There a lot of casino-hotels in Las Vegas that go after a local market, shunning (for the most part) the tourist crowd in favor of a regular clientele. Sam's Town is one of the most famous and successful of these places.

Located about 6 miles from The Strip (a 10-20 minute drive depending on traffic) Sam's Town has an old west décor, although for some reason they try to deny it - long story. Anyway, the casino is one of the largest in the world at over 150,000 square feet and second in Las Vegas only to the MGM Grand behemoth. Although you gain a great deal of gaming options you lose a great deal of cohesiveness - it is very easy to get turned around in here.

As with most "locals'"; hotels the crowd here is primarily an older one, so if you're looking for something hip and edgy, you aren't going to find it here.

The casino is adjacent to an indoor park-like area called Mystic Falls with lots of trees, plants, waterfalls, flower beds, streams and a mechanical bird or two. With the large skylight nine stories above it makes a pretty decent reproduction of the great outdoors but as with all the other things that are reproduced in Vegas it isn't as nice as the real thing. At night they have a laser show (Sunset Stampede) that has produced reactions from "pretty neat" to "a total waste of time." Your call.

The rooms are simple but large with high ceilings and rustic furniture. Higher floor rooms will afford you some lovely views of the surrounding mountains or the bustling Strip a few miles away. They have plenty of space to stretch out in and come equipped with just about everything you need in terms of amenities.

There are half a dozen restaurants here plus twice that many bars and nightclubs. Sticking with the old west theme many of the bars play country-western music.

Those in search of a different form of exercise can go bowl a few lines at the 56-lane alley, open 24 hours a day. There's also an 18 screen movie theater complex, a pool, a couple of entertainment/concert venues, and an RV park for those Winnebago types out there.

Prices start at around $50 per night and go up from there. That's not too bad of a bang for your buck for everything that Sam's Town has to offer, but the location of this hotel tends to diminish its appeal.

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