Move over New York, Las Vegas is the city that never sleeps. There’s always something new happening, like some new restaurant opening, a new hotel with over-the-top features, or entertainers taking up residency. 2023 is no different. With so much to talk about, it’s difficult to fit all the news into one article. I encourage you to check back frequently for updates.
Hotels And Spas
Even with 151,771 hotel rooms, according to TripAdvisor, the city continues to add fresh options. Sometimes there are new hotels and other times the hotels are refreshed to give you new experiences.
1. MGM Resorts Stay Well Rooms
Jumping on the wellness bandwagon, MGM Resorts’ new Stay Well rooms are designed to renew, recharge, and refresh with a variety of health-conscious amenities. Stay Well accommodations have air purification, aromatherapy, and cleaning protocols using non-toxic cleaning products and UV lighting to reduce bacteria and viruses. A Stay Well shower infuser reduces chlorine to keep hair and skin soft and smooth. Look for the rooms at the MGM Grand, Bellagio, ARIA, Vdara, Mandalay Bay, Delano, Park MGM, NoMad Las Vegas, New York-New York, Luxor, and Excalibur.
2. The Lexi Renovation
The multi-million dollar transformation of the off-Strip Artisan Hotel into The Lexi is smoking hot. The redone boutique hotel is the first cannabis-friendly property in the city, a product of the vision of Elevations Hotels and Resorts. The Lexi will feature all-new guest rooms and suites including an entire floor designated cannabis-friendly with each room including a state-of-the-art RestorAir filtration system employing Advanced Oxidation Cell (AOC) technology. New culinary and cocktail outlets are part of the refresh.
3. CBD Treatments
If the idea of cannabis-normalized travel is to your liking, you might want to book a CBD-infused massage or body wrap at Bellagio Spa & Salon. The benefits are pain and inflammation reduction plus added moisturization. Nails and feet get the CBD revival treatment at The Park MGM Spa & Salon, exfoliated and hydrated to rejuvenate and refresh. You can buy some of the spas’ CAUSE + MEDIC Lavender & Sage CBD body butter to keep the benefits alive when you’re home.
Dining And Lounges
In Las Vegas, you’ll never lack restaurants. The current count is some 4,337 eateries (according to TripAdvisor) with exciting new choices coming online this year.
4. Retro by Voltaggio
Television stars and celebrity chef icons Michael and Bryan Voltaggio are unveiling Retro by Voltaggio at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino. A culinary residency, Retro by Voltaggio defines the concept of retro, capturing the feelings, tastes, sounds, and pop culture of the 80s and 90s: think dishes like pot roast, lobster thermidor, and shrimp cocktail. You’ll also enjoy a themed cocktail list, entertainment, curated art pieces, and hit music soundtracks of the time, only available at Retro.
Popular Vegas chef Michael Mina is stripping away the formality of steakhouses with the re-introduction of StripSteak, also at Mandalay Bay. The re-opened restaurant reinvigorates classic steakhouse flavors with modern techniques, Asian influences, and creative culinary fusions with entrees such as duck fat prime rib, foie gras doughnuts, and a full range of butter-poached, wood-fired steaks.
5. Ocean Prime
If not everyone in your party loves steak, there’s a new option for you on the Strip that balances steak and seafood options. Popular Ocean Prime is opening its first Las Vegas outpost in the new Project 63 retail and hospitality development at the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Harmon Avenue. The rooftop restaurant will offer brunch as well as lunch and dinner, with nigiri and sushi along with a full menu of surf and turf. For the perfect Instagram shot, the restaurant’s Berries and Bubbles handcrafted cocktail is popping.
6. Proper Eats
Elevated food halls continue to replace old standby buffets. In the second-level promenade of ARIA Resort & Casino, you can munch “around the world” from 12 only-in-Las Vegas restaurants at Proper Eats. Try some of the unusual choices at Wexler’s Deli from Los Angeles, London’s famous Seoul Bird, Egghead from TAO Hospitality as well as the innovative hand rolls and sushi from Clique Hospitality’s newest concept, Temaki.
7. Bazaar Meat By Jose Andres
In the newly renovated SAHARA, check out the hotel’s over-the-top Alexandra-style rooms and Bazaar Meat by Jose Andres. The sleek restaurant is a steak lover’s dream, letting you select your favorite cut from a refrigerated display and watch talented chefs prepare it in the open-flame kitchen. The restaurant’s massive wine list takes your Wagyu-and-Kobe beef dining experience to even higher levels with its global selections.
8. Vic’s Las Vegas
Vic’s Las Vegas brings dining and music to the burgeoning Symphony Park area in downtown Las Vegas. The new all-in-one jazz club, restaurant, and bar will definitely become your downtown favorite.
9. Horseshoe Las Vegas
Sports lovers also have a new dining option — Guy Fieri’s new Flavortown Sports Kitchen at Horseshoe Las Vegas. Fans of the “Diners Drive-ins and Dives” host will enjoy Fieri’s signature American-style cuisine while watching the many screens lining the room.
