Best Place for a Non-Schlocky Honeymoon Single-Night Stay in Vegas?
June 9, 2018 2:40 PM   Subscribe

Heading to Vegas in September as a jumping-off point to a southwest tour around Utah and Arizona, and we'd love to stay at a nice place and chill by a pool and bar for one night (the day after our wedding), so we can relax and regroup before hitting the road.

We're definitely looking for a higher-end place that has a pool and a bar, but we're overwhelmed by Vegas offerings and unsure of how to locate a place that is both nice AND that's not completely full of Jersey-Shore-style DJ parties or 21-year-olds doing shots at the pool. (Not that I'm opposed to any of that, being from New Jersey and all, but, you know, just not the scene we're looking for at this point!)

Can you help figure out some good places? So far folks have recommended The Palms, Cosmopolitan, or Vdara to us -- but all of the photos I've seen look like they could either be what we're looking for or the opposite.

Price isn't too much of an issue since it's one night. Doesn't have to be crazy luxury but just a place that we won't get stuck at a pool blasting club music at all times.

(Bonus points if there's anything we could get special being our honeymoon and all, but I expect that millions of people go to Vegas and say it's their honeymoon, like, daily.)

Thanks in advance, team!
posted by knownassociate to Travel & Transportation around Las Vegas, NV (11 answers total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
We (mid-30s at the time, and I was pregnant) enjoyed Bellagio, for what it’s worth. Seemed quite classy to me, but that was my only trip to Vegas so I have no other place to compare.
posted by amro at 3:19 PM on June 9, 2018 [1 favorite]


Seconding Bellagio — very cool vibe indoors, and the fountain shows are awesome, especially if you get a high room with a view of it at night.

Also if you don't mind some walking and/or otherwise moving about, you can use one hotel as your home base while roaming around to the best attractions at the others nearby.
posted by Celsius1414 at 3:35 PM on June 9, 2018 [1 favorite]


Oh and if you mention it's your honeymoon when you check in, it's in the realm of possibility you'll get something comped. At worst, you'll get a hearty "Congratulations!" ;D
posted by Celsius1414 at 3:37 PM on June 9, 2018 [1 favorite]


Best answer: You want Red Rocks. Splash out for a room with a view of the Strip, which is off in the distance. You'll get a beautiful hotel, the neon in the distance, and, in my experience, none of the trashy folks you're trying to avoid.

If you do wnat to go over to the Strip, it's a short drive. 20 minutes.
posted by BlahLaLa at 3:53 PM on June 9, 2018


Best answer: Yes, Red Rocks! Great pool areas and if you use the wonderful spa, you get your own private pool to hang out at with food service.
posted by tipsyBumblebee at 3:54 PM on June 9, 2018


Oh my god! The Madarin Oriental in Vegas is the absolute best - the service is outstanding and the pool is fantastic. The spa services are also amazing. The bar at the hotel has a great view of LV and it is not attached to a casino so it's extremely chill. I have never had a better hotel experience in my life.
posted by elvissa at 5:00 PM on June 9, 2018 [3 favorites]


Encore! If you stay in the Tower Suites, there's a private pool that's just for the the guests in the tower, which is great if you're there during peak pool weather. The adults-only pool (open to all guests) also has a swim-up bar and casino if that sounds pleasing, and it's been pretty empty every time I've been because most of the target audience for that sort of thing is at their beach club instead (which sounds like exactly what you don't want, but it's very well separated from the other pools and the rest of the resort). Encore also has the most pleasant casino on the strip, and, I believe, is the only one with windows and natural light.
posted by snaw at 5:38 PM on June 9, 2018


Your best bet is some of the hotels-within-hotels. Not all of them have pools though, if that's a requirement for you. They aren't necessarily super-expensive - the Aria SkySuites inside the Aria is, but most of the others aren't too crazy. I stayed in the Four Seasons inside Mandalay Bay years and years ago and it was lovely. There's several others but I don't have first-hand experience. Staying at one of these should get you a significantly better experience, because its a small but posh hotel, so you don't have to stand in a check in line with 100 other people.
posted by Joh at 6:52 PM on June 9, 2018 [1 favorite]


Suite at The Nobu. Loved it. Totes. Nice imo. Hotel within a hotel.

The Palms - No. Don’t do it for a special night. No.
posted by rdnnyc at 8:47 PM on June 9, 2018


2nd the Mandarin. When those lobby doors open, you're enveloped in the sound of... nothing. What an oasis. Barely a wait to check in, elegant Asian surroundings, plenty of seating at the calm pool (which is a bit difficult to swim in, but if legendary French chef Pierre Gagnaire can do it, so can you). The bar is on the 23rd floor so it's got a great view, they have music at night but I got the sense it was mainly hotel guests because with no casino you don't have folks wandering in. No balconies, but September in Vegas can be 100F, so you wouldn't use it. Plus the staff is 100% luxury elves. Probably my favorite hotel experience of all time. The JW Marriott off the strip is very nice if you're not planning to leave the hotel and you like the palatial white marble.

The Bellagio is one of those places that looks way better on screen than in real life, unless you really like over-the-top decorating and huge art glass sculptures. The check-in line was humongous, and it's so big that you'll spend half your time trying to get from place to place. The Cosmo is extremely high energy, incredible vibe on a Saturday night (where you feel like you're really inside a movie) and the rooms are modern and gorgeous. Great range of restaurants, younger than the other high-end properties. Sophisticated, but not what you're looking for based on my reading. I haven't been to Vdara or the Palms.
posted by wnissen at 8:46 PM on June 11, 2018


Response by poster: Thanks, everyone! We booked at Red Rocks because it's 1. off the strip, 2. looks at gorgeous rocks, and 3. was cheaper than the others!
posted by knownassociate at 11:30 AM on June 23, 2018


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