Sleeping in Vegas

Bally’s
We stayed at Bally’s for four of our six nights in Vegas, and at only $55/night I can’t imagine a better bargain in the heart of the strip.

The lobby is noisy – the casino is right across the walkway – but after checking in and getting up to our room we were pleasantly surprised. We just had a basic room, but it was much bigger than what we were expecting, and it was very nicely appointed for the rate we paid. We’ve easily spent two or three times more for rooms in Duluth that weren’t as nice as this.

It was very quiet on our floor – almost too quiet. We turned on the room fan because we’re used to sleeping with a fan on at home to provide white noise. The room fan at Bally’s was perfect – loud enough to drown out the silence (or noise if the hotel is busier than it was when we were there), but not too loud to drown out the TV or conversation. We found the room fan at Paris to be too quiet.

Spend a few days at Bally’s going out on the strip and you’ll really start to appreciate the location. A monorail connects Bally’s to the MGM Grand. From there, cross the street to New York, New York and Excalibur is right next door. Excalibur is connected by monorail to both the Luxor and Mandalay Bay, which is the last big casino at that end of the strip.

Paris is connected to Bally’s by a shopping avenue. Across the street from Paris is the Bellagio. Caesar’s and the Mirage are all within easy walking distance. If you’re up for a longer walk, it’s not completely unreasonable to hoof it down to Treasure Island and cross over to the Venetian, which is beautiful at night.

It’s true that Bally’s is one of the few casinos right on the strip that doesn’t have some sort of theme, and I suppose that might be a reason for some to consider staying elsewhere, but in all likelihood you’ll spend much more to stay at the themed hotels – Paris was only $5 higher the night we stayed there, but most nights it was $20-40 higher.

We spent a lot of time researching where to stay before we went to Vegas, and in the end what finally pushed us to Bally’s was the great rate. It really is worth staying on the strip, and if you don’t want to break the bank to do so, we highly recommend Bally’s.

Paris
We stayed at Paris on a Thursday night. Our room rate was $59. How did we get this incredible rate, when the next night the same room was going for close to $300? We booked online through the casino's website.

The rooms at Paris are very nice, but slightly smaller than those at Bally's. The bedding at Paris is the softest, most comfortable hotel bedding we've ever slept in. The bathrooms are also worth mentioning. Even basic rooms have a separate glass-enclosed shower and the sinks and countertops are all marble. Jaime and Michelle were also very impressed with the hairdryer. It's difficult to imagine spending well over $300 for this room, but we could have spent twice or maybe even three times what we paid and still felt like it was a good value.

Paris is one of our favorite hotels. The casino isn't as posh as the Bellagio, but we think it's the nicest of the themed casinos. There are several restaurants in Paris, but the only one we ate at was Mon Ami Gabi (see food section). The restaurant and shopping avenues are very nicely done, giving the impression that you really are walking through the streets of Paris. The cobblestone streets are a nice touch, though they are a bit of an annoyance if you're dragging wheeled luggage over them. The exterior of the hotel is also quite romantic.

One other note: The self parking at Paris is an easy place to park to visit the mid-strip. You could even make it all the way down to Mandalay Bay if you took the trams running from Bali's to MGM and from Excalibur to Mandalay. Be warned, though: it's a pretty long walk the other direction to get all the way down to the Venetian and Treasure Island. We made the hike, but probably wouldn't do it again.