The Weekender: Las Vegas

by Natasha Wolff | November 19, 2020 2:00 pm

For a perfect weekend in Las Vegas, we’ve got you covered. From over-indulging to enjoying all the extravagances available along the Strip, you’ll want the top accommodations and maybe a little workout in between to sweat out the toxins. We’ve rounded up our favorite new restaurants, bars, hotels and a hot fitness studio to round-out your weekend in Vegas.

Where to Stay:

The new W Las Vegas[1] hotel’s Extreme WOW penthouse suite was designed by Lenny Kravitz and is built for entertaining—or, as the rock star’s hit single suggests, “Dancin’ Til Dawn.” “You immediately feel the funky style when you walk in and see a grand piano,” says W Las Vegas general manager Mark Eberwein of the slick space, which is equipped with Sonos speakers throughout and decorated with lush upholstered sofas and sleek marble furniture. The walk-out balconies, with vistas of the city’s skyline and surrounding mountains, are an ideal perch for watching the sun set—or rise, as the case may be.

The luxe WOW Suite living room at W Las Vegas

The private El Cortez[2] suite—which casino mogul and former owner Jackie Gaughan lived in for nearly 35 years—is now welcoming its very first guests following a necessary facelift. “It has never before been available to the public, and we wanted to honor Jackie’s legacy by keeping the look and feel of the space,” says El Cortez’s executive manager and partner, Alexandra Epstein Gudai. “The kitchen retains its retro microwave and fridge, and the inlaid carpeting and blush pink upholstered walls are original.” The singular space is available by application only. Prices are seasonal.

The Romper Room at El Cortez

What to Do:

People flock to Sin City for many things, but healthy living has rarely been one of them—until now. “I’ve lived in Vegas almost 29 years,” says Shannon McBeath, co-founder of the city’s hottest new cycling studio, The Ride[3]. “It’s always been my dream to open the high-end fitness studio I feel Vegas deserves.” McBeath says the idea was born from visiting her daughter in L.A., and taking business trips to New York with her husband, Cosmopolitan Las Vegas CEO Bill McBeath, where she made a point of doing her research. “I would seek out the greatest fitness studios,” she says. Many spin classes later, The Ride—which McBeath opened with partners Mark Cornelsen and
Milo Miloscia—is a studio worthy of its high-rolling locale. The luxurious 4,400-square-foot facility is centered around a semicircular cycling theater furnished with state-of-the-art Stages SC3 bikes arranged stadium-style in three levels. The party-while-you-perspire vibe is enhanced by a sound system by Frankie Desjardins (the technician behind Celine Dion’s Vegas show) and high-tech lighting from Ronen Mintz (of the Electric Daisy Carnival and Life Is Beautiful music festivals). McBeath, a longtime philanthropist, also opens the doors of her studio to local charities. “Every four to six weeks, we let a charity fill the room,” she says. “To me, getting the community involved is the best part of what I do.” We’ll pedal to that!

Ride
Credit: Jesse J. Sutherland

Las Vegas has never lacked for live entertainment, but since The Smith Center[4] opened five years ago, there’s been more of a very specific variety. “People often say that Broadway is the longest street in America,” says The Smith’s president and CEO Myron Martin, “and now it runs through Las Vegas.” Martin, whose $470 million performance center has already staged nearly 2,000 Broadway shows, opens the 2017–18 season with Something Rotten, running August 8–13, and concludes it with Hamilton, May 29–June 3, 2018. “We go out of our way to get shows that will resonate with our audiences,” he says. The 20th anniversary of Rent and the revival of The Color Purple are the two Martin says he’s most looking forward to in the months ahead.

The Smith Center:
Credit: Steve Hall

Where to Eat:

Zuma[5] at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas raises the stakes when it comes to Sin City’s Asian cuisine. Pair Japanese whiskey cocktails with dishes from chef and founder Rainer Becker’s main kitchen, sushi counter and white-hot robata grill, which burns odorless binchotan charcoal and never fails to deliver mouthwatering plates of the handsome izakaya’s ultra-popular spicy beef tenderloin and jumbo tiger prawns with yuzu pepper.

The bar at Chica

50 Eggs’ newest concept is Chica[6] at The Venetian Las Vegas. Lorena Garcia, the first Latina chef to helm a restaurant on the Strip, makes a bold debut with exotic fare—think braised short-rib arepas and Meyer lemon rotisserie chicken with Peruvian purple-potato salad and chimichurri—that transports diners to the South American climes
that inspire her cuisine.

Source URL: https://dujour.com/cities/weekend-travel-guide-las-vegas/