Flamingo Casino Las Vegas
“Where the strip began,” goes the motto of the Flamingo Hotel and Casino. For a fun and affordable Sin City vacation, you may want your trip to begin here.
You’ll often find the Flamingo to be near the lowest priced Vegas Strip hotels, when searching third party sites like Travelocity, Hotels.com, Expedia, etc. (This article may include affiliate links for which we may receive a commission).
Of course, the base price does not include the nightly resort fee, which is tacked on at the Flamingo, and just about every other casino on the Las Vegas Strip. And this fee can bump up the nightly total hotel room cost significantly. In some cases (on slower nights), the resort fee can actually be higher than the hotel room fee.
Flamingo Hotel & Casino Resort Nightly Resort Fee
The base resort fee at the Flamingo Hotel & Casino is $39.95 before tax. With the Las Vegas sales tax rate of 13.38%, the total Flamingo resort fee is $45.29.
The nightly resort fee gets you the following:
- High speed wifi for two devices per day
- Access to the fitness center
- Local calls
The Flamingo wasn’t the first casino on the Las Vegas Strip – actually it was the third, (the last remaining portion of the old, original hotel was torn down in 1993. Yet the Flamingo remains the oldest strip casino still standing. I love this hotel and casino. Sure it’s a little pinkish, but it’s got a lot going for it: reasonably-priced rooms, one of the best swimming pools in Las Vegas, a variety of games, affordable eats, clean updated rooms, and a perfect center-strip location that puts you in the heart of the action. Plus it always smells nice.
(Go here for more details on the Flamingo Swimming Pool).
With 28 floors, the Flamingo has over 3,600 hotel rooms. Its exterior is defined by its pink hues, and pink lights, and the much photographed signature sign – the large rising feathers in flashy neon lights that have become one of the symbols of glitzy Las Vegas.
As for the hotel: the well-appointed Go Rooms are unlike any room you’ve visited. They look like they were designed by a classier version of Austin Powers, with a hip retro 50 or 60’s vibe. They’ve installed a TV screen that’s implanted into the bathroom mirror, for those of you who don’t want to miss a second of while washing your hands.
Other rooms are called the “Fab Luxury Rooms.” These 350 square feet are sleek and chic with touches of pink. They come with Las Vegas-themed art on the walls. Some have views of the strip and of the fountains at Caesar’s Palace across the street. The Flamingo’s website says staying in these rooms will make you “feel forever fabulous.”
As for parking, The Flamingo’s parking garage is a seven-story structure on the east side of the resort. There is a fee to park there, even for hotel guests.
Flamingo Casino
The Flamingo’s 77,000 square foot casino floor is fun and easy-to-navigate. And like I said earlier, it just smells nice inside. I don’t know what scent they’re pumping in, but it works.
Over one thousand, six-hundred slots are spread out over the gaming floor and your options include all the popular favorites, like Wheel of Fortune (my favorite), quirky video slots based on old TV shows, along with the more traditional slots like the Blazing 7’s.
In addition to Megabucks, there is a nice selection of other progressive slots, for those of you shooting for the home run of slot machine payoffs. Heck, they even have two cent machines with progressives. There are also tons of video poker machines, both separate aisles and at casino bars.
The Flamingo’s one hundred and thirty table games compete with their slot cousins for your attention. You’ll find craps, blackjack, Let It Ride, Caribbean Stud, Roulette, (and that Rapid Roulette game), Pai Gow, Three Card Poker and the increasingly popular mini-baccarat.
With numerous huge TV screens and two large projection screens, the Flamingo’s Race and Sports Book is a cozy way to watch and wager on a game. It’s not a ten-seat afterthought, like at some casinos, but it’s not an intimidating, huge NASA command center either, like you see at some strip casinos.
Sadly, the fun little Flamingo Poker room closed in November 2021. Back in the day, it was home to some of the biggest games in town. Poker legends like Stu Unger, Doyle Brunson and Chip Reece used to sling high-denomination chips here.
Because it’s part of Caesars Entertainment, you can use your Caesars Rewards card here while playing to earn comps.
Other features of the main Flamingo hotel included the requisite spa, convention space, and nine different bars. Note that there’s not a super hip trendy nightclub at the Flamingo, in case you’re into that thing.
One of the best things about the Flamingo is that you get a lot of bang for your back. You won’t be paying MGM Grand prices, nor will you be walking the incredibly long distances a stay at the MGM requires. At the Flamingo, the Caesar Palace Forum Shops are literally right out your front door. Sights like the Mirage volcano and Bellagio fountains are just steps away.
The unremarkable lineup of restaurants at the Flamingo include the Paradise Garden Buffet and the touristy bar you’ll find at every cruise ship bar: Carlos’ n Charlies’.
For being the third casino on the Las Vegas Strip, the Flamingo had held up nicely. It’s been renovated, rebuilt and has changed with the times. It’s clean and comfy, cheap, close to everything and one of my places to stay (and play) in Las Vegas.
Flamingo Hotel & Casino Las Vegas Phone Number, Address & Website
3555 S Las Vegas Blvd
Las Vegas, NV 89109
Phone number: (702) 733-3111
Website: Caesars.com/Flamingo
Margaritaville Casino & Restaurant at the Flamingo Las Vegas
In 2011 the Flamingo opened the separate (but attached via a walkway) Margaritaville casino under its roof. The 15,000 square feet of gaming space came complete with 220 slot machines, 22 table games and the appropriately-named, 5 O’clock Somewhere Bar. The unique Margaritaville $5 chip logo was the perfect souvenir for people like me who are both chip collectors and Jimmy Buffet fans.
In 2018, the area was de-themed from the Margaritaville theme into a more generic Flamingo theme, while the 5 O’clock Somewhere Bar was renamed the Bird bar.
However Jimmy Buffets’ wildly popular, strip-fronting Margaritaville Restaurant (which opened in 2003), remains open on the Flamingos extreme northwest corner.
By Steve Beauregard. Photos courtesy of Caesars Entertainment, flattop341 and Ken Lund via Flickr.