We know that going to Las Vegas during COVID doesn’t sound like a great idea, but was actually very safe. The airport, airplanes, city of Las Vegas, hotels and casinos had a ton of things in place to keep you safe. Weird, but safe. And after being vaccinated we were ready to hit the town!
The Nomad at the Park MGM
I have stayed at The Nomad in NYC, so when it was one of the FREE! options, we jumped on it. It’s a cute boutique hotel within the Park MGM. It’s one of the only smoke free hotels + casinos on the strip. The lobby, bar, casino and elevator are all separate from the Park MGM. The rooms were wonderfully decorated and the pool was awesome. We spend an entire day reading, swimming and relaxing.
Casinos
During the week the casinos were dead! It was so easy to play any machine you wanted. The downside- every other machine was disabled to space people out. We searched out those machines with the double benches so we could cozy up. I won $300 the first day and spent the next 4 days using that as gambling/eating/drinking money.
Restaurants
A lot of restaurants were only open Thursday-Sunday or Friday-Sunday. There weren’t a lot of options (or available reservations) on Tuesday and Wednesday night. Those nights we just ate at smaller, casual places. For some reason I craved cheeseburgers the entire time we were there. Maybe it was the nearly 10 miles we walked on Wednesday. A few weeks before we left we made reservations at our favorite steak place there, Craftsteak in MGM. Always an expensive meal and always worth it.
Friday night it started to look more like the Vegas we remember. I’m old, so I was happy to go to bed full and early and feel great for our Saturday morning flight. My recommendation for people going to Las Vegas during COVID is to make dinner reservations early, pack several masks and enjoy the empty casinos. I’m sure it’ll just continue to get busier and busier as more people get vaccinated and feel comfortable traveling.
