If you walk East along Fremont Street, you’ll find yourself in a chic neighborhood full of some of the coolest bars and restaurants in town. Most of the downtown hotels sit along an area of Fremont Street that is closed to cars, making it a safe and easy place to wander around with a beer or cocktail in hand. The casinos are smaller and thus less overwhelming and the neighborhood is more walk-able.

But if you’re looking to stay somewhere with an understated, “neighborhood casino” vibe, then downtown may be a good choice.

The casinos on the Strip are striking and opulent and definitely worth a visit, especially if this is your first trip to Las Vegas. If you haven’t stayed in downtown Las Vegas before and are looking to experience a different side of Sin City, then explore this list of the best casinos in Downtown Las Vegas. The Golden Nugget and The El Cortez opened in the 1940s and still exist today, for instance, and the Golden Gate Casino, which opened in 1906, is still operating, making it the oldest hotel in all of Las Vegas. Several of the casinos from Fremont Street’s Golden Era still remain. The iconic Fremont Street now has dozens of hip restaurants and bars and even a brand new casino-Circa.

While some of that still exists today, downtown has undergone a major revitalization in recent years. As recently as 10 years ago, the Las Vegas downtown was a rough area littered with bail bonds, boarded-up storefronts and homeless encampments. Then after the southern area of town became more developed, downtown faded into obscurity. Long before the Strip became the massive billion-dollar tourist attraction it is today, there was Fremont Street, a stretch of downtown Las Vegas once clustered with shiny new casinos, bustling restaurants and popular department stores. If you fancy something different from online casinos, then you next best option is to visit Las Vegas.

Las vegas downtown casinos