Wynn Las Vegas

Wynn Las Vegas remains the benchmark for how good a Strip mega-resort can be. The bronze curve of its tower hides an interior of parasols, mosaics and fresh flowers replaced with horticultural obsession—the carousel and hot-air-balloon floral sculptures in the atria have become attractions in themselves. Amid Vegas's churn, the standard of upkeep here borders on fanatical.

Rooms at the Wynn and adjoining Encore tower are among the Strip's largest standard keys, with floor-to-ceiling windows over the Strip or the resort's own golf course—an almost surreal luxury of space in this zip code. Service runs closer to a classic five-star hotel than a casino operation, and the casino itself, though central, never overwhelms the resort's other lives.

Those lives are considerable: a murderers' row of fine dining from lakeside Italian to celebrated Japanese omakase, cabana-lined pools including a European-style adults' deck, a vast spa, and the only golf course directly attached to a Strip resort. Add headline shows and nightclubs and it is Vegas complete—for maximalists and sceptics alike.