Things to Do in Nevada

Though once outfitted with a tropical theme, Mandalay Bay is currently undergoing a makeover that will include an update to shows, dining options and nightlife opportunities. There have also been room renovations and a rebranding of the property’s boutique hotel, soon to be Delano Las Vegas.

Mandalay Bay’s casino, which has 135,000 square feet of gaming space, will be getting new carpet, chairs and music, but the gaming opportunities will remain similar to what has been offered in the past. The property has more than 1,700 slot machines ranging from 1¢ to $100 per play. Table game favorites such as baccarat, blackjack, craps and roulette can be found throughout the casino. A variety of poker games are available as well, and free lessons are available for beginners Monday through Thursday at 2:00 p.m.

Mandalay Bay’s race and sports book is a popular place to catch all major sports and horse racing events including boxing, football, auto racing, UFC, hockey, basketball and baseball. It has 17 large-screen televisions and several race seats with individual monitors. An enclosed VIP luxury box is available for groups up to eight people.

The resort’s Lotus Room combines Western gaming with Eastern table-side dining and hospitality. A handful of table games are available in the Lotus Room.

Looking at the key stats that define Monte Carlo, it appears in many ways to be an average property in a sea of over-the-top, award-winning resorts, but its low-key vibe draws many people who prefer not to be swept up in the stereotypical Las Vegas madness.

Monte Carlo’s casino floor includes more than 100,000 square feet of gaming space, which includes more than 1,600 slot and video poker machines. The resort offers all the popular table games including blackjack, roulette, craps, several variations of poker and three kinds of baccarat. In the poker room, players can try their luck at Texas hold ‘em, limit hold ‘em, Omaha and no limit hold ‘em, and a variety of daily tournaments up the ante.

The resort’s high limit slots lounge is located off the casino floor and is fully catered. The maximum bet is $100. The high limit table game room offers mini baccarat with bets ranging from $100 to $10,000, blackjack running from $25 to $5,000 and single-zero roulette.

For those new to the casino scene, Monte Carlo offers craps lessons in the casino at 11:00 a.m. daily and poker lessons in the poker room Monday through Friday at 11:00 a.m.

It isn’t everyday that you get to take a photo with a celebrity, or what looks like one. At Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, you’ll find wax figures of everyone from George Clooney to Cameron Diaz, with over 100 wax figures on exhibition at any given time.

Lined with cobblestone walkways and iron street lamps, the Paris Hotel and Casino offers a small taste of Paris in Las Vegas. With its Parisian-style shopping and restaurants, plus a 50-story tall Eiffel Tower out the front, a stay here might just be as good as the real thing.

For shopping, Paris offers a walk down the Bally's-Paris Promenade or Le Boulevard, housing French designs, small boutiques, and the latest fashions. Then there are the shows, featuring the talents of everyone from singer Barry Manilow to the hypnotist Anthony Cools.

One of the sites most visitors encounter when they enter the South Rim is Mather Point. It’s an astonishing, breathtaking glimpse into the Grand Canyon. Best of all, you’re a short walk to the Canyon View Information Plaza, where you can pick up park information and begin your journey into the Canyon.

Mather Point has quite an extensive viewing area, set as it is on the south side of the Colorado River. Two narrow, railed overlooks, built on projecting rocks, provide views along the rim in both directions. The panorama extends from the lower end of Garden Creek, taking in some of the Bright Angel Trail, and a spectacular view over the deep canyon of Pipe Creek. To the west, you can jump on the Rim Trail, which offers more scenic vistas on its way to Yavapai Point. You can also see Bright Angel Creek, on the North Rim, between a collection of red buttes and ravines. A stop here is an excellent introduction to the Grand Canyon.

If there’s one thing that sets Rio apart from all other Las Vegas resorts, it’s the fact that its casino plays host to the annual World Series of Poker (WSOP). Guests are welcome to play in Rio’s poker room, the only one in the world that features 100% certified WSOP dealers, where just about every poker game is available, from classics like hold ‘em and seven-card stud to 2-7 triple draw and badugi. There are five poker tournaments held in the poker room daily, with a variety of buy-ins at different times.

