ISSA Guide: Bellagio, The Headquarter Hotel For ISSA and BSCAI, Offers Plenty Of Free Entertainment

Photo courtesy of Las Vegas News Bureau

The epitome of quality, romance and elegance on the Strip, the Bellagio boasts gourmet restaurants, an upscale shopping mall and offers visitors a healthy dose of cultural enlightenment. The Bellagio also has some of the best free attractions in town — making it easy entertainment for those staying at ISSA's and BSCAI's headquarter hotel.

Free Entertainment: Fountains of Bellagio

One of the most popular attractions in Vegas, the Fountains of Bellagio are choreographed to dance to more than 30 different opera, classical and Broadway tunes. The 8.5-acre lake has 1,214 jets that shoot streams of water 460 feet into the air. Shows run every 30 minutes from 3 p.m. -8 p.m. and every 15 minutes from 8 p.m.-midnight.

Free Entertainment: Conservatory & Botanical Gardens

The Bellagio's Conservatory & Botanical Gardens is a must-see free item that should be on every tourist's list. To ensure its magnificence, 140 expert horticulturists arrange gazebos, bridges, ponds and water features uniquely for each season. In October, the exhibit calendar will feature the theme of "Autumn Harvest."

Free Entertainment: Fiori di Como

The Bellagio's lobby is grand in both scale and in design. Be sure to look up at the lobby's 18-foot ceiling and admire Fiori di Como, an amazing glass sculpture that is comprised of 2,000 hand-blown glass blossoms sculpted by famed glass sculptor Dale Chihuly.

Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art - Picasso: Creatures and Creativity

Art lovers definitely won't want to miss out on this rare exhibition featuring over 45 of famed artist Pablo Picasso's paintings, linocuts and lithographs spanning the 1930s-1970s. The gallery is open 10 a.m.-8 p.m., with last admission being 7:30 p.m. Tickets for the exhibition cost $19.

Eat at Picasso

After viewing some of Picasso's amazing art, enjoy a dinner menu inspired by the regional cuisine of France and Spain, where Picasso spent much of his life. Appetizers include warm quail salad with sauteed artichokes and pine nuts, and poached oysters with osetra caviar and vermouth sauce. For your entree, order the roasted milk-fed veal chop or sauteed medallions of fallow deer with caramelized green apples. Dinners are prix-fixe, with four- or five-course options; a vegetarian menu and a three-course pre-theater menu also are available. The restaurant's wine cellar is stocked with more than 1,500 selections from the finest European vineyards. Price: $50 and over.

posted on 8/5/2015