I spent my entire adult life ignoring Vegas, perhaps even lightly hating Vegas, until a couple of years ago when my older brothers—lifelong Deadheads and jam-band enthusiasts—induced me to attend a weekend of noodle dancing at the Sphere. To my own shock and delight, I had a good time—no, a great time, if I’m honest, between the food and the music and the fun and the almighty brain-scrambling out-of-body nonsense bacchanalia of the place itself. Now I keep going back for events, on vacation, for work, to play. Invite me to Vegas, and I’ll say yes. Something about the whole thing has just clicked: the permissiveness, the hospitality, the unrivaled surfeit of options and choices and places to eat and play and be entertained. It is one of America’s greatest food cities, and a truly remarkable place to spend a few days attending a conference or professional commitment.
Vegas has a long history of attracting travelers from the worlds of tech and science, and the city itself is something of a technological marvel. I’m not so sure this extends to the rather dated Convention Center; many of the hotels themselves offer comparatively upscale conference and hosting facilities. The Consumer Electronics Show, better known as CES, is here each January, as is Enterprise Connect, the DEF CON hacker conference, and countless more. This long crossover association has helped establish Vegas as a tech town.
The most important thing about Vegas is that you have to give in. Don’t fight it. Go with the neon flow. In the guide below, I’ve outlined a tip sheet of my favorite places to stay, eat, play, and get caught up in the all-abiding Vegasness of it all, but it’s important that you let yourself stumble into doing 25 other things that aren’t recommended in the following paragraphs. Las Vegas is above all else a 24-hour discovery engine par excellence, the sort of place that makes you put your phone down in sheer overstimulation. There’s truly nowhere else like it on earth.
3131 S Las Vegas Blvd., (702) 770-7000
If you need or want to stay on “The Strip”—the famed stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard upon which some 30 hotel casino complexes are located—this is the best place to do it. The Wynn emanates class and calmness from the moment you walk through the door, which is extraordinary, given the surrounding milieu. From check-in to room service to restaurants and bars, it’s a self-contained oasis of class and dignity in a city not necessarily known for either. You can party here too, of course, and go to bars and nightclubs, and eat tremendously well—see our restaurant recommendations below. The Wynn’s multiple shopping concourses put luxury brands to the fore, which makes for great window shopping, or celebrating if things went really well at the conference. Modern, sleek, spotlessly clean, safe, but still above all else human—like the real person taking your omelette order at 3 am—in a town with endless hotel options, the Wynn is something special.
3355 S Las Vegas Blvd., (702) 414-1000
I go to The Venetian every visit to Vegas, even if I’m not staying there—this hotel has split the atom in terms of energy, excitement, popularity, and modern amenities, and simply being there is a tremendous amount of fun. Rooms are clean and spacious, often with expansive views, and no hotel in Vegas boasts more dining and shopping options. The Venetian’s whimsical, deeply kitsch Grand Canal Shoppes—complete with Venice-style gondola boats and a painted blue fresco sky—channels something absurd and entertaining that gets to the Vegas soul. If budget allows, look into springing for one of the Venetian’s club-level rooms, which gives you access to a lounge that’s stocked with snacks and drinks, and makes for a great place to huddle with coworkers or teammates before heading out to conduct business for the day.
2777 S. Las Vegas Blvd., (702) 678-7777
If you’re spending most of your time in Vegas inside the convention center, this is the closest, best hotel to that enormous facility. And now, thanks to a newly opened Boring Company Vegas Loop station, it’s even faster going door to door. Even if you weren’t in Convention Center purgatory during your time in Vegas, The Fontainebleau is pretty cool in its own right, with its soaring high ceilings, state-of-the-art everything, fine art collection, over-the-top wellness options (including an IV bar, spa, and spiffy fitness center), and assemblage of very fine dining selections. This hotel still feels brand new (it only opened in 2023). It cost 3.7 billion dollars to build, and looks it. If you can spring for a suite (or bug your boss to do so), it’s well worth doing so for panoramic views and stylish modern furniture.
