Mgm Grand Hotel Casino Las Vegas

The Best Hotel I've Ever Stayed In - The Excalibur Hotel In Las Vegas

By far the most fun hotel I've ever stayed in is the Excalibur Hotel (click here) in downtown Las Vegas. A year ago, a good girlfriend of mine and I took our newly-turned-21 year old daughters to Las Vegas to celebrate this milestone of a birthday. My friend made all the arrangements and I couldn't have been more pleased with the hotel she chose... The medieval castle called 'The Excalibur'.

The Excalibur is conveniently located right on Las Vegas Boulevard, the mail drag in town. It sits between the Egyptian pyramid Luxor Hotel, and the transplanted Manhattan skyline of the New York, New York Hotel. Only a block down is the Monte Carlo Hotel, home of famed magician Lance Burton, and directly across the street is the MGM Grand Hotel. The beautiful fountains of the Bellagio Hotel are within walking distance, as is the Eifel Tower of the Paris Hotel.

We stayed in a Standard Room...guest suites are available along with "wide screen rooms" which come with wide screen televisions. Our standard room was very nice... clean, spacious and comfortable. We had a nice view of the Luxor Hotel which really lights up at night. Us moms shared a room while our daughters had one to themselves. My friend and I have reputations for being over-protective mothers, but the security in the Excalibur was top notch and we didn't worry about our girls at all. (Well... maybe a tiny bit...it's a hard habit to break!)

The girls wanted to go 'clubbing' at the Luxor next door. My friend and I were able to contain our paranoid mom feelings and say "Okay, have a great time." One reason we felt good saying this, is that there is a tunnel that connects the Luxor and the Excalibur...it's much safer to take the tunnel than walking out on the street at night. Las Vegas is Las Vegas, after all - Sin City. There is also a tunnel that connects the Excalibur to the New York Hotel. We enjoyed taking the tunnel over there, as it was summer when we went, and it was a balmy 107 degrees outside.

While the girls were clubbing away at the Luxor, my friend and I enjoyed the casino in the Excalibur. The casino was clean and well secured. The bar areas were equally as nice and we were pleased that the prices of the drinks at the bars were not outrageous. All in all, our first night there was very pleasant.

The second night there we chose to see the headline act of the Excalibur...the Tournament of Kings. Imagine traveling back in time to the days of King Arthur and the nights of the round table... well, that's exactly what you'll do when you see the Tournament of Kings. We saw none other than King Arthur himself on horseback, jousting with his arch enemy. We saw the other kings of the realm jousting each other as well. Yes... there were real horses with real Knights and real Lances charging full speed at each other. Warning... if you sit in the bottom few rows, expect to get a little dirt on you! (Just a little though... it's not bad!)

While we enjoyed this magical show, we were served a dinner that could have been on the menu during the medieval ages. We had soup, (delicious) and a cornish game hen & sliced potatoes, cooked to perfection. The only drawback was... there was no silverware! You had to eat with your hands just as the people did back in the day. Luckily I had stashed a plastic knife from an earlier meal into my purse so we were able to cut our hens rather than pull them apart. Some folks say we cheated...well, we're card carrying city girls, what can I say. This had to be one of the most enjoyable shows I have ever seen. The cost for the Tournament of Kings was $68.00 per person, but I think this varies depending on the day. We were there over a weekend. I highly recommend the show no matter where in Vegas you're staying.

The rates for the Excalibur hotel vary greatly depending on the time of year, or the day you stay there. The room rates for the standard rooms range from $33.00 to $146.00 per night. If you go to their website, www.excalibur.com, you can check the rates for all of their rooms for the days you will be visiting.

Another tip I can give you if you're planning on visiting Las Vegas...the bus. There is a bus line that runs up and down Las Vegas Boulevard and stops at all of the major hotels. Rather than walking out in the heat and encountering the not so savory folks that line the streets trying to sell you tickets to VIP rooms, we bought day passes and took the bus up and down the street. We visited the Bellagio and watched the fountain show, we had champagne in the Eifel tower, shopped in Caesar's Palace and saw the pirate ship at Treasure Island. It was a grand weekend which was made all the more pleasurable by our lovely hotel, the Excalibur. Our daughters had a great time, and us paranoid moms survived quite nicely! I can't wait to go back.

References: Personal Experience, and www.excalibur.com