Las Vegas: Where to Stay: Luxury: The Venetian Resort-Hotel-Casino

The Venetian Resort-Hotel-Casino

Almost Disneyesque, the Venetian is worth a visit even if you aren’t staying. An amazing attention to detail is displayed in this life-sized replica of the Doge’s Palace in Venice, complete with a Grand Canal waterway and reproductions of the famous frescoes and St. Marks Square. If you do stay, ask for a room in the new, nongaming Venezia tower, where the best suites are located. Five concierge floors offer extra service, a private pool deck and courtyard, as well as the Thomas Keller restaurant Bouchon. Four presidential suites in the main casino are $10,000 a night, each equipped with a private butler, a movie theater and every possible amenity. Rooms from $199.

WHAT’S NEW: Two hot new restaurants have opened here. Mario Batali and Joseph Bastianich have joined forces to come up with a fine-dining option called B&B Ristorante. Meanwhile, chef David Burke is opening David Burke Modern American Cuisine.

ON THE HORIZON: The new $1.8 billion Palazzo Casino Resort will be a fifty-floor, 3,025-room luxury hotel with concierge-level suites and villas measuring up to 10,000 square feet. When it is connected to the adjacent Venetian and Sands Expo and Convention Center, all owned by Las Vegas Sands Corp., the result will be the largest resort-and-hotel complex in the world, with more than 7,000 suites. Also planned is a 450,000-square-foot enclosed shopping, dining and entertainment area with pools plus an adjacent 52,000-square-foot Canyon Ranch spa. The whole should be completed sometime in fall 2007.