Casino el cortez las vegas

On Fremont Street, in Las Vegas' older downtown section, El Cortez Hotel and Casino is just east of the densely arranged, small-scale hotel-casinos. Guests are minutes by foot from the Golden Nugget, Binion's, and the Fremont. With the exception of the Nugget, which has spent years undergoing renovations, El Cortez's neighbors generally look like the weather-beaten 20th-century relics they are. In the hotel's most immediate environs lie high-rise condos, Las Vegas' burlesque museum, a supermarket, a pool hall and live-music venue, and a modern American restaurant and bar.

Known as "Glitter Gulch" or "Old Vegas" -- where the city first started to develop its hotel-casinos back in -- downtown Vegas consists of about 15 smaller-scale hotels and casinos on the westernmost four blocks (about a half-mile) of Fremont Street Experience, an area closed to vehicular traffic and lined with mobile stands selling T-shirts, caricatures, jewelry, and other touristy gewgaws.

Though typically cheaper, the hotel-casinos here -- save the famed Golden Nugget -- are a bit less wild and exciting than the dazzling stretch of newer giants along the Strip (about two-and-a-half miles south of downtown). The area is quieter, the average visitor tends to be closer to retiree-age than clubber-age, and the main draws tend to be low-minimum tables, nickel slots, and cheap eats.

But there is a kitschy charm to these brightly lit streets. You can spot the neon cowboy, Vegas Vic, waving howdy from over a gift shop. And anyone visiting Vegas shouldn't miss downtown's nightly music, light, and video show cast over the evening skyline, the Fremont Street Experience.

• One block from the nightly musical lightshow, the Fremont Street Experience
• One-minute walk to Downtown Container Park
• Nine-minute walk to the Mob Museum
• minute drive to McCarran International Airport
• minute drive to the casinos, performances, incredible restaurants, nightclubs, and designer shopping on the Strip
• minute drive to the Las Vegas Convention Center
• minute drive to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area