Vegas bound. Any ideas?

That's definitely a reasonable walk.

 

MGM to Caesars is definitely walkable. It's a haul, but it's doable. However, in June, when it's going to be a scorcher, and if the lady is wearing heels, it's a non-starter. Better off, if you have a car and you're not a drinker, to just make the drive.

Flipside: There's also a beauty element to walking the Strip. I make a point to do a MGM-area to Venetian-area jaunt every time I visit. Just take in everything that Vegas has to offer. Plus, it's a good way to spend time without pissing money away. Grab a drink or two along the way to take with you, and it's a great time.

 

I once walked from the Stardust to the Strat.

I have no idea why.

 

Me too, fucking insanity, at least you can drink along the way.

 

FYI, there are free trams from Mandalay Bay to Excalibur, from Monte Carlo to Bellagio and from Mirage to Treasure Island (with stops at each casino along the way).

So to answer the original question, you could get off at Bellagio and walk across the street to Caesar's. (Though both of those properties are so huge, that's a haul in itself from door-to-door).

There's also a monorail that runs the entire strip, but it costs money.

 

I find the monorail a pain in the ass to use, seems like a ton of walking just to get to the stations.

Drive or cab it to Celine, walk the strip for. Fun when you don't have to be somewhere quick.

Apropos of nothing I am going as one of those Girls to Your Room touts next Halloween.

 

That loud popping sound the touts make with those little 3x5 cards to get your attention was stuck in my head after a while.

Last time I was in Vegas, my brother and I stayed at Paris and were walking over toward the Flamingo to find something to eat. With a long sidewalk and two sets of escalators, that's one of the largest concentrations of strip-club hawkers/escort service touts in town.

One guy in a three-piece suit asked us: "Strip club tonight, gentlemen?"

"No thanks," we said.

Him, "C'mon fellas, titties in your face!"

We managed to resist ... somehow.

 

Just a question here for discussion:
With the Palms disintegrating as evidenced by the allegedly broke Maloofs selling the Kings, and the Rio turning to crap as the days roll by, does a mega-luxury hotel HAVE to be on the Strip to succeed? Seems like it. The biggest, best hotels on the Strip -- Caesars, Bellagio, Mirage, Wynn, MGM, etc. -- continually reinvent themselves. I can't imagine the Palms and the Rio doing that. Will they wind up being a mid-level like the Orleans hang?

 

I guess that discussion starts with defining mega-luxury. Not sure that Rio has been considered to be that in a long time, assuming that it ever was.

There are some resorts nowhere near the strip that have carved out their own niche, such as Red Rock (Summerlin) or Green Valley Ranch (Henderson). But those are in upscale suburban areas, surrounded by shopping, golfing, etc. There's just not much around Rio/Palms, and they are cut off from the strip by I-15. I was baffled by the location back when Rio first opened.

 

You are right that it is a long walk to the monorail stations.

 

I'm very glad I'm not holding the note on the "M Hotel" that is way out in EBF.

BTW, I have it on very good authority that the Maloof's have sold their entire interest in the Palms. This person said the Maloofs were the second-largest investors with Bernie Madoff, and that's why they are broke.

 

palms and the rio want to be all things to all people. they're essentially locals places that once were able to capture an independently-minded guest from LA; the rio had this generation's first nightclub and did big business with it, and palms took that cue and upped it. but once the strip hotels caught on that was that (and it surely didn't help the rio when harrahs bought them; the palms at least could make independent move until the maloofs over-leveraged themselves and had to run everything past the bankers).

pending lots of ifs, the next center of gravity is a revitalized downtown. yes, it may be shaping up too hipster-y like a williamsburgh west (or loz feliz east for that matter), but locals under 60 looking for/creating their own places has lots of potential.