Downtown Las Vegas is a blast—a little grittier than the strip, a little more retro, but quite a lot of fun, and home to some of my favorite hotels in the city. I really love The Plaza, which sits at the front entrance to world-famous Fremont Street and on the site of the original Las Vegas train station. The Plaza has been open since 1971, and it wears that ’70s era of bygone flashy glamour proudly–even if you don’t know the hotel by name, you’ve seen it in films like Casino and Back To The Future II, where it stood in for Biff Tannen’s Pleasure Paradise. (It’s also featured prominently in the 1997 music video for Mase's “Feel So Good.”) The hotel underwent a mega-millions renovation around a decade ago; rooms are modestly priced and unfussy. But it’s everything else about the property to love: the smoke-free casino area, the single-zero roulette tables, the glorious retro bingo parlour, the 1970s time warp wedding chapel, and the epic retro glass bubble dome dining room at Oscar’s Steakhouse. You’re not in Vegas to gamble—this is a work trip, remember?—but if you do fancy a bit of a flutter, the Plaza has the rep for being where the players play, with favorable odds on table games and generous slot promotions. Don’t believe me? Just ask Vegas Pauly C, the city’s premier Instagram gaming influencer (“I must gamble for medical reasons”) and a Plaza regular.
This hotel and casino is so much fun. The Circa opened in 2020, making it the newest hotel in downtown Vegas by a considerable margin, and it’s famed for having a positively epic stadium-style sportsbook facility, one of the best places in the city to watch a game or enjoy a staggering array of prop bets, futures, and other assorted nodes of sports betting. Rooms feel new and clean, and the hotel is home to a famous permanent guest in the form of Vegas Vickie, the iconic 25-foot neon “cowgirl” who once towered over Fremont Street. In-room tech at the Circa is particularly cool and thoughtful, with smart temperature control, touchscreen lighting, and tablet ordering for bell services, wake-up calls, and room service.
11011 W Charleston Blvd., (702) 797-7777
Let’s say work has you in for weeks, not days—maybe you’re stringing conferences back to back, or you’re on the setup team for a big event. Red Rock is widely regarded as the discerning “locals favorite” casino and hotel for people who live and work in Vegas year-round. It’s far from the strip—around 11 miles away—and feels even further in terms of vibe and clientele. The restaurants, bars, and lounges are all high-level, and the circular pool and cabana complex is classy and chic. If you’re not going the short-term home rental route for an extended stay, Red Rock Casino is a great option.
6795 S Edmond St., (702) 444-1111
Innevation is a vast, 65,000-square-foot coworking space and event venue near the airport. The complex was founded by Rob Roy, CEO and founder of the tech and data center company Switch. This place is a hub for the Vegas tech industry, and its intentionally misspelled name—"Innevation” as opposed to innovation—is because Roy & co. aim to “take ‘no’ out of innovation,” which all feels very Gavin Belson, but I digress. What you’ll get here is multiple floors of conference rooms, workspaces, lounges, game rooms, lockers, hydroponics, and limited-energy appliances, all of it buttressed by screaming-fast Wi-Fi and modern design schema. If you’re in need of a group working space or meeting space, and want to do so well away from the casino and hotel scene, you have found your ideal candidate—so long as you are willing to innevate.
IncuBase is more of your classic coworking setup, also close to the airport and easily accessible from the Strip. Incubase offers small-, medium-, and large-group-sized office spaces, day passes, desk memberships, ample parking, and a broad range of amenities including a private rooftop with epic views and full facility buyout options. It's even got a partnership with Alliance Personal Offices that allows you to establish a business mailing address for registering your company or opening a US bank account, and the ability to hire a live receptionist. You can work here for an hour if you want, or run an entire business out of the facility, and like pretty much everything in Vegas, no one’s asking too many questions.
6675 S Tenaya Way, (702) 462-6265
Tastefully appointed and community-oriented, Bottega Exchange serves as an “office away from the office” for the Las Vegas tech and small business community. Coworking spaces like this can be a great way for short-term visitors to plug into the local scene, and for what it’s worth, this spot clearly has the nicest interior design, couches, chairs, and overall aesthetic vibe of the LV coworking scene. Monthly memberships and private offices are the order of the day here, which makes it perfect if you’re looking for a recurring setup for a longer project or plan to host several meetings in a given month. The space also specializes in event hosting, from small groups to 200 folks or more.
Located inside the Venetian Grand Colonnade, a rather fancy hallway that connects the check-in area to the main casino, sits a little outpost from the San Francisco bean-to-bar chocolate brand Dandelion. You can enjoy some fancy chocolate there, yes, but I go every time I’m in Vegas for what might be the best shot of espresso on the strip, featuring coffee from another San Francisco brand, Ritual Coffee. This place is an oasis of calm amid the Venetian madness, and you can linger at a big communal table with your laptop or phone if required.
