Casino Hotels

The property sits on Île Notre-Dame, a constructed island in the St Lawrence south of the old port, on grounds that were laid out for Expo 67 and later became Parc Jean-Drapeau. The main structure is one of the fair's surviving pavilions — a tiered, largely glazed tower that has been extended and re-clad but still reads as a piece of sixties world's-fair optimism, best appreciated at night from the far bank.

As a place to stay, the appeal is the island itself. The site is ringed by water and parkland, with the Formula 1 circuit, the beach and the gardens all within a walk, and the downtown skyline sitting across the river as a permanent view. Dining on the property covers the range from casual counters to a formal room, and the theatre spaces host cabaret-format shows through the year.

The gaming floor occupies several levels of the pavilion and is the busiest part of the building, particularly at weekends. It is one facility here among a handful; guests who never set foot on it still have an island, a park and a restaurant floor to work through.

Fallsview is built into the slope above the Niagara gorge, which is the single fact that governs everything else about it. The hotel tower is tall and oriented at the water, so a large share of the rooms look directly onto the Horseshoe Falls; the public levels are stacked down the hillside, connected by long escalator runs and a glazed galleria that keeps the view in play as you move through the building.

The resort functions as a small town. There is a theatre that books touring names through the year, a spa, a retail concourse, and a spread of restaurants from a buffet to a steakhouse with the falls in the window. In summer the whole thing connects by walkway to the tourist strip below; in winter it is a self-contained building you need not leave.

The gaming floor is large and sits at the centre of the plan, as it does at most properties of this type. It is one department of a resort that also sells itself, quite reasonably, as the best-placed hotel in Niagara Falls.

River Rock stands on the middle arm of the Fraser River in Richmond, with a marina on its doorstep and Vancouver's airport close enough that the SkyTrain link between the two takes a few minutes. That combination — water frontage, rapid transit, an airport in walking-and-a-shuttle distance — makes it an unusually practical hotel quite apart from what else is on site.

The buildings are low and broad, in a West Coast idiom of timber, stone and a great deal of glass facing the river. Accommodation is split between a main hotel and a quieter adjacent block; there is a show theatre used for concerts and comedy, a spa, and a set of restaurants that leans hard on the fact that Richmond has some of the best Chinese food in North America just outside the door.

The gaming floor is one wing of the complex. For many guests the more relevant facilities are the marina walk, the theatre schedule and a taxi ride to the night market — which is roughly how the property presents itself.

Casino Rama sits on the Chippewas of Rama First Nation's land near Orillia, in the lake country an hour and a half north of Toronto, and the setting is the opposite of urban: low buildings, wide parking, tree line, and Lake Couchiching a short drive away. It was developed in partnership with the First Nation and that relationship is visible in the design and the programming rather than being a footnote.

The hotel is a full-service one, with a large entertainment centre attached that has hosted touring acts at arena scale for decades — it is the main reason a lot of people make the drive. Alongside it are a spread of restaurants, meeting space, and easy access to the Muskoka and Kawartha lakes for anyone treating the hotel as a base rather than a destination.

The gaming floor is substantial and sits at the core of the complex. Set against the concert calendar, the lake country outside and the scale of the hotel itself, it is one attraction of several on a property that functions as a regional resort.