Day to Night in Atlantic City

As a typical busy New Yorker, I am constantly looking for ways to feel like I’m on vacation without taking the time to do so. One of the quick fixes I’ve found is a weekend getaway to Atlantic City.

AC is a mere 2 1/2 hour bus ride away from Manhattan and if done right, you can leave with a week’s worth of memories in two days. A group of my friends and I accomplished this last weekend during the AC Food and Wine Festival. This was the perfect opportunity to check out two of the more buzzworthy spots in the area, Suite 7400 in Caesars and HQ in Revel.

Day: Suite 7400 at Caesars

Nestled in the Ocean Tower of Caesar’s palatial digs, Suite 7400 is everything you would look for in a rooftop pool. The pool seemed to spring to life around 11am when the bar opened and waitresses clad in red bikinis and matching sarongs paraded around to take orders from the already packed lounge chairs. When there are options on the menu like Raspberry White Cosmos, Tu Mojitos and Skinnygirl® Fish Bowls, what’s not to be happy about?!

Equipped with a 4ft deep rectangular pool, hot tub, and sun deck overlooking the beach, this space may not be the scene to see and be seen when it’s only open to hotel guests during the day, but enough of the Skinnygirl® fish bowls may just make you forget where you are.

At night when the venue opens its’ doors to the general public, the space is supposed to offer an alternative to Harrah’s Pool After Dark, complete with DJs spinning while music videos simultaneously play on the large billboard screen.  Unfortunately the space was closed for a private party, so I will just have to check that out for myself at a later date. I’m pretty sure you won’t have to twist my arm.

Night: HQ at Revel

Revel has been one of the most anticipated hotel openings of the year if not the most anticipated. Again, with those high expectations come reality. HQ Beach Club won’t open until next year and since hotel guests are the only people with access to Revel’s pools and cabanas with DJs on Saturday afternoons, I was still fortunate enough to check out one of Revel’s newly opened nightclubs, HQ.

This club has given me exactly what I am looking for in a nightclub that I was only able to find in Vegas previously. This may also be in part to Angel Management Group that is also the team behind these popular clubs in Vegas.

The good thing about HQ is that you won’t have a hard time finding it… just look for the multiple lines of people taking up not one, but two floors! This is one of those places you’ll need to know someone or camp out at, but once you get in you’ll be glad you put the work in. When you walk in you’re greeted with tremendous screens that continue to rain images to the rhythm of the music.

HQ has also cherry picked the best in DJ talent to ensure everyone has the best time. dBerrie was the DJ of choice during our stay, but some of the more prominent DJs that will grace the stage are Bassjackers, Dirty South, and Avicii.

That being said, the dance floor was a little smaller than I would’ve liked, but that’s the price you pay when you’re in a venue everyone else wants to be in too. The dance floor is surrounded by bottle service tables, which surprisingly enough was predominantly filled with women, most enjoying their last weekend of single freedom. More tables take up the second floor complete with people judging you from above.

Girls in corsets dance on elevated surfaces until Lady Gaga lookalikes with tassles steal the show, probably enticing most of the crowd to go next door to Ivan Kane’s Royal Jelly Burlesque Nightclub just feet away. The crowd was ridiculously good looking, the drinks were strong yet reasonably priced and even the bathrooms look like presents with their candy-stripe exterior.

Overall, I would have to say you would be hard-pressed to plan a weekend as stellar as the one we just experienced in AC. I would also say that you’d be hard-pressed to keep me away for too long, either.

-Stephanie

HQ Photos courtesy of Revel Nightlife.