The busiest place at CityCenter, this casino resort wows you before you even walk inside. Aria’s shimmering silver high-rise, with ubiquitous water features and mood lighting, is more chic than the hurly-burly Strip just outside its doors. Everything is just a bit more exotic here, such as the Japanese-style salt therapy room in the spa or luxe Crystals shopping mall next door....

Bally’s is the home of the Strip‘s longest-running grand showgirl extravaganza, Jubilee!. Even if you’re not up for a full performance (topless or covered), you can buy tickets for a quickie backstage tour and take a peek into the showgirls’ dressing rooms. Sometimes the girls pose for souvenir photos with their fans in the casino’s Indigo Lounge after the show, but you’ll have...

When it opened in 1998, Bellagio raised the ante for major players on the Strip. From its graceful dancing fountains out front to the jaw-dropping Dale Chihuly glass flower sculpture in the lobby, this grand dame aims to impress. It even starred in the remake of the Rat Pack caper movie Ocean’s Eleven. Stroll down the deluxe shopping promenades, wander the indoor...

If you’ve never gambled in a casino before, or if you have trouble tearing yourself away those cheap penny slot machines, blackjack is a good place to start. The basic rules of ‘21’ are simple, although master strategy requires some memorization. If you need help, your blackjack dealer can advise you about what to do with any given hand of cards. Most casino...

Open since the crazy-daisy 1960s, Caesars Palace is still a playground of ancient Greco-Roman kitsch, where cocktail girls wear mini-skirted togas and tourists gawk at the full-size reproduction of Michelangelo’s David. Yet this megaresort is also a surprisingly sophisticated player on the corner of the Strip‘s busiest intersection. Out back behind the big hotel towers, guests revel in spectacular swimming pools amongst...

More than any other Strip casino hotel, the vintage 1960s Circus Circus caters to the rug-rat brigade. But if you’re a fun-seeking adult, you’ll also see shades of the hallucinogenic party that Hunter S. Thompson found when he knocked back a few stiff drinks on the original revolving Horse-A-Round bar, which has been demolished. (These days, the gonzo journalist might feel...

While calling itself “The Capital of the New World” is a stretch, no one can deny that CityCenter shifted the Strip‘s center of gravity farther south. With art-filled public spaces and eco-friendly LEED certification, this urban city-within-a-city raises the bar. Aria casino hotel and the Shops at Crystals mall are buzzing destinations, while the posh Mandarin Oriental hotel and its 23rd-floor Mandarin Bar offer...

Rising between CityCenter and Bellagio, the Strip‘s flashiest casino resort has upped the ante. Forget about stuffy casino hotels that lamely try to imitate the elegance of Old Europe. Cosmopolitan is aptly named; it’s sophisticated, young and ambitious. Here beauty has finally tamed the beast of the Strip. Whimsical contemporary art and priceless museum pieces are everywhere you look around the...

On the Strip‘s busiest corner, what was formerly a mock Victorian casino hotel is now a classy boutique property. (You’d never recognize that this was formerly the 1970s-era Barbary Coast, and then briefly Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall & Saloon.) While other Strip casino resorts overwhelm visitors with endless choices, Cromwell narrows things down to just the very best options: celebrity chef...

At Mandalay Bay, the Delano luxury boutique hotel-within-a-hotel ropes in stylish thirtysomething crowds with its sleek modern design, spacious hotel suites, and a tempting mix of chic amenities. It’s a surprisingly peaceful retreat, but just steps away from the buzzing casino floor. Sip unique cocktails and fine whiskeys in the downstairs Franklin bar or ride the glass elevator up to the 64th-floor Skyfall Lounge...

Starry-eyed newbies rarely make it this far north of the Strip along Las Vegas Boulevard. That’s quite all right with the blue-haired granny slot jockeys, cowboy poker players, hard-core bikers and college kids who all like to find cheap ways to amuse themselves along Fremont Street. Glitter Gulch is Las Vegas’ original gambling quarter, where sawdust gambling halls and brothels...

Casino impresario Steve Wynn has done it again. This glam casino hotel at the north end of the Strip is the sequel to the Wynn resort next door. Encore delivers on the hype, with more of what the original is famous for: Italianate design, high-stakes gaming, high-flying chefs’ dining rooms, hot nightlife at XS and Surrender ultra lounge, and the posh Encore...

Even as it clings to the illusion of being a family-friendly casino hotel (watch out for the stroller parade!), Excalibur markets itself to a bad-boy crowd of twentysomethings itching to misbehave. Hit Dick’s Last Resort for an R-rated tongue-lashing by sarcastic servers (their motto: “the shame of the Strip”). Gorge on an all-day pass to the Excalibur Buffet or on fast-food chains like Johnny Rockets...

Hollywood legends aside, the Flamingo was not actually the first casino hotel on Las Vegas Boulevard. But mobster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel did jump-start the modern Strip with this pink neon–bedecked jewel, which opened in 1946. Despite its slightly bedraggled feathers, the Flamingo’s casino is always jam-packed with slot jockeys, craps players, and women of ahem, loose morals on the prowl. All so...

It’s unbelievably cheesy, but you just can’t help staring at the kitschy animation that lights up the gigantic Viva Vision screen while 555,000 watts of sound worthy of arena heavy-metal rock blast. The free outdoor show’s themes seem to change on a whim, but they’re always pretty zany. The canopy, which is the length of five football fields, stretches right...

The Nugget is undoubtedly the classiest joint on the Fremont Street Experience. With the glittering high-rise Rush Tower, this casino hotel now has downtown‘s best rooms, lots of entertainment (from old-school crooners to lounge acts), top-drawer restaurants (Vic & Anthony’s steakhouse,  Grotto for wood-fired pizzas, and Chart House for seafood), plus a street-view balcony for boozing upstairs in Gold Diggers nightclub. Oh, did we mention the swimming...

On weekends, you’d be forgiven for thinking every twenty- and thirty-something from Southern California had decamped here. Walk dazedly around the expanded casino, where go-go dancers shimmy above the blackjack tables, and take in the museum-worthy collection of rock-star memorabilia, from black leather jackets worn by everyone from Elvis to the Ramones. Feed yourself at star-studded Nobu sushi bar. Mr. Lucky’s...

What was once the kitschy Imperial Palace casino hotel has become a buzzing new place to be in the middle of the Strip. Renovated from top to bottom and rebranded as the LINQ, you’ll still find a few old favorites here, but much more stuff that’s brand new.  You’ve still got Irish-themed O’Sheas casino for low rollers, the gluttonous Hash House...

Opened in the 1990s as a casino hotel with a wacky theme, this jet-black pyramid with the Sphinx out front is still topped by a beacon that some say is visible by astronauts from space. Inside there’s less hieroglyphic kitsch and more naked sex appeal than ever before. Take a peep at Fantasy topless revue, then party all night at LAX nightclub. Also at...

Stuffed with ornate antiques and random salvage pieces from around the world, this lively downtown casino is worth a quick peek. Pick up a free self-guided tour brochure of the art and antiques in the hotel lobby, then gawk at the stained glass from old Hollywood mansions and the chandelier from Paris’ famous opera house. (Oddly, there’s a chunk of the Berlin...