On Location
Las Vegas, and How to Do It Properly
Las Vegas is a city I return to repeatedly — which surprises people who assume it’s a one-visit destination. It isn’t. Done properly, it has more layers than it first appears, and the difference between a good Las Vegas trip and an extraordinary one comes down almost entirely to where you stay and what you know before you arrive.
My hotel is always The Cosmopolitan. If you’re going to Las Vegas, this is where you should be.
The Cosmopolitan sits at the centre of the Strip with a design sensibility that sits considerably apart from the resort-casino standard. The rooms are generous, the terraces are the best private outdoor space on the Strip, and a fountain view room gives you a front-row seat to the Bellagio fountains — which remain, regardless of how many times you see them, quietly extraordinary. For something more indulgent, the Wraparound Terrace Suite offers panoramic Strip views that make the city feel like a stage set built specifically for your visit.
And yes — I will share the secret pizza spot. But that requires a conversation.
Day One — Arrival and the Strip
Check in, change, and resist the temptation to immediately fill the evening with plans. The Chandelier Bar — a three-storey installation of crystal beads at the heart of The Cosmopolitan — is the right place to begin: a drink, a moment to absorb the energy of the place, and a gradual introduction to the particular atmosphere of Las Vegas at night.
The Bellagio fountains are worth watching from street level at least once. The show runs every thirty minutes in the afternoon and every fifteen minutes after eight in the evening — the later performances, with the Strip fully illuminated, are the ones worth waiting for.
Dinner at Beauty & Essex — one of the more atmospheric restaurants in The Cosmopolitan, accessed through what appears to be a pawnshop entrance — handles the evening well. The menu is American, the cocktails are serious, and the room has the kind of considered drama that Las Vegas does when it’s trying.
Day Two — Beyond the Strip
The Grand Canyon helicopter tour is the activity most Las Vegas visitors consider and fewer actually book. Book it. The flight takes approximately four hours door to door from the Strip, the views are genuinely extraordinary, and it reframes the entire trip — reminding you that Las Vegas sits within one of the most dramatic landscapes in North America.
Return to The Cosmopolitan and spend the afternoon at Sahra Spa — the Hammam experience in particular is worth the time, and the desert-inspired treatment rooms are among the better hotel spa spaces in the city. The evening belongs to Oby Cirque du Soleil at the Bellagio — an aquatic production that has been running for over twenty years and remains, by some distance, the best show in Las Vegas. Book in advance; it sells out consistently.
Day Three — Morning, Then Departure
Wicked Spoon at The Cosmopolitan handles brunch well — chef-driven small plates rather than a traditional buffet format, which makes it considerably less overwhelming. The Shops at Crystals — a short walk from The Cosmopolitan — covers the luxury retail ground if shopping is on the agenda: the architecture of the building is worth seeing regardless of whether you buy anything.
A Note on Las Vegas
Las Vegas rewards those who approach it on its own terms rather than with resistance. It is not subtle, it is not quiet, and it makes no apology for either. But within that spectacle there is genuinely good food, genuinely good design, and — in the right company — a particular kind of fun that is difficult to replicate anywhere else. Three days is enough to do it properly. Four is better.
Travelling with The Wanderlust Edit
Bookings at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas arranged through The Wanderlust Edit may include preferred partner benefits confirmed at the time of booking. Benefits vary by room category, season and availability.
Every journey begins with a conversation.
