McCarran International Airport (LAS): Approximate driving time is 12 minutes and distance is 4.5 miles.

Driving directions from McCarran International Airport: Exit the airport via Swenson St, then turn left on E Tropicana Ave. Follow Tropicana about 3 miles to the hotel.

Getting there: The best option from the airpot is a taxi ($5–$15; fees subject to change without notice), or a rental car.

Getting around: The hotel offers complimentary shuttle service to the Gold Coast Hotel/Casino and to the Barbary Coast Hotel/Casino on the Strip. Once on the Strip, guests have a number of convenient options for getting around: on foot, by taxi, or via buses and shuttles (less than $5; fees subject to change without notice). For destinations outside the Strip, a rental car is the best option.

Prime Rib Loft - This restaurant serves four styles of aged prime rib and New Orleans-style jambalaya pasta.

Koji - A long sushi bar and Japanese and Chinese cuisines are the attractions here.

Don Miguel's - This Mexican restaurant includes a margarita bar and features dishes such as red snapper flavored with cascabel-pepper sauce.

Big Al's Oyster Bar - Diners at this casual spot choose from among freshly shucked oysters and clams, pan-roasted oysters, and steamed clams and mussels.

Brendan's Irish Pub - The food focus in this large bar of dark woods and 17 plasma television screens is on fish and chips and other pub food. Brendan's also features 16 Irish and British beers on tap and jazz or blues nightly.

French Market Buffet - Breakfast, lunch, and dinner buffets featuring seven cooking stations including barbecue, Italian, and Mexican are served here daily. Seafood is featured Monday nights and steak Wednesday nights. Sundays features a brunch menu.

Canal Street - An elegant fireplace greets diners at this restaurant, which serves steaks, prime rib, and other items from the broiler.

Courtyard Café - This 24-hour restaurant serves American, Chinese, and New Orleans specialties such as fried catfish and hush puppies.

Terrible Mike's - Burgers and other fast foods are the attractions at this spot.

Kate's Korner - This is an ice cream shop with an old-fashioned look.

Seattle's Best Coffee - This coffee bar also serves pastries.

Room service is available 24 hours.

Amenity highlights: A coconut-grove garden in the resort's center contains a heated, year-round pool and a large, heated children's pool. Near the main pool, encircling a rock garden, is an expansive spa with eight two-person alcoves.

Insider tip: The Orleans offers complimentary shuttle service to The Strip from 10 AM to midnight. The shuttle also runs to sister hotel Gold Coast located off The Strip.

Home to the Wranglers Professional Hockey Team, the 9,000-seat Orleans Arena also plays host to circuses, monster trucks, concerts, horse shows, and boxing matches.

The Italian restaurant Sazio presents a dinner show in a private dining room featuring the gangster spoof Ba-Da-Bing.

On the resort's second floor are a 70-lane bowling center and an 18-screen movie theater that includes loveseat and rocking-chair seating.

The enormous, 142,000-square-foot Casino supplies slots, video poker, blackjack, craps, roulette, keno, and a 170-seat race and sports book.

Coast Casinos Club offers free membership cards that consolidate in single accounts slot and table play at four Las Vegas casinos (The Orleans, Suncoast, Barbary Coast, and Gold Coast). Members earn cash and/or comp rewards redeemable for cash, comps, event tickets, restaurants, and merchandise.