Location. The Vdara is in such a great location for the Vegas strip. The building is connected to The Belagio, The Aria, with a tram that connects to two more hotels, that puts you across the street from New York, NY. And the Cosmopolitan sits right next door also. I mean, you really don't need much else.
If you are planning on cooking meals in the kitchen, be aware that these kitchens are more like kitchenettes. A two-burner range top, and a microwave oven that doubles as a convection oven, is what you get. And keep in mind that unless you request the cooking amenities, the kitchen is completely bare. All drawers and cabinets are completely empty. We ordered the cookware at check in because we wanted to eat breakfast in and who knows what else. What they bring is minimal and worked for simple meals, but that would be about it. If you are staying a couple of nights and plan to eat out for every meal, you will not be affected by this. The refrigerator is a small kitchenette style fridge. It is not a full sized fridge. This, to me, seemed odd because this building is top notch in almost every way. Seems like they skimped on the fridge.
Also, no coffee maker. Wow. Now, I realize the Vdara is protecting us all from Covid 19, (Thank you Vdara!) and so therefore a coffee maker inside the condo is clearly a hazard. But I still would have taken the risk with Covid and morning coffee. Instead, we got our morning coffee from the cafe in the lobby, which certainly worked fine.
The building's lobby has a Starbucks and the cafe, so that is very handy. Now, inexplicably, the Starbucks closes sometime around mid day and was never open in the afternoon or evening when I sometimes take a break. Thank goodness the cafe was always open. We never drank at the lobby bar but a lot of people sure did. Nice vibe.
The View. Jonathan's unit here is on the 18th floor, which is high enough to offer a great view from a wall of windows. (The electric shades were cool to operate.) And even though his unit is on the back side, the way the building angles circularly, you actually do view the Strip. The Paris Hotel with Eiffel Tower, etc. And at night, we enjoyed watching Belagio's dancing waters. It is not a full view of the waters, but when they shoot up high, you can see every bit of those moments. Really nice. On a side note, the sun's rays never stream directly into the windows. The sun crosses the sky opposite of the windows, so you get all the great light, but without dealing with the heat of the direct sun.
We did not bring a car. Uber took care of us for longer ventures. The bathroom was well stocked and roomy, with good towels.
The decision of whether to stay in a nice casino or not, was not an easy one. In retrospect, we found that retiring at the end of the night to the classy Vdara versus a noisy casino, was the right call, and we would do it again. This is a five Star stay in my book. Come and enjoy.