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What happens in Vegas won't just stay in Vegas this time
Well before The Hangover series hit the box office, Vegas cemented its reputation for wild, no-holds-barred bachelor parties. But what about when you’re ready for a more grown-up guys weekend? Say goodbye to cheesy buffets, all-night benders and trashy hotel rooms. Here are 10 can’t-miss spots for guys seeking to stay, play and pamper in style in Vegas.
Forget about squeezing into some cramped hotel room on the Strip. For a more refined experience, upgrade to the all-suite Signature at MGM, comprised of three gleaming towers set just behind the MGM Grand Casino. Rooms have private balconies, bathrooms with deep-soaker Jacuzzi tubs and full kitchens to stock with your favourite supplies. Best of all: Access to the hotel is guests-only, insulating you from the mobs and chaos in the casinos below.
No Vegas experience is complete without some pool time. But during the summer months, poolside chaises fill up faster than you can say Marco Polo. Solution: the cabanas at the MGM Grand Pool Complex. These private patio oases – complete with daybeds, umbrellas, mini fridges and even a personal server for the day – offer an ideal escape from the sunburned masses. Order up a few buckets of ice-cold beer and some appies and soak up the rays in style.
Lots of Vegas spas are geared toward the ladies. For a significantly “manlier” option, check out the Sahra Spa’s hammam experience, an updated take on the traditional Turkish bath. Just as in the centuries-old version, guys lie on a heated granite slab and are doused with warm, soapy water. But instead of aggressive kneading from a mustachioed Turk, you’re treated to a gentle massage and detox with everything from green tea silt soap to tangerine fig butter.
Steaks and Vegas go together like Sinatra and Sammy Davis. But you don’t have to get stuck in a boring steakhouse with the same old hardwood-and-leather decor to enjoy a great cut. STK in the Cosmopolitan brings club ambiance to the world of steak. DJs spin tracks in a modern, minimalist setting while diners devour exquisitely aged filets, sirloins and porterhouses. And unlike most steakhouses, STK attracts as many ladies as guys – good reason not to slip into a meat coma.
Boys and big trucks – it’s a match made in the sandbox. For those of us who’ve never outgrown the fascination with bulldozers and excavators, there’s Dig This. Guests don a hard hat and – after a brief lesson – get behind the wheel of real Caterpillar construction equipment. A vacant lot on the edge of the Strip is your playground, as you dig holes, lift massive tires and indulge your bulldozing fantasies.
There are plenty of places in Vegas to enjoy a pint. But there’s only one authentic, German-style beer hall. Inside the cavernous Hofbrauhaus – a baroque affair straight out of Munich with vaulted ceilings – drinkers gather around wooden tables, clutching oversized mugs of lagers, dunkels, hefeweizens and other German brews. The house band – dressed for the part in lederhosen – leads the crowd through rousing German drinking songs, a welcomed reprieve from the Margaritaville soundtrack in many Vegas watering holes.
Vegas doesn’t really come to life until after dark, with dozens of top clubs thumping away ’til dawn. But what if you’re not in the mood for long lineups, bossy bouncers, cramped dance floors and surly bartenders. It’s time to upgrade to bottle service at the Cosmopolitan’s Marquee Nightclub. Marquee has multiple floors of club and house music, but the highlight is the rooftop patio overlooking the Strip. With bottle service comes your own private rooftop table, smiling personal server happy to refill your glass and a whole new take on Vegas clubbing.
Forget everything you know about Vegas buffets. Inside the Sterling Brunch at Bally’s, black-tied servers escort you to tables draped with white linens, lights are dimmed and jazz plays tastefully in the background. And then there’s the food: split Maine lobster in cognac jus, rack of lamb, tuna tartare, filet mignon, fresh-shucked oysters and handcrafted deserts… to name a few delicacies. In fact, the menu features many of the same entrees as Bally’s high-end BLT Steak restaurant, but in buffet form to sample and savour. Plus, those black-tied servers are ever so eager to top you off with never-ending Perrier Jouet Champagne.
Glitzy Vegas shows are a Sin City institution, but blue men, spandex-clad acrobats and Celine Dion aren’t for everyone. For an alternative to the classic show scene, venture to the second floor of the Cosmopolitan Hotel for the genre-busting Rose.Rabbit.Lie. Dubbed a “Vegas nocturne,” the show fuses everything from tap to drag to burlesque, in a novel club format that has guests eating, drinking and dancing right alongside performers. Come for a dinner show or line up for the risqué midnight performance, where pounding club music and ribald routines are the norm.
A great pub has a rich history, which can make it hard to find a decent watering hole on the fast-changing Vegas Strip. But Pub 1842 in the MGM Grand comes close. Named after the year that Pilsner was invented, the cozy pub – all brick and hardwood and gleaming taps – boasts a selection of nearly 100 domestic and international beers, including dozens on draft. Order a beer wheel (an eight-beer sampler), tuck into the house burger (with caramelized onions and truffle aioli) and soak up the “historical” ambiance.
