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While Las Vegas has a wealth of great hotels with phenomenal restaurants and amazing facilities, sometimes you just can’t make it to Sin City. Or maybe you want the same mix of attractions, the gaming, golf, spa and fine dining but with some things that are missing in the Nevada dessert, like beautiful beaches and great deep-sea fishing.

I’ve covered gaming, golf and dining for nearly two decades, and I’ve been to most of the largest casino resorts in the country, from Atlantic City and the twin giants of Connecticut (Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun) to Tahoe, Reno, the Pacific Northwest, the Midwest, California, Arizona, and even large urban casinos in cities like Cleveland and New Orleans. Having been to a lot of major casino resorts in a lot of places, I have a pretty qualified opinion on the topic, and my pick is the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Mississippi. I just stayed at the Beau Rivage for several days while attending a conference (for which I paid personally) and it was my third visit to the resort and fourth visit to the region in the past several years.

One of the biggest appeals of the Beau Rivage is its location, since Biloxi and the surrounding Mississippi Gulf Coast, including Gulfport and Ocean Springs, is one of the country’s vastly underrated vacation destinations.  Mississippi has 77 miles of shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico, including the world’s longest manmade beach, stretching about 26-miles of broad, inviting sand with a beachfront walking/biking path, and the Beau Rivage sits pretty much smack in the middle. There are several excellent golf courses, world-class offshore sport fishing, pristine barrier islands, a new $32 million art museum designed by Frank Gehry within walking distance of the hotel, and about half an hour away is NASA’s Stennis Space Center and its new $44 million interactive visitor center. The food in the region is amazing, and the wild caught shrimp here is considered the best in the world, along with an almost embarrassing wealth of blue crab, oysters, redfish, flounder and other seafood. The cuisine is similar to New Orleans with excellent creole and Cajun cooking, plus po boys and lots of simple, ultra-fresh seafood, as well as award-winning smoked barbecue and a variety of fine dining options, from Pan Asian to steakhouses. In fact, the BR Prime steakhouse in the Beau Rivage, which offers in-house 28-day dry aged Prime beef, is on par with the top classic steakhouses of the country. On top of all the variety the Gulf Coast offers, people are very friendly, the area is a great value, the climate is wonderful, and it is just a fun spot to visit (and just an hour from New Orleans, with which it can be easily combined).

Ever since gaming was legalized in the state in 1992, all the major hotels in the region have been large casino resorts, and there are several very good choices, but a couple of things set the Beau Rivage apart. At 1,740-rooms it is the biggest, and as such is very well amenitized with a large spa, elaborate pool complex, multiple restaurants including BR Prime, bars, the biggest poker room, the most retail, and much more. It is also a very well run hotel with friendly and efficient service at every turn. One other thing that really puts the Beau Rivage in a league of its own is its golf course, with no members and exclusive to guests of the hotel. Designed by Tom Fazio and host of an annual PGA Champions Tour event, Fallen Oak is the top ranked course in Mississippi, in the nation’s Top 100 courses, and probably the second best casino course in the entire nation behind only Fazio’s Shadow Creek in Las Vegas, its sister course, which I have written about here at length. Fallen Oak is a destination worthy premier golf experience, complete with caddies, and the only way to play it is to stay here. (For my list of the Nation’s Top 13 Casino Golf Courses, click here.)

Designed by famed hotelier Steve Wynn as a little sister to the Bellagio (which was originally to be named the Beau Rivage but that was flipped), it is very similar in feel to the Vegas property except just half the size. Like the Bellagio it is now owned by MGM Resorts and participates in the company’s M Life rewards program. It has the best golf course in the state, the largest wine selection, the largest casino theater hosting nationally known acts, and many other accolades, and between all of its resort attributes, its authentic Southern hospitality and the Gulf Coast itself, the Beau Rivage is my top choice for a casino vacation outside of Las Vegas.

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