Hail Caesar! 48 hours at Caesar’s Palace in Vegas
By: Holly Kreider
January 23, 2025
Have you ever found yourself in Vegas for 48 hours, overwhelmed with choices? I have. Dozens of times. None of my gambits involved gambling, but always food and over-the-top fun. May my latest stopover at Caeser’s Palace act as your guide. Who says what happens in Vegas has to stay in Vegas?!
Level up. Hotel loyalty programs help you skip long registration lines and upgrade to nicer rooms in preferred hotel towers (so many towers!). We shined bright as Caesar’s Diamond members, upgraded to a spacious room on a high floor in the tower nearest our conference meeting.
Eat big. Vegas is larger than life. This definitely applies to buffet meals. We supersized our dinner at Caeser’s Bacchanal Buffet, one of the best on the strip (rivaled only by the buffet at the Wynn). Think roasted bone marrow, oysters, pork belly, mango agua fresca, a gelato bar, and Filipino fare, plus the obligatory mountain of crab legs and prime rib carving station. Make your reservation in advance and be prepared to eat in 90 minutes or less.
Fangirl with Celebrity chefs. Many Vegas casinos boast celebrity chef restaurants from Giada to Gordon Ramsey. At Caesar's, we opted for Brasserie B by Bobby Flay, mostly because we could secure a last minute reservation (albeit at 5pm) – with a casual atmosphere and no celebrity sightings, but absolutely flawless food.
Seek out special treats. When you tire of all-you-can-eat and Food-Channel fangirling, never fear. Special treats and low-key dining are here to save the day. Remember, every hotel casino is like a mall on steroids with a million things to eat and do. So we indulged in a divine cronut at Dominique Ansel’s. We slurped a simple bowl of char su pork noodle soup late at night at Bejing Noodle No. 9. And we burned off all the calories we consumed by walking 10,000 steps back to our hotel room.
Drink morning, noon, and night. We started off our day with a pancake the size of Texas and a mammoth Bloody Mary to wash it down. Our waitress helpfully suggested we get an *extra* shot of vodka in our Bloody. A breakfast of champions to be sure. And well worth the walk across the street to Hash House A Go Go for this quantity (if not quality) experience.
Try something seasonal and outdoors. Believe it or not, the Mojave desert has seasons. We sought out the Christmas spirit during our December trip, bundling up for below-freezing temperatures and then hopping in an Uber to Enchant Christmas for a few hours in an outdoor winter wonderland. It happened to be bring-your-dog day, so even the pets wore ugly sweaters. Visiting in spring? My kids and I rented a car for a day trip to Death Valley during a superbloom. Or in fall? We took a helicopter ride to the west rim of the Grand Canyon, owned by the Hualapai Tribal Nation, which allows helicopter landings (unlike the national park).
Take in a residency show. Enjoy a superstar performance at Caesar’s Colosseum or another nearby venue. We thoroughly enjoyed one of Shania Twain’s last shows at Planet Hollywood, just a few blocks down the Strip. But we also coveted the impossible-to-secure (or afford) Eagles tickets at the Sphere. All I can say is get tickets well in advance and be prepared to cash in your retirement fund.
Search out the latest and greatest. Beyond amazing performers, Vegas always has something new and shiny and huge on offer. On this trip, we experienced the Sphere, a gargantuan blinking eyeball of a building with AI robots and an IMAX theater to boggle the mind and senses. We saw the Postcards from Earth show from ideal seats (aim for 200/300 sections in the middle). A hokey storyline, but impressive visuals, surround-a-sound, and synchronized seat motions. Pro tip - arrive early to interact with “Aura,” the AI robot in the lobby. She has beauty and smarts.
Swim with the sharks. Put some “biz” in your busy stay at the conference capital of the country. We took a half-day Western CPE class on entrepreneurship by Shark Tank winner Bogden Constantin. If you can’t find a VC shark to swim with, head on over to the Nugget in downtown Vegas for a swim with actual sharks. The Tank Pool features a three-story waterslide through a shark-filled aquarium.
And yes, we experienced all of this in under 48 hours. As Caesar would say, “I came, I saw, I conquered.” And so shall you.