Business Travel to Las Vegas: Around the Corner from the Convention Center

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Not all Las Vegas visitors want to stay in a hotel casino, and the Renaissance is one of several hotels that offer non-gaming accommodations--and the property is smoke-free as well. It's close to the Las Vegas Convention Center and Las Vegas Monorail, and just off the Las Vegas Strip.

Rooms are upscale, with flat panel TVs, high-speed internet, a coffee maker, refrigerator, and quality bedding. Standard rooms and suites are available. On site dining includes the award-winning restaurant, Envy The Steakhouse, and Envy the Lounge, along with a cafe.

Business travelers will appreciate the 24-hour business center and on site rental car counter. Renaissance has a pool, a health center, and a concierge--and in addition to being right on the doorstep of the Las Vegas Convention Center, it also offers meeting facilities, along with catering.

Renaissance earned the AAA Four Diamond Award, and it strives to offer a luxury, boutique-like experience. With less than 600 rooms, it's a small hotel by Las Vegas standards, and it wants to offer guests a different kind of Vegas hotel

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The Stratosphere is America's tallest observation tower (1,149 feet) and one of the tallest structures west of the Mississippi River. At the very top, the daring get their adrenaline going on one of the thrill rides: The Big Shot, which shoots its riders into the air; the X-Scream, a teeter-totter that dangles you over the side; the Insanity, which spins you over a thousand feet of thin air; and the Sky Jump, where you can free-fall your way to the bottom.

You don't have to be a thrill seeker to visit the top of the Stratosphere. A rotating restaurant, the Top of the World Restaurant, takes advantage of the view to offer a memorable meal. You'll also find bars and lounges here.

Tickets to the top of the Stratosphere are $16. An indoor and outdoor observation deck are available. The Stratosphere's wedding chapel also offers services at the top.

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Located in MGM Grand Hotel, the Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill has modernized the traditional bar and grill concept in a setting that combines California beach lifestyle with a fine dining experience. The diverse menu features appetizers like Truffled Potato Chips with blue cheese and Skirt Steak Skewers. Entree selections include gourmet pizzas, panini and foccacia sandwiches, burgers, steaks, pasta, and fresh seafood. An extensive wine list and delicious homemade desserts complete the Wolfgang Puck experience. Private dining is also available here.

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The emphasis on safe, mainstream food for the masses, to say nothing of the basic economy involved in running a Vegas restaurant (take your pick, either pay costly rent to a Strip hotel or get less tourist traffic with an off-Strip site), means that the kind of eateries other big cities take for granted -- you know, cheap holes-in-the-wall, or charming little quirky joints, or the kind of ethnic places the chowhound folks brag about discovering -- are rare indeed. And when you do find them, they are always, but always, in a strip mall. Paymon's Mediterranean Cafe is no exception, and its main dining room has no decor worth mentioning. But it gets extra points for having a courtyard seating area full of Middle Eastern touches and an honest-to-goodness hookah lounge -- it's a good break from an otherwise often stifled, insulating time in Sin City.

Plus, it's just so darn nice to find ethnic food in this town. As the menu warns, kabobs take 25 minutes, so order an appetizer plate with various dips to while away the time. The hummus here is too reminiscent of its chickpea origins, but the baba ghanouj is properly smoky, and the falafel has the right crunch. Gyros may not be the most adventurous...

Our Local Expert Says:

This is a slice of old Vegas dining and worth the price!

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At the same location since 1958, this traditional gourmet steakhouse has been visited by hundreds of celebrities and thousands of loyal diners. The Alaskan King Crab Cocktail has a delicious mustard sauce, and the Blue Point Oysters are also a favorite. For your entree, a visit here would not be complete without tasting the Diamond Jim cut of prime rib. The rack of lamb for two requires 45-minutes preparation time. Steaks and lobster are also standard on the menu, as well as frog legs, scallops and filet mignon. Full wine and bar service is available.

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From 1951 until 1992, the Nevada Test Site was this country's primary location for testing nuclear weapons. Aboveground blasts in the early days were visible to the tourists and residents of Las Vegas. This well-executed museum, library, and gallery space (a Smithsonian affiliate) offers visitors a fascinating glance at the test site from ancient days through modern times, with memorabilia, displays, official documents, videos, interactive displays, motion-simulator theaters (like sitting in a bunker, watching a blast), and emotional testimony from the people who worked there. It respectfully treads that tricky line between honoring the work done at the site and understanding its terrible implications. Not to be missed, even if it's only because of the Albert Einstein action figure in the gift shop. Visitors should plan on spending at least an hour.

