
The Las Vegas Value Calculator
But a trip to Vegas isn't defined by how much money you drop. The vibe of the city and its experiences can be enjoyed on numerous different spend levels—whether you're looking to conserve, indulge, or splurge. Here's how you can do Las Vegas in a way that works for you.
StayBook a room at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, where you can soak up the sun at the Kassi Beach Club, a lively 21+ pool experience with comfy cabanas and daybeds, Italian bites, and local DJs. There's also the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino—known for the International Theater—or Flamingo Las Vegas, a vibrant option with a 1.5-acre pool complex for guests 21 and older.
Eat Between explorations, fuel up with American comfort food like smoked brisket "trash can" nachos or steak frites served with a French fry trio and crispy onions at Guy Fieri's Flavortown Sports Kitchen located at Horseshoe Las Vegas. If you're in the mood for pizza, head to Evel Pie in Downtown Las Vegas, a retro pizzeria—inspired by the late daredevil Evel Knievel—where the Evel Slice Combo gives you a slice of cheese pizza and a beer for just $8. PlayTaking a photo at the iconic Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign and exploring the Bellagio Conservatory & Botanical Gardens are two solid free activities. And the The Neon Museum is well worth its ticket price ($20 during the day and $30 at night)—you'll see some of the city's retired bright, dazzling lights, plus special exhibitions.
StayOff-strip options carry an air of exclusivity. Consider M Resort Spa & Casino and Circa Resort & Casino, for example, both of which feature pool clubs and several dining options. Be among the first to experience MGM Grand Hotel and Casino's newly renovated rooms, an ode to the glamour of the disco era but with modern touches.
EatTake dinner-and-a-show to a new level at Fork n' Film Las Vegas, located in AREA15, an immersive dining experience that brings popular films to life with food and drinks inspired by what appears on-screen. Top of the World serves steaks, seafood, and sweeping views of Las Vegas from inside the The STRAT Hotel, Casino & Tower; the restaurant's extraordinary dining room revolves 360 degrees every 80 minutes so every dinner party gets to experience the full view. Don't skip the warm butter cake with vanilla-bean ice cream and seasonal berries to close out your evening.
Play You don't need deep pockets to see what makes Las Vegas the entertainment capital of the world, thanks to the Fremont Street Experience. This five-block destination is home to free nightly open-air performances across three stages and mind-blowing Viva Vision light shows on the largest LED canopy screen in the world. For laughs and drinks, check out the West Coast outpost of New York City's beloved Comedy Cellar. During any given show in the intimate space, you'll get to see five comedians each do a 15-to-20 minute set.
StayLean into luxury and classic Vegas excitement at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas or enjoy the bragging rights of checking in to Nobu Hotel Las Vegas at Caesars Palace, aka the world's first Nobu hotel. The Conrad Las Vegas at Resorts World, which is the largest Conrad in the world, also offers lavish accommodations and a plethora of dining and entertainment options, like award-winning restaurant Stubborn Seed and the Ayu Dayclub and Zouk Nightclub.
Eat Lunch at Zaytinya at Caesars Palace, a Mediterranean spot from world-renowned chef José Andrés is not to be missed—though it can be hard to choose from the city's high-end options. The inimitable Le Cirque, located in the Bellagio Las Vegas, delivers an unforgettable meal: From Ossetra caviar to black-truffle risotto to wagyu filet mignon, the tasting menu at this legendary restaurant is stacked with prestigious ingredients and delicacies. Or, for a contemporary take on the classic steakhouse, consider CUT By Wolfgang Puck at The Venetian Resort Las Vegas, where the menu highlights Australian, American, and Japanese Wagyu as well as seafood delights (whole roasted Maine lobster, anyone?) and must-try sides like tempura onion rings served with saffron-smoked paprika aioli, and charred snap peas topped with Calabrian chili butter and breadcrumbs. Play Go window-shopping (or just regular shopping) at the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace, an upscale mall that's home to more than 160 specialty stores and fine restaurants. On the entertainment front, catch a live show at the Sphere, a one-of-a-kind venue with a massive LED screen that entirely encompasses its audience. Visit the site to see who's passing through this year.
