Happy Thursday, friends! This post on Las Vegas has been highly requested and a few of you are going over Christmas so I figured I would go ahead and post it! I was honestly a little scared to go to Las Vegas because I had no idea what to expect. In my head, I pictured it to be dirty, with drunk people everywhere haha. It was the complete opposite! It was so so nice, very clean, and beautiful – there are tons of amazing hotels, shopping, and SO MUCH to do and see. I was pleasantly surprised and would recommend the trip to anyone. If you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comments!
WHERE TO STAY
We stayed at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas and LOVED it. We all decided at the end of the trip after visiting some of the other hotels that the Cosmopolitan was our favorite out of every one we saw. Here are some of the bullet points:
*Room: The above picture is the view from our balcony. We stayed in the West Tower in a Terrace One Bedroom Fountain View, which was really spacious and had a Japanese soaking tub, private balcony, two TVs and a living room area. Plus the view from the balcony was phenomenal!!
*Atmosphere: It was very vibrant and full of life… there were lots of young people (and some families too) and we felt very comfortable there and right at home. You could walk downstairs at 3 am in the morning or 3 pm in the afternoon and it didn’t matter – there were always people around having fun. For the guys – there was a gigantic wall of TVs that plays sports 24/7. Chris loved that!
*Location: We decided the Cosmopolitan was also located in the best spot! We were within walking distance to shows and a lot of the major attractions, and right next door to the Bellagio fountains. I also appreciated that there was tons of shopping nearby, including luxury stores.
*Restaurants/Things to do: We LOVED the food at the Cosmopolitan (see below category for more). The Cosmopolitan also has two really nice pools, and in the Winter they turn one into an ice skating rink. Chris and I checked it out – it was on a rooftop and they were selling festive Christmas cocktails at the bar right next to the rink. It was really cool! The casino part was also awesome. I am not a big gambler (it gives me anxiety) but I did play on a slot machine and at the roulette table – it was actually really fun!
WHERE TO EAT
Like I said above, we ate most of our meals at the restaurants within the Cosmopolitan because it was easy and convenient. There are sooo many restaurants in Vegas, they have practically every restaurant you could think of. The one night we ventured outside the hotel, we ate at “Shake Shack,” a famous burger restaurant based in NYC. Here were are favorite restaurants within the hotel:
*Eggslut: Amazing breakfast sandwiches! We all had bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches – they came with spicy ketchup and OMG. So good.
*Wicked Spoon: This was a buffet restaurant where we ate brunch one morning. It’s a little pricey – $50 for the buffet and unlimited mimosas – but so so good. The had every type of food you could imagine for brunch – mashed potatoes, sushi, pancakes, Japanese noodles, eggs benedict, pastries, gelato, you get the picture. It was AMAZING!
*Holsteins: This was a burger joint where we ate the first night. They have amazing burgers, salads and milkshakes. We got the buffalo chicken dip too and it was so good!
WHERE TO PLAY
We packed in a ton of activities into a short amount of time while we were in Vegas. The most fun thing we did was attend the UNC vs. Kentucky basketball game at the T-Mobile arena. I went to UNC and Krista went to Kentucky, and our teams have a huge rivalry… it was so so fun! The game was really close too, and the whole area was going crazy. Here are some other things we did:
*Visit the Venetian: The Venetian is a hotel modeled after Venice. You walk in and see beautiful painted ceilings and Venetian-style architecture. No trip to Venice would be complete without a romantic glide down the Grand Canal in a gondola – which you can do on the second floor of the hotel! The ceiling is painted like a sky and is slightly glowing – it looks so real that when we first walked in, I thought I was actually looking at the sky. It’s incredible!
*Vist New York New York: This is another incredible casino/hotel that is modeled after NYC. Different sections of the casino are modeled after different neighborhoods in NYC, and they even have restaurants and shops that are authentic to those neighborhoods. The coolest thing we did was ride on the Big Apple Roller Coaster which you can access through New York New York’s arcade. The roller coaster itself was INTENSE with lots of turns and an upside-down twist. We rode it at sunset and saw an incredible view of Las Vegas!
