Best Hotels for Partying in Vegas

If you want to party in Las Vegas, and you want to choose a resort geared towards that, you need to know the following:

All Vegas resorts are ‘party resorts’ on weekends or during ‘youth holidays’ such as spring break. Even the quietest of resort pumps out loud music and/or has a party pool atmosphere on weekends, for example. The difference lies in the type of young crowds, whether it’s a budget-oriented crowd (such as at Flamingo, which is an affordable, loud party place on weekends) or a no-expenses spared type of crowd (which you’ll find at the Encore Beach club, or staying at the higher-end Palms suites, for example).

However, generically speaking, some Vegas resorts have the reputation of being party-places (though, again, during the week even those can be quiet and geared towards a more tranquil crowd, such as real gamblers!); among these are Hard Rock Hotel and Casino (off-Strip but, if you want to stay and party at one place and don’t care about visiting other resorts or the Strip, it could be a great choice for young crowds): it hosts one of the most popular pool parties in Vegas (turned into a TV show, to give you an idea of how ‘crazy’ it is) and it’s generally speaking a young party people magnet. If you have a car in Vegas and are young and ‘wild’, you will probably want to check out Hard Rock.

The Palms has a reputation for being a party Mecca, with multiple clubs for all preferences; it’s a bit pricey but it targets young partiers with a bit of cash to spend. It’s a beautiful place, all in all. You can see a photo of its beautiful pool, for example on our Best Vegas Pools page. It’s off-Strip with no free shuttle anywhere (not nice!) but it’s actually close to mid Strip (theoretically you could walk to and from mid Strip, or catch the many cheap buses going mid Strip from this location, but a short cab ride seems to be the preferred route). Of course you could walk to Rio or Gold Coast and use their welcomed free shuttles… You may have to show their players cards or, on peak periods, a room key.

Encore has definitely tried to attract young crowds with deeper pockets with its beach club and ‘European style pools’, as well as hosting a couple of very popular night clubs. The location is not the best, being North Strip and having nothing on one side or across but desolate, derilict buildings; however, party-lovers seem to enjoy the party atmosphere without paying too much attention to what’s outside Encore…

Venetian’s Lavo nighclub is a very popular twenty-something party place, so youth with some money to spare enjoy this beautiful resort. The location is much better than Encore’s, being a bit closer to mid Strip (but not quite mid Strip, of course). Tao is also a beautiful nightclub.

MGM has tried so hard to attract young partiers, both with a huge, remodeled pool party area and with several bars and lounges , as well as with its huge Studio 54 club. South Strip is not the ideal location, these days, especially if you love great buffets; moreover, MGM is so large and ‘long’ that you will be walking ‘forever’ to get out onto the Strip (I do dislike how difficult it is to get to the Strip from the forever-work-in-progress MGM Entrances). However, if you are young, fit and don’t mind walking significant distances to get anywhere, you will like MGM Grand.

Caesar’s Palace hosts the fabulous Pure nightclub for those who don’t mind spending a little extra and, on weekends, they do host pool parties (of course). But I would not say that it’s geared towards young party crowds in particular; it’s more of a mix.

Luxor, with its new, huge, popular LAX club, has tried to shift the core of its guests from a mix to party lovers so, if you are on an average budget, it may well be worth a try. The location is even worse than MGM Grands, being more South Strip, so what was said about it in the MGM section applies to Luxor too.

In terms of hotels for young crowds, we’d add Planet Hollywood; we have a video walk-through of PH to show you the young atmosphere you will find.