Where to Stay, Play and Eat in Vegas

[rifflemao]

Flamingo

I stayed here during the first CC Little One Drop team event last summer, 2014. Flamingo is a very old property, first built in 1946 according to Wiki, and you'll recognize its iconic neon flamingo feather sign, especially if you're old enough to remember the intro to the late-70s tv show Vega$ with Robert Urich. The movie Viva Las Vegas was also filmed there.

Despite its age, The Flamingo's rooms appear to have updated decor (minus the sneakers):

Flamingo is not a bad option if you can't stay at or near the Rio during the wsop, and if you can't find a good deal at Bally's or Harrah's where the Rio shuttle stops. IIRC, the Harrah's Rio shuttle stop was easier to get to from Flamingo than the Bally's stop.

You can also walk to Planet Hollywood from Flamingo to play the PHamous Poker Series. It's far (especially during the day), but is a straight shot, unlike the walk from Excalibur to Planet.

What I liked about Flamingo was they waved the resort fee and put me in a room on or near the top floor, so I would have a good view of the strip and the July 4th fireworks. I missed them in favor of poker, but appreciated the thought.

 

[Shells]

We stayed at the Luxor on two separate occasions. The first visit, we had a standard room in the pyramid. It was quite spacious and had a spectacular view of the mountains. The unique slanted window did cut into the space, but for 2 people, there was still plenty of room. The Egyptian influence was throughout and added a nice touch. The 2nd time we stayed we got an upgrade to one of the Tower rooms. It was just as nice as the standard room but the downside, we had horrible neighbours. The beds were AMAZING! I had absolutely no trouble sleeping. Of course, with the amount of walking involved to get to the other hotels, it's no wonder. The housekeeping was impeccable and always ready to assist, if needed. We did use Room Service..it was a bit pricy but the food was outstanding! It was our wedding anniversary, sooo..

There are plenty of places to eat within the hotel..anything from deli (Backstage Deli was my favourite), steakhouse, the all day buffet, there was a small food court on the 2nd level with Starbucks, Nathan's, that sort of food. Nothing was really cheap, but the Deli was my fave and probably the most convenient. If you have discounts available, use them. And don't forget your MLife card.

The Casino is big and wide open..took me a couple days to get used to the layout, and where everything was located. I never sat at the poker tables, (my husband is not a poker player at all) but whenever I did happen by, it was never really busy. The Sportsbook was not far from the Poker room either..that was the place to be! Super busy and alot of enthusiasm due to the beginning of the NFL season and a lot of baseball going on.

The Luxor is at the south end of the strip and not far from the airport, like 1 1/2 miles, but still took us a 20 minute taxi ride to the hotel. So, to get to the Rio, I would be familiar with the bus system (which was actually pretty easy) unless I felt like a really good walk.

This hotel/Casino is connected to Mandalay Bay and Excalibur. There are a ton of shops (great shopping) in either connecting walkway, which were actually pretty reasonable. There are days you wouldn't even need go outdoors.

 

[Debi]

Monte Carlo -

I didn't technically stay here but I did have a room which I let friends use and I saw it when I checked in. It was actually a decent room - not super nice but reasonably nice. The rooms here are not too expensive for me but checking internet rates Sun-Thurs ranges from $55-129 and weekends $169-215. The $129 and up rates are too high for this place in my opinion.

It is very convenient if you are playing at the Aria - they connect and you don't have to go outside.

Eating options are okay - nothing special but they do have multiple casual options and a food court.

The casino is casual and fun - you can find lower limits on the table games here than they have at the Aria.

 

[Debi]

Vdara -

Love this place! All rooms are luxury suites with small kitchen areas. Very very nice - but not cheap, though very reasonable for what you get. I miss staying here - but I can stay free or very cheap at so many places it is hard to justify paying to stay here.

They don't have a casino but you have an extremely short walk outside across a circular drive to the Aria. It is also very convenient for getting to the other end of the strip - you can do most of the walking inside. There is a long connection to the Bellagio.