10. Rouge Room
For a lush lounge-y evening, Rouge Room inside Red Rock Casino, Resort, & Spa is an opulent space, reminiscent of clubs of The Rat Pack days with a European twist. Velvet drapery, opulent gold accents, plush booth seating, and two bars are centered around a grand piano. A French-inspired bites menu includes caviar and seafood towers along with tableside cocktail service.
11. OPM
Dinner-and-a-show fans have a lot to look forward to at the Cosmopolitan. Formerly known as Opium, the circus/variety/vaudeville show OPM is introducing more shocking performances and death-defying stunts in its newest iteration. Dining is equally colorful with Superfrico‘s Italian fare like tableside mozzarella and pistachio mortadella square pizzas The restaurant shares a wall with the OPM theater to allow interaction with performers en route to the stage.
12. Lip Smacking Foodie Tours
Lip Smacking Foodie Tours adds a daytime stroll through the Venetian and Wynn hotels to their repertoire. In a small group, you’ll enjoy progressive dining at the likes of Cipriani and other surprises. Book the new Culinary Afternoon Adventures and be sure to come hungry.
Concerts And Comedy
Popular artists continue to take up residencies in the entertainment capital of the world. Last year it was Aerosmith and Barry Manilow. This year, you can expect musicians like Luke Bryan, Carrie Underwood, Carlos Santana, Brad Paisley, Miranda Lambert, and Katy Perry, or a Lovers & Friends festival line-up of Missy Elliot, Usher, and Mariah Carey. If that’s not enough, there’s a rotating schedule at many of the hotels’ theaters with performers doing multiple-night gigs — watch the hotels’ schedules for Donny Osmond, Ringo Starr & His All-Star Band, Usher, Maroon 5, and more still to be announced.
13. Beyonce At Allegiant Stadium
Big-ticket shows like Beyoncé’s August 26 and 27 concerts at Allegiant Stadium will add even more flash now that Beyoncé is the G.O.A.T of Grammy winners.
14. Comedians At Wynn’s Encore Theater
If you prefer laughter, top comedians Ali Wong and Sebastian Maniscalco have a special home at Wynn’s Encore Theater, as do Steve Martin & Martin Short. Illusionist and stunt artist David Blane performs at the new Resorts World Theatre.
15. Jimmy Kimmel’s Comedy Club
Jimmy Kimmel’s Comedy Club offers an evening rotation of comedians in the LINQ Promenade.
The Comedy Club has also launched the daytime “Roast & Toast,” a daily recorded comedy-fest paired with cocktails, coffee, and pastries.
Other Las Vegas Entertainment Options
16. MSG Sphere
As announced at the Superbowl, the MSG Sphere at the Venetian will be a landmark, bubble-shaped performance space, opening with U2 sometime this fall. Dates are still to be announced for the new multi-layered audio system venue that promises to offer an immersive concert experience unlike any other.
17. Mad Apple
Cirque du Soleil is a popular go-to at several hotels on the Strip. This year welcomes a new production, Mad Apple at New York-New York, a high-energy production of comedy, circus, music, dance, and acrobatics. The show features live vocalists and a band playing the best of NYC music past and present.
18. Universal Studios Horror Nights Experience
If haunted houses are your thing, you’ll love Universal Parks & Resort’s new horror-based attraction coming to the popular downtown Area 15 entertainment complex. Drawing from Universal’s extensive collection of horror movies, the rotating haunted-and-horror spectacle includes haunted restaurants and more. But don’t call it a theme park — it’s located within an existing entertainment space.
19. Meow Wolf’s Omega Mart
Also in Area 15, Meow Wolf’s Omega Mart woos guests 21+ with a meander through the psychedelic market, speakeasy, and other-worldly and immersive spaces on Thursdays in March.
20. Formula 1 Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2023
MGM Resorts International has constructed an exclusive live sports-viewing experience for the FORMULA 1 HEINEKEN SILVER LAS VEGAS GRAND PRIX 2023, offering guests who book a race-and-stay package the opportunity to witness the race from grandstands built on the Bellagio Lake.
21. Miracle Mile Shops
Shoppers will notice the renovations at Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino. In addition to a brighter interior and new exterior, a new Rosa Mexicano restaurant will open this spring, the chain’s first in Las Vegas.
22. FlyOver Las Vegas
Next door, FlyOver Las Vegas has added a second show to their original Iceland feature. Now you can take a simulated flight over Canada in the Windborne: Call of the Canadian Rockies experience.
23. Punk Rock Museum
One of the most anticipated museum openings in Las Vegas, the Punk Rock Museum celebrates 45 years of the music style with a bar, tattoo parlor, wedding chapel, punk shop, and more. Anything you can imagine from punk days from artifacts, fliers, photos, clothing, instruments, handwritten lyrics, artwork, and more are here. Many were donated by the musicians themselves.
24. Leonardo Da Vinci: The Exhibition
Art lovers aren’t left out. The Italian Renaissance comes to the Las Vegas Strip with the opening of “Leonardo da Vinci: The Exhibition” inside the Grand Canal Shoppes at The Venetian Resort Las Vegas. Presented by NEXT EXHIBITION, the experience takes guests of all ages into the mind of history’s greatest artist and scientist, who revolutionized both the visual arts and the history of thought and science. This is the first time “Tavola Lucana,” the self-portrait of da Vinci, will be on display in the U.S.
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