VooDoo Lounge

There's something to be said for partying 51 stories above the ground. "I'm afraid of heights!" "Take a picture for my MySpace!" "Oh my gosh, look at this view!" Whatever it is, there's something to be said and that's what makes VooDoo Lounge at the Rio so unique. To even get to the club, you have to take an elevator ride unlike any other – a glass-walled box steadily climbs up the side of the Rio while you watch the streets shrink below you. It definitely beats the stuffy ride you take to the fifth floor of your office building every day, at any rate. Elevators aside (because, really, if that's what you remember most about your night at VooDoo, something went horribly wrong), VooDoo is unlike any club in Vegas, which is a fantastic accomplishment because VooDoo helped shape the nightlife scene as it grew into what it is today.

The inside of the club is laid out and decorated in such a way that there's some dark sexiness to the whole atmosphere (think candlelight accents and lots of rich colors) and if you choose to stay inside the whole time, you'll still have a great time, but the crown jewel of VooDoo is its patio, so if there were ever a time to get over that fear of heights, your trip to VooDoo would be it. The patio is huge and full of everything the inside of the club has (bars, VIP areas, DJ booth, dance floor – even a stripper pole), but it's made infinitely better by the view. From the patio at VooDoo, the entire city is laid out before you, which sounds like a cliché, but it's really true. You can see the hotels, the houses, the streets, the tiny lights and everything else that fills it all in.

There's a 40-ton staircase that connects the patios of the 50 and 51st floors (the VooDoo restaurant is on the 50th) and, adorned with an American flag, it's probably the one spot you'll definitely remember being in all night – and not just because you took a picture on it (and you will, trust us). Unfortunately, you can't live the rest of your life up on the top of the Rio, so when it's time to come down, you'll get one more ride on that glass elevator. And here's the best piece of advice you'll get about VooDoo – that's a long elevator ride for the drunkest among you and the view's too good to waste in a martini glass, so save the all-out bender for someplace else – your stomach (and your MySpace page) will thank you.

-- Jamie Helmick