Main Street Station or Excalibur Resort?

Both Vegas hotels are relatively affordable (though even with them high traffic times can raise the rates a lot) and, during a regular weekend, staying at either may be easier on your wallet.  We’re going to write some comparisons between the two here below; after that, you may want to also check our page on cheap weekend resorts in Vegas.

Rooms:  a huge difference in style; Main Street Station’s unique style is reflected in the beautiful, spacious and comfortable rooms; Excalibur’s rooms are definitely less well appointed and pretty much style-less, and this applies both the Tower 1 standard rooms and the Tower 2 ‘remodeled’ rooms.  The rooms are smaller than at Main Street Station or, at least, they feel that way.  The larger windows of Main Street render the atmosphere in its room much more pleasant.  In terms of bed comfort, Excalibur used to have terrible beds but, last time we were there, even Tower 1 had very comfortable mattresses and good quality sheets.

Pool:  although neither offer stunning tropical pools, and cement seems to be quite prevalent in both, Excalibur’s is much, much larger and in fact one of the best pool areas in Vegas because of its variety and size.  Main Street Station has no pool but you can use the adjacent California Hotel’s rooftop pool which, however, is only open mid-April to mid-September and relatively small.

Gym:  a good gym at Excalibur; none at M.S.

Buffets:  both limited in terms of quality and variety; however, Excalibur’s remodeled buffet (which is however a bit more expensive) offers a decent dessert section with mouth-watering made-to-order crepes (using Nutella chocolate!), at least they were when we visited.   You can read our review on the Excalibur buffet and the Main Street Station buffet for more details.  However, downtown Vegas does not offer a great buffet (yet), whilst South Strip has the much-improved MGM Grand Buffet and, of course, it’s relatively close (taking the tram from Park MGM to the great Aria and Bellagio buffets.

Location:  one is in downtown Vegas, close to Fremont Street (M.S.) whilst the other is in the South Strip area; which one is best for you truly depends on what you want to experience; unless you rent a car or you are actually looking forward to using the ultra modern Strip & Downtown Express bus, choosing one of these resorts will mean (if you stay in Vegas only a short time) that you will sacrifice the other area, since they are so distant from each other.  You may have time for a quick visit, but nothing more.  So, which of the 2 location is better for you?  Fremont Street has its historical charm (though its declining fast, given the bland-bars-only ‘revamp’ of late; this ‘charm’ is of course far from ‘classy’, but its old hotels and casinos can still offer a glimpse of what Vegas used to be like (even despite the remodeling).  Fremont Street, during busy weekends, is incredibly loud at night, with bands playing and a general overall ‘inebriated madness’ taking place.  South Strip is great in that it’s where MGM Grand (with all its popular events,  its huge night club Hakkasan, its huge and somewhat improved casino) is; moreover, you’ll be next to the theme resorts NY NY and Luxor.

Having said all of this, Main Street Station is far enough from Fremont that the loud weekend night music should not be a problem; moreover, it has retained so much of its old charm that it’s definitely a must-see for anybody who wants to see ‘old Vegas’:  it’s literally a museum and extremely charming for those who like a bit of history.  Our dedicated page on the Main Street Station buffet  shows some photographs of the hotel and casino in its historical beauty.