Casino Hotels

THE PLACE | The resort stands on Île Notre-Dame, the artificial island in the St Lawrence made for the world exposition, and is reached by bridge from the city. Around it are the park, the rowing basin and the racing circuit, so the setting is parkland rather than street.

THE BUILDING | The buildings are the French and Québec pavilions of the exposition, kept when the fair ended and converted afterwards. That origin is what the site publishes about itself, and it explains the shape of the place: stacked levels around an open core, with terraces facing the river and the city.

WHY IT IS LIKE THAT | Montréal built an island and then had to decide what to do with what stood on it. Converting the pavilions kept two pieces of the exposition in use, and a building designed for crowds arriving all day suited an operation that keeps long hours.

WHAT IT ASKS OF YOU | A little navigation. The levels are stacked and joined by ramps rather than laid out in a line, so first-time visitors spend a few minutes reading the building. The island is reached by bridge or by metro and a walk, not casually on foot from downtown.

WORTH A NOTE | Casinos are for adults only; bring identification, and check how you are getting back off the island.

THE PLACE | The resort sits above the gorge at Niagara Falls, on the slope that gives the district its name, with the falls themselves in sight from much of it. It is built into the escarpment rather than onto it, so parts of the building arrive at different levels.

THE BUILDING | Fallsview is a large resort with a hotel, a theatre, a spa and a number of restaurants gathered under one roof. What it publishes about itself is that arrangement and the outlook: public galleries that connect the parts, and rooms and dining that face the water.

WHY IT IS LIKE THAT | A hillside above a famous view is expensive ground to waste, so the resort was built upwards and into the slope at once. Gathering the theatre, the spa and the restaurants inside one structure also lets the place work through a Niagara winter, when nobody lingers outside.

WHAT IT ASKS OF YOU | Keeping track of which level you are on, and a tolerance for weather at the entrances. Spray and rain travel up from the gorge in every season, and the walk in from parking arrives through a gallery rather than at a front door.

WORTH A NOTE | Casinos are for adults only; bring identification, and expect the district around the resort to be busy year round.

THE PLACE | River Rock stands in Richmond, on the arm of the Fraser River, a short ride from Vancouver airport on the same transit line. The property runs down to the water, where it keeps a marina of its own, so one side of it faces a road and the other faces boats.

THE BUILDING | The resort gathers a hotel, a show theatre, restaurants, a spa and the marina into one operation. The theatre and the moorage are the two parts it publishes most about, and between them they explain why the place fills on nights when nothing else in Richmond does.

WHY IT IS LIKE THAT | Being minutes from an airport and on a river at once is unusual, and the resort was planned to use both. A hall that fills and empties in an evening needs the transit line, and a marina needs the water, so the site does two jobs at once.

WHAT IT ASKS OF YOU | Not much indoors. Outside, the walk along the water is open to the weather and to the wind off the river, and guests going out to the moorage in the dark are asked to keep to the lit part of it.

WORTH A NOTE | Casinos are for adults only; the waterfront walk is exposed, and the wind off the Fraser is felt year round.

THE PLACE | Casino Rama stands on the lands of the Chippewas of Rama First Nation, near Orillia in central Ontario, a drive north of Toronto. The setting is open country beside Lake Couchiching rather than a town, and the resort is the reason most visitors are in Rama at all.

THE BUILDING | The property brings together a hotel, an entertainment hall, restaurants, a spa and a golf course, all of them joined by long connecting passages. That the resort stands on First Nation land is published by the operation itself, and it is the plainest fact about the place.

WHY IT IS LIKE THAT | A resort out here has to hold people all evening, because there is nothing next door to walk to. The entertainment hall is what draws them, and gathering the accommodation, the dining and the spa around it means an audience can arrive early and stay the night.

WHAT IT ASKS OF YOU | Patience with distance, indoors and out. Getting from a room to the hall is a walk rather than a few steps, and getting to Rama at all is a drive, so guests are asked to plan the return journey before the evening starts.

WORTH A NOTE | Casinos are for adults only; the resort is well outside the nearest towns, so arrange the drive both ways.