Not all Las Veags Hotels are the same. Before your next trip to Las Veagas, you need to check out our top five picks for 2006.

Our #5  The Luxor

The interior of the pyramid, which was built in 1993, is an architectural wonder. The rows of hotel rooms become smaller as they converge to a point 30 floors up.

As you enter Luxor, 3900 Las Vegas Blvd. South, you'll pass by the talking camels. Head toward the front lobby and up the escalator to Pharaoh's Pavilion.

Upstairs, the resort continues the Egyptian theme with the Tomb and Museum of King Tutankhamen, a full-scale reproduction of Howard Carter's 1922 discovery of King Tut's burial site. An audio tour gives a description of the replicated treasures found in the tomb.

You can learn more about the Carter's discovery by watching the film "Mysteries of Egypt" in the seven-story Imax Theatre. Also showing in the theater is the 3-D "Cyberworld." While the plot is geared more to the under-10 crowd, the 3-D effects will impress showgoers of all ages.

Luxor's Passport to Adventure at $23.95 includes entry to both movies, the museum, the Imax ride-film and a virtual-reality roller coaster.

Luxor offers plenty of activities at night. There's the popular, avant-garde Blue Man Group show, and, for late-night action, the young and beautiful people head to the Ra nightclub.

From the second-floor Pharaoh's Pavilion, head down the escalator near the food court to the casino level. Just past the sports book is the walkway to Mandalay Bay.

 Our #4 The Venetian 

LAS VEGAS -- A $1.5 billion touch of Venice on the site where the Rat Pack once played? Gondolas bobbing in a 586,000-gallon lagoon in the middle of the Nevada desert? Life-size replicas of Italian icons on the Las Vegas Strip? Welcome to Venice, Vegas-style.

Two years after ground was broken, the new Venetian Resort hotel-casino is set to make its debut this week, the latest player in this city's mega-resort mania.

It was at this site in another era that Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop cavorted at the legendary Sands Hotel as the Rat Pack. The Sands is gone now, dropped in a midnight implosion Nov. 26, 1996. In its place is a 3,036-room hotel with an elegance that raises the bar of opulence in this gambling and entertainment capital.

''We've tried to duplicate all the famous landmarks of Venice,'' Venetian owner and chairman Sheldon Adelson says during a recent tour, pointing to replicas of landmarks such as the Doge's Palace and the Rialto Bridge.

 Noting the intricate detail in stately columns, Mr. Adelson says he's spent ''tens of millions of dollars'' in detailed work to set the Venetian apart from most resorts. The ornate statuary was shaped by 250 sculptors, designers and artists working in a plant Mr. Adelson established here.

''It had to be real,'' he says. ''It had to be the right way, or it would not have been Venice.''

Outside, a lagoon with working gondolas sweeps around replicas of the famous landmarks of Italy's most romantic city.

Entering the 35-story hotel there's a domed ceiling 65 feet high, 50 feet in diameter, featuring replicas of artwork found in Venice. A gallery 150 feet long, 40 feet high and 30 feet wide features more artwork amid giant columns of Italian marble.

A richly appointed casino features more murals and paintings.

''We want to pass along the luxury and the decadence of Venetian palaces,'' Mr. Adelson says. ''What we have here is the romance of Venice with the luxury of Beverly Hills and the excitement of Las Vegas. You don't have that anywhere.''

Luxury is the key. While some Las Vegas resorts are aiming at the family market, Venetian isn't one of them.

''This is not a family-oriented resort,'' Mr. Adelson says. ''Our market is the affluent, high-end traveler.''

Room rates will average $167 a night, with lows ranging from $109-$119 off-peak and $239-$289 on peak weekends.

Features in the new property should be a magnet for upscale travelers -- both business and pleasure.

 The hotel houses 15 restaurants with famous culinary names such as Wolfgang Puck, Canaletto, Delmonico, Lutece and Postrio.

The famous Canyon Ranch Spa will operate a 65,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art spa, offering almost 100 spa services. Guests can stay in the special Canyon Ranch wing, with private corridors and elevators leading directly to the spa.

The Grand Canal Shoppes will feature 78 retailers such as Mikimoto, Movado and Chopard in an elegant streetscape setting complete with canals and gondolas, built around a replica of Venice's St. Mark's Square.

The 3,036 rooms are suite-sized, averaging 700 square feet, and include sunken living rooms, bathrooms finished in Italian marble, a fax machine and two 27-inch color televisions.

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