Where to stay in Las Vegas: seven areas, who each suits, and where our hotels sit

Bellagio's lake, with Paris Las Vegas and its Eiffel Tower facing it across the Boulevard and Caesars Palace across Flamingo Road: this is the Las Vegas most people picture. The fountains play every half hour from 3pm on weekdays and noon at weekends, then every 15 minutes from 8pm to midnight.

From the lakeside pavement, Paris and Caesars Palace are seven minutes' walk, the Forum Shops 12, the High Roller 16 and T-Mobile Arena 22, and county footbridges with lifts cross the Boulevard. The Monorail's Horseshoe/Paris station is 14 minutes away. The airport is 9 to 11 minutes by car from Terminal 1, a flat $26.25 by taxi to Bellagio and The Cosmopolitan and $30.25 to Caesars Palace, before fees and tip.

The cost is crowds and fees. The lakeside pavement closes from mid-September to early November for the Formula 1 grandstand. All three add a resort fee of about $55 a night plus tax and $20 a day to self-park, and at Bellagio and Caesars Palace the walks to the pool or the Strip cross casino floors where smoking is allowed. Bellagio suits a first trip or an anniversary; The Cosmopolitan, couples who want a terrace facing the fountains; Caesars Palace, with five acres of pools from March to October, a celebration with the whole day on site.

North of Flamingo Road the Center Strip carries on past the LINQ Promenade and its 550-foot High Roller to The Venetian, whose Rialto Bridge and canal front the Boulevard. Behind the resort stand the Venetian Expo's convention halls and Sphere, reached for most shows by a covered footbridge through the Expo.

From the Rialto Bridge, the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace are six minutes on foot, the Monorail's Harrah's & The LINQ station eight, Wynn nine, Fashion Show 11, the High Roller 12 and the Bellagio fountains 17; Sphere is 19 minutes by the streets. For most trips this belongs with the fountains, with Caesars Palace in between. The Venetian is 12 minutes by car from Terminal 1, a flat $30.25 by taxi before fees and tip.

The Venetian is vast. Every room is a suite, the fourth-floor pool deck has four heated pools open all year, the indoor walks are long, and the casino at its centre allows smoking in designated areas. Add a $55 nightly resort fee and $20 a day to self-park. It suits friends sharing a suite, a Sphere night and anyone at a show in the Expo, from about $240 a night midweek; the entry suites have no door between bed and sofa.

Opposite Fashion Show the resorts start to spread out: Wynn beside the only full golf course on a Strip resort's grounds, then Resorts World, the Convention Center's West Hall, Fontainebleau, opened in December 2023, and finally SAHARA, where the Strip begins at Sahara Avenue. Rates follow the Convention Center's trade shows: SAHARA's Blanca King, $54 on a May Tuesday, is about $400 in CES week.

From Resorts World's Strip entrance, Fontainebleau is seven minutes on foot, West Hall ten, Fashion Show 15, Wynn 16, SAHARA 16 and the STRAT 24. The Bellagio fountains are 25 minutes from Wynn, 43 from Fontainebleau and 52 from SAHARA, so the centre is a ride: SAHARA has its own Monorail station and Fontainebleau runs Vegas Loop rides to the Convention Center. The three hotels are 11 to 12 minutes by car from Terminal 1, a flat $30.25 by taxi before fees and tip.

Wynn suits celebrations and golf, from about $400 a night midweek. Fontainebleau suits convention weeks and pool days, though part of its deck is an ice rink from 19 November 2026 to 17 January 2027. SAHARA suits a budget, with free parking, though its $54.95 fee and tax take that $54 room to about $124. Wynn and Fontainebleau allow smoking on the casino floor.

The Strip's south end is Mandalay Bay, Luxor and Excalibur, with Allegiant Stadium across Interstate 15 and Michelob ULTRA Arena inside Mandalay Bay itself. On game days and for some events the Hacienda Avenue bridge closes to traffic, which makes the walk easier.

