What Aria is
Aria opened in December 2009 as the centrepiece of CityCenter, the $8.5 billion, 67-acre complex MGM Resorts built with Dubai World on the west side of the boulevard between Harmon Avenue and the Cosmopolitan. It has about 4,000 rooms in two curved glass towers designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli, a 150,000-square-foot casino, the Shops at Crystals mall next door, and the Vdara hotel and Waldorf Astoria as neighbours within the same complex. It was the first Strip resort built without a theme, and it still looks like the future the Strip briefly imagined for itself before the 2008 crash.
Aria sits at the southern edge of the Center Strip, set back from the boulevard behind Crystals and a long driveway, which is both its appeal (quiet, no Strip-front noise) and its drawback (you cannot see it from the sidewalk and it takes a few minutes to reach the street).
Free: the art collection and the architecture
CityCenter houses one of the largest corporate art collections in the country and most of it is in public spaces. Highlights, all free to see with a self-guided map from the concierge: Maya Lin's 84-foot cast-silver Colorado River suspended above the Aria registration desk; Jenny Holzer's LED wall in the north valet; Henry Moore's Reclining Connected Forms between Aria and Crystals; Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen's giant Typewriter Eraser; Nancy Rubins' boat sculpture outside Vdara; and Richard Long's Earth mural in the lobby.
Crystals itself, designed by Daniel Libeskind with a Studio Libeskind interior, is worth a walk for the angular ceilings, the treehouse-like pods and the vortex water feature, even if the shops (Louis Vuitton, Prada, Tiffany) are not in your budget. Outside, the fountain at Aria's porte-cochère runs a modest water show, and the Waldorf Astoria's 23rd-floor SkyBar is a free-to-enter place to see the Strip from above if you buy a drink.
Attractions inside
The Aria Resort & Casino theatre hosted Zarkana and then other Cirque productions; check the official site for what is playing in your dates, as the theatre has had rotating tenants. The Aria Spa has a Japanese ganbanyoku heated-stone bed room and salt room and is one of the better spas on the Strip for a day pass. Jewel Nightclub operates on weekend nights. The casino's poker room is a serious mid-to-high-stakes room that hosts big cash games.
The Sky Suites are Aria's hotel-within-a-hotel, with a private entrance, lounge and pool, and they are the reason many high-end regulars pick Aria over Bellagio. For the wider list of shows and clubs reachable from here, see shows and nightlife.
Dining highlights
Aria and the surrounding complex have some of the most-booked restaurants in Las Vegas. Carbone, the New York Italian-American, is the hardest table on the Strip and about $150 to $250 a head. Catch does the sushi-and-scene thing. Bardot Brasserie by Michael Mina is the most reliable French bistro on the Strip and does a superb weekend brunch. Jean Georges Steakhouse, Din Tai Fung (the Taiwanese dumpling chain, with waits of an hour or more at peak), Javier's (Mexican), Julian Serrano Tapas and Blossom (Chinese) round out the range.
Next door at Crystals: Mastro's Ocean Club in the treehouse pod, Wolfgang Puck's pizza and pasta, and Eataly a short walk south at Park MGM for a casual meal. The Aria Café and Patisserie handle breakfast. Rankings and price bands are in the dining hub.
Pools, casino and the vibe
Aria has three main pools on a 215,000-square-foot deck on the second floor, plus the adults-only Liquid Pool Lounge dayclub on weekends and the private Sky Pool for suite guests. The layout is contemporary, with lots of cabanas and daybeds, and the trees have matured enough to give real shade. Pools are guests-only with ID checks, open from early spring to autumn with reduced winter hours. The Liquid cover charge runs roughly $30 to $60 as of 2026.
The casino has the highest ceilings and the best natural light on the Strip: the design brief was to let you know what time of day it is, which no other casino does. Table minimums are moderate-to-high, $15 to $50 depending on the hour. The sportsbook is small. The vibe is sleek, grown-up and convention-tinged, with a younger, better-dressed weekend crowd than the older MGM properties and less scene than the Cosmopolitan.
Rooms and who should stay here
Standard rooms are about 520 square feet with floor-to-ceiling windows, a tablet that controls lights, curtains and temperature, and automatic curtains that open when you enter. They were refreshed in 2021 and 2022 and hold up. Strip-view rooms face east toward the Cosmopolitan and Planet Hollywood; mountain-view rooms face west and are cheaper and quieter. Rates as of 2026 run roughly $200 to $400 midweek and $300 to $650-plus at weekends, plus a resort fee of about $50 plus tax; check the official site.
Aria suits people who dislike themed resorts, business travellers, foodies (the restaurants are among the best), design-minded couples and anyone who wants Center Strip access with a quieter base. It suits fewer families (the pool is adult-leaning and there is no arcade or coaster), fewer budget travellers and fewer people who want to be visibly in the middle of the action. See the hotels hub for comparisons with Vdara, the Waldorf and the Cosmopolitan.
Parking, fees and getting there
Self-parking is in the garage on the west side, accessed from Harmon Avenue or Frank Sinatra Drive. MGM Resorts charges non-guests and most guests a daily fee, roughly $18 to $25 as of 2026, waived for higher MGM Rewards tiers and Nevada residents; valet is more. Check the MGM parking page for the current rate.
The free Aria Express tram runs between Park MGM, Aria (the station is on the Crystals side) and Bellagio roughly from morning until late night, making Bellagio ten minutes away without stepping outside. The nearest monorail stop is Bally's/Paris, a 15-minute walk across the Harmon bridge. From LAS, a rideshare takes 15 to 20 minutes and costs $20 to $30; pick-up is at the north valet. On foot, the Cosmopolitan is 5 to 10 minutes via Crystals, Park MGM 10 minutes south, Planet Hollywood 10 minutes over the Harmon bridge. The transportation hub has the rest.