Learn more at visitlasvegas.com.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Boston Globe
a few seconds ago
- Boston Globe
On James Baldwin and the power of love
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Boggs conveys the sense that Baldwin believed so strongly in love because if he hadn't he would have gone mad. As it was he occasionally went mad anyway (or at least fell into some deep, dark places), in ways that often seemed inseparable from his creative process. 'Art without suffering seemed to be increasingly impossible for him,' Boggs writes of the time in which Baldwin was both gradually separating from Happersberger and writing his 1956 novel ' Related : Advertisement Boggs grew enthralled with Baldwin in 1996 when he came upon ' Advertisement His timing is excellent. 'Baldwin: A Love Story' arrives a year late for the Baldwin centennial and attendant media coverage, but the current cultural climate makes it hard not to view Baldwin as a much needed and sadly accurate prophet for these times. As Boggs writes, Baldwin was concerned with 'the dangers of the myth of American innocence,' and 'the pernicious effects of white American masculinity.' He consistently observed that intolerance destroys the souls of the racist and intolerant. He was acutely, painfully aware of racism's insanity. Related : He had no blinders, and he was no stranger to anger. But as time went on he increasingly proposed an antidote. That, of course, was love, expressed eloquently, practiced radically. And yet Boggs has no interest in depicting his subject as Saint Jimmy. You didn't want to lend money to the Baldwin of these pages, especially when he was young; you would probably never see it again. Baldwin famously took down on one of his mentors, Richard Wright, with the essay 'Everybody's Protest Novel' (and, later and more gently, 'Alas, Poor Richard'); Baldwin would admit that 'he had used [Wright's] work as a kind of springboard for my own.' But the dynamic between Baldwin and Wright was complicated, and Boggs treats it as such. Baldwin saw Wright's novel ' Advertisement If Baldwin fervently believed in love, he also desperately sought it, across continents — New York, Paris, Switzerland, Istanbul — and decades, largely chasing what he had once had with Happersberger, who married and had a child (Baldwin had a habit of falling for unavailable men). Not all of the pivotal relationships in his life were sexual; the painter Beauford Delaney was an early mentor and a sort of platonic soul mate who was there for Baldwin in the crucial years after he moved away from being a boy preacher in Harlem and toward a life of letters. The process of writing his first two novels, ' Boggs comes about as close as anyone has to wrapping his arms around Baldwin, embracing him, if you will, in his entirety. This 'Love Story' is a reminder that we could really use James Baldwin right now, and his instinct for cutting through nonsense like a lithe, sharp sword — wielded, of course, with love. Advertisement BALDWIN: A LOVE STORY By Nicholas Boggs Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 720 pages, $36 Chris Vognar is TV and pop culture critic at The Boston Globe. Chris Vognar can be reached at


San Francisco Chronicle
a few seconds ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Trump to host ‘non-woke' 2025 Kennedy Center Honors with Kiss, Stallone and Gloria Gaynor
President Donald Trump has named the 2025 recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors, marking the first class selected under his leadership since assuming control of the institution earlier this year. The honorees — country singer George Strait, Broadway actor Michael Crawford, disco legend Gloria Gaynor, rock band KISS and actor Sylvester Stallone — reflect what Trump described as a move away from 'woke' culture toward a more 'mainstream' American celebration. The ceremony, traditionally hosted by the Kennedy Center and aired annually on CBS, will now feature Trump himself as emcee. 'I didn't want to do it, but they're going to say I insisted — I did not insist,' Trump said during the announcement, held at the Kennedy Center on Wednesday, Aug. 13. 'But I think it will be quite successful. I used to host 'The Apprentice' finales, and we did rather well with that.' Trump, who did not attend the Honors during his first term, has taken an assertive approach in reshaping the center during his second. Within weeks of his inauguration, he dismissed dozens of board members, appointed himself chairman and initiated renovations to 'restore prestige and grandeur.' He also canceled LGBTQ+-related programming and other events deemed 'woke,' leading to significant backlash from artists and arts organizations. In his remarks, Trump described himself as '98% involved' in the honoree selection, claiming to have rejected several names he considered too politically left. 'They were too woke,' he said. 'I had a couple of wokesters.' The 2025 Kennedy Center Honors are scheduled to air in December on CBS.


