I haven’t seen the Eiffel Tower since I was nine, so when I crane my neck at the latticework girders and perfectly formed apex, I sigh. Just inches to the left, I duck under the Arc de Triomphe to soak up the romance. For a moment, I feel like I’m in Paris.
I dream of returning to the land of fine cheese and crusty baguettes, but right now I’ve got work to do.
Las Vegas feels wiser these days, especially now that the flashy Fontainebleau Las Vegas stands tall on the Circus Circus end of the Strip. After three indulgent nights at the megaresort, I wanted contrast. To understand what Fontainebleau brings, I need to see what came before it.
And so I walk into Paris Las Vegas, opened in 1999; it’s still buzzing with kitsch. The casino floor whirs with slots and hurried tourists shoving down pastries before another night of dollar-chasing. The carpets are tired, the ceilings dim, and the whole place feels stuck in time. This is the Vegas most people imagine.
I feel like running for Fontainebleau’s grandeur, but Paris still has its charms. Rooms are ultra-affordable and right in the heart of the Strip. While Fontainebleau can hit $400–500 a night, Paris is closer to $150.
I love Las Vegas, no really
It’s my fourth time in what I feel is one of the most exciting cities in the world. Already, I’ve slipped back into my old self. The one who in 2012 first arrived in Vegas starry-eyed after road tripping through the desert in an orange Jeep with some good mates.
But there’s no Bachelor Party shenanigans to attend to this time. I’m here on official business, strutting across as many restaurants and shows as I can to reaffirm my undying love for this city’s slick, cinematic hold on all things Entertainment.
“Where would you live if you lived in the US, Chris?” A former colleague once asked. His jaw dropped when I, half-serious, answered Las Vegas.
Truth is, I can’t handle the heat in Las Vegas. Everything else, however, has long had a hold on my heart. I feel alive in Las Vegas in a way that I don’t anywhere else.
Yet for most, it’d be odd to view this tinsel town as anything more than a 2-3 day stop with the same ol’ itinerary: party on The Strip, people watch on Fremont Street, catch a show-a-night, and – if you’re wise – recover with a nature bath out in Red Rock Canyon.
But I’d gladly spend a week here, eating through the increasingly delicious Arts District, lounging by oversized resort pools, discovering all the schlocky secrets that hide between gaming floors, filling my nights with shows, live music and comedy, and just enjoying the absolute, blinding-lights chaos of Fremont Street Experience.
I even took a zipline over it this time. And I gotta tell ya: ziplining over a sea of drunks, strippers, and breakdancing gorillas under a canopy of LED is much more interesting than doing the same over a bunch of trees.
It’s pure Peter Pan escapism, but in recent years, that tendency towards overindulgence has seemed to calm.
My most recent visit to Las Vegas (I think 2018) gave me wonderful snippets of the city’s cutting-edge wellness scene. I also got to explore more of the oddball Arts District and uncover more of Vegas’ many downtown surprises (like a hidden Moonshine distillery and bar buried beneath the Mob Museum).
After staying three nights at the shiny new Fontainbleau Las Vegas, and sharply contrasting that with 3 nights at Paris Las Vegas – an oversized, loveable relic from 1999 – I can’t deny what a local told me earlier that day: Vegas is growing up.
Fontainebleau, for the well-to-do
There’s a palace in the gravy
That’s holding on and on and on
Even after all the blue-haired ladies
And the wheelchairs are gone
I guess the reason I’m so scared of it
Is I stayed there once and I almost fit
I left before I got out of it
People were drownin’ in their own
– “Fontainebleau” by The Stills-Young Band.
Fontainebleau is a legendary name in the world of luxury. The original Miami mansion-cum-hotel has served as one of Hollywood’s go-to escapes since it was built in the 1950s. It was a famous haunt for the Rat Pack, a backdrop for classic films like Scarface, and has hosted countless star-powered parties over the years, including JAY-Z and Ye’s album release party for Watch the Throne. Illustrious doesn’t quite cut it; the South Beach hotel is as Miami as the sand itself.
READ MORE: What it’s like staying at the Fontainebleau in Miami
And so anyone with even a passing interest in the snooty world of luxury travel has paid close attention to the long-gestating development of Fontainebleau Las Vegas. The 3,644-room-and-suite hotel was first announced in 2005 and opened 18 years later at the tail-end of 2023. Even by hotel standards, that’s a fucking long time.
Its tumultuous birth might make a good Hollywood movie one day. Ownership passed through several ultra-wealthy hands over the almost two-decade development, which is set on around 25 acres on the quiet northern end of the Las Vegas Strip.
Original developer Jeffrey Soffer first sold out of the project, but bought his way back in before its completion, overseeing the final stages of completion as chairman and CEO of Fontainebleau Development alongside the real estate wing of Kansas conglomerate Koch Industries.
One big $2.2 billion construction loan later, and Las Vegas has seen one of the biggest and most important developments since The Bellagio opened in 1998.
You can read my colleague’s review of the Fontainebleau Las Vegas here.
