with a ringside seat on the Strip,
at Mon Ami Gabi in Paris.
4 The Forum Shops > p.62. Marble
statues, fountains and a false sky
that cycles hourly between day and
night; is it ancient Rome or simply
Caesars Palace?
5 Grand Canal Shoppes > p.77.
Operatic gondoliers ply the waters of
the Grand Canal, serenading shoppers
perusing the Venetian’s upstairs,
upmarket mall.
• Dinner > p.81. Pan-Asian
food and lush red decor at
Wazuzu in Wynn Las Vegas combine to
offer a memorable dining experience.
6 Love, the Mirage > p.84. Las
Vegas’s favourite Canadian clowns, the
Cirque du Soleil, join forces with the
Beatles to stunning effect.
7 Omnia, Caesars Palace > p.66.
Experience Las Vegas’s new breed
of breathtaking clubs at Caesars’
showpiece indoor-outdoor Omnia.
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