Fremont Hotel & Casino

Description:

• When it opened in 1956, the Fremont was the first high-rise in Downtown Las Vegas. Wayne Newton got his start here, singing in the now-defunct Carousel Showroom. Step just outside the front door, and there you are, in the Fremont Street Experience. Rooms are larger (the bathrooms, however, are the opposite of "large"), more comfortable, and more peaceful than you might expect. (Though up until midnight you can hear, sometimes all too well, music and noise from the Fremont St. Experience show. But then again, if you are in bed before midnight in Vegas, it's your own fault.) The staff is shockingly friendly, partly because you actually can have personal service with hotels this size (another advantage of staying Downtown), partly because they just are. The hotel encourages environmental awareness by changing linens only every other day; upon request, it can be more often, but why not help out Earth a bit? For that matter, why not help out your wallet a bit and stay here?

  The Fremont boasts an Art Deco restaurant called the Second Street Grill, along with the Paradise Buffet. Guests can use the swimming pool at the nearby California Hotel, another Sam Boyd enterprise.

• © Frommer's 2013