Hotel Review: Paris Hotel in Las Vegas - You Can Experience a Bit of France Without Flying Over the Big Blue Pond

Those of you who have read my articles are aware by now that I love Paris and anything French so it stands to reason that when I heard about the hotel in Las Vegas, called the Paris Hotel, I would just have to stay there when the occasion arose. So imagine how excited I was when we were invited to a business convention which took place at this hotel.

Just the outside is exciting to see. The Eiffel Tower, or, la Tour Eiffel as they call it in Paris, was breathtaking since it was built to half scale of the original, truly impressive looking in all its glory. They have also replicated the Arch de Triumph as an entranceway. Tres Chic!

Upon entering the hotel we received the friendliest welcome. Bonjour, said the girl at the front desk. We started to talk and asked her if we were going to get the upgraded room I had asked for, with a view of the Tower facing the "strip". Oui she answered smiling. Maybe it was the Eiffel Tower charm I wear on my neck which demonstrated how I feel about the city. She was from a small village just outside of Paris that we had visited and talked about what a charming town it is. Anyway. We got a room with a view!

We were on the 21^st floor. And what a view it was, the fountains of the Bellagio hotel were right in front of us and we could faintly hear the music playing. The strip below was, as always, quite a sight to see.

The room was a good size, not huge, but adequate and well decorated with a king sized bed, filled with lots of down pillows and bedding. The décor was quite French, with rich fabrics and lovely designed wooden furnishings. A beautiful armoire held a TV and enough drawers so we could unpack and not have to step over our luggage during our stay. The window was floor to ceiling and covered with double heavy drapes that kept out noise and light when closed. There were also two comfortable chairs and a desk on the other side of the room from the bed. The fabrics and prints hanging on the wall were all in a lovely French motif. Each end table had a lamp with adequate lighting if you wanted to read in bed.

The spacious bathroom had a marble vanity and walls, with a separate bath and shower. There was enough space to put all our toiletries which is always important to me. I loved the great toiletries they provided, wonderful fragrant French soaps as well as shampoo, conditioner and body lotion. I even asked the cleaning girl for extras and she left me quite a few over the course of our stay. I still have some of the soaps. The towels were large and fluffy and we found two robes in the closet along with a safe and iron/ironing board.

We were very pleased with the whole set up and exceptionally pleased with our view.

So now it was time to head downstairs for a taste of this Paris Hotel. Yes, I know it wasn't really Paris but what an incredible job they have down in trying to replicate the feeling of the city throughout the hotel.

Leaving the elevator we didn't know which direction to turn. Go to the right and you feel as if you have entered a machine that takes you to Paris. Go to the left and you are in the casino, which is where we headed. We sat down at one of the tables and the dealer greeted us with a friendly bonjour as we put down our money in exchange for some chips. We played roulette for a short while till we lost about $40 and decided to quit for a while.

We strolled around the casino and were astounded by what appeared to be the Pont Alexander Bridge, one of the most famous bridges in Paris which crosses the River Seine. Actually the casino is built under four large corners which are the base of the Eiffel tower outside. It is from here that you can actually walk across this bridge to get to the escalator that takes you to the top of the tower. Really amazing to see the Pont Alexander bridge towering above the casino floor. It truly was mind boggling.

Deciding not to gamble anymore, for the time being, we headed out and to the right, where we found one of the most famous shopping streets in Paris, the Rue de le Paix. Yes they have recreated parts of the city itself, cobblestones and all. The details were amazing, the facades of buildings, the gardens and even fountains, all under the ever present blue twilight sky. It almost looked like the real thing. There were mimes and other character actors dressed in costumes to entertain you and give the illusion of the famous street scenes, like you see in movies. There were even people on bicycles carrying fresh baguettes. We also saw people dressed up as gendarmes. Truly fascinating.

Browsing the lovely shops we found items that were hard to resist, all imported from France...I did buy a beautiful Limoge porcelain miniature of the Eiffel Tower and two stuffed pillows for my sofa, one with the Tower and another with the famous Arch de Triumph.

Then we discovered the cheese and wine shops, oh my, they have imported items from all over the country, and we couldn't resist a big jug of mustard and some jams. What's nice about shopping in these shops is that they have everything sent to your room.

Then the "piece de resistance", we spotted, no, we smelled the fragrance of fresh bread coming out of the Boulangerie-patisserie, and standing in front of it was their giant chocolate trademark, the Eiffel tower standing in its own lovely courtyard setting. We couldn't resist going inside and I had the first of one of the many pastries I ate during our stay in this HotelParis.

The restaurants in the hotel are something special too, we enjoyed every meal we had in three of the nine restaurants we dined in, each one was tastefully decorated as any restaurant in Paris. The food prepared so skillfully under the supervision of the chefs who had been brought in all over France.

The first night we decided to eat at the La Rotisserie de Artists, truly an exquisite dining room with two stories and a double staircase. Besides the excellent meal we had, escargot and lamb, perfectly prepared, I was so impressed with the reproductions of some of the most famous French Impressionist paintings on the walls, only there was a big difference, these paintings were double or triple the size of the originals, what a sight!

Another restaurant we loved and ate at a few times was the The Village buffet, boy, what a buffet it was. The food served was from many different French provinces, each one a separate little dining room decorated like the regions they represented. There was Normandy, Alsace, Brittany and Provence. Everything we tried was delicious and authentic, prepared perfectly and presented in these cozy settings. It was so hard to decide what to eat, I just wanted to try it all! The only problem with this buffet was the line to get in. I believe it cost about $24.95 a person for all you could eat. Less for children, but I'm not sure exactly what it was. At the time of our visit if you were a quest of the hotel you had a separate waiting line that was much shorter. I'm not sure if that policy still exists though.

Of course one of our highlights of the visit was taking the ride to the top of La Tour Eiffel. As I mentioned, this tower is built to half scale of the original and was still quite a trip up in the elevator, 50 stories high. I've been to the top of the real thing and must say that even though it's not the glorious city of Paris below, it certainly is quite a sight seeing the bright glittering lights of the Las Vegas strip in each direction. There is a restaurant up there but it was a bit too expensive for our pocketbooks and reservations are hard to come by on the spur of the moment. That was okay by me. I was just happy looking out at the wonderful sights in front and below of us. It truly is quite a treat to the eyes.

The hotel has a luxurious spa but we didn't use it though we enjoyed the beautiful and well maintained pool. The water was always a perfect temperature to cool off after a day in the hot Vegas temperatures.

Eventually the time came that we had to leave this wonderful and lavish Paris Hotel as we had to head further west to Los Angeles, we had a great time and actually didn't leave too much of our money in the casino, that's a good thing. I can't wait to have an occasion to go back, I would stay at this hotel again in a heartbeat, a taste of Paris, right in our own American backyard, what a concept!

As far as the price; When we stayed there it was for 3 nights and each night was a different price...Thursday was only $99.00. Friday $179 and Saturday went up to $219. So for the best results when booking I would suggest calling the hotel. Our prices were less than what we found on line.