Gosh, I rarely stay at The Bellagio Resort in Las Vegas, but when I do, it’s always a treat. I typically don’t care much about the room and where I’m staying in Las Vegas, and I tend towards the more mid-range resorts. Occasionally I will splurge, and stay somewhere a bit higher-end, like the Venetian, or the Bellagio, but I prefer saving my money for restaurants, shows and gambling, since most of the rooms around the strip are pretty similar. This time, though, I went on a girls trip with my cousins in late June of 2024, and since it was many of their first time to Vegas, I wanted them to experience a really great resort, at a pretty affordable price (compared to luxury resorts elsewhere in the USA), at the best location on The Strip. Plus, with the summer heat just about at its peak at this time of year, location and indoor amenities were important!

The Location

The Bellagio takes up some absolutely prime real estate on the Strip, just about in the center on the west side. You pretty much can’t beat Bellagio’s location, no matter what your plans are. Not only is it connected via monorail to the Aria/Vdara and The Park MGM resorts, you can also walk indoors to all those resorts as well. It’s also right next to Caesar’s Palace and not that much further to get to the Venetian if you’re going to see a show at The Sphere. It’s right across from Paris and Planet Hollywood as well. The only resorts that are a bit of a hike to get to are the far Southern Strip resorts like Mandalay Bay. We had dinner and a show there one night and opted to take a cab there in the heat of the evening, however we did walk back after the show, which took about 45 minutes or so. Bellagio really wins as one of the best on the Strip for location.

The Amenities

We enjoyed plenty of the amenities at Bellagio including pool cabana rentals, the gym, and a few of the restaurants and lounges. There is a spa as well here, but we opted to head over to the Aria for their spa (which is one of the best on The Strip in my opinion) and a change of scenery. The Bellagio also has a small area of ultra-high-end designer shops, although it’s size is absolutely dwarfed by surrounding shopping areas like the Grand Canal Shoppes at Venetian, The Forum Shops at Caesars and Crystals between Cosmo and Aria.

The Bellagio pools are super luxe, although there are no super kid-friendly or gimmicky pools like lazy rivers. There is an adults only pool with reserved seating, which has cushiony loungers and lots of umbrellas. We opted to book a cabana for the day, since we were spending much of the day by the pool. First, I would note that shortly before our visit, I received an email promo code offering 15% off cabanas, which made our choice of whether to book one a no-brainer. We opted for the Verona Cabana, which is one of the more inexpensive ones that you can rent that has four lounge chairs with it. There is no minimum for food and beverage here, and the cabana comes with dry snacks, water and soft drinks, and a fruit plate as well as a dedicated cabana host. We didn’t think it was worth the $100 upcharge for a more premium location, which is the main difference between the Verona cabanas and the Milan premium cabanas. On check-in, though, we were surprised to be upgraded to a Milan premium cabana near the main resort pool.

The cabana itself is very nice, clean, and well appointed, which much nicer loungers and a large umbrella, compared the the Vdara cabanas, which you can read all about in my review of that resort, here. There were misters and a fan inside the cabana, which were key for the really hot, 105 degree day. Service here was excellent, and our cabana hostess was super attentive, coming by about every 15-20 minutes to make sure we had everything we needed for the day. I thought the cabana at Bellagio was a great value, especially on an extra hot day. Don’t hesitate to book if you’re planning on a long day by the pool here!

I also used the gym on a few mornings, which I thought was really small for such a large resort. There were only about 8-10 treadmills, and there was a wait to use them in the morning. The weightlifting area was quite small and super busy with people using every machine and dumbbell possible. This gym is very small and bare-bones for such a large and luxurious resort, and if working out while in Vegas is important to you, I would opt for a resort with a much larger gym like Aria, MGM Grand, or the Venetian.

The Room

So… I didn’t take a picture of our room, which pretty much makes me the worst travel blogger of all time, but suffice it to say that it’s a pretty standard sized hotel room on the strip, albeit a bit larger than the rooms at the Park MGM, and what you see on the website is what you get. Unless you are in an actual suite, you will get a standard sized room at the Bellagio, but most of them have been recently rehabbed, and have nice furnishings that are modern and updated and not all stained and scratched up. The bathrooms are also recently renovated, and I thought the addition of a large walk-in shower, and getting rid of useless, dust and dirt-collecting bathtubs, was a massive improvement. The bathrooms are some of the nicest in the MGM hotel portfolio now that they’ve been updated. Finally, since we got two rooms, we really appreciated Bellagio accommodating our request for adjoining rooms, which made the trip even better!

The Restaurants and Bars

Like most of the large Strip hotels, Bellagio is full of amazing eateries and watering holes for every taste and budget. There are fancy places where you can eat while watching the fountains dance, and there are more moderately priced restaurants if you just want to grab a quick bite. On this trip, we had a lovely and filling lunch at Sadelle’s, which is a nice bistro type of place with all sorts of salads and sandwiches. Their french fries are excellent and bountiful – one is definitely enough to share for 2-3 people.

I also start almost every Vegas trip, if possible, with a cocktail at the Petrossian lobby bar at the Bellagio. Their cocktails are delicious and we all agreed were some of the best of the trip. It’s a great spot for people watching, and for listening to popular show tunes and standards played expertly by the rotating piano players.

We also checked out the one-year-old Vault bar, which is a hidden speakeasy that we all thought was a fun and impressive place, even if the cocktails are pricey. You can check out my full review of The Vault here!

Finally, on this trip we also ate at Lago, which I have to say was a bit disappointing for me, even though you get really great views of the fountains from here. It used to be more like an Italian Tapas type of place, with tons of different dishes to try and share, but they changed the format of the restaurant to be more traditional, and I thought that the menu was pretty uninspired. There was nothing wrong with the food or service here, it was just a significant step down from what it used to be. That said, it’s still Julian Serrano, and we did enjoy everything we ordered including the epic plate of Jamon Iberico and the Focaccia pictured below.

On a previous trip, we ate at Jasmine, a fancy Chinese restaurant right on the lake with fountain views as well, and you can check out my review of Jasmine here!

These notes don’t even scratch the surface of what’s on offer at the Bellagio, but rest assured, you won’t go hungry here, no matter what your budget!

The Vibe

Bellagio tries to have a super luxe vibe, and it wants to seem super high-end really badly, but the sheer number of people traipsing through this resort makes it impossible. In the quieter hours of the early morning, it’s easy to enjoy a very tranquil atmosphere in the stunning Conservatory, with its millions of flowers and themes that are changed out quarterly. The Chihuly glass ceiling in the lobby is truly a gorgeous piece of artwork to behold, if you can find space among the people to stop and stare for a while. Because of its central location, The Bellagio Resort is always chock full of people, and so the vibe is mostly frenetic most of the time. I do recommend, though, getting up early to check out the conservatory without 1,000 people bumping into you, and if you can grab a table close to the casino floor, take advantage of the frenetic atmosphere and people watching at the Petrossian Bar.

The Recommendation

It’s impossible not to recommend the Bellagio Resort, especially for first-timers to Las Vegas. While it is more expensive to stay here than many of the other hotels on The Strip, it’s central location, refurbished rooms, and luxe pool cabana amenities make it worth the splurge. That said, if it’s your 10th or 50th time to Vegas, you can easily skip the Bellagio for one of the other more moderately priced resorts, and spend your money on food, gambling, and shows instead.