From the Strip outside Mandalay Bay, Luxor is eight minutes on foot, the Shark Reef Aquarium 11, New York-New York 16, Allegiant Stadium 17, the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign 18 and T-Mobile Arena 23; the Bellagio fountains are 35 on foot or 7 by car. The Deuce bus stops at Mandalay Bay on its way up the Strip, around the clock. The Four Seasons is 9 minutes by car from Terminal 1, a flat $22.25 by taxi before fees and tip.

The Four Seasons fills floors 35 to 39 of Mandalay Bay's tower, with no casino floor and no smoking indoors, and its $55 nightly resort fee opens Mandalay Bay Beach: 11 acres with a wave pool, a lazy river and real sand. The catch is winter, when the wave pool and lazy river close and so does the hotel's own pool. It suits non-gamblers, families and stadium nights, from about $380 a night midweek, and the centre of the Strip is a taxi ride.

Downtown is the old Las Vegas, and the Fremont Street Experience is its spine: five blocks of casinos under a 1,375-foot canopy of screens, with light shows every hour from 6pm to 2am and free concerts on three stages, which at weekends can run from noon to 2am. In 2025 downtown hotels averaged $98.75 a night against $197.45 on the Strip.

From the west end of the Experience at Main Street, SlotZilla's launch tower is seven minutes on foot, the Mob Museum eight, Downtown Container Park 12, and the Neon Museum and the 18b Arts District 21 each. The Strip is a ride: the Bellagio fountains are 11 minutes by car, and the Deuce runs down the Strip around the clock, every 10 to 15 minutes from 7am to 1am, $8 for 24 hours. The airport is 17 minutes by car from Terminal 1, on the taxi meter.

The price is noise: the canopy's sound system runs to 600,000 watts, and the street stays loud late. Circa, at the west end, admits only over-21s, with Stadium Swim's heated pools facing a giant screen every day of the year and a $50 nightly fee that includes two pool passes. It suits friends and sports weekends, from about $170 midweek; rooms with a north city view face away from the street.

Summerlin is the planned suburb on the valley's western edge. Beyond it, 17 miles (27 km) west of the Strip, Red Rock Canyon, Nevada's first National Conservation Area, has a 13-mile (21 km) scenic drive, hikes from a few minutes to a full day and climbing on red and cream sandstone. From 1 October to 31 May the drive needs a timed-entry reservation between 8am and 5pm.

From Downtown Summerlin, the shopping and dining district beside Red Rock Resort, Las Vegas Ballpark is eight minutes on foot. Everything else is a drive: Red Rock Canyon's scenic drive is 12 minutes, its visitor centre 14, and the Bellagio fountains and Fremont Street 21 each. RTC's SX Sahara Express runs 24 hours from Downtown Summerlin along Sahara Avenue, but this is a place for a car. Red Rock Resort is 25 minutes by car from Terminal 1, on the taxi meter.

Red Rock Resort is a casino resort with free parking, a 3-acre pool area open all year on day hours and rooms facing either the Strip's lights or the Red Rock mountains. Smoking is allowed on its casino floor, and the $55 nightly fee still applies. It suits hikers, climbers and repeat visitors, from about $250 on a May Tuesday.

East of the Strip, Paradise Road runs past the Las Vegas Convention Center, the LVCVA's 4.6 million sq ft campus of West, Central, North and South halls, with Westgate and the chain hotels named for the Convention Center on the streets around it.

From the Monorail's Boingo Station at LVCC, on Paradise Road at Desert Inn Road, Central Hall is five minutes on foot, North Hall six, Westgate 13, West Hall 17 and the Strip at Wynn 23. Trains run every four to eight minutes between SAHARA and the MGM Grand, until midnight on Mondays, 2am from Tuesday to Thursday and 3am from Friday to Sunday, at $6.25 a ride or $15.50 for a day, and the LVCC Loop runs through tunnels between West Hall and the Central, North and South halls. The airport is 9 minutes by car from Terminal 1, a flat $30.25 by taxi before fees and tip.

None of our ten is here. For a show in the Central, North or South halls this side of the campus saves the walk: Central Hall is five minutes from the station but 18 from Fontainebleau's Strip entrance and 26 from SAHARA's, though for West Hall, Fontainebleau is seven minutes from the door. Evenings happen on the Strip.