Just north of Mandalay Bay is
Luxor, (3900 Las Vegas Blvd. South, Las Vegas, NV 89119. Phone 888-777-0188)
a unique property in its design. After landing at McCarran,
the Luxor is usually the most prominent building you'll see out the airplane window. It appears to be
on the airport property, but it's about 2 miles from the terminal. Driving from the airport to the Luxor
is a straight shot westbound on Tropicana.
The main Luxor building is a huge black pyramid
with a bright beacon on top that shines straight up for miles. Smaller lights
outline the pyramid shape and sometimes blink in patterns, while a reproduction of the Sphinx
glares toward Las Vegas Blvd. The theme is ancient Egyptian and the guest rooms line
the inside triangular walls of the pyramid, looking out over the casino and main level. They also
have tower rooms separate from the pyramid... but you can get a tower room anywhere.
If you choose the Luxor as your hotel I recommend asking for a pyramid room up higher
than the tenth floor (lower down you get noise from the casino.) Luxor is usually priced around $90 at off-peak times for standard
(what they call "deluxe") rooms. I stayed here twice in the mid 1990's and once again in December 2006, and can recommend it as a very good mid-level property, meaning
it's an excellent choice between the extremes of high priced luxury and low cost economy.
A cab driver might
LONG HAUL you from
the airport by taking the freeway instead of surface streets. Keep the Nevada Taxicab Authority 702-668-4000 number in your cell phone if you're going
to use taxis in Las Vegas. If you suspect you're being long hauled, call them during the trip. Also refer to this
Las Vegas taxicab fares and fees chart to see what a trip from the airport
to various hotels should cost, assuming traffic isn't unusually heavy. The best instructions to give a cab driver are either "take the fastest route"
or "take the least expensive route", whichever your priority happens to be at the time. Normally, the least expensive route between the airport and
strip hotels will involve taking some combination of Tropicana, Paradise, Koval Lane, Las Vegas Blvd. or Dean Martin Drive (formerly Industrial).
When traffic is very heavy, however, the freeway should not only be faster but also less expensive. So regardless of what other tourists may
have told you, there is no hard and fast rule for determining if you've been long hauled from the airport. It all depends on traffic conditions at the time.
(I put this information together from personal experience, reading tourist accounts of long hauling, and reading Las Vegas cab driver blogs.)
Although the south end of paved Las Vegas Blvd. is 39 miles south of Las Vegas
(in Jean, Nevada where it turns into a dusty desert trail) this sign marks the south end of the
Las Vegas Strip. It's half a mile south of the Mandalay Bay megaresort. You can park near the
Las Vegas Tourist Bureau and walk a short distance to the sign. Be careful crossing the street - cars
are traveling at freeway speed on this section of Las Vegas Blvd, and there isn't any crosswalk. You could try parking on the gravel island where
the sign is (it's more than large enough) but may get a ticket for illegal parking or something.
It almost looks like a different sign in the daylight.
The
Klondike has gone out of business. This used to be the first casino at the south end of the Las Vegas strip, just a few feet north of
the Welcome sign. The building was still standing in December 2007 but looked ready for demolition. That's a good location since so many tourists
like to take pictures of the "Welcome" sign. I haven't heard if the Klondike is going to be demolished, or remodeled into something else.
I shot this photo in the late morning of December 25, 2006. That shadow in the parking lot of the Klondike belongs to the Las Vegas Tourist Bureau sign.
Diamond Inn 4605 Las Vegas Blvd South, Las Vegas, NV 89119. 702-736-2565.
Diamond Inn doesn't have a web site. It's a small motel with a small pool and a paper mache pink elephant
on the front lawn.
The Laughing Jackalope 3969 Las Vegas Blvd. South, Las Vegas, NV. Phone: 702-739-1915 is about a quarter mile north of
the Klondike. It's another small "downtown style" property although it doesn't have a casino. It's more of a motel with a bar, and has
bartop video poker. By "downtown style" I mean that none of the downtown Las Vegas casino properties (Fremont Street & surrounding area) can be
called a "megaresort." Downtown casinos are also favored by serious gamblers as they typically offer better odds for players, such as double deck
blackjack instead of a six or eight deck shoe.
Mandalay Bay (3950 Las Vegas Blvd. South Las Vegas, Nevada 89119. Phone 877-632-7800)
is the first "megaresort" on the south end of the strip.
I don't know if there is an official definition of "megaresort" but I define it as a large hotel/casino that includes restaurants,
retail shops, a showroom for concerts and other Las Vegas style shows, and extensive recreation such as swimming pools, tennis, and golf.
Mandalay Bay was rated the #1 place to stay
in Las Vegas by The Travel Channel in 2004. Mandalay Bay is one of the most expensive and nicest
properties on the strip; a very close second to the super-upscale properties like Bellagio and Wynn. They've got friendly staff and a
pleasantly understated tropical theme. The casino is huge but the slots (like most strip casinos) are
tight (meaning they don't pay off so much) and betting limits for table games are higher than the casual player might like
(such as a $10 minimum bet per hand for blackjack.) The TV series "Las Vegas" takes place in a fictitious Las Vegas property
(The Montecito) which for the first two seasons used an interior that was precisely modeled after Mandalay Bay's interior, and the pilot (first episode) was shot in the real Mandalay Bay.
Season 2 ended with the Montecito being imploded. The "new Montecito" ... an absurd looking structure with a waterfall coming out of it... was introduced
for Season 3. You'll also notice, if you watch the show, that the Montecito moves around on the strip. Most often it's south of the Tropicana;
sometimes it's further north near the Venetian.
Mandalay Bay also contains the House of Blues and the very upscale Red Square restaurant, which has a bar topped with a sheet of ice and a huge selection of vodkas.
Four Seasons is a very upscale 424 room hotel
located on the 60 acre Mandalay Bay resort property. Four Seasons does not have a casino.
