The always in-fashion Bellagio
Photo: Courtesy George Hatoun
Red Rock Canyon
Las Vegas
A desert oasis in more ways than one
FIRST-TIME ESSENTIAL Climb up the Stratosphere tower, Vegas’s highest viewpoint, after dark, and behold the metropolis built on bets twinkling against the lightless desert. TIP: While you’re there, hop on the Insanity ride, a roller coaster that dangles off the side of the 1,149-foot tower. stratospherehotel.com
FOR LOVERS In a city where romance can often mean plastic champagne glasses and Elvis chapels, the new Cosmopolitan Hotel, which stretches a quarter-mile off the Strip, has just what you need for a romantic getaway. Hide out in one of its beautiful, modern terrace suites, which has a full kitchen, a soaking tub, and even a two-person love seat on the spacious balcony overlooking the Strip. cosmopolitanlasvegas.com, from $160
EAT THIS The Paris Hotel may have the Eiffel Tower, but for Vegas’s best French cuisine head to Joël Robuchon in the MGM Grand. Executive chef Claude Le Tohic prepares a rich six-course meal that will fill even the most ravenous Francophile, with signature dishes like le boeuf, a sublime and simple beef rib eye with rock salt and vegetable fricassee. mgmgrand.com
RETAIL THERAPY Even voracious shoppers may be overwhelmed at the Crystals at CityCenter, a 500,000-square-foot megachurch of consumerism completed in 2009 that houses upscale stores like Prada, Gucci, and Tiffany, as well as numerous art galleries. citycenter.com
Photo: Courtesy the Neon Museum Inc. Copyright held by the Neon Museum Inc.
A taste of old-school Vegas at the Neon Museum Boneyard
REST YOUR HEAD The strip’s fanciest hotel just got swankier. With a recent $70 million overhaul under its well-heeled belt, and, of course, its iconic fountains, nowhere screams “decadent winter getaway” quite like the Bellagio Resort & Casino. bellagio.com, from $169
WHAT YOU DIDN’T DO LAST TIME The Neon Museum Boneyard showcases Vegas’s classier days. Wandering among its 150 signs salvaged from old, forgotten hotels, businesses, and casinos—some dating back as far as 1930—will make you long for the days when black ties and wingtips outnumbered T-shirts and sandals. neonmuseum.org by appointment only
- 8 flights from PDX daily
- 63 average high temp in February
- 141,770 slot machines in Vegas
ZEN MOMENT Breathe in the scent of yucca and Joshua trees on the 2.4-mile Arnight trail, which cuts through Red Rock Canyon. Just west of Vegas, this geological gem boasts over 50 miles of hiking trails along its sun-drenched auburn walls.Even Las Vegans will jump in front of developers’ bulldozers to protect it. redrockcanyonlv.org
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