What Caesars Palace is
Caesars Palace opened in August 1966, which makes it the oldest major resort on the Strip still trading under its original name. It has been added to almost continuously since: six hotel towers with roughly 3,900 rooms, the Forum Shops mall, the 4,300-seat Colosseum, the Garden of the Gods pool complex, a convention centre and a casino floor that sprawls across several levels and decades of design. The Roman theme is played straight, from the fountains and statuary out front to the toga-clad cocktail servers and the marble everywhere.
It sits on the northwest corner of the Four Corners at Flamingo Road, directly across from Bellagio and Paris, which makes it as central as any hotel in Las Vegas. Caesars Entertainment owns and operates it as the flagship of its Strip portfolio, and Caesars Rewards is the loyalty programme that ties it to the Flamingo, LINQ, Paris and the rest of the east side.
Free: the Forum Shops and the forecourt
The Forum Shops at Caesars, opened in 1992 and expanded twice since, is the mall that invented the Strip shopping-as-attraction formula. Beneath a painted sky ceiling that cycles from dawn to dusk every hour are 160 stores, from Louis Vuitton to Apple, a spiral escalator that is one of very few in the country, and a replica Trevi Fountain. The Fall of Atlantis animatronic show at the far end fires every hour with fire, water and a nine-foot winged beast, and it is free; so is the 50,000-gallon saltwater aquarium beside it, with free feeding talks in the afternoon.
Outside, the forecourt fountains and the statue of Caesar Augustus are the classic photo spots. The Spanish Steps entrance from the boulevard leads to a moving walkway that carries you up into the casino, itself an odd but pleasant piece of 1990s Vegas. Walk-throughs are free and unhurried; the property is open 24 hours.
The Colosseum and the shows
The Colosseum was built in 2003 for Celine Dion's residency and has since hosted Elton John, Rod Stewart, Adele, Garth Brooks and a rolling series of major residencies; check the official site for who is in the room during your dates. Tickets typically run $100 to $500-plus. The room was renovated in 2019 with better seating and sound, and there are no bad sightlines. In the forecourt, the Absinthe tent has hosted the raunchy acrobatic variety show of the same name since 2011; it is one of the most consistently recommended shows on the Strip for adults, roughly $100 to $200 as of 2026.
The Caesars Palace Race and Sports Book is among the largest and best-appointed on the Strip and a good place to spend a Sunday in autumn even if you do not bet. For everything else playing on this corner, see the shows and nightlife hub.
Dining highlights
The Bacchanal Buffet is, by consensus, the best buffet in Las Vegas: 250-plus dishes across nine kitchens, roughly $65 to $90 per person as of 2026 depending on day and meal, with long waits at peak; reserve online or pay for the front-of-line option. Upstairs, Restaurant Guy Savoy is the only US outpost of the Paris three-star and priced accordingly ($300-plus). Nobu, attached to the Nobu Hotel tower, is the original Strip location. Gordon Ramsay Hell's Kitchen in the forecourt is theatrical, reliable and popular enough to need a reservation weeks out. Peter Luger opened here in 2023 as the Brooklyn steakhouse's first US location outside New York.
In the Forum Shops, Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab, Carmine's and the Cheesecake Factory cover the mid-range, and the Vanderpump Cocktail Garden off the casino floor is a photogenic place for a drink. The dining hub has the full rankings.
The Garden of the Gods pools
Caesars has seven pools across a five-acre complex called the Garden of the Gods, each with its own character. The Temple Pool is the centrepiece with its Roman colonnade; the Neptune Pool is the biggest; the Venus Pool is adults-only and European-style (topless permitted); the Apollo Pool is quieter; the Fortuna Pool has swim-up blackjack; the Bacchus Pool is guests-only and calmer; and the Jupiter Pool serves the Nobu and Octavius towers. Cabanas run from a couple of hundred dollars on weekdays to well over $1,000 on summer weekends.
Pools are for registered guests, with an ID and wristband policy enforced, and typically open from early morning until early evening from spring to autumn; hours shorten in winter and some pools close. There is no dayclub on site, which some people see as a plus. Families do well here because there is enough variety, though the complex is a maze the first time.
Rooms and who should stay here
Six towers, six experiences. The Augustus and Octavius towers are the most modern and closest to the pools; Palace Tower was renovated in 2021 and is the best-value quality option; the Julius Tower (the original) was refreshed in 2016 and is cheapest; the Forum Tower is close to the shops; and the Nobu Hotel is a boutique-within-a-resort with Japanese-influenced design and in-room Nobu service. Ask which tower you are assigned; the walk to the casino from Octavius can be ten minutes.
Rates as of 2026 run roughly $150 to $400 midweek and higher at weekends, plus a resort fee of about $50 plus tax. Caesars suits people who want the centre of the Strip with more variety and slightly softer pricing than Bellagio, residency ticket-holders, buffet fans, pool people and families who want space. It suits fewer people who hate walking inside a hotel, because it is enormous and confusingly laid out. The hotels hub has comparisons with its neighbours.
Parking, fees and getting there
Self-parking is in the garage off Frank Sinatra Drive on the west side, reached from the Strip via the Forum Shops entrance or from I-15. Caesars charges non-guests and most guests a daily self-park fee, roughly $18 to $25 as of 2026, with exemptions for Caesars Rewards Platinum and above and for Nevada residents; valet is available at multiple entrances. Confirm the current policy on the Caesars site.
The Flamingo/Caesars monorail station is across the boulevard behind the Flamingo, about a 12-minute walk via the bridge. From LAS, a rideshare takes 15 to 20 minutes and costs $20 to $30; the rideshare pick-up is at the north valet. On foot, Bellagio is ten minutes over the Flamingo Road bridge, the Cosmopolitan 15, the Venetian 15 to 20 past the Hard Rock construction site, and the LINQ Promenade 10 across the boulevard. The Center Strip page maps the rest.