Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
it's possible to traverse the entire length of the Strip in a car or bus in about 30
minutes. By foot, it's a more daunting trek, especially in the heat of summer, and
could take an entire day, longer if you head inside the casinos and tour each of
these monolithic, spectacle-laden pleasure palaces (Kubla Khan decreed nothing
that could top what's here).
Because you should go inside, here are my picks for the top attractions along
the Strip, in the most logical order possible. Please note that the following itiner-
ary could take several days to accomplish, particularly if you're susceptible to the
lures of shopping, slot machines, living statues, or animatronic displays.
Among all the iconic hotels of the Strip, I'd say the over-the-top kitsch of the
Luxor
555
makes it the perfect first stop on the Strip. Sure, you could go to the
very end of the Strip to Mandalay Bay, if you like to shop or have a sadistic streak
(egging you on to stare at the most uncomfortable looking cocktail waitress uni-
forms in the city). But Luxor really is the beauty spot at this end. A gargantuan
glass pyramid, it's one of those rare structures that changes its face depending on
the time of day. In the morning, the reflection of the sun turns its facade into a
blazing golden slab, at night, like magic, the entire building disappears into the
desert sky, except for a powerful river of light that streams from the top. A forty-
billion-candlepower spotlight is set in the point of the pyramid that's apparently
visible from space, though I've heard that the light is rarely run at its full power
(even rich casinos have to worry about high electricity bills nowadays). At front,
looms a massive obelisk; beside it, a soulful 30-foot Sphinx gazes towards heaven.
When you get inside and up to the second floor, you'll be gazing upwards, too—
up into the largest atrium in the world. In fact, it's not until you get into the pyra-
mid that it becomes clear just how huge this triangle is. Massive, to-scale
reproductions of the columns and king statues from the Temple of Ramses adorn
the hotel lobby, and other grand pieces of Egyptian statuary are scattered through-
out the casino and pool area. Because pyramids are tombs—think of that as you're
drifting off to sleep here—the original owners of the Luxor applied to the
Egyptian government for the right to display an actual mummy in the casino.
When they were turned down (surprise, surprise), they instead created the terrific
King Tut museum (p. 128), which you should visit if you have the time.
To my mind you can skip the tired Excalibur (its Disney castle exterior is
much more interesting than anything inside) and head instead to
New York-New
York
5
, though you may want to make a detour first to two adrenaline-charged
museum exhibits (yes, there is such a thing in Vegas):
BODIES . . . The Exhibition
(p. 143) and
Titanic,
The Exhibit,
both of which are housed in the
Tropicana.
The front of New York-New York is a heady, three-dimensional collage of the Big
Apple's most famous buildings, constructed to one-third the size of the originals.
Tallest is the Empire State building, of course, standing 529 feet (a replica of the
Twin Towers that once stood nearby was removed after 9/11); the second tallest,
far to its right, is a replica of the scallop-topped Chrysler building. In between and
a bit to the front, a strangely smirking Statue of Liberty (she looks like she may
have just won big at the craps table) raises her lamp over the Strip. You can wan-
der across the 300-foot replica of the Brooklyn Bridge, while gazing up at the, er,
taxi-themed roller-coaster (okay, that doesn't exactly replicate any structure in
New York City, but it does replicate the driving of some Big Apple cabbies). The
interior is not as successful to my mind, but I may be alone in that. The New York
Stock Exchange actually sued the casino when it was first opened for including a
