Some of it should stay in Vegas
Why gamble when you don't have to? We handicap the alternatives. On the must-do list: Liberace, Flamingo's flamingos and the still unjaded 'Jubilee!'
Millions of people visit the gambling and entertainment mecca each year, and most know what to see: Bellagio's fountains, the Venetian's gondoliers, the new-and-improved Forum Shops.
But Las Vegas is loaded with bad choices too. Because the average visitor pops in for just a few days, wrong turns can be a huge waste of time and money. And nothing is more shameful in Sin City than wasting money that could instead be fed into a slot machine.
Local resident Steve Friess offers this slightly irreverent and highly subjective list of the city's seven biggest tourist pitfalls -- and proposes some underrated alternatives.
1. VIEWS
Avoid: The Stratosphere
The raison d'être of this Seattle Space Needle rip-off is to provide a bird's-eye view of the city. Trouble is, it's expensive ($9), the waits can be excruciatingly long at peak times, and there are several better vantage points on the Strip. The hotel's revolving Top of the World restaurant is a costly waste of time too with dull food and a boring view of flat terrain for much of the hour it takes to make a circle. The tower does have one thing going for it: Its thrill rides, including Insanity and the High Roller, are the city's terrifying best.
The Stratosphere, 2000 Las Vegas Blvd. S., (702) 380-7777, http://www.stratospherehotel.com .
Instead: Mix at the hotel at Mandalay Bay
This new bar-lounge on the Strip gives you everything you can see from the Stratosphere, except closer up. Plus, its $750,000 chandelier — made of 13,000 pieces of blown glass — is a spectacle in itself, as are the women's toilets and men's urinals, which stare right out over the skyline. The lounge opens at 5 nightly and is free until 10 p.m. After that, the cover charge is $20. If you're a high roller, you might want to try Mix restaurant, where entrees start at $30.
Mix at THEhotel, 3950 Las Vegas Blvd. S., (702) 632-7777, http://www.mandalaybay.com .
2. GETAWAYS
Avoid: The Casino Gold package at the Imperial Palace
The Imperial Palace mainly thrives off its center-Strip location, but that's no reason to blow $170 for a weekend of tramping through a shabby casino that has a section where cards are dealt by Elvis and Michael Jackson impersonators. The Casino Gold package — which wisely replaces the Palace's notorious room-of-mirrors-everywhere offerings of years past — includes a gym day pass that's invalid on Fridays and Saturdays, passes to a buffet that's invalid for dinner and a why-bother $5 blackjack match play. The pluses: The updated deluxe rooms are more palatable, and the free passes to the auto collection are worth half an hour of fun.
Imperial Palace, 3535 Las Vegas Blvd. S., (702) 731-3311, http://www.imperialpalace.com .
Instead: The Casino package at Westin Casuarina Hotel
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