Nassau International Airport (NAS): Approximate driving time is 30 minutes and distance is 16 miles.

Driving directions from Nassau International Airport: Turn right onto John F. Kennedy Dr. Turn left onto Blake Rd and continue to its end. Turn right onto West Bay St and head towards downtown Nassau. The street becomes Bay St. Take Bay to the bridge. Cross the bridge (toll) to Paradise Island and the hotel is ahead.

Getting there: There is no regular shuttle service from the airport so the easiest way to get to the hotel is by taxi. Fare is $26–$35 USD for the first 2 passengers and $3 USD for each additional person. Rental cars, Town Cars, and limousines are more than $36 USD. Fees subject to change without notice. Rental cars are available online.

Getting around: Paradise Island lacks public transportation so the easiest way to get around is either on foot or by complimentary shuttle buses from the hotel to other parts of the Atlantis property and Paradise Island. Motor scooters are also a popular way to tour and rent for more than $36 USD. Fees subject to change without notice. Water taxis cross from Paradise Island to Nassau, leaving from the new bridge for return fares of $5–$15 USD. Once on the Nassau side, local buses called jitneys provide a way around for fares of less than $5 USD. Fees subject to change without notice. Water taxis and jitneys stop running at dusk. Driving British-style (on the left) along narrow streets and through roundabouts is daunting for most visitors so if going longer distances, taxis are best. Island-hopping is possible through Bahamas Ferries which runs catamarans to out islands including Eleuthera and Harbour Island from Potter’s Cay between the old and new Paradise Island bridges. Or visitors can travel as the locals do, on mailboats which leave for the out islands from Potter’s Cay or Prince George Wharf, but passage can run on “Bahamas time” (slowly) and cargo can include livestock. Return fares for both ferries and mailboats are more than $36 USD. Fees subject to change without notice.

Royal Towers rooms are larger than those at the other two Atlantis towers, Coral Towers and Beach Tower. (Unlike those towers, however, Royal Towers rooms provide step-out rather than full balconies.) Tropical decor features sand-colored walls, crown molding, and carved, light-colored furniture. Matching bedspreads and drapes display a coral motif in blue, green, and orange. There are two telephones, including one in the bathroom.

Imperial Club rooms are located on the 17th to 24th (top) floors. Guests enjoy access to a private 19th-floor lounge staffed by a concierge between 7 AM and 11 PM. Furnished with a television and dining tables, the lounge provides panoramic ocean views. Guests enjoy complimentary food service: Continental breakfast, afternoon tea, evening cocktails and appetizers, and after-dark sweets. By identifying themselves to a doorman when they arrive, Imperial Club guests are escorted to the Sun Lounge in the lobby for registration.

Café at the Great Hall of Waters - Linen service against glass-wall backdrop displaying marine life in Ruins Lagoon. Three-story vaulted ceiling. American breakfasts. Lunch choices such as ahi burger, Atlantic swordfish club sandwich. Dinner choices such as Caribbean quesadillas, veal chop with spinach. English afternoon tea, including Caribbean iced teas. Pianist at night.

Fathoms - Seafood against glass-wall backdrop displaying marine life in Ruins Lagoon. Choices such as grilled grouper with Andros-island limes, seafood pepperpot. Also, lounge and raw bar.

The Marketplace - International ambience featuring theme dining alcoves decorated with wines, spices, flowers from around the world. Global buffet, including seafood, pasta, sushi from made-to-order food stations.

Plato's - Indoor/outdoor lounge serving Continental breakfast, coffee drinks, power drinks, snacks, desserts, cocktails. Spanish guitarist.

Notable restaurants elsewhere in the resort:

Water's Edge - Overlooking Water's Edge lagoon. Buffet breakfast. Dinner features antipasto bar, family-style Italian dishes.

Villa D'Este - Northern Italian cuisine under frescoed ceiling. Etched glass. Marble bar. Linen service.

Mama Loo's - Intimate linen-service restaurant featuring dark-wood ceiling, banquettes, curtains. Chinese cuisine such as five-spice duck, lobster tail, Singapore noodles.

Bahamian Club - Green-wall, green-ceiling, dark-wood steakhouse. Sepia Bahamian family photos on walls. Steaks, prime rib, lamb, salmon.

Seagrapes - Casual, colorful spot featuring masks from the Bahamas' annual Mardi-Gras-like Junkanoo parade. Seagrapes Circus (jugglers, clowns, stilt walkers, face painters, balloon artists) entertains Thursday–Saturday. Breakfast, lunch, dinner buffets. Kids Korner dining section/menu.

The Cave Bar and Grill - Open-air lunch spot featuring underwater views of marine life. Burgers, hot dogs, salads, ice cream.

Five Twins - Euro-Asian fusion dishes like seared foie gras with fire-roasted peaches and herb-pressed salmon in spicy teriyaki sauce with creamy polenta. Sushi/sate bar. Champagne and caviar carts. Cigars, live music, dancing. Two-story dining room with chandeliers. Dinner only. Men's jackets required. Located in casino.

