Located about a mile south of Mandalay Bay near the Las Vegas Premium Outlets South, Town Square has become a favorite for locals and visitors alike. In fact it was recently chosen by the Las Vegas Review Journal editors as the Best Mall in Las Vegas.

The thing that really sets Town Square apart from other malls in town is its design. Done like small-town America, there are roads with street side parking and wide sidewalks that crisscross the massive development. Stores are located in buildings designed to evoke Main Street USA, but not in a Disneyland kind of way. Instead, it has a sun-splashed California kind of ethos - you'd imagine this is what Santa Barbara wishes it could look like.

At the center of the complex is, appropriately enough, a big town square - a park with a pavilion, a picnic area, live entertainment, and a children's playground complete with a tree house, a hedge maze, and a theater. Lush landscaping and park benches are scattered throughout the entire facility, and overhead is a real live actual sky instead of the fake ones inside the other themed malls in town. Granted, that means that during the insanely hot summer, shopping in the great outdoors might not be the most enjoyable thing in the world, but they have lots of shade, misters, and covered walkways that could make it a little less heatstroke inducing.

At the core of it all are a series of stores, restaurants, and entertainment that may not break the mall mold but are, at least, dependable. Stores include name brands like H&M, Borders, Abercrombie & Fitch, Crabtree & Evelyn, Banana Republic, Juicy Couture, Ann Taylor, Mac Cosmetics, Sephora, and Tommy Bahama among others. And of course because it's a mall and apparently it's a law, there is a Gap and a Victoria's Secret.

Restaurants include California Pizza Kitchen, Claim Jumper, and Yard House along with some interesting originals. There's even a Whole Foods Market if the rich Vegas food is getting to you.

The major entertainment facility is an 18-screen Rave Entertainment movie theater complex complete with stadium seating, digital projection, and digital sound.

The only downsides here are the aforementioned potential for heatstroke and the parking/traffic situation. Getting in and out of the place can be a challenge and once you're there the free parking lots that surround the complex require a bit of a hike to get where you're going, especially if you have a specific destination in the middle of the place. You can try to find one of the interior street parking spots but they are precious and require you to feed meters.

Since it's close to the Strip, the bus or a taxi are fine options for transportation if you don't have your own car at your disposal.

This strikes me as a great place to get away from the Vegas hustle and bustle - stroll the tree lined streets, listen to a band in the park, and get some shopping under your belt all at the same time.