Turkey Legs to Go is FanHouse's complete travel guide for all of the 2008-2009 college bowl games. Here, we cover the Las Vegas Bowl (Las Vegas, Nevada), which pits BYU against Arizona.Overview/Matchup: The beauty of going to a bowl game in Las Vegas is that, well, it's Las Vegas. The tremendous downside is that, well, yeah, it's still Las Vegas. In other words: college student in Sin City is always dangerous. This year, it's the Cougars of BYU and the Wildcats of Arizona that will face temptation and each other.
Hotels: If you're going to be in Vegas you might as well stay on The Strip. All three of these hotels are Las Vegas landmarks. They each offer rooms that cost several thousand dollars a night, but Caesars Palace and The Venetian also frequently have rooms for one or two hundred. If budget's a concern, avoid the Wynn Las Vegas. It's worth trying to find a cheap room to stay in the heart of Sin City. As for convenience, the stadium is only five minutes away.
Restaurants: Mesa Grill is Bobby Flay's signature restaurant. Try the coffee-spiced rotisserie filet mignon with wild-mushroom-ancho-chili sauce and horseradish potato gratin. Trust us, you won't be disappointed. Burger Bar offers the best burgers in Vegas. From huge and greasy to elegant and refined, they've got the burger for you. Try the Kobe beef and lobster burger. Pink Taco... the name's a little scandalous, but they serve creative Mexican fusion and the restaurant is adjacent to the pool at the Hard Rock, so it's a great place to get appetizers and party.
Nightlife: As for bars and nightlife, who could pick? There are countless bars with every style, specialty and atmosphere you can imagine. Our only suggestion... if you're a vodka fanatic, Red Square is a must. The bar specializes in the Russian export and even has a vodka locker kept at a mind-numbing 5 F/-15 C. To get in, all you have to do is buy a US$250 bottle... they provide the fur coat and hat.
All travel related information comes from Professional Travel Guide.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-19-2008 @ 4:27PM
Unforgivable Wetness said...
Strip Clubs: More than just about any other city, Las Vegas is synonymous with stripclubs. But even though it is officially an unincorporated area, Vegas still follows alcohol laws that mean that the city's bars go one of two ways: Alcohol but topless only, or nude but non-alcoholic. (However, all the lapdances in Vegas are topless.) The allure of people spending money in the most debauched city in the nation means there's never a shortage of girls on hand, especially ones that fly over from L.A. on the weekends and from everywhere for conventions such as January's Consumer Electronics Show.
Much more beautiful girls populate the alcohol "gown" clubs. Spearmint Rhino is the tops in this department. Sapphire is relatively new but regularly see crowds and beautiful strippers as well. Perennial favorites like Olympic Garden and Cheetahs also are good places to go, especially because those two clubs are much closer to the north end of the Strip than others. (In fact, one of the tourist buses going north runs right past Olympic Garden.) If you want alcohol and nude dancing, go to North Las Vegas and the Palomino Club, even though this legendary club's best days are long behind it because the talent level is fairly bottom-of-the-barrel.
One more note on taxis: They get kickbacks if they bring customers to a club he is affiliated with. Not only should you be worried about safety, be adamant if you have your heart set on a club no matter if the cab driver says he has the inside knowledge on what's good. And even then, clubs may charge people arriving by taxi much more on cover charges than others because they are presumed to be tourists.
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