CNN
a minute ago
- CNN
Donald Trump celebrates his pantheon of Trump-approved stars
Everyone likes to share their taste. Donald Trump is just like us, except he also has tanks. Today the president returned to the Kennedy Center to make announcements about this year's honorees, showing off his vision for the arts institution that would fulfill the goal he promised earlier this year: to 'reflect the brightest STARS on its stage from all across our Nation.' Trump is eager to leave his imprint on America not just through participating in legislation and budgeting but by changing what culture we recognize and celebrate and teach, across American museums, universities and beyond. For colleges, he is brokering deals where he promises to withhold funding until the schools pay the government for various misdeeds he says they have committed, thereby earning a clean slate for some period of time. For DC, he brought in the FBI, military and tanks. For the Kennedy Center, it was even easier: he simply appointed a board that would name him as chairman. 'It's going to be a big evening,' Trump said, about the upcoming Kennedy Center awards evening. 'I've been asked to host,' he said, adding that he'd declined, but that the board had insisted. 'Next year we'll honor Trump.' His 'STARS' turned out to be: George Strait, the record-setting country recording artist. Also, Michael Crawford, 'one of the greatest talents I've ever actually seen,' Trump said. He waxed rapturous about Crawford's roles in the theater, most notably in 'The Phantom of the Opera.' Trump gave a big lead up to an 'action movie icon and a friend of mine, a very unique man,' Trump said. That was Sylvester Stallone. 'He was very honored to be honored.' Gloria Gaynor, singer of the great American gay anthem 'I Will Survive,' also made the list — 'an unbelievable song,' Trump said. 'One of those few that get better every time you hear it.' Ivana Trump agreed — this was the song, she wrote in her memoir, 'Raising Trump,' that she listened to in court with headphones during her divorce trial from Trump. Also making the list: the legendary makeup-forward rock band Kiss. The president's love of culture has always been deep if narrow and has often turned to disco. A Spotify playlist of his 2020 campaign presidential rally songs brings together artists as diverse yet clustered together as Elton John, the Village People and Bachman-Turner Overdrive. That playlist also includes the Rolling Stones, who are among the many artists who have objected to Trump's endorsement of or use of their music. Trump clearly adores the song 'Macho Man' and the brassiest of show tunes. This is the president who once allegedly had a fellow around to play him the song 'Memory' from Cats whenever he was too upset. The experience of seeing 'Cats' is what Trump recalled, with great passion, in a meeting with Kennedy Center trustees in March, during which he pledged to bring Andrew Lloyd Weber musicals back to our nation's capital. One funny thing about 'Memory,' that show's most famous song, is that it's famous because of Betty Buckley's performance, which Trump says he remembers with great detail. Buckley herself says she built that performance from following around women who were homeless. In doing so, she had a realization. She explained to the New Yorker: 'I began to follow homeless people—women my age, women who were like me—trying literally to interpret them. I was playing it pathetically—but what I saw instead on the streets were women really trying to hold on to their dignity, so their self-presentation was all dignity and grace.' After announcing the honorees, the president offered some thoughts of his own about homeless people. As part of his plan to make Washington 'beautiful'—now that he has taken over the city's police department and dispatched federal officers and the National Guard — Trump said, 'We're going to have to remove the tents and the people that are living in our parks.' 'They're saying 'he's a dictator,'' Trump said of critics of his current approach to governance. 'Instead of saying 'he's a dictator,' they should say 'We're going to join him.'' The president promised more intervention in cities beyond D.C., including Los Angeles, Chicago and New York: 'Our whole country is going to be so different.' 'I don't want to call a national emergency,' he said, 'but if I have to I will.'