Casino Hotels

The setting is the first thing anyone notices. The complex occupies a modernist landmark in the middle of the Saint Lawrence, surrounded by parkland on Île Notre-Dame, which gives arriving guests something no downtown hotel can offer: water on all sides, a park to walk in, and the Montreal skyline at a distance rather than outside the window. The architecture is genuinely worth a slow look, particularly the stacked, angular volumes of the former French pavilion.

The accommodation is contemporary and comfortable rather than ornate, with the emphasis on quiet rooms, generous beds and bathrooms finished to a standard that holds up over several nights. Dining across the complex runs from casual counters to a formal restaurant with a serious kitchen, and the banqueting and event spaces are large enough that the hotel does steady business with conferences as well as weekend visitors.

The gaming floor is one part of the site and is easy to bypass entirely; guests using the hotel as a base for the city can come and go without crossing it. Practically, the island location means driving or a short transit ride to reach the Old Port and downtown, and it is worth planning that in — the trade for the setting is that you are not walking to dinner in the Plateau.

Its position is the entire premise: the building sits high on the Canadian side, and a substantial number of rooms look directly out over the Horseshoe Falls. Those rooms are worth the difference. Floor-to-ceiling glass, the falls lit at night, and mist rising past the window in summer give the hotel a genuine sense of occasion that has nothing to do with anything else on the site.

It operates at full resort scale — a spa, indoor pools, a large theatre that books touring names, and a spread of restaurants from buffet to steakhouse. Service is set up for volume and handles it well, though weekends and Ontario school holidays fill the public areas and the lifts, and a midweek stay is a noticeably calmer experience of the same hotel.

The wider Niagara Falls tourist district begins immediately outside, which is either convenient or exhausting depending on your tolerance for it; the falls themselves, the parkway walk and the wine country a short drive away are the reasons most guests come. The gaming floor is large and clearly signposted, and the hotel functions perfectly well for guests who never set foot on it.

River Rock's strongest practical argument is logistics. It sits on the Fraser River in Richmond, minutes from Vancouver International Airport, with a Canada Line station at the door that puts downtown Vancouver a straightforward train ride away. For anyone with an early flight, a layover long enough to be worth a bed, or a plan to explore the region without a car, that combination is hard to beat.

The hotel splits into a full-service tower and a quieter all-suite building, the latter well suited to families and longer stays. Rooms are spacious and calmly finished, the spa and pool are properly maintained, and the show theatre brings in touring music and comedy on a regular schedule. Richmond's night market and its dense concentration of Chinese restaurants are close enough that the hotel's own dining is not the only option worth considering.

The riverside setting is quietly the best part — a marina, a boardwalk, and mountains visible across the water on a clear day. As with the others here, the gaming floor is a distinct area of the complex rather than something a guest has to pass through, and the hotel is entirely usable as an airport-adjacent base.

Rama is a destination rather than a stopover. It sits in the Ontario lake country north of Toronto, on the territory of the Chippewas of Rama First Nation, which owns the resort — a fact reflected in the artwork and design references through the public spaces and in the significant role the property plays in the local economy. The drive up from the city takes a couple of hours and the landscape changes noticeably on the way.

The hotel offers a broad range of room types, from standard doubles to large suites, and supports them with a spa, a pool and a spread of restaurants covering casual through to a proper steakhouse. Its entertainment centre is the best known thing about it: a mid-sized venue that has hosted a long run of touring acts and gives the resort a reliable weekend rhythm.

Nearby Orillia, Lake Couchiching and the Trent–Severn waterway make it a plausible base for a summer weekend that has nothing to do with the gaming floor, and the resort is set up for that — golf, boating and walking are all within reach. Programmes and facilities shift seasonally, so confirm what is running before travelling for any one thing.