Atlas Bar & Grill - Located in casino overlooking marina with indoor/outdoor seating. Sports, news, movies on televisions. Ribs, pasta, burgers, sandwiches. Lunch and dinner.

Lagoon Bar & Grill - Open-air lunch spot located next to saltwater lagoon. Roof shaped like giant seashell. Sandwiches, salads, pizza, light meals, and tropical drinks.

Shark Bites - Open-air lunch spot across lagoon from Lagoon Bar & Grill. Live Bahamian music. Light-meal menu including sandwiches, salads, steak, seafood. Takeout counter.

Murray's Delicatessen - Traditional New York/Miami deli featuring 1950s art-deco decor. Breakfast, lunch, dinner. Takeout available. Located on marina waterfront.

Jimmies - Old-fashioned ice-cream parlor located on marina waterfront.

Atlantis includes three towers (of which the Royal Towers is one); a health-and-beauty spa; a fitness center; children's and teen clubs; a nightclub; a comedy club; 21 restaurants; the 50,000-square-foot casino; and shopping malls. It also provides access to 3 miles of Atlantic Ocean beach and a private golf course.

The newest tower of the Atlantis trio, Royal Towers opened in 1998 and embodies a full-blown expression of the Atlantis motif, a colossus formed of stone and held together by gigantic joints colored like weathered bronze. Guestrooms are larger than the other Atlantis towers (Beach Tower and Coral Towers). Imperial Club rooms offering special amenities and panoramic views are located on floors 17–24.

Amenity highlights: Although all of Atlantis's facilities and attractions are readily accessible from all three towers, Royal Towers contains the health-and-beauty spa. Adjacent to the tower are the Royal Baths Pool, the Mayan Temple Water Slides and Pool, and Ripples Kid's Pool and Slides. Also adjacent are the marine-life exhibits Mayan Temple Predator Lagoon, Royal Stingray Lagoons, Ruins Lagoon, and The Dig, an underground web of artificial-rock passages and chambers passing through mythological Atlantis "ruins" that contain huge windows offering underwater views of sea life. Royal Towers is the closest tower to the fitness center, lap pool, tennis courts, and 18-hole par-3 golf course.

Insider tip: Visible from The Dig—an underground corridor fitted with floor-to-ceiling windows offering views of marine life—is the Western Hemisphere's only captive manta ray, an enormous gray-and-white creature with a 12-foot wingspan.

A 9,000-square-foot fitness center (fees charged) contains cardio equipment, weight-training machines, free weights, and steam rooms and offers classes such as aerobics, yoga, Pilates, and kickboxing as well as personal trainers. Outside the center is a 95-foot lap pool.

Unusual in that it permits natural light to enter, the 24-hour, 50,000-square-foot casino features four large Dale Chihuly glass sculptures and includes a race-and-sports book in addition to table games (baccarat, roulette, craps, blackjack, and Caribbean poker) and slot and video-poker machines. A high-limit area contains Baccarat Lounge, which features champagnes, caviar, and chilled seafood. Opening into the casino is Dragons Nightclub, site of nightly live dance music and highlighted by a black-granite bar and video wall.

Staffed by trained counselors, Discovery Channel Camp offers half-day, full-day, and night sessions (fees charged) for children age 4–12. Facilities consist of a grotto room furnished with a "shipwreck" and a "beach" for finding buried treasure with kid-size metal detectors; a science lab housing snakes, hamsters, fish, and birds, and equipped with sharks' jawbones, microscopes for analyzing discoveries during field trips, and telescopes for stargazing at night; and technology providing educational computer programs, Web-site-creation lessons, and digital cameras for field trips.

Open to teens age 13–17, Club Rush (cover charge) consists of a front room equipped with computer games and Internet-access computers and showing DVD movies, and a back room offering a dance floor and DJ music. Decor includes black ceilings, draped smoked-glass windows, and leopard-print couches. Supervision is continuous. (Pre-teens age 7–12 have the club from 4:30 PM to 7 PM.)

Five waterslides are built into the six-story Mayan Temple. Chief among them is The Leap of Faith, a 60-foot, nearly vertical plunge that ends by carrying daredevils through a clear acrylic tunnel submerged in a shark-filled lagoon. Also popular is a 48-foot corkscrew slide transporting tube riders through the Temple's dark core. Shorter, gentler children's slides connect the Temple's many cascading pools.

Atlantis offers 10 freshwater swimming areas and Paradise Lagoon, a 7-acre saltwater swimming, snorkeling, and water-sports area with direct access to the open ocean and beaches on both sides.

In addition to 11 lagoons (lighted at night) constituting the world's largest tropical marine habitat that are home to 50,000 fish and sea creatures visible day and night from above and underwater, the resort offers many specialized exhibits, including turtles, seahorses, jellyfish, lobsters, crabs, lionfish, piranhas, and 6-foot moray eels. Children enjoy a touch-tank filled with exotic creatures.

At night and on rainy days, a theater in the resort's convention center screens complimentary first-run movies. Tuesdays through Sundays, Joke