Las Vegas Hotels

Even though it has become somewhat eclipsed by the very hotels whose presence it made possible, we still really like this place. From the moment you walk in and breathe the faintly tropically perfumed air and enter the lush rainforest, it's just a different experience from most Vegas hotels.

The Mirage was Steve Wynn's first project built from the ground up. It seems funny now, but back in 1989, this was considered a complete gamble that was sure to be a failure. That was before the hotel opened, mind you. On opening day, the crowds nearly tore the place down getting inside, and The Mirage soon made its money back. Now it is the model upon which all recent hotels have been based.

Occupying 102 acres, The Mirage is fronted by more than a city block of cascading waterfalls and tropical foliage centering on a "volcano," which, after dark, erupts every 15 minutes, spewing fire 100 feet above the lagoons below. To be honest, it's not very volcano-like; if you've seen any of the lava-saturated volcano movies, you'll be disappointed. Instead of lava flow, expect a really neat light show, and you won't mind a bit. (In passing, that volcano cost $30 million, which is equal to the entire original construction cost for Caesars next door.) The lobby is dominated by a 53-foot, 20,000-gallon simulated coral-reef aquarium stocked with more than 1,000 colorful tropical fish. This gives you something to look at while waiting (never for long) for check-in.

Next, you'll walk through the rainforest, which occupies a 90-foot domed atrium -- a path meanders through palms, banana trees, waterfalls, and serene pools. If we must find a complaint with The Mirage, it's with the next bit, as you have to negotiate 8 miles (or so it seems) of casino mayhem to get to your room, the pool, food, or the outside world. It gets old, fast. (On the other hand, the sundries shop is located right next to the guest-room elevators, so if you forgot toothpaste, you don't have to travel miles to get more.)

The entire hotel, including the guest rooms, has gotten a makeover in an attempt to keep it up with the Strip Joneses. New carpeting and wall coverings throughout, updated restaurants and clubs, revamped rooms, a new showroom for yet another Cirque du Soleil production, and even a total overhaul to the volcano have done a great job of keeping The Mirage competitive, although perhaps not in the same rarified strata as Bellagio or Wynn Las Vegas. The rooms are nice, but there are nicer -- and larger -- ones all over town now, and the bathrooms are a little too cramped for what's supposed to be a swanky hotel.

Off the casino is a habitat for Siegfried & Roy's white tigers -- yes, still in place despite the unpleasantness, a plaster enclosure that allows for photo-taking and "aaaahhhs." Behind the pool are the Dolphin Habitat and Siegfried & Roy's Secret Garden.

The Italian food at Onda, and the Mirage Cravings Buffet are detailed in chapter 5. The highly prominent production show by Danny Gans is reviewed and the new Cirque production Love is previewed in chapter 9, and The Mirage has one of our favorite casinos.

Out back is the pool, one of the nicest in Vegas, with a quarter-mile shoreline, a tropical paradise of waterfalls and trees, water slides, and so forth. It looks inviting, but truth be told, it's sometimes on the chilly side and isn't very deep. But it's so pretty you'll hardly care. Free swimming lessons and water-aerobics classes take place daily at the pool. The Mirage Day Spa teems with friendly staff anxious to pamper you, bringing you iced towels to cool you during your workout and refreshing juices and smoothies afterward. The gym is one of the largest and best stocked on the Strip.

- Frommer's