Las Vegas resorts are not nearly as prevalent as Vegas casinos, but offer a widely different type of stay from the hotels on the strip or located downtown. These resorts are more about reflection and getting away from everything, rather than gambling and drinking until sunrise. Although you can certainly do that too. Most Las Vegas resorts are close enough to the strip to accommodate both sides of a Vegas vacation, which explains the increasing popularity of these Las Vegas resort hotels. Because, after all, who wants to gamble all the time? This way you can spread your trip a little longer; you can get a more versatile experience out of your vacation. Even though Sin City is hardly synonymous with relaxation, the Las Vegas resorts, often located in outlying areas of the city, certainly are.

The one that best combines the fun of the strip with the class of a resort is the Red Rock Casino Resort and Spa. Beneath the stellar red cliffs that lend the resort its name, the Red Rock offers all the amenities that our technologically advanced age requires - iPod docking stations, unlimited high-speed WiFi, and giant plasma screens to enjoy the trappings of modern life. When you want to get away, though, the resort and spa are even more amenable. The casino is also the largest of any Las Vegas resort hotels, and also contains the Cherry nightclub, along with a variety of fine restaurants. The Red Rock is amazing in the way it can offer the excitement of the Vegas strip at the same time as a relaxing getaway. It may sound simple, but if it was - why is Red Rock such an anomaly?

The other of the Las Vegas resorts hotels that strives for the same goal is the Green Valley Ranch Resort. A cosmopolitan affair, the Green Valley Ranch includes a European style casino, a Hollywood style beach club with a spa that is reminiscent of a deserted island. With a shopping center next door, the Green Valley Ranch is like a microcosm of Las Vegas, taking a little of everything that makes the city famous and offering in smaller sample sizes.

The Holiday Inn Vacation Club is only minutes away from the strip on foot, so it forgoes even trying when it comes to a casino. Instead, it focuses on the Vegas outdoors, with luminescent pools, exquisite landscaping, whirlpool spas and a fantastically large sauna. More in the style of a Vegas residence, this is one of the Las Vegas resort hotels that attempts more of a getaway-style vacation than one that is quite so Vegas-centric. The Alexis Park Resort is very much the same as Holiday Inn, but aimed more towards business travelers with little interest in gambling. At Alexis Park, there's little but the skyline to remind you that you are in Las Vegas.

The Blue Moon Gay Hotel Resort Las Vegas also eschews a gambling hall of any kind, and prides itself as the first (and only) gay resort in town. A lagoon pool, artificial waterfalls and free barbeque food are just some of the benefits of the Blue Moon.

The Bluegreen Club Las Vegas is the perfect Vegas resort to call it a night after a wild night on the town or an entire day of walking the strip. The Bluegreen Club is stylish and inviting, perfect for any Vegas traveler.