As a photo nut, I’m always on the hunt for the best place that I can find to take an amazing photo from the Strip – short of a helicopter.
This year, I discovered Mix Lounge, atop of THEhotel at Mandalay Bay, 64 floors up.
To get there, head through Mandalay Bay, towards the Mamma Mia theater. Get on the elevator and prepare for your ears to pop as you ascend to on-high. It opens at 5 p.m., and it’s both a lounge and a restaurant. The Web site says there’s a $25 cover on weekends and $20 on weekdays – but when we went on a Wednesday night around 9 p.m., we didn’t pay anything, which was a good thing, because when we got to the top, it was dead. I felt like we were the only people there – okay by me.
You can reserve a table inside, but the draw here is the balcony and the view down the Strip. I hope you’re taller than me, because there is, of course, a glass wall to keep the crazies and the drunks from falling over, but if you can get your camera high enough, you can get one outstanding view of the Strip.
Honestly, I think I would’ve paid the cover charge, if we’d been asked to, just to get these photos, but I’m glad that we got to go up for free.
There are other great views in Vegas, and the runner-up in this category would be the Stratosphere hotel. It’s at the complete other end of the Strip from Mandalay, where the Mix Lounge is, so you can get a photo from either end. Over the years, the view has definitely changed. To go to the top of the Stratosphere, you’ll pay $12.
Third place goes to the Eiffel Tower at Paris Hotel. While you’ll be hard pressed to get a photo of the complete Strip, you’ll get an excellent shot of the Bellagio fountains from above, for around $12.