Loving Las Vegas

By Elaine Glusac

updated 2:37 p.m. ET July 3, 2007

Vegas used to divide: You loved it or you hated it. Now the morphing desert destination appeals to travelers from highbrow on down. Bachelor parties still queue up to bet and booze, but refined dining, world-class theaters, sybaritic spas and haute hotels generate an all-new Sin City sensuality. Here’s how to enjoy it.

Top Tables
Restaurant Guy Savoy: Used to be you’d have to fly to Paris to eat the Michelin-starred food of chef Guy Savoy. But now you can splurge at the new Caesars Palace outpost for passport-free luxuries like a veal chop for two with truffled potatoes.

StripSteak: San Francisco’s celebrated seafood chef Michael Mina turns his hand to meat in this new restaurant at Mandalay Bay that makes a fetish of grilling on jumbo mesquite-wood-fired grates.

Simon Kitchen and Bar: A favorite of celebs including George Clooney and Mick Jagger, this Hard Rock Hotel eatery deals chef Kerry Simon’s global comfort foods — wood-fired pizzas, meatloaf, wasabi mashed potatoes — with cheeky verve.

Japonais: Part lounge, part restaurant, this Asian favorite satisfies whether you want a big-deal meal (order the New York strip, cooked on a rock at your table) or maki rolls (don’t miss the “tuna tuna salmon”) with drinks after a show.

Showstoppers
Love: At the Mirage, Canada’s Cirque du Soleil choreographs to Beatles tunes in Love. The Fab Four’s longtime producer, George Martin, remixed the original Abbey Road Studio tapes to accompany aerialists, dancers and other psychedelic acts. O Taking its act to the pool at the Bellagio, Cirque du Soleil performs under, above and atop a 1.5-million-gallon water tank. Divers, synchronized swimmers and acrobats keep you guessing — as does the pool itself, which changes throughout the show from puddle to high-dive deep.

La Femme: A girlie show for the date set at the MGM Grand, La Femme imports a chorus line of naked French lovelies who appear artfully camouflaged by patterned lights in production numbers that pique fantasies from goddess to vixen.

Le Rêve: The lavish Wynn Las Vegas resort teamed with ex-Cirque director Franco Dragone to stage Le Rêve, French for “the dream.” With seating in the round and a water-filled stage, the revue boosts sensual storytelling over gymnastics.

Wet and Wild
Qua: Inspired by Roman baths, Caesars Palace’s new water-focused spa features a circuit of hydrotherapies including pools, scented steam rooms and an ice room for instant cool-downs. Sign up for the Crystal Body Art treatment to have Swarovski crystals applied all over.

Bare: Daybeds, bottle service and a DJ spinning records make a nightclub of the pool scene at Bare, the adults-only swimming deck at the Mirage.

Mandalay Beach: Mandalay Bay’s 11-acre pool is tops for activities, including a lazy river, wave pool and sand beach. The neighboring Moorea Beach Club accommodates “European bathing,” as in, topless.

Canyon Ranch SpaClub: The Venetian hosts a day-spa spinoff of the famed Canyon Ranch. Sign up for the couple’s “rasul ceremony” and smear medicinal mud on each other in a Moroccan-tiled steam room.

Hot Nightspots
Social House: Part lounge, part sushi bar, the aptly named Social House in Treasure Island is the late-night spot du jour, where hydraulically controlled tables drop to cocktail height in the wee hours and Kobe beef tartare is available until 4 a.m.

Ghostbar: An outdoor glass-floored terrace cantilevered 55 stories over the neon skyline provides thrills in the celebrity-choked Ghostbar atop the Palms Hotel Casino where Jessica Simpson and Sandra Bullock tipple.

Slideshow   Viva Las Vegas! Sin City is a major entertainment center and business travel destination, known for its carefully cultivated image, gambling and nightlife. more photos

Cherry: Off the Strip in the Red Rock Casino, Resort and Spa, bar-meister Rande Gerber’s recently opened club is decked in sinful shades of red from the tunnel-style entrance to the leather walls. The private outdoor pool area boasts daybeds and cabanas furnished with plasma TVs and private bars.

Tabu Ultra Lounge: Interactive tables projected with images that morph as you touch them —or dance on them — lend high-tech edge at Tabu in the MGM Grand.

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