Three years ago when Mr Silver and I had been together around six months, we decided to have our first holiday together. The destination of choice was a week in Miami followed by a few days in Las Vegas. Though I’d always been a little apprehensive about visiting Sin City, I was curious to go. My friends all said it was the perfect place for me: amazing hotels, fantastic restaurants and of course, lots of shopping! But I’m not a gambler, so it seemed a bit strange that the casino town would be my ideal destination.
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| Three years ago in Vegas!! |
But, of course I loved it!! The glamour, the variety of things to do and the partying!! So returning to Vegas at the end of our honeymoon seemed like the ideal way to round it off!
On our previous trip to Vegas we had stayed at the Encore Hotel, located on the strip. The Encore and it’s adjacent sister hotel, The Wynn, are owned by Wynn Resorts which is headed up by casino developer Steve Wynn. The Wynn and Encore collectively hold more Forbes five-stars awards than any other casino resort and they are considered some the best hotels in the world.
The Room
For extra VIP luxury you can stay in one of the hotel’s Tower Suites.
Above was our view three years ago…
And this was our view this time round…pretty much the same but I have a better camera now!
I loved the plush luxury of the room; Mr Silver loves the boy’s gadget and the fact that everything is operated by touch screens.
Restaurants
We had arrived at 3pm and rather surprisingly it can be difficult to get lunch after 3pm on a weekday in Vegas. So we headed to Society cafe which was one of the only restaurants serving food at that time.
We’d been here before and I loved reminiscing about our first time there together. Plus, I’m a sucker for a pink sofa. As we were having a late lunch we decided to keep it light and order a few starters.
But we hadn’t quite anticipated the Vegas size portions!! Feeling carbed up, we decided to walk some of it off. The Encore and the Wynn are interconnecting and if you walk the entire space from one end to the other it takes about twenty minutes!
As you can see the decor is great fun as it really is an adult’s playground!
And as you walk along the Esplanades of the Wynn and Encore you are spoilt for choice for the highest of high end luxury designer shops.
We popped for a quick drink at the Wynn’s Lake of Dreams:
The lake has an incredible forty foot waterfall and in the evening there is a spectacular show using lights, puppetry and holographics.
Ok…I know what you’re thinking. ‘But, Angie where’s the beauty in a fake waterfall?’ Just trust me, it’s cool!
There are two restaurants that look out on to the Lake of Dreams, The SW Steakhouse and Lakeside Seafood, we decided to return to the latter that evening.
As we ate our delicious seafood dishes we very much enjoyed the shows taking place above the fountain.
It really is quite something!!
I also want to mention Bartolotta, one of the restaurants we tried on our first visit.
It was probably my favourite in the Wynn and Encore complex, serving delicious Italian Seafood.
Here you can dine inside or outside as the restaurant has it’s own private lagoon (well why not?).
And I can’t complete the restaurants section of this post without mentioning the famous Buffet! We didn’t visit it this time and unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures, but trust me this is an experience not to be missed. There are fifteen live cooking stations and the buffet features every single possible cuisine under the sun. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many international cuisines in one room before, you’ll feel completely gluttonous but it’s totally worth it!!
Nightclubs
After dining at Lakeside we headed to Tryst, one of the Encore and Wynn’s four nightclubs. Nightclubs in London are great…but the night clubs in Vegas are just on another level.
Tryst is a club on an epic scale; it’s absolutely huge! And the central feature is a waterfall! How many clubs actually have a 90 foot waterfall.
We got ourselves a table, ordered a bottle of champagne and settled in for the night as the club went on around us.
I’m getting tired of packed clubs but when you can sit out in the open air it’s a different story!Speaking of which, my favourite club in the world can be found at The Encore and it’s called XS.We didn’t get to go this time but here we are three years ago.
Again you can take advantage of the heat of the night and party outside. Here you can enjoy bottle service on the dance floor or if you’re a high roller, hire one of the cabanas surrounding the pool.
The club is decorated in golds and bronzes with chandeliers hanging from the rooftop, you really couldn’t get more opulent.
And of course, as we’re in Vegas there are gaming tables in the centre of the pool. The sumptuous curves that feature throughout the club are inspired by the curves of the human body meaning the club is a sexy as you can get.
If you’re feeling flush you can purchase the $10,000 signature Ono cocktail containing the finest champagne and cognac and including men’s sterling silver cufflinks and a white gold necklace for the ladies.
And if you want to party during the day, head to the Encore Beach Club….we went to a party there three years ago to celebrate David Hasselhoff’s birthday.
Spa
The Encore and The Wynn each have their own spa, and I can safely say they are the most lavish that I’ve ever visited.
In both hotels there are huge and elaborately decorated areas to relax before your treatment.
If you want to cool off there is an elegant wet area featuring plunge pools and private showers. The treatments on offer at the spas are also on another level, we’re talking four-handed massage, body buffs using coffee and chocolate and the innovative fire and ice stone ritual.
Both spas include a totally state of the art fitness centre and a salon for all my blow-drying needs!
Shows
One thing I love about Vegas is The Cirque de Soleil shows, the acrobats and dancers in the shows can perform absolutely astounding feats of agility beyond anything I’ve ever seen in any other performance.
Le Reve, French for ‘The Dream’ is the signature show performed at The Wynn theatre. The show takes place in a 1.1 million gallon water tank and features graceful synchronised swimmers, death-defying aerialists and high divers who dive, dunk and dance their way through the show. The vision that performers create is all about representing the world of dreams and the surreal world of the subconscious.
When we saw the show three years previous we went VIP and had seats with a bottle of champagne, chocolate covered strawberries and a video allowing us a behind the scenes view of the hotel.
The Pool
We loved hanging out by the adults-only pool at The Encore. which was like a more chilled out version of the Beach Club, you could have a glass of champagne while chilling in the pool and listening to lively music. There’s also several gambling tables if you can’t pull yourself away from the thrill of the casino.
We’d come to Vegas in July, so as you can imagine it was incredibly hot. To to save our skin from the sun we decided to hire a cabana for the day.
It was so comfortable and glamourous, like the Vegas version of a beach hut.
We had a fridge full of food and our own TV.
You could sit outside in the sun or retreat inside when you needed the shade and a cool glass of champagne.
And you can get food delivered straight to your cabana.
We had great fun in our little cabana for two but I imagine it would be total party time with a group of you!
There’s so much to do in Vegas and that was just our hotel!! Oh and I forgot….
There’s also a huge casino if you happen to be in Vegas for gambling!!
My next post will be my final honeymoon post, a round up of everything else in Vegas that I recommend you try…
