While Vegas isn’t really known for its yuletide cheer (we blame the palm trees), travelers do come near and far to preview the New Year festivities, sip Irish coffee next to the five-star Christmas trees, shop, and get away from northern winters.
From mid December through early January, the Cosmopolitan offers affordable all-day ice skating on its fourth-floor outdoor pool. On Monday nights, they show holiday movies. And they regularly serve holiday-themed cocktails and s’mores to those willing to pay.
Like Thanksgiving, many restaurants offer Christmas Day buffets and Christmas Eve dinners, most of which serve holiday classics by Michelin-starred chefs.
Free Things to Do in December
Virtually all hotels, casinos, restaurants, and bars decorate for Christmas, but perhaps none so famously as the Bellagio. Its conservatory offers year-round gardens carefully plotted by internationally renowned landscape architects and artists, but few compare to the hotel’s all-out holiday display, which, in 2015, featured a 28,000 poinsettias, 12,000 carnations, 7,000 lights, 2,500 ornaments, and a partridge in a 40-foot-plus tree.
Step outside the Lake Como-inspired resort and gander at its world famous fountains, which dance to holiday tunes ranging from old-world nativity hymns to Andy Williams’ “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” to Handel’s “Hallelujah” chorus from his Messiah.
