Hi friends! Last weekend was so much fun… the Venetian graciously hosted me, my hubby, and friends for a weekend in Las Vegas. I’m so excited to share our weekend with you, and of course provide a full outfit roundup.
Check out my latest travel posts HERE.
Being an Arizona native, I grew up going to Vegas. To surprise a few of you, I actually have family in the suburbs of Vegas (along with one of my very best girlfriends!). Las Vegas has a lot of things to do for everyone, and the suburbs of Vegas are actually like a mini Scottsdale.
This trip was full of food and beverage tasting. No complaints here! I’m sharing our full itinerary along with the outfits I wore.
Don’t forget you can shop ALL of my looks by following me HERE on the LikeToKnow.It app!
The Hotel Room
We checked in and headed up to our suite! We stayed on the Palazzo side, but I’ve stayed at the Venetian years ago and the rooms are nearly identical.
I snapped a few photos of our amazing room (and by the way it was INSANELY clean – my number 1 pet peeve is when hotels aren’t flawlessly clean).
Let’s be honest though, a nice hotel is always fun but when you’re in Vegas you likely spend very little time in your room. If you’re planning a trip to Las Vegas but you’re not looking to splurge on your hotel stay, I’ve included a few discount options that are great for finding deals on Las Vegas hotels!
Expedia is a go-to for price-conscious travelers. There are thousands of rooms to choose from starting as low as $23 per night!
Hotels.com is another great resource for booking hotels in Las Vegas. They offer flexible bookings on most hotels and an average of 15% savings on most room nights.
Traveling last minute? Hotwire has cheap Las Vegas hotels for those spur of the moment trips. Save up to 50% on last minute hotel reservations in Vegas.
Friday – Day 1
Jesse (my husband) and I had an early flight and landed in Vegas around 10:30am. We dropped our bags off at the room, and headed straight to the pool!
So many airlines travel to Las Vegas, with flights headed there nearly every hour from Phoenix Sky Harbor. Expedia has great flight deals if you’re looking for an affordable flight into Vegas.
The Venetian’s pool was closed for renovations when we arrived, so we headed to the Palazzo’s pool. The front desk mentioned that they also had a shuttle to the pool at Mandalay Bay. Really nice that they were accommodating their guests!
The Palazzo actually had 3 pools (one large, one medium, and one smaller) plus a hot tub. To my surprise, there was plenty of room to sit! We found a spot right in the front of the small pool which was sunny and totally peaceful.
I loved that for Vegas, the pool was relaxing. I wasn’t ready for a crazy pool party, so it was perfect.
After hanging at the pool for a few hours, Jesse and I headed to our suite to shower and get ready for dinner.
Our friends were due to arrive around 5:30pm, and our dinner reservation was for 7pm at The Factory Kitchen on restaurant row at the Venetian.
Factory Kitchen is an Italian restaurant and it was TO DIE for. First of all, the service was amazing. Our waiter was honest and made solid recommendations. My only regret is not getting the prosciutto starter. I saw it on another table when we were leaving and it looked mouthwatering.
I ordered the Branzino (a white fish), and it was delicious! I ate the entire dish. We share appetizers, and I drank prosecco during dinner. SO good!
After dinner we went to Rosina, which is a casual bar in the Casino at the Palazzo.
Side note – I’ve stayed at a few hotel/casino’s in Vegas, and Palazzo/Venetian WIN for smell. I’m totally headache prone from smoke (I can’t even tell you how awful it is when I stay at other older hotels), and I could hardly smell the smoke at the hotel. I was blown away! They clearly did a good job on the ventilation.
Anyways, Rosina is a casual cocktail lounge and we hung out, had a few drinks at our table and headed back to the room around 12am to sleep. I realize that’s early for Vegas, but my club days are over! Mama needs her sleep (and the beds were SO comfy!!).
Day 2 – Saturday
Saturday was our busiest day! We had lots of fun reservations planned.
10am Breakfast at Chica
I’m not going to lie – this was my favorite meal of the entire trip! The atmosphere at Chica is bomb! Seriously I felt like I was in an underwater fortress. It was beautifully decorated and when we sat down we were greeted by the coolest waitress! She totally knew her stuff and made great recommendations for food.
We wanted to try the baked goods, so she put those in before our breakfast orders, which was awesome, because it gave us time to space out our food. I ordered the avocado toast and it was delish!
You have to go to Chica if you’re in Vegas!! I’ve been talking about it for days already. SO good.
1:30pm Lunch at Blacktap Kitchen
Blacktap is a super casual restaurant that is known for their shakes. Makenna and I were lusting over them when we saw their Yelp! We ordered the Cake and Cookies shakes. Honestly, we could have shared one between the 4 of us.
Our service was really good – we ordered lunch too, which was burgers and fries. Everything was good! Just don’t miss out on the shakes!
Definitely ask to sit outside. The view is stunning! You overlook the gondola rides at the Venetian and the strip, without it being crazy noisy. It was beautiful!
For the first time, I went the infamous Gondola ride at The Venetian! The hotel has two options: Inside or Outside ride. We really wanted to do the outside ride, because we thought it was a beautiful day out and the view was gorgeous!
It was a pretty quick ride, but our rower was super fun and actually had an incredible voice! He went by the name “Peppo Roni” (which we thought was SO cute) and really made the ride a fantastic experience.
Next time I would do the inside ride to see the difference, and have a full view of the hotel by water. Such a fun thing to do while staying in Vegas!
7pm Dinner at Mott 32
Mott 32 is an upscale Chinese food restaurant. To be completely honest, I have hated Chinese food since I was a kid! I’m not sure if it’s because I live in Arizona where good Chinese food is tough to find, or if it’s just not for me. However, we were graciously invited to Mott 32, so I knew I had to try it!
The service was really good. Our waitress kept talking about the pork appetizer. I was pretty against ordering it, but I was out voted by the table. If you know me, I’m not big on pork! Prosciutto is about the only pork I like, however, with that in mind once the appetizer came I was in awe of how good it was!
We also ordered the lobster and a few other dishes that were outstanding! This is absolutely worth the splurge if you’re looking for a higher end restaurant. Not to mention, the atmosphere is incredible!
After dinner we went to Electra for drinks. It’s a super swanky cocktail bar, that also has a huge wall of TV screens. They play games during the day, too (which made our men very happy!).
Day 3 – Sunday
10am Brunch at Bouchon
My girlfriend lives in Vegas and said this was her absolute favorite spot to brunch. She said we had to get the pastries to start, so we did and also ordered the beignets. They were the BEST things I’ve ever had in my life. I’m not even kidding, I would have eaten all 4 that came out if I wasn’t sitting at a table with three other people. They came out warm and weren’t too sweet. My mouth is actually watering thinking about them!
Final Thoughts
We had such an incredible weekend, I can’t recommend The Venetian or Palazzo enough!
Don’t forget you can shop ALL of my looks by following me HERE on the LikeToKnow.It app!
xoxo, Melissa
I see you had really an incredible weekend!
xx from Bavaria/Germany, Rena
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