1126 E Fremont St., (702) 331-5500
Vegas has a really good homegrown coffee scene, and this airy, spacious cafe in the Arts District is my favorite local spot for breakfast, espresso drinks, filter coffee, and an hour of getting shit down on my computer. The brekkie sandwich at PublicUs is delicious, the Loco Moco is as good as any I’ve had on the mainland, the vegan patty melt hits the spot, and all the drinks—including teas from Song Tea and mochas made using Askinosie chocolate—are some of the best in Vegas. Go once or go often, and become a regular during your stay.
My favorite place to laptop at the Wynn, this spot is an outpost from the decidedly old-school health food brand Urth Caffe, originally founded in Los Angeles in the late 1980s. I like the breakfast burrito here, and the acai bowl, and the coffee is always hot and fresh and not too involved. There’s ample room here for laptopping, stretching out, and working, and the people watching is top-notch, too, because it’s the Wynn.
252 Convention Center Drive, (702) 369-3322
Is this the best bagel in America outside of New York? That depends on how you feel about the whole California savory salad muffin craze, I suppose; but for an actual bagel, boiled and flipped on a bagel board, served with your choice of schmear or maybe a little lox, Siegel’s Bagelmania place delivers the truth and then some. Its full-service restaurant is right near the convention center, which makes it an ideal escape if you’re stuck there for work; it’s huge and brightly lit and no one will blink twice if you pull out a laptop over your everything bagel with veggie schmear (the correct order). It’s also a full-service deli in case you want a lunch sandwich, and the diner-style coffee is satisfying and plentiful (there are also numerous flavored iced coffee options if that’s more your thing). Once you visit Siegel’s Bagelmania for the first time, you will go back every time you’re in town.
Las Vegas is one of the best restaurant cities in America, full stop. If you’re not eating well here, you are doing it wrong—food in Vegas cuts across a broad swath of needs and situational decisions, and there’s a “best choice” for nearly every moment. I’m separating this section into three distinct categories, including delicious Vegas food on a budget, original restaurants you can only find here, and the truly epic, bombastic dining rooms that help anchor the Vegas experience as singular and essential. I could have listed 30 more restaurants on this list and still not come close to being complete.
A repeat must-do for me in the Venetian Palazzo, Miznon is a quick-service, low-cost Mediterranean restaurant that makes outrageously good falafel sandwiches, lamb kebabs, and an unusually compelling “Bag of Green Beans” with tangy garlic-lemon vinaigrette. This is the little sibling to HaSalon, chef Eyal Shani’s Vegas fine-dining restaurant located just down the hall.
2985 S Las Vegas Blvd., (702) 735-4177
A glowing neon vaporwave diner near the convention center, Peppermill is uniquely iconic. It looks like the Drive soundtrack come to life (or something out of GTA Vice City), yet it is beloved by locals and hospitality workers. People go just to take photos, yet it has a James Beard Award. I’ve been there just to drink a beer and hang out, but the onion rings might be my favorite on earth. If a Denny’s dropped acid, went back in time to the set of Scarface, and hired the diner chef of your dreams, you’d arrive at something like Peppermill. I cannot recommend it enough.
3041 S Las Vegas Blvd. (multiple locations)
It’s late on the Strip and you need something to eat—maybe the casinos wiped you out, or maybe you won big, or maybe the constant mega-stim of Vegas itself has got your synapses fried. Take it from me—I’ve been there, friend—what you need is to go walk down the Strip, or hop in a car, and arrive at the glowing halogen salvation of Tacos El Gordo. This place is famous for a reason; a battalion of carving stations, not unlike how they run things at Katz’s, ring a central dining area, in which you are surrounded by your fellow Vegas survival cases. You need tacos, of course—the buche is good, and so is the asado—and you want loaded fries with your choice of meat (perhaps chorizo, you’ve earned it). Eat everything immediately and drink something cold and hydrating. You’re gonna make it.
6671 S Las Vegas Blvd, (702) 798-7889
One of the best Indian restaurants in 2026—not just in Vegas, but nationwide—Tamba is genre-defining in its contemporary approach to cuisine from the subcontinent. There’s live-fire cooking here four ways (charcoal manghal, traditional tandoor, state-of-the-art Josper grill, and Chinese wok) and a riotously inventive raw bar menu that collides the flavors of India with global fresh fish traditions (the caviar puri is a must). Get the lamb chops, the lobster green curry, and the black truffle naan. I cannot say enough good things about this place—it’s probably the best restaurant in Las Vegas that’s not on the strip.
