Most people walk past the Luxor and take a photo of the pyramid. Maybe they glance up at the beam shooting into the sky. Then they keep walking toward whatever’s next on the Strip.
I did something different in 1998. I checked in.
It was my honeymoon. It was also 106 degrees — the kind of heat that felt suffocating to me back then, a newcomer with no idea what Vegas summer actually meant. We went to the pool anyway. The Luxor had only been open five years, and it felt like nothing else on the planet — a 30-story black glass pyramid rising out of the desert, an interior so cavernous you could feel the air move differently inside it. Las Vegas was in the middle of its “family-friendly” era, and the Luxor was the crown jewel of that experiment: ambitious, theatrical, completely unlike anything that had come before it.
Twenty-four years of living in Las Vegas later, I still think about that stay. Funny enough, 106 degrees doesn’t even register as hot to me anymore — that’s a mild summer day here now. But I still think most guests who walk through those doors have no idea what they’re actually looking at.
Should You Still Book the Pyramid?
Yes, if you want an iconic building and a great price. No, if you want the fully-themed Egyptian resort — that version is mostly gone.
Value + Location, Not Theming
South Strip location near Mandalay Bay and T-Mobile Arena, with some of the most competitive weeknight rates on the Strip for the quality.
Book on Hotels.comWhat the Luxor Actually Is
The Luxor Resort & Casino opened on October 15, 1993. At the time, it was one of the largest hotels in the world. The pyramid contains 30 floors, over 4,400 rooms, and an atrium so large it’s often described as big enough to stack multiple 747s inside.
The rooms don’t have traditional hallways. They have inclinators — elevators that travel at an angle along the inside walls of the pyramid to reach your floor. That was 1993 engineering solving a problem nobody had ever had before.
When I stayed in 1998, the Egyptian theme was still the entire identity of the place. There was a full-scale Sphinx replica out front. The interior was designed around an ancient Egypt concept carried through every detail — the signage, the restaurants, the casino floor. It was maximalist in the best possible way.
A lot of that has changed. We’ll get to that.
The Sky Beam: What’s Actually Powering It
Here’s the thing most guests don’t know, even the ones who notice the light shooting out of the top of the pyramid: the Luxor Sky Beam is widely cited as the brightest beam of light on Earth.
It’s produced by 39 individual xenon lamps, each rated at 7,000 watts, combined and focused with curved mirrors into a single column of light. On a clear night, it’s visible to aircraft up to roughly 250–275 miles away, and it’s bright enough that pilots have used it as a navigation landmark flying into the region.
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Lamps | 39 xenon lamps, 7,000 watts each |
| Brightness | Roughly 42 billion candlepower combined |
| Visible range | Up to ~250–275 miles on a clear night, to aircraft |
| Since 2008 | Runs at roughly half power — about 20 lamps nightly — to cut energy costs |
What most guests really don’t know is what the beam has accidentally created above their heads: its own miniature ecosystem. Moths are drawn to the light in large numbers, bats show up to feed on the moths, and owls show up to feed on the bats. It’s a full food chain playing out at the top of the pyramid every single night, mostly invisible to the thousands of people sleeping directly underneath it.
The “half power since 2008” detail matters if you’re expecting the beam of old photos. Luxor has run at roughly half its original lamp count for cost reasons since 2008, so it’s noticeably dimmer than it was when it debuted — still striking, just not quite as overwhelming as the early-2000s version.
What’s Changed Since 1998
The honest answer: a lot.
MGM Resorts, which now owns the property, pulled back on the Egyptian theme over the 2000s. The Sphinx replica outside was removed. The interior theming was gradually replaced with a more generic luxury casino aesthetic. Several of the original Egyptian-concept restaurants and attractions were closed or reimagined.
The Luxor today is a solid mid-tier Strip hotel with good value, a strong pool complex, and a location at the south end of the Strip that puts you near Mandalay Bay and T-Mobile Arena. It’s comfortable. The rooms are well-maintained. The casino floor is lively without being overwhelming.
But it’s not the Luxor I stayed in on my honeymoon. That version — the one where every detail was committed to a single ambitious vision — exists now mostly in photos and in the memories of people who were there early enough to see it.
What hasn’t changed, though, is the part that actually made it unforgettable.
What Hasn’t Changed
The pyramid. The beam. The scale.
Walking into that atrium still stops you. The geometry of the building creates a spatial experience you genuinely cannot get anywhere else on the Strip. The inclinators still run. The structure itself is unchanged — and because it’s a pyramid, it will look exactly the same from the outside in another 30 years as it does today.
The Sky Beam still fires up every night at dusk. It’s still one of the brightest lights on the planet. It’s still visible from hundreds of miles up.
Is It Worth Staying There Now?
Yes — with the right expectations.
If you’re looking for the most immersive, themed resort experience on the Strip, this isn’t it anymore. For that, you want the Venetian or Caesars.
If you’re looking for a well-priced room in a genuinely iconic building, with easy access to the south Strip, a solid pool, and a piece of Las Vegas history that most people walk past without understanding — the Luxor delivers.
I’d also say this: there’s something to be said for staying somewhere that carries actual weight. The Luxor was one of the most ambitious buildings ever constructed in Las Vegas. That doesn’t go away just because the theming changed.
I stayed there on the most significant night of my life, sweating through a 106-degree pool day I didn’t know yet was mild by local standards. Twenty-something years later, I still think it was the right call.
What’s Nearby
The Luxor’s south Strip location is one of its strongest practical advantages. It connects via indoor walkway to Mandalay Bay, home to the best pool complex on the Strip, and it’s a short walk to T-Mobile Arena for concerts and events.
If a pool day is part of your trip, Mandalay Bay’s pool complex is right next door via indoor walkway — no need to leave the Luxor’s air conditioning to get there.
The Bottom Line
The Luxor is one of the only buildings on the Las Vegas Strip that shoots a beam of light toward space every single night. It was built as an act of pure ambition in 1993, and that ambition is still visible in the bones of the place — even if some of the details have been softened over the years.
After 24 years of living in Las Vegas, I’ve stayed at most of the properties on this Strip. I’ve written about almost all of them. The Luxor is the one I keep coming back to in my memory — not because it’s the most luxurious or the most current, but because it was the first time I understood what Las Vegas could actually do when it decided to go all in on something.
It started my marriage and it started my life in this city.
That’s not nothing.
Tip: If there’s a major event at T-Mobile Arena, book early — the Luxor’s proximity to the venue makes it one of the first South Strip properties to sell out on concert weekends.