Last year I headed to Las Vegas for 3 nights as part of my honeymoon to experience a little bit of what Sin City had to offer. With it being a special occasion I booked Aria as it felt a little more premium than many of the other hotels on the strip and my word what an experience it was.
Arriving at Aria for the first time, you are presented with one of the biggest hotels in Las Vegas, the sheer scale of the building is impressive – 4,004 guest rooms, 568 luxury suites, 4 pools and 150,000 feet of games floor!
There’s plenty going on out front too with a waterfall lining the entrance, a jumping fountain and some quirky little bird chairs!
Inside the hotel things were equally impressive regarding the scale of the place.
Booking.comAside from the casinos, the hotels are all known for their displays (which change regularly) and these have become a tourist attraction in their own right. At the time of our visit in late September there was a Halloween display set up in the reception area which was pretty cool.
Upgrading to a Tower Suites room
When we checked in to Aria we were offered an upgrade to a Tower Suites room. Rather than having a standard double room this basically gave us a flat!
Being one of the most modern hotels on the strip, everything in the rooms at Aria is controllable via a touch screen tablet and buttons on the walls. And I really do mean everything; lights, TV, curtains, blinds, room temperature all controllable remotely and also independently for each room. You could also shop via the app and make dinner reservations at the hotel restaurants. As someone who loves a bit of tech, I was like a child in a sweet shop and obviously pressed every one 100 times!
Aside from the spacious suite, being in a Tower Suites room gave us access to a dedicated Tower Suites lounge at the front of the hotel. This offered its own concierge desk and complimentary food and drinks throughout the day including pastries, cakes, tea and coffee. This was a great place to head to where we could relax away from the noise of the casino or when we returned from being out for the day.
Dining at Aria
The hotels in Las Vegas are well known for their top-end restaurants and during our stay at Aria we decided to make the most of them! With the hotel restaurants being so popular you do need to ensure you book, being a hotel guest certainly doesn’t guarantee you a table.
Javier’s Mexican
Javier’s Mexican restaurant was somewhere we had heard good things about and so on our first night in at Aria we headed there for dinner.
Unfortunately however despite celebrating our first night in Las Vegas and our honeymoon Sarah was refused alcohol as she didn’t have any proof of ID on her! That was the end of fancy drinks then and put a little bit of a dampener on our celebration having debated the issue with our waiter (Sarah is in fact 27).
With that behind us we ordered some food and went for 2 courses. As Javier’s is quite a low lit restaurant unfortunately my photos here didn’t come out too well!
Although the atmosphere of the restaurant was pleasant enough, the food really didn’t live up to expectations and certainly wasn’t as good as it was made out to be. We ate here just the once and had an OK meal but with so many other restaurants to choose from in the hotel I would give Javier’s a miss.
The Buffet at Aria
We also headed to The Buffet which offered a huge selection of cuisines from seafood to Indian curries. Having paid at the door this was then an eat as much as you like deal. Dangerous on the waistline! With so much amazing looking food on offer, I went for a curry, some fish, a salad and of course an assortment of desserts. Yep, overindulgence in Las Vegas at its finest.
Jean Georges Steakhouse
For our last night we headed to Jean Georges Steakhouse which was billed as one of the finest in the Las Vegas. We got dressed up and headed downstairs for dinner where we were treated extremely well. The restaurant looked great and certainly had an air of premium dining about it.
With our food orders in, the meal was served and it was exceptional; certainly the best steak that I had during my 21 days in America. During our meal we were also sat next to a lovely older couple and having spoke to them a short while about us heading off to New York after Las Vegas, they recommended Del Frisco’s steakhouse in New York – and on their advice we did end up going there!
As the waiter learnt of it being our honeymoon they then surprised us at the end of our meal with a hand written dessert which was a nice last touch to round off our visit.
This meal was superb however for this quality of food there is a hefty price tag – you’ve been warned!
There’s also a patisserie however unfortunately we didn’t find the time to pay it a visit!
The Aria from a helicopter!
During our stay at the Aria we took a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon. On the flight back this took us back over the strip and gave us a fantastic final view of the hotel.
Aria Resort & Casino review
Staying at Aria was amazing. We had so much going during our stay in Las Vegas that we didn’t get to try out all of the restaurants or even get ourselves to one of the 4 swimming pools however it really didn’t matter.
The hotels in Las Vegas are some of the biggest buildings I’ve ever been in with many of them having their own shopping centres. Aria was enormous in every sense. The rooms were huge, the casino floor was huge, the restaurants were huge. The list really is endless.
What I loved about Aria however was that it really did feel premium. There were no gimmicks nor was there anything tacky. Everything was there to serve a useful purpose and designed to make its residents feel special. Although I didn’t win any money, the hotel did make me feel special and I would head back to this incredible hotel in a heartbeat.
During our 21 day honeymoon, we stayed in 9 different hotels – Aria was by FAR the best of them all. If you’re heading to Las Vegas, this is the only place to stay. Why settle for less than perfection?
Booking.comBook online
If you are seriously considering a trip to Las Vegas there are a lot of hotel options available to you but the Aria really does offer something a little more special. We recommend using Booking.com to make your booking for great prices, ease of reservations and no hassle booking allowing you to pay nothing until you arrive! Click here to check Aria’s current availability, view more photos and read recent customer reviews.
Have you been to Aria? Let us know your experience in the comments!
