Golf Getaway

If your Vegas adventure is more about green grass than green felt, base yourself at an MGM Resorts property. Guests of the various resorts, which include Bellagio and Aria, are eligible for rounds at the uber-exclusive Shadow Creek.

The Tom Fazio masterpiece opened in 1990 at a reported cost of $47 million—a price that the designer once attributed to “total site manipulation.” In other words, all of the rolling hills, the contours, and the mounding that you’ll see is man-made. “The course is unbelievable—it’s an amazing facility and in great shape,” says PGA Tour pro Ryan Moore, who lives in Las Vegas. “If you get the chance to play Shadow Creek, you have to go. It will be one of the best golfing experiences you’ll ever have.”

Fazio designed another Vegas classic that holds pride of place in an unlikely setting—just off the Strip. Tucked behind the Wynn and Encore towers, the Wynn Golf Club bounds over and through ridges and valleys, offering an implausibly serene experience in the heart of the city.

Farther from the Strip, Moore recommends a trip to Paiute Golf Resort, which is home to three Pete Dye–designed layouts. “They’re some of the best public-access golf courses anywhere,” he says.

Stay
Shadow Creek access is one of the many perks available to guests of Bellagio, where the elegant Spa Tower rooms and suites recently benefited from a $110 million renovation.

Eat
A detour to the city’s Arts District brings you to Esther’s Kitchen. Equipped with an open-fire grill and an $85,000 bread oven, the restaurant serves inventive seasonal fare with a strong Italian influence. Make sure to order at least one of the nine house-made pasta dishes.

Do
Herbs & Rye doesn’t look like much from the street, but inside, a world-class cocktail den awaits. Dedicated to the classics, the Herbs & Rye menu is categorized by eras, which means you can start with a Gothic Age tipple and follow it with a libation from the Years of Reform.

Show Time

The Entertainment Capital of the World keeps pushing the boundaries of what entertainment is. Setting the new benchmark in Sin City is the Sphere, a 366-foot-high, 516-foot-wide modern marvel that cost an estimated $2.3 billion to build. Along the way, engineers leveraged the laws of physics and mathematics to create a venue that delivers immersive entertainment unlike anything else on Earth.

Thanks to the 580,000 square feet of 16K resolution LEDs that cover it, the world’s largest spherical building can be seen from space. Inside, a massive LED media plane delivers eye-popping visuals (filmed in 18K resolution) that are enhanced by sensory accoutrements, such as soft breezes and aromas. The venue’s flagship nature film, Postcard from Earth, is mesmerizing, while rock concerts redefine live music experiences.

For a more traditional concert experience, the Colosseum at Caesars Palace shines as an intimate venue on the Strip. Outfitted with 156 speakers, the Colosseum has only 4,300 seats, with no seat in the house more than 145 feet from the 15,000-square-foot stage. Caesars is also home to the perennially popular Absinthe, a raunchy acrobatics and comedy show in a fantastical tented theater.

Stay
The affiliated (and connected) Venetian and Palazzo hotels offer expansive suites and sophisticated shopping, dining, and, yes, gaming spaces. You’ll know you’re on the Strip, but the resorts’ understated elegance provides a nice balance to the area’s glitz.

Eat
Shared plates and Mediterranean flavors define the culinary journey at the Venetian’s HaSalon. Carnivores will delight in beef carpaccio pounded thin tableside, bone-in rib eyes, and lamb kebabs, but the restaurant’s “vegetable creatures” are equally exciting and wildly inventive—think charred beetroot carpaccio and desert peach and ricotta bruschetta.

Do
You don’t need a handicap or even a competent golf swing to play the two Tiger Woods–designed courses at PopStroke. Set on the Strip, this miniature-golf enterprise is good for a full day of entertainment, with putting tracks inspired by full-length golf holes, a restaurant, an ice cream parlor, and more.