Bellagio opened on 15 October 1998 on the site of the Dunes, Steve Wynn's bet that Las Vegas could win the travellers who usually chose Paris, London or Venice. He took the theme from the village of Bellagio on Lake Como, set a 36-storey tower behind an 8.5-acre lake, and at $1.6 billion it was the most expensive resort yet built. MGM bought Wynn's company in 2000, added the 33-storey Spa Tower in December 2004 to reach 3,933 rooms, and runs it on a lease from Blackstone, its majority owner since 2019. Ocean's Eleven set its heist here in 2001.
The Gettys Group remodelled the 2,568 rooms of the main Bellagio Tower in 2021, and a $110 million programme redid the Spa Tower's 819 rooms and 104 suites in 2023. Nearly every standard room is 510 sq ft (47 m²). The entry Premier King and Premier Two Queen have a walk-in shower and double basins but no bath and no promised view; the Fountain View King and Two Queen are the same size and face the lake. Suites start at the 853 sq ft (79 m²) Salone Suite and climb to the Lakeview suites facing the fountains.
The reason to book is the lake. The Fountains of Bellagio send water as high as 460 feet from more than a thousand fountains, set to music and light, every half hour from 3pm on weekdays and from noon at weekends, then every 15 minutes from 8pm to midnight, unless high wind stops them. Fountain View rooms face every show across the water, with the tallest jets climbing past the window and more of the lake in view on higher floors. Indoors, the 14,000 sq ft Conservatory beside the front desk is replanted five times a year, for Lunar New Year and each season, and above the lobby hang the more than 2,000 hand-blown glass flowers of Dale Chihuly's Fiori di Como. All of it is free and open to anyone walking in from the Strip, though the Conservatory goes dark for about a week between displays.
With 3,933 rooms and a free garden beside reception, the lobby fills with sightseers, check-in queues can run long at busy times, and T-Mobile Arena is a 24-minute walk from the main entrance. A $55 nightly resort fee plus tax is added, self-parking costs $20 a day, and smoking is allowed in parts of the casino you cross to reach the pool. On Tuesday 18 May 2027 the Premier King cost $395 a night before tax and the fee, the Fountain View King $417. Book Bellagio for a first Las Vegas trip, a birthday or an anniversary, and pay the $22 for the lake.