What it’s like staying at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas
The main entrance is palatial: bow-tie motifs, fountains, towering bouquets of red roses. Unusually for Vegas, you don’t hit the casino first. Instead, I’m waved through to VIP check-in, where free croissants and plush furnishings offer tranquillity.
My Noble Suite is outrageously plush, all avant-garde art and oversized everything. My plus one, a friend and former arts writer, burst in from his adjoining room: “Chris, what the fuck? I’ve never stayed anywhere like this. Drinks are on me.”
Drinks are on the house, more like it. I spend three days holed up in the new hotel, only leaving to catch shows like Mad Apple at Cirque du Soleil at the New York New York Hotel & Casino, and the batshit insane Awakening at Wynn. The hotel’s PR team filled my days with so much that I felt truly locked-in; I wasn’t complaining.
They sent me to Collins bar on the first night. The circular piano and cocktail lounge has some of the most polite, engaging service in the entire resort. But the drinks aren’t as agreeable, skewing either too sweet or too sour. Much better are the signature restaurants.
In total, this property offers 36 bars and restaurants, including casual eats at a high-end food court. One that could stand toe-to-toe with The Cosmopolitan’s famous Block 16 Urban Food Hall. Don Prime, a signature high-end steakhouse, is the best of them with its handsome ambience and world-class steak program.
There are also dumplings and noodles at Washing Potato, framed by a gentle LED wall that rips you away from the gaming floor action. A more elevated take on Cantonese is found over at the beautifully designed Chyna Club. Komodo is too loud and showy for my tastes, but the mod-Asian food is deliciously indulgent. La Fontaine is the calmest space, where Parisian tastes mean lavish brunch options like lobster florentine and oversized salads.
There’s even a caviar and bagel tower for those who live life on the edge.
The resort has got a firm grip on nightlife as well. I’m here at the front-end of EDC Las Vegas, so there’s a laundry list of big-name DJs coming through this week. I watch Dom Dolla rip through his set before I decide I’m too old – and solo – to make my way through the crowd. Much more my speed was Rufus Du Sol days prior, taking over XS Nightclub at the Wynn. I spy Vince Vaughn celebrating a jackpot as I leave the Aussie boys’ midnight set.
Celebrity-spotting, by the way, is so much more fun in Vegas. You can see them letting loose and acting like overexcited children at high-stakes tables, as opposed to just eating dinner and trying to avoid eye contact in New York.
A new era for Las Vegas
To understand why Fontainebleau matters, think back to 1998 when The Bellagio opened. With its Dale Chihuly glass ceiling, romantic fountains, and botanical gardens, it showed the world that Las Vegas could do elegance as well as spectacle. It set a new standard that shaped the Strip for years. The refinements continued with The Venetian, Wynn, Cosmopolitan – each big opening signified a new era for Las Vegas.
Fontainebleau feels like the natural successor. Its casino is calmer and more organised, with high-limit areas and dedicated sports betting. The Lapis Spa and Wellness complex embraces sound baths, colour therapy, and temperature-controlled pools. It is one of the most impressive spas I have seen in the United States.
The resort also embraces beautiful avant-garde art. At one entrance stands Oceans, an installation by Brooklyn-based studio Breakfast. It consists of 483 spinning “brixels” that shift in real time with oceanographic data from 100 cities. The piece is hypnotic, a thoughtful touch in a city better known for oversized slot machines.
Of course, Vegas will always hold onto its quirks. You will still find a fire-breathing praying mantis downtown, antique shops crammed with neon relics, and zipliners screeching across Fremont Street. That sense of surrealism is part of the city’s charm.
What has changed is the balance. Visitors can still indulge in excess, but now they can pair it with a high-end spa ritual or an Arts District crawl. Wellness and sophistication have not replaced the old Vegas. They’ve just added new dimensions so you can party like a rockstar and recharge like royalty.
Why Las Vegas needs this
Vegas still suffers from a stubborn stigma: see it once and you never need to see it again. But that’s always a limiting attitude to travel. Cities evolve, especially ones as dynamic as this. Here, the frame might remain unchanged, but the picture is shifting. Wellness, art, and dining are no longer side notes; they’re part of the main attraction.
Yes, prices can be shockingly high, and inbound tourism faces headwinds. But the Vegas experience itself remains ferociously fun and unlike anywhere else. With Fontainebleau, the city has entered a new era: one where it can be both kitschy and cultured, chaotic and calm.
And that’s why I’ll keep coming back to the world’s weirdest Monopoly board. I love this city.
Read our other Vegas content
Want more Vegas? Read more Las Vegas content on The AU Review.
- What it’s like seeing a show at The Sphere
- The Australian success story of Spiegelworld
- How Las Vegas is reinventing the party space for adults
- 5 museums and art exhibitions you have to visit in Vegas
- What it’s like seeing Mad Apple by Cirque du Soleil
- What it’s like seeing Awakening at Wynn
- We go searching for the best dim sum in Las Vegas
- How modern pop artists are reinventing the Las Vegas Residency
- 10 things you need to do on the Las Vegas Strip
