Dates of Stay: December 17 to December 20, 2010

First let me say, the Vdara has NO gaming. It's strictly a hotel. If you really need action, just walk across their driveway into the Aria. Alternately, take their sky walk to the Bellagio. There are plenty of options for you gamblers. As a non-gaming hotel you can't smoke inside. Sorry smokers. However for us non-smokers that's a great feature. Your rooms don't have cigarette burns anywhere and you don't have any residual smoke scent in the bed sheets.

The rooms are suites and they're incredible. You walk through a small kitchenette area that has a sink, table that seats, mini fridge and microwave. There's a "living room" that has a big flat screen TV and desk that separate it from the bedroom. There's no solid wall though so it's basically one giant open space.

The bed was so soft and comfortable I almost fell asleep the minute I laid down. You cannot get a bad night's rest here. Anyone who can't sleep with light leaking through the blinds (Attention Marriott) can simply hit the button on the wall for blackout curtains to automatically roll down.

The bathroom is even better. With a giant shower and small bench built in you don't feel cramped at all. No issues with shower curtains, it's all glass. Feel like that's enough? The bathtub is enormous. A PERFECT hotel for a romantic getaway.

The workout center is one of the best I've ever seen. Small bottles of water and towels are provided free of charge. The wall is lined with treadmills that have TV's in them. There's also a free weight area and plenty of the standard weightlifting machines. The staff is very friendly and when we worked out at 9am we saw a few kids jogging on the treadmill next to their parents.

We did not eat at the Silk Road restaurant or have a drink at the Bar Vdara, sorry I can't review that. My only gripe is that we didn't know there was a walkway to the Bellagio. We had been walking down the driveway and alongside the road to get to the Strip. No one told us when we checked in the easiest / fastest / safest ways to get to the main road. There's no sidewalk along the road and traffic comes through there as that's the entrance for the Cosmopolitan, Aria, and Vdara.

Aside from the fact we didn't immediately figure out how to get out, the Vdara is an amazing experience. We would go back in a heartbeat.

We had a flight out of Vegas on Monday morning at 1am and we checked out of the hotel on Sunday afternoon at noon. You can do an extended leave but it costs $30 or $40 and you only get an extra 3 hours. They do however allow you to leave your bags with their storage. Just remember to tip the bellhop, they work incredibly hard.