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Canadian visitor to Las Vegas explores the Fontainebleau spa, a rafting trip at Hoover Dam

Canadian visitor to Las Vegas explores the Fontainebleau spa, a rafting trip at Hoover Dam

A Canadian visitor spent time at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas, including Lapis Spa, and went on a Colorado River rafting excursion below Hoover Dam.

The Story

A Canadian visitor described travelling to Las Vegas for a baseball tournament and a separate invite from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, saying the trip came as relations between Canada and the United States were tense.

The visitor stayed at the newest resort on the Las Vegas Strip, the Fontainebleau Las Vegas, and said the hotel’s Lapis Spa provided the first experience on the trip that felt “like” a standout attraction. They noted the spa was named the World’s Best Casino Hotel Spa in the 2024 World Spa Awards, and they described a massage with a therapist named Mae.

The visitor also wrote about the spa’s shared co-ed facilities and amenities, including infrared sauna, a Himalayan salt room, star and snow showers, and cold-plunge pools. They said one of the centrepiece features is an “event sauna” with a big screen, music and multiple rows of seats, where guests can take part in “Aufguss,” led by a trained instructor they referred to as an “Aufgussmeister.”

They wrote that after their spa sessions they ended the first day with dinner at Fontainebleau’s Cantina Contramar, describing it as an American sister location to Contramar in Mexico City. They said the menu included tacos topped with Wagyu beef tenderloin and a short rib entree, along with a Margarita De Tamarindo made with tequila, lime and tamarind, and a Tajin rim.

The visitor later went out on an excursion on the Colorado River underneath Hoover Dam with Hoover Dam Rafting Adventures. They said the tour is unique because it has access to a launch site at the bottom of the dam that no other tours or civilians can reach, passing through a locked gate before reaching the raft.

As the raft trip went from the base of the dam up the river, the visitor said a guide provided details about hot springs in the canyon and that the river is 54 F year-round. They described getting back on the raft after a brief stop on a sandbar, jumping into the river and floating while the Hoover Dam towered above.

During the outing, the visitor quoted recreation manager Jayme Waters, who said her rafting business has seen declining Canadian interest “in the last couple of years,” adding that the effect is part of a broader domino impact on the local economy.

The visitor also wrote that Waters said she misses Canadians and that she does not want to comment on politics, saying, “No comment on politics in this country,” and that “I think it will get better. All we can do is wait it out.”

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