Beyond the poker room, Rio’s casino floor has dozens of tables featuring popular games including blackjack, craps, roulette and baccarat. The vast majority of the resort’s 1,200 slot machines are in a masquerade-themed, 100,000-square-foot space, where a series of floats glides over the crowd several times each Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening.

In addition to the Show in the Sky, Rio is home to a couple other popular Las Vegas shows. Penn & Teller is a humorous magic show with tricks requiring knives, guns and other curious items. Even though the “Bad Boys of Magic” are known for giving away the secrets to their tricks, audience members are still left wondering how they’re done. The Chippendales round out the perfect girls-night out with 12 sexy male dancers who perform for audiences five nights a week.

With more than 5,000 guest rooms, MGM Grand is one of the largest casino hotels in Las Vegas, and part of its draw is the gaming floor. The resort has more than 170,000 square feet of gaming space, which includes more than 2,500 slot machines and video poker. Denominations on these games range from 1¢ to $1,000. Majestic Lions and Lion’s Share are both custom machines found only at MGM Grand; a $1 million payout is the top reward.

Table games include blackjack, craps, baccarat, mini-baccarat, roulette, European roulette, Pai Gow poker, Pai Gow, big six wheel, let it ride, war, crazy for poker and three-card poker. MGM Grand’s race and sports book has seating for 104 guests with several television screens from which to watch the big game. This is also the first race and sports book to offer “skyboxes”—four rooms that host eight to ten guests in 300-325 square feet of space. Each is equipped with 42-inch plasma television, surround sound and CD systems. One of the most appealing aspects of MGM Grand’s casino is the non-smoking poker room, which has 23 tables.

Beyond the casino, guests at MGM Grand enjoy a number of fine restaurants including Joël Robuchon, which has received the Michelin three-star, Forbes five-star and AAA five-diamond restaurant ratings.

For many travelers, Planet Hollywood Las Vegas offers the best of many worlds. Its mid-Strip location makes it the ideal hub for anyone wanting to explore a little bit of everything on Las Vegas Boulevard; The Cosmopolitan is right across the street, and CityCenter, Bellagio and Paris Las Vegas are only a short walk away. It’s a mid-range hotel—affordable but not cheap, cool and classy but not extravagant—and its vibe attracts a fun, high-energy crowd without offending multi-generational families or couples celebrating a honeymoon.

Planet Hollywood is home to about ten restaurants, a 100,000-square-foot casino and a handful of theatres including V Theatre. In addition to a few low-on-the-radar shows, Planet Hollywood usually has at least one legendary artist performing on a short residency (Meat Loaf, The Jacksons and CeeLo Green have been past artists) and is now home to pop star Britney Spears and her show “Britney: Piece of Me.”

Wrapped around Planet Hollywood is the Miracle Mile, a shopping mall with 170 stores and 15 additional restaurants. Stores feature known brand names such as H&M, Urban Outfitters, Puma, Diesel and American Apparel. Despite the fact that Bellagio is just across the street, the Miracle Mile has its own fountain show, which features lighting effects, color-changing fog and water that shoots 50 feet in the air.

Bringing the sleek city and bright-lights aspect of New York to Vegas, the New York - New York Hotel and Casino does an admirable job transporting you to the Big Apple. With recreations of landmarks like the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, and Brooklyn Bridge, New Yorkers will feel strangely at home.

With a Coney Island-themed amusement Park, Time Square like bar, and Central Park Casino, you’ll get a bite of New York’s biggest attractions in Vegas. Keeping in line with the diversity of NYC, New York New York features multi-ethnic restaurants, there’s something to fit everyone’s taste. From Mexican, to Italian, to Contemporary American, you won’t know if you’re in Little Italy or Little New York.

New York New York is also a great place for entertainment. With live performances by Cirque du Soleil and popular nightclubs like Coyote Ugly, you’ll have plenty to keep you awake at night.