Hotel Review: Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino – Las Vegas

We arrive at the front desk of the Golden Nugget and  queue for a couple of minutes before being called to the next available attendent.

This lady (whose name escapes us but we think she is called Teri) proceeded to put us through one of the best check-in experiences during our US trip.

She was an absolute delight to deal with showing a genuine interest in where we were from and she gave us all sorts of advice on what to see and do while we were staying in Downtown Las Vages.

The lobby of the Golden Nugget Casino houses the largest gold nugget on display worldwide. It weighs  61lb 11 ounces and is called the “Hand of Faith”. The nugget was found just inches below the surface near Wedderburn in Victoria Australia.

As usual getting to our room required a packed lunch. This hotel is huge so we had to go quite a way to get to the hotel lifts. On the way we pass by the pool area which has as its main attraction a huge aquarium filled with sharks and other smaller fish. We find out later that a 3 storey, clear waterslide travels right through the middle of the tank.

We also pass by a Starbucks, clothing shop, restaurant, some slot machines and a gift shop.

The hotel lifts are separated into two sections, one set of elevators service floors 2 to 9 and further along there is another set of elevators that service floors 9 to 22.  This definitely speeds up the time it takes for the lift to arrive.

Fortunately our room on the 22nd floor (#2281) is quite close to the lift so we don’t have too far to walk.

Our first impressions of the room are positive. This is a big room with nice décor in muted warm earth tonings with flowery curtains and bed coverings, there is also a beautiful aroma in the room that  is very refreshing and welcoming.

We have a double room which has two double beds, a table with two sofa chairs, a TV cabinet with what looks like a 26in (68cm) TV and a desk with a stool. The desk is more of a vanity area where you would put on makeup rather than sit and work at your laptop as the internet cable is actually over on the table. This makes working at a computer a little less than comfortable since the table has low sofa seats so we found ourselves sitting a little low in the chairs to make it the ideal for computer work.

The beds in the room are quite comfortable with a padded mattress and clean, fresh linen. Each bed has two pillows.

There is plenty of storage areas in the room with four drawers in the TV cabinet and a closed wardrobe with hanging space near the bathroom.

Lighting is okay although as with the majority of hotels we have stayed at in the US there are no ceiling lights but instead a series of lamps scattered around the room.

The view from our room includes the mountains, buildings and various carparks. As with most Las Vegas views it is usually better at night when the lights turn on and this one is no exception. We aren’t talking The Strip here but even so we enjoy the night view of casino lights from our room.

The bathroom is a reasonable size and has one hand basin, the toilet and a bathtub with shower. The toiletries include shampoo, conditioner, lotion and two bars of soap. There are plenty of towels although we found them to be a little worn and rough. I think they should consider replacing their towel collection.

The wardrobe contained two cottonweave bathrobes which neither of us used, and these are available for purchase. We noticed a lot of people wore these down to the pool area.

The closet also contains a hair dryer, two fold up luggage holders, an iron and ironing board.

The room has a safe but it is very small. We could only fit our passports and cameras in it. It is way too small to fit a laptop.

One fault we found with the room was the air conditioner/heater which was very noisy. We had to turn it off at night so that we could get to sleep. Howeve  the air con  unit in the next room was so loud that we could hear it churning away day and night.

And speaking of noise, we could also hear noise from the street even though we were on the 22nd floor. It wasn’t constant however and it was mainly police sirens, cars beeping horns or cars revving their engines loudly.

Another fault was the lack of a coffee maker in the room.  This was the same problem we had at Caesars Palace.

The room has a wired internet connection which cost $12.99 for 24 hours. We found the connection to be reasonably fast and stable.

Overall we enjoyed our stay and found it good value for money. If you are looking for entertaiment on The Strip then we advise you to stay away from this end of town as you are at least a $20 cab drive away and there is no way you would want to walk it. You can get on The Deuce bus which will take you up to The Strip for $2.50 or if you pay $5 you can get an all day pass. However, there is plenty to keep you entertained without the need to go to the Strip.

If you are on a budget we would recommend the buffet over at The Plaza Hotel and Casino.

Our Rating of the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino:

Checking in and out 4.5/5
Room 4/5
Position 5/5 (For Downtown location – right on Fremont St)
Price 4/5
Cleanliness 4/5

Booking this hotel is easy through: Expedia.com!