Inside The Wynn Encore, (702) 770-5340
Surprising, stunning, thought-provoking, Chef Sarah Thompson’s coastal Mexican restaurant Casa Playa (a 2026 James Beard Foundation nominee) would be destination-worthy in any city’s dining scene in the country. The fact that it’s smack-dab in the middle of the Encore wing of the Wynn hotel complex makes the high-wire act here that much more impressive. From the transportive decor to the deeply stocked bar (including a particularly ridiculous selection of rare small batch mezcales and tequilas) to the food: bites of hamachi crudo in zingy tomato dashi studded with popping finger lime pearls, maitake mushrooms in mole blanco with layers and crunch and texture, beautiful whole roasted fish or all-day duck pibil or wagyu strip steak in a 30 ingredient mole. Casa Playa shines at dinner, but it does a late-night menu as well with tacos and small bites, as well as a newly launched breakfast I’m eager to try on my next visit. This is one of the best restaurants in Las Vegas, full stop.
The Las Vegas obsession with fresh seafood has a sort of “shake your fist at God” connotation—after all, here we are in the middle of the desert, 300 miles from the coast. And yet this city has become famous for its omakase sushi bars, shrimp cocktails as far as the eye can see, and a competing Roman holiday of seafood platters on offer at seemingly every restaurant in town. I adore a seafood platter, let it be known, and will almost always try to nudge my dining guests toward splitting one. And so please take me seriously when I tell you that perhaps the greatest seafood platter of my entire life was served to me at Pisces, Chef Martin Heierling’s over-the-top seafood restaurant at the Wynn. You can order other things here: the pastas are quite good (lobster spaghetti, black truffle tagliatelle), as well as the bluefin tuna wellington and the salt-baked loup de mer, which arrived to town just as you did fresh from the Mediterranean. But oh my God, the seafood platters; they arrive fuming with puffs of dry ice and loaded with fresh seafood, arrayed like living edible works of art, and include creative ceviches and tartare presentations as well as glowing Oishii shrimp of staggering size and quality. In a city with an embarrassment of seafood platter riches, Pisces is the one seafood platter to rule them all.
I like a little bada-bing with my Vegas vacation, know what I mean? This deeply historic steakhouse on the second story of the Plaza is connected in more ways than one: Oscar’s Steakhouse proprietor Oscar Goodman served as the mayor of Las Vegas from the late ’90s til the early 2010s; before that, he was the go-to defense attorney for a coterie of legitimate businessmen who built this town from nothing, including Meyer Lansky, Phil Leonetti, Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, Anthony "Tony the Ant" Spilotro, and many more. Make a reservation and sit inside Oscar’s glittering glass bubble dome looking out over Fremont Street; this was a filming location for Martin Scorsese's Casino (the best Scorsese film, imho), and it’s one of my favorite dining rooms anywhere in the city. The food is great, happily, and quite reasonably priced if you’ve been eating on the strip prior to coming down to the Plaza: get the burger (some say it’s the best in Vegas); get the meatballs; and order one of the steaks “Oscar”-style, with crab, asparagus, and hollandaise.
355 Convention Center Drive, (702) 369-2305
Another Vegas classic, Piero’s opened in the early ’80s and has seen the city grow up all around it. Today it has a really enviable location—super close to the convention center, right near the strip but not on the strip—and inside it’s like a time capsule, walking the line between kitsch and elegance. Order Italian-American classics here: clams casino, Sunday gravy, eggplant parm, jumbo shrimp scampi, a slice of tiramisu, and an espresso for dessert. The vibe is immaculate; all leather booths, brick walls, low lights, and proper tablecloths, with old-school service and hospitality to the fore. This spot is great for a solo bite at the bar, but even better with a big group reservation. This was another filming location for Casino.
3325 S Las Vegas Blvd., (702) 607-6328
Where’s the beef? It’s here, at the new location of Bazaar Meat, which left The Sahara for the buzzy food scene at The Venetian in late 2025, and has now established itself as perhaps the premier carnivore bacchanal in all of Las Vegas. There’s an entire section on this menu dedicated to bone-in ribeye; there is a “Jamon Experience” serving multiple cuts and styles of iconic Spanish acorn-fed pig; there is a tasting menu with caviar cones and El Bulli-style olives and buffalo-style bison. Tell yourself it’s all keto and dig in.
