Holiday decor has blanketed the Las Vegas Strip, providing a warm and festive feel in the desert.
Walking through the resort corridor showcases the spirit of the holidays with glitter lights, oversized ornaments and a two–story-tall faux gingerbread house.
For years, my wife and I have gone down to see the annual holiday display at the Bellagio's Conservatory & Botanical Gardens, but this year we expanded to view the highlights of the free public area displays.
Our 10-mile round trip walk started at Resorts World Las Vegas, which offers free parking. From there, we made our way through Wynn, Palazzo, the LINQ, Caesars Forum Shops, Bellagio, The Cosmopolitan, The Shops at Crystals and, finally, ARIA. For a shorter excursion, start at the Bellagio and make your way south on Las Vegas Boulevard.
Either way, you’ll be stepping into magical environments that put the talent of everyone from pastry chefs to local horticulturists on full display. It’s a moment to appreciate the artistry all around us.
If you can't make it in person, here's a virtual look at our walking tour:
In the common area near the 50-foot mirrored sphere at Resorts World Las Vegas is a holiday display of lighted white trees with beads of lights hanging from the ceiling. (Jeff Scheid/The Nevada Independent)The Atrium at Wynn Las Vegas includes six miniature wintry villages inspired by the novel "Gulliver's Travels." (Jeff Scheid/The Nevada Independent)The Palazzo Waterfall Atrium and Gardens includes giant pine cones and fresh poinsettias. (Jeff Scheid/The Nevada Independent)Oversized ornaments decorate a holiday tree inside the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace. (Jeff Scheid/The Nevada Independent)The centerpiece of the Bellagio's Conservatory & Botanical Gardens holiday display — called "Gingerbread Dreams, a Holiday Confection" — is the 42-foot, fresh-cut white fir tree from Mount Shasta, California. The tree is decorated with 10,000 lights and 8,700 red, gold, silver and white ornaments. (Jeff Scheid/The Nevada Independent)The Bellagio's Conservatory & Botanical Gardens holiday display —called "Gingerbread Dreams, a Holiday Confection" — features three giant eggs with a 5-foot gingerbread house inside one of them. (Jeff Scheid/The Nevada Independent)The Bellagio's Conservatory & Botanical Gardens holiday display — called "Gingerbread Dreams, a Holiday Confection" — features a gingerbread-style cottage decorated with faux holiday sweets and a billowing chimney. (Jeff Scheid/The Nevada Independent)The lobby of The Cosmopolitan features a winter-themed digital art display. (Jeff Scheid/The Nevada Independent)The Swarovski Crystal Holiday 55-foot tree on display at the Shops at Crystals has 5,000 Swarovski Crystal ornaments and 100,000 LED lights. (Jeff Scheid/The Nevada Independent)The lobby of the ARIA Resort and Casino showcases "The North Star," a 28-foot star display. The display is a collaboration among local artists and wedding planner Andres Eppolito and handcrafted by ARIA pastry chefs. (Jeff Scheid/The Nevada Independent)The "North Star" display beside the ARIA Patisserie at ARIA Resort and Casino took a team of six pastry chefs two months to create. The display uses 2,000 pounds of sugar and 90 pounds of rolled fondant. (Jeff Scheid/The Nevada Independent)
