First-Time Visitors Looking For A Place To Stay

Our first trip was to Bally’s in the Jubilee tower. Loved the center strip location. Room was nice and roomy. Like the pool at Paris. Hard to beat Bally’s at its price point.

 

#1 Bally's for all the reasons mentioned. The Resort Tower has the newest rooms.

#2 Flamingo but only if you book a room designated as a "Flamingo Room." This category is very recently renovated. Just go out the north side door and you're in Linq Promenade, which has many dining choices.

#3 Harrah's is worth a look. All the rooms there are less than 2 years old. Some are just weeks old. The pool there isn't great, but since you don't care about that, it moves way up the list. You just have to cut through the Linq Casino to get to the Linq Promenade for more dining. Also very easy access to Mirage.

As mentioned, the higher the price the better the buffet. Of those I've been to Aria, Bellagio, and Bacchanal (Caesars). I preferred Bachanal. Any of the low end buffets are usually fine for breakfast. The big disappointment are the mid-range buffets. Paris and PH have really slipped. Mirage would be the best of that group.

I'm a smoker, so I don't seek out non-smoking casino spaces. However, as The Rumor said, the newer casino are better designed in that regard. I've really noticed this at Aria. If (and only if) others support that Aria is significantly less smokey and if smokiness is that big of a concern for you, then you may want to look at Park MGM. It's not center strip, but it's much less than Aria and is connected to it by a long passageway.

 

Center Strip... My personal favorite is Linq, Harrahs and Flamingo. There is a very busy place for food,bars, people watching between flamingo and Linq. The hotels are decent, cheap, but its the location that makes it my favorite. It's not the worst thing in the world to have to walk to miracle mile for shopping. \

For me, I wouldn't recommend Bally's. It feels like it's off the strip a bit and just disconnected from everything. If shopping is really your thing, Planet Hollywood wouldnt be a bad choice either with Miracle Mile.

 

If you want to visit ‘a bunch of different casinos’ you need to be able to walk for hours. The properties are so huge that even next door neighbors like Bellagio and Caesars will consume thirty minutes to walk out of one and in to the next. If that even sounds like a problem you need to think about buses, or a one way walk with an Uber return. The monorail is no help due to the long walks to and from. And don’t ever fall for “I can see the Stratosphere so I can walk there.”

 

If you’re in the harrahs flamingo linq Cromwell area it’s pretty easy to get through them quickly. It’s the ones where the rooms and casinos are set back or where there is some attraction in the way like the forum shops that really adds to the journey.

 

My first trip was eerily close to those dates just adjust by one day (and several years!).

I normally stay at NYNY. It seems to check off everything but central strip. Having stayed mostly on that corner of NYNY I'm used to it, but I have stayed at Bellagio and Mirage and I can understand the convenience in being in the middle of the strip. I'm a big an of NYNY. I stay at hotels that host the conference I'm attending, or I'll stay at NYNY. I love the atmosphere of the place. I love the food options at NYNY, but also nearby locations. I'll always eat the pizza at NYNY (Sirrico's Pizza), and it is my first stop. The past two years I stayed at Mirage to attend a conference and I checked into my room, put stuff away and immediately walked to NYNY to have pizza. So, I have no problems walking to another resort along the strip to find food or entertainment. The rooms are fine. You'll see some wear and tear on the furniture but the rooms are clean.

No casinos have non-smoking (and if they do I haven't found it) but I've found the smoke to be not very bad at one specific place or another. At NYNY they have a very high ceiling and that can help, however, you'r hooped if you're sitting next to a smoker who is inconsiderate or too drunk to realize they're smoking you out. I have also sat next to smokers and haven't had an issue with their smoke. It's all about luck, which is fitting since you're in Vegas!

 

I looked at your dates and it looks like Planet Hollywood is about the same price as Bally's. I would probably look at that over the other choices. They have one of the more lively casinos and much more of a "Vegas feel" than some of the other mid to lower tier choices.

Park MGM would be another solid choice on the MGM brand side. I don't consider that to be as close to "center strip," but that's really all relative to people. I like the resort there and you're really close to MGM, NYNY, Cosmo, and Aria.

Personally, I really like some of the "lower tier" places like Harrahs and Flamingo. They don't have as much glitz and glam, but the casinos are typically crowded and the faint smell of smoke feels right.

 

I agree with @jtdestef suggestion above. Having looked at the prices for your exact dates, I'd strongly recommend the Resort Ultra room at Planet Hollywood. Its showing about $175 a night out the door for those dates including taxes and resort fees. It's about 10 to 15 per night more than base rooms at Bally and PHo those nights, and it's a 585 square foot room which is about the size of the small/Junior suites at Bally's, and they have huge bathrooms with a nice soaking tub, if you care about that. It's a great room at that price level.

As others have mentioned, the PHo resort is surrounded by miracle mile shops, which have a ton of cheap eating options as well as some nicer places, has a decent casino, and location wise it's a straight shot across the strip (on a pedestrian bridge) to Cosmo, Aria, and Crystal shops. It sits across the strip from the southeast corner of the Ballagio fountains, so they even have quite a few fountain view rooms there if you care about that. A good attitude and a tip at checkin will usually get you that for the asking. Also its next door to Paris, being the southernmost of the 7 adjacent CET properties. The rooms are in pretty decent shape and are a little higher end than Bally's. I might have recommended it in the first place but it's usually a bigger price difference between the two than it shows for your dates.

In terms of Base rooms, PHo are slightly smaller than the resort rooms at Bally's (in 'main' area - both resort room at Bally's and Ultra Hip at PHo claim 450 square feet which is much larger than Harrah's) but have larger nicer bathrooms and soaking tubs in all room types. I also think Planet Hollywood's casino has one of the better varieties of games at all price levels among the LV CET properties, but that's personal taste.

 

The last time I was on a RTC bus on the strip, the people on the sidewalks were faster than we were.
Just sayin'.

 

Walking the strip used to be fun. Now, not so much.

 

I second NYNY. It is a bit south strip, and their pool sucks, but it's home to me. Plenty of great food choices, good casino, and the rooms are decent. As others have said, for center strip, I'd look at Harrah's, Flamingo, or Linq.

 

Good questions and honest request. You basically need a room that looks to be $105-$150 a night because the resort fee a night will cost you $40+. I will say this a few times, BALLYS BALLYS BALLYS.

For your budget, you get center strip, modern rooms, the most space 90 sqft + for same modestly priced-type place compared to Harrahs/Flamingo/LINQ/NYNY/LUXOR, etc. You are steps away from Paris, Planet Hollywood, and Cosmo....excellent places to gamble, drink, relax, have fun. Even though I stay at Ballys, I do all the things I just mentioned elsewhere. Ballys in my home base because its in a location I like and with a few hundred yards of every single thing you are asking for.

 

ANY STRIP HOTEL will be just fine. (From Wynn south to Mandalay Bay). But, mid strip means Park MGM, Harrahs, Flamingo, Paris, Ballys - and maybe NYNY or Linq.

Do some checking on pricing and remember to add resort fee.

Never done HopOnHopOff - but it might be worth a day. You can really have a good time walking from hotel to hotel, assuming you are cool with lots of miles each day.

 

Bally's or Mirage would be my recommendation. Both have great locations with nice casino's and tons of food options. Bally's will have access to the monorail which is nice for getting up and down the strip if walking in the heat isn't your thing.