Las Vegas for a retreat? Try explaining that one to the board of directors.

Isn’t the "Entertainment Capital of the World" the opposite of a retreat? Not as much as you might think.

Planners can always choose a number of nearby resort properties that let attendees get the important business done and relax a little, yet still be close enough to the Strip to enjoy some nightlife.

In nearby Henderson, Lake Las Vegas is Exhibit A in this project of squaring the retreat idea with the glamour of Vegas.

Here, Loews Lake Las Vegas has just 439 rooms but 100,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor function space. It consciously invokes Mediterranean style in its architecture and amenities. For example, Rick’s Cafe offers Mediterranean-inspired cuisine, while the Arabesque Lounge offers pre-dinner cocktails and late-night cordials in a Moroccan setting. Golf is nearby at the Tuscany Golf Course, while the Spa Moulay, a fitness center and kayaks and paddleboats let guests unwind thoroughly on the property.

Meanwhile, The Ritz-Carlton, Lake Las Vegas takes its cues