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The first franchised Cafe is owned and operated by husband and wife team Jerry and Tyronda Weinert. The Cafe is located in the Business & Arts District of Downtown Las Vegas 2 blocks North of Charleston Blvd on the Southeast corner of Las Vegas Blvd & Gass. Their Mission is to serve unique, nourishing gourmet food to the business community of Southern Nevada in a professional and relaxing atmosphere. They are committed to bringing you the highest quality service and products available: Gourmet Oven Roasted Baked Potatoes, Onsite Catering, Offsite Catering, Sandwiches, Gourmet Salads, Box Lunches, Vegetables, Fresh Soups Daily, Desserts and a Full Coffee Bar. They deliver, too.

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In Short
Despite the velvet rope and elegantly attired hostesses, the bar's early hours are filled with the shorts-in-any-season crowd. Once the sun sets, the Fontana emerges as a spacious, yet intimate, upscale lounge. Classic cocktailing becomes a high art here. Beauties like the sidecar and the metropolitan (sweetened with rock-candy syrup) are available. Significantly tasty options include the fresh peach Bellini and the Casino cocktail, a gin martini sweetened with various fruit liqueurs.

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CLOSED MAY 2011

Auto racing is the fastest-growing spectator sport in America, so it's no surprise that these two attractions at the Sahara are a popular stop. The first is an 8-minute virtual-reality ride, Cyber Speedway, featuring a three-quarter-size replica of a NASCAR race car. Hop aboard for an animated, simulated ride -- either the Las Vegas Motor Speedway or a race around the streets of Las Vegas (start with the Strip, with all the hotels flashing by, and then through the Forum Shops -- whoops! There goes Versace! -- and so forth). Press the gas and you lean back and feel the rush of speed; hit a bump and you go flying. Should your car get in a crash, off you go to a pit stop. At the end, a computer-generated report tells you your average speed, how many laps you made, and how you did racing against the others next to you. It's a pretty remarkable experience.

Speed junkies and race-car buffs will be in heaven here, though those with tender stomachs should consider shopping at the well-stocked theme gift shop instead.

SPEED: The Ride is a roller coaster that blasts riders out through a hole in the wall by the NASCAR Cafe, then through a loop, under the sidewalk, through the...

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A family-owned Jewish deli, Harrie's Bagelmania brings a taste of New York to Las Vegas--literally. Locals line up for boiled bagels, pastrami sandwiches, chopped liver and egg creams. The place is packed with devoted regulars on weekend mornings, but well worth any wait.

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This place is in every sports fan's fantasies, and it really exists. The two-level, 33,000-sq. ft. bar/restaurant has three areas: the Screening Room, the Sports Arena and the Studio Grill. The Screening Room allows viewers to sit back in leather recliners and watch sports surrounded by 14 big screened TVs. The Sports Arena is on the second level and is filled with activities including a football toss, a climbing wall, virtual reality boxing, a duckpin bowling alley, and, of course, video games. The Studio Grill offers food like chicken wings and cheese fries, but also has pastas, ribs, seafood, and steaks. Don't forget to grab a drink while you're at it; even if you want to go play some more games, just put your beer or martini in one of the drink holders built into them. Really!

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The beheaded and pigeon-dropping-adorned statue of Lenin outside Red Square only hints at the near-profane delights on the interior. Inside you will find decayed posters that once glorified the Worker, cheek by jowl with a patchwork mix of remnants of Czarist trappings, as pillaged from toppled Bolsheviks and Stalinists. It is disconcerting to see the hammer and sickle so blithely and irreverently displayed, but then again, what better way to drain it of its power than to exploit it in a palace of capitalistic decadence? And then there's the ice-covered bar -- all the better to keep your drinks nicely chilled. After all, they have 150 different kinds of vodka, perhaps the largest collection in the world. It's all just one big post-Communist party (sorry, we had to say it).

Anyway, if you can tear your eyes away from the theme-run-amok, you might notice that the menu is quite good, one of our favorites around. Blow your expense account on some caviar (we found we liked nutty osetra better than stronger beluga), properly chilled in ice, served with the correct pearl spoon. Or, more affordably, nosh on Siberian nachos -- smoked salmon, citron caviar, and crème fraîche. The chef's special...

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Welcome to Yolie's, Churrascaria House of Meats. Those of our guests who have had the pleasure of visiting beautiful Brazil will know that a churrascaria (She-has-ca-reeah) compares favorably with the finest Steak Houses in the U.S. The unique difference is the way the meat is prepared and served. Strangers to Brazil and the method of preparing and cooking meat are in for a delightfully pleasant surprise. You will feel right at home by our casual and informal atmosphere. While enjoying your cocktails an assortment of appetizer meats will be served at Lunch & Dinner. Prepared by our famous Brazilian chef, succulent meats will be sliced from the skewer onto your plate continuously by your Waiter.