Aria resort and casino, Las Vegas review: Classy and modern

We’re sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. We’re working to restore it. Please try again later.

Advertisement

This was published 8 years ago

Aria resort and casino, Las Vegas review: Classy and modern

By Craig Platt
Loading

The place

Aria, Las Vegas

The location

Set near the midway point of the famous Las Vegas Strip, Aria is the city's newest mega-resort casino (it opened in 2010), located between the Monte Carlo and the Bellagio on the western side of the boulevard. It's not just a hotel and casino but part of the huge, $US10 billion CityCenter entertainment complex featuring high-end shopping, restaurants and even its own monorail.

The space

It's enormous, with more than 4000 rooms in two glittering curved towers. The casino floor is also huge (almost 14,000 square metres). There are 19 restaurants and cafes, plus a multitude of bars. There are three pools for guests plus an additional exclusive pool for those staying in the high-end Sky Suites, along with another pool featuring music and drinks. All are on the sunnier western side of the property, away from the strip. Oddly, though, the pools don't open until 9am, so if you're someone who enjoys an early-morning dip, you'll have to wait.

Although the casino floor is the usual neon-lit, windowless space, other parts of the property, including the vast lobby, feature natural light and plenty of glass – a rarity among Las Vegas mega-resorts. That said, like most of the huge hotels on the strip, checking in typically means queuing up for quite some time due to the sheer volume of guests the hotel can accommodate (thankfully, checkout can be done online, via text or through your room TV).

The room

Advertisement

I'm fortunate to be staying in a Deluxe Tower King Junior Suite – a large space split into a living area with couch, big-screen TV and two minibars (one stocked, one empty for my own use). The bedroom area also features a desk and the bathroom is impressive, with a separate bath and shower. The toilet features include a heated seat and various bidet controls – it's the first time I've seen one of these outside Japan.

The highlight, though, are probably the views through the floor-to-ceiling windows, which wrap around the corner of the room. The views can be experienced almost anywhere in the room – including the bathtub – and overlook the strip and out to the airport and the mountains beyond. It's a pleasure to watch the neon of the strip light up as the sun goes down. There are a great many electronic controls via a bedside touchpad for the room's various functions, but it's fairly easy to use and, if all else fails, you can power down everything in the room at the touch of a button when you're ready to sleep.

Little touches also add to the experience, such as the custom-made towels and the fact that you don't just get a single chocolate on your pillow, you get a little box of six from Le Belge Chocolatier, an artisan chocolate maker from the Napa Valley.

The service is also excellent with the bellman collecting my luggage before check-out, running through a list of things for me to double check before he departs ("Got your phone chargers?" "Is the safe emptied?").

The food

With 19 restaurants to choose from, it's going to be impossible to try them all. Julian Serrano, named after an award-winning Spanish chef, offers tapas of terrific quality – if a little on the small side. I indulge in peppers stuffed with goat's cheese, chicken croquettes, yellowtail sashimi and the house paella featuring spanish sausage, baby back ribs and kale. A more casual option is the Thai restaurant Lemongrass where I indulge in an excellent variation on tom yum soup and soft-shell crab fried rice.

Stepping out

The Aria might be modern and classy, but it is lacking the tacky themes of some of the other casinos on the strip. If you want to embrace this, you should head south to New York, New York, a recreation of the city complete with its own Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building and Coney Island rollercoaster. Further south is the medieval-themed Excalibur and the ancient Egyptian-styled Luxor. They're all hideous but you have to love them. You can take the CityCentre monorail for a free ride to the Bellagio to Aria's north, where you can relive the famous scene from Ocean's 11 in front of the fountain show. No casino in Vegas is complete these days without a Cirque du Soleil show and Aria is no exception. The resident show, Zarkana, is one of the company's newest.

The verdict

With its classy design and modern look and feel, the Aria is a great addition to the strip. If you're looking to embrace one of the more corny-themed properties, this isn't for you, but if you're seeking a comfortable, luxurious experience with outstanding views of the city and beyond, this makes an excellent option .

Essentials

Deluxe Queen rooms start at $US129 on the weekdays and $US199 on the weekends. A Deluxe King City View Suite start from $US179 a night. Like most Vegas hotels, there is a daily "resort fee" that's not included in the room rate. At the Aria it is $US35.84 a day. See www.aria.com

Highlight

The views are hard to beat and the attention to detail for such an enormous property is impressive.

Lowlight

The pool opens too late and the hotel suffers from the same issue as all the mega-resorts on the strip – long queues at check-in and not-optional ''resort fees'' (see above).

Sign up for the Traveller Deals newsletter

Get exclusive travel deals delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up now.

Most viewed on Traveller

Loading