Las Vegas Places

Palazzo Resort-Casino

"Palazzo" means "palace" in Italian, and when the Palazzo opened its doors in January 2008, the $1.8-billion, all-suites resort aimed to bring new meaning to the word, ushering even more luxury to the north end of the Las Vegas Strip. Today, though it has struggled to keep restaurants, the hotel's an understated blend of style and sophistication.

Wide passageways and a three-story waterfall highlight the airy casino; upstairs, suites come standard with sunken living rooms, marble bathrooms, and linens from Anichini. Elsewhere on the property, Las Vegas's first Barneys New York attracts upscale business travelers and big winners alike, while foodies line up to sample morsels from Sushisamba, a Japanese-Brazilian fusion joint, and Lavo, the latest restaurant from Ludo Lefebvre. The Palazzo's also home to one of the Strip's newest pool decks, a humongous complex with private whirlpools, statues, and gardens galore. A walkway connects the property to the Venetian.

The History

Though Palazzo is one of the Strip's rookies, the facility does have a bit of history. The resort, which opened in January 2008, is among the first of Las Vegas's new generation of full-service, ultracompact resorts. Due to limited land, these resorts feature underground parking structures over which the accommodations are built. In the case of the Palazzo, the parking structure tunnels four stories into the desert. Another first: The U.S. Green Building Council in 2009 awarded The Palazzo "silver" certificate for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). Though marketed and portrayed as a stand-alone resort, the Palazzo's actually an extension of the Venetian. The Palazzo Casino, like some other casinos on the strip, operates under the license of a related casino—in this case the Venetian's license. As such, it doesn't have its own poker room.