*Shopping: The boys were SUCH good sports and walked around with us while we shopped. The Bellagio (right next door to our hotel) has luxury shops like Chanel, Gucci and Valentino, while on the other side at the Las Vegas CityCenter you’ll find more luxury stores, including a 3-story Louis Vuitton.
*Shows: There are tons of shows to see in Las Vegas, whether you want to attend a concert (both Britney Spears and Jennifer Lopez were performing while we were there) or a magic show, dance performance or play.
*Helicopter ride: A bench of helicopter companies offer tours of the Grand Canyon (it is very close to Vegas). I wanted to do this sooo bad but we didn’t have time! They will even come pick you up and drop you back off at your hotel, and the entire trip is around 3.5 hours.
*Eiffel Tower: You can visit the Eiffel Tower attraction (modeled after the one in Paris, but a lot smaller!) and even eat lunch at the Eiffel Tower restaurant.
*Eiffel Tower: You can visit the Eiffel Tower attraction (modeled after the one in Paris, but a lot smaller!) and even eat lunch at the Eiffel Tower restaurant.
me and Krista from Covering the Bases blog!
If you have any questions about Vegas, let me know in the comments!
If you have any questions about Vegas, let me know in the comments!
SHOP THE POST:
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*Disclaimer: I was not paid to write this post, however I did receive compensation in the form of room c/o The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. As always all opinions are my own.
Looks like you had a great trip! I love Vegas… Nothing beats being able to walk the streets til 6am with no regrets!
Brittany 🙂
http://www.kingdomofsequins.com
I love those over the knee boots! I've been seeing them everywhere, so cute! 🙂
Halle, A Preppy Point of View
http://www.preppypov.com
Looks like you had a fun time in Vegas! I stayed a the Venetian last month. It's so pretty!
Polly
http://gemsandjoy.com
Vegas is amazing! We've been going for 11 years straight during Christmas time and there's sooooo much to do! The Cosmo is definitely a gorgeous hotel! Now that you've been here, you need to come back and explore more of the city!
Xo, Nina
Law of Fashion Blog
I used to love going to Vegas. Looks like you had a fun trip!
Kari
http://www.sweetteasweetie.com
So nice 😉
http://www.evdaily.blogspot.com
Love this post!! I went to Vegas for the first time this summer, and I was also super skeptical. I ended up loving it and having so much fun! So much better than I expected and I can't wait to go back in a few weeks!
I'm headed to Vegas next year, cannot wait!
xo
Pinksole
You always want to check out the seasonal exhibits in the Bellagio conservatory. If you exit left out of the conservatory there is a pastry/ice cream shop that has a massive chocolate fountain that's very cool. That shop makes the best sweet and savory crepes. The Bellagio also had my favorite Cirque du Soleil show, O.
A little more budget-friendly shopping is at the Miracle Mile shops inside Planet Hollywood or The Forum shops at Caesar's Palace.
If you have an extra night to blow, you must go downtown to Fremont Street. The overhead light show goes off every hour and is very cool. Downtown is really trying to beef up to attract the younger traveler. There are usually side concerts on Fremont and a few years ago they installed a zip line overhead. Also, the casinos downtown usually have cheaper table minimums if you aren't a gambler but want to try to play a little. It's a short cab/Uber/bus ride to downtown from the strip.
Love it! Vegas is so much fu.n. I'm about to do a post about NYC so make sure to check it out 🙂
Vegas is great. I was there twice. Your pics make me want to visit Sin City again. Greetings from Germany, Valerie
I really wanna go there!
Mireia from TGL
https://thegoldlipstick.com/
Vegas is so much fun especially in the summer for a girls trip! I celebrated my friends 30th birthday there and it was amazing!
xoxo
Sharan
http://www.MyGoldenBeauty.com
I went to Vegas for the first time this year and had a blast! There really is so much more to do than just gambling
Are those restaurant at the cosmopolitan that you listed casual? Any recs for something a little nicer? My husband and I are going this year for your anniversary and would love Ideas what to do and wear to eat. Think we will stay at the cosmo as well! Thanks in advance! 🙂
Awesome blog post, love to hear about places I'll be visiting 🙂