Eating choices are slim - there is a cafe and a bar that has limited food. You will usually go somewhere else to eat - unless you keep food in your kitchen.

It looks like room run $179 a night on the internet but I have never paid more than $99.

Love this place!

 

[arahel_jazz]

Vdara -

Love this place! All rooms are luxury suites with small kitchen areas. Very very nice - but not cheap, though very reasonable for what you get. I miss staying here - but I can stay free or very cheap at so many places it is hard to justify paying to stay here.

They don't have a casino but you have an extremely short walk outside across a circular drive to the Aria. It is also very convenient for getting to the other end of the strip - you can do most of the walking inside. There is a long connection to the Bellagio.

Eating choices are slim - there is a cafe and a bar that has limited food. You will usually go somewhere else to eat - unless you keep food in your kitchen.

It looks like room run $179 a night on the internet but I have never paid more than $99.

Love this place!

Just don't lay out by the swimming pool around mid-summer... http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/las-vegas-hotel-pool-sunlight-swimming-tourists/story?id=11739234

 

[Poker Orifice]

What about a cheap place to stay (I mean CHEAP!) that one can commute easily (person w/o car) to the RIO from?

 

[Debi]

Harrah's is prob your best option and it has a shuttle to the Rio.

If you want cheaper than that you might be able to find a non-casino hotel but would have to deal with transportation.

When will you be there?

 

[bradfordzilla]

Hi ,
you all talking about Hotels. what about some Apartments or share homes ? what about a Player who likes to go there for full 2 mths period. what are the Options available for them ? of course they are going there to wsop grind , but def cant afford to pay for Hotel for 2 mths. as most of the Money will be for wsop Events and Food . so isthere any cheap Options also available for staying ?

please let us know as well , it will be helpful for grinders with limited Budget.

how many people do you have in your crew? if you have 6 or more people looking, i would check into VRBO.com . some of my friends have had good success going thru that. rent like a 4 br 2.5 bath house (sleeps 10 ) for $250/night. $250/6 = $42 per night. cheaper than a hotel. what is your definition of cheap?

 

[nitulbhatia]

Nice fun thread

 

[rugby0]

This is great. can we get one for mississippi or just the south around new orleans.

 

[lcid86]

Vdara is like a condo. Great rooms with all of the comforts of home. Quiet hotel yet close to Bellagio and Aria.

 

[natsgrampy]

FLAMINGO

Stayed here 2 years ago for a week. Rooms are dated but clean. Had a room towards the back overlooking their best amenity, the pool, which I thought was great. Spent every day hanging by it until lunch time, 1 or 2 ish.

Casino was even more out dated than the rooms. Very small poker room which never had enough people in it to draw me in.

It's proximity to Caesar's was great, across the street, so, when I wanted poker I went there. Also watched the Kentucky Derby at Caesar's.

There are several restaurants at the Flamingo. There was a breakfast type place that I don't remember the name, This was OK There is a Carlos & Charlies which I thought was great for lunch after the pool and was fairly reasonable. Casual dinner was spent at Jimmy Buffet's Margheritaville.
Not overly expensive and decent food and drinks

Make sure to use your REWARDS CARD, it is fairly easy to get free rooms and they have a ton of properties.

I would stay here again.

PARIS

I stayed here for 1 night at the end of a Laughlin, NV vacation waiting to fly home. (it was free too)

This place was amazing, albeit a little confusing when checking in. The room was an upgrade and one of the nicest rooms I've ever stayed. Seemed as though everything was "high end" like no deals on meals.

Can't say too much about casino as didn't have much time there. Room was great though.

 

[mange1234]

Thank for the update

Thanks for the update.

Last time I was in Vegas, I was traveling through on my way to San Francisco. And, of course with the flu, jeez.

But, it was fascinating just traveling through the Air Port.

Don't for get to visit the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop while there.


Mike

 

[absolutebeginner]

When the world series of poker is on in the Rio, do you need to buy tickets to go in and watch, does anyone know?

 

[Debi]

When the World series of poker is on in the Rio, do you need to buy tickets to go in and watch, does anyone know?

