Hotel at a Glance: Palace Station Hotel & Casino

At Palace Station Hotel & Casino, you don’t need to leave the premises to get a full Las Vegas experience—around 80,000 square feet of it is dedicated to gaming and a restaurant, The Oyster Bar. Play blackjack, dominate poker in a devoted poker room, and try your luck at slot machines throughout the casino. When you get hungry, take a break at one of six restaurants providing eclectic cuisine, including a steak house that was given a Diner’s Choice 2015 honor from OpenTable.

• Distance from the Strip: about 1.5 miles
• Get around with ease: The hotel offers a shuttle to and from the airport and the Strip.
• Included with some options: a $15 daily dining credit
• Catch some rays at the heated outdoor pool and spa, open year-round.
• Gear up for a night on the town with an appointment at The Beauty Station, an onsite salon and barbershop.
• Get a drink (or two) at Jack’s Irish Pub, which has daily happy-hour specials and live music on Friday and Saturday nights.
• Rooms include cable TV, high-speed Internet, and Gilchrist & Soames bath products.
• Grab a slice at Little Tony’s, presented by 11-time World Pizza Champion Tony Gemignani, with a menu of classic Italian comfort food prepared with fresh, authentic ingredients.

Beyond the Las Vegas Strip: Old Vegas, Red Rock Canyon, and the Hoover Dam

It can feel like the entire city of Las Vegas revolves around the Strip if you never venture beyond that neon-lit corridor. But there’s plenty to see and do once you step off Las Vegas Boulevard. You can find a taste of Old Vegas on Fremont Street, where vintage signs and showgirls crowned with headdresses recall the days of Sinatra and Martin. Beginning at dusk, a canopy of more than 12 million LED lights erupts in a psychedelic light-and-music show every hour. For an aerial view, zoom down the center of Fremont Street on a zipline.

Nature puts on its own show at Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, a landscape of fiery-red sandstone formations and limestone cliffs just 17 miles outside the city. Motor down the 13-mile scenic drive or ditch the car and strike out on any of more than 20 hiking trails that course through the region’s otherworldly topography.

Hoover Dam, a marvel of modern engineering, lies just 35 miles away, near the Nevada–Arizona border. Take the 30-minute power-plant tour or the 60-minute dam tour, which takes visitors inside the dam’s narrow passageways. You can actually kayak down the Colorado River from the base of the dam—just be sure to arrive early, as only 30 permits are issued per day.

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