Casino Hotels

Montréal, Québec, Canada

The complex stands on Île Notre-Dame, in the park that was laid out in the St Lawrence for Expo 67. Two pavilions from that world exhibition, built for France and for Québec, were converted and joined, and the taller of them still reads as an exhibition building from the water. A hotel operated under the same ownership sits a short walk away on the island.

Public parts of the site include several restaurants, a cabaret room used for live programmes, and terraces that look back across the river toward the city. The island around the buildings is a municipal park with paths, water and open lawns, and it stays open to anyone whether or not they enter the pavilions.

Write ahead if you want to know which restaurants and which programme rooms are open on the dates you have in mind, and how the island is reached without a car. Hours for the public parts move with the season, and the operator answers those questions directly.

Category Casino Hotels•Location Île Notre-Dame, Montréal•Checked September 2031

Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada

Fallsview Casino Resort is cut into the slope above the Niagara gorge, on the Canadian side of the river. Much of the building sits in the hillside, so the entrance level from the street and the level facing the water are several storeys apart. Glazed halls along the gorge side give the interior its long views over the falls below.

The resort holds a large theatre used for concerts and touring shows, a spa, a group of restaurants at different levels, an indoor shopping galleria and a hotel tower. Walkways connect it to the street above and to the promenade that runs along the gorge, which is a public park managed separately from the resort.

Ask the resort about theatre dates, about spa hours, and about which of the restaurants take reservations, before you settle on a night. Access routes from the parkway and the street level also change during construction work along the escarpment, and staff can confirm the current arrangement.

Category Casino Hotels•Location Niagara Falls, Ontario•Checked September 2031

Richmond, British Columbia, Canada

River Rock Casino Resort stands on the north arm of the Fraser River in Richmond, close to Vancouver International Airport and on the rapid transit line into the city. The site includes a hotel, a marina on the river and a covered walkway system, and the low horizontal massing suits ground that was industrial waterfront within living memory.

Inside there is a theatre used for concerts and comedy, a spa, and a set of restaurants and cafés at the podium level. A riverside walkway runs along the water beside the property and links into the wider Richmond dyke trail network, so the river edge can be walked without entering the buildings.

It is worth asking which theatre dates are announced, whether the marina and the riverside path are open during any dyke works, and how late the restaurants serve. The resort also runs its own shuttle arrangements, and their scope should be confirmed with the front desk in writing.

Category Casino Hotels•Location Richmond, British Columbia•Checked September 2031

Rama, Ontario, Canada

Casino Rama Resort sits on the lands of the Chippewas of Rama First Nation, near Orillia in central Ontario and close to Lake Couchiching. It is a low, spread resort rather than a tower, with a hotel, parking fields and service buildings arranged around a central block, and open country beginning immediately beyond the property line.

An entertainment hall on the site is used for concerts and touring acts and seats several thousand people. There are restaurants of different kinds around the central concourse, a spa, meeting rooms and a hotel wing. Interpretive work commissioned from the First Nation appears in the public circulation areas of the resort.

Confirm with the resort which acts are announced for the hall, when the spa and the restaurants are open midweek, and how the property is reached from Orillia or Toronto. Shuttle services and seasonal hours change, so a written answer before travelling is the safer course.

Category Casino Hotels•Location Rama, Ontario•Checked September 2031