No - anyone can watch. The only time it is restricted is the final table or 2 of the main event.

 

[Gambit11th]

I recently stayed at the Caesars Palace and I had a great experience, the rooms are super clean. My view was awesome I stayed in room 4386. They have a poker room not sure if they host poker event's. I played poker there and i had a great experience the minimum buy-in is $100 which is affordable to most guest's. If I go to Vegas again Caesars Palace will definitely be one of my top choices.

 

[wabbitfry18]

luxor

I liked the luxor alot, the slots were paying out for me, the large ceiling was great!!!!

 

[zcorrell0326]

Planet Hollywood -
The restaurant choices are pretty good. The buffet is decent. Gordon Ramsey BurGR is amazing - burgers are delicious, milkshakes are to die for and the desserts are some of the bests around.

I can't comment on everything about PH, but BurGR was NOT good in my opinion. Unless you love truffle fries, do not get them here because they were not very good. And my Burger was a little exotic, so maybe that's why I didn't like it. EVERYTHING else at PH, though, is phenomenal. Like dakota said, location can't be beat, you don't ever have to leave if you don't want to with the shops right there, and the Poker room in serviceable.

 

[zcorrell0326]

I stayed at the LINQ back in April. Pulled some moves to get basically their biggest/best room (which admittedly is small compared to most suites, but it was still nice for our purposes). No poker, but everything else there was nice. The new O'Sheas was fun. Hash House was good, pool was nice. If you are 21-30 this would be a fun place for a group of you to stay. Super cheap when I went.

 

[Debi]

Thanks for the recent reviews!

 

[Shells]

Mirage

Our first visit to Las Vegas, we stayed at the Mirage. Loved the facility and the staff was incredibly helpful. Servers were so accomodating and very friendly. The casino was large enough (took a couple days to get my bearings with the layout) and pretty busy, the few days we were there. This is where I played my one and only live holdem poker game (the dealers were more than helpful with me, thank goodness) and was a very positive experience.The poker room seemed to be quite active, the majority of the time we would walk through, and that's about all I could tell anyone, in regards to poker. There were a few shops, a fantastic coffee house with fresh baked goods daily, California Pizza Kitchen, a really well laid out buffet..as far as pricing goes, no hotel restaurant has inexpensive food but overall the food was pretty good (never left hungry). The rooms were tastefully decorated, clean, a bit smallish, but we weren't in our room much other than to sleep and shower. Before our trip, I had read in other reviews the rooms were 'dated' ..maybe they are in comparison to other hotels, but seemed pretty much standard. Our view was overlooking the erupting volcano and gave us the best view of the nightly eruption. Just as most people you talk to who have been to Vegas, take a decent pair of walking shoes or something comfy, because a lot of walking involved being in the heart of the strip and soooo much to see away from the hotel.

 

[Debi]

Nice review - thanks!

 

[Panamajoe]

Bally's

We got upgraded using the $20 sandwich technique to a large room in the older tower.

You will want to have a Total Rewards card.

Please 'splain the $20 sandwich technique, Thanks!

 

[arahel_jazz]

Please 'splain the $20 sandwich technique, Thanks!

It's an old tactic. When you register for the room, you hand your drivers license and credit card together with a $20 bill folded in-between. Like a sandwich.


Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Some places discourage it outright. If you are thinking of doing it - there are actually web sites that track how successful (or not) the process works at various hotels.

 

[arahel_jazz]

I recently stayed at the Caesars Palace and I had a great experience, the rooms are super clean. My view was awesome I stayed in room 4386. They have a poker room not sure if they host poker event's. I played poker there and i had a great experience the minimum buy-in is $100 which is affordable to most guest's. If I go to Vegas again Caesars Palace will definitely be one of my top choices.

Caesars has the best noodle place I've been to outside of Hawaii.

https://www.caesars.com/caesars-palace/restaurants/beijing-noodle-number-9#.VX4OpZ3F_To

It's tucked way back in the back of the casino floor. At the time I ate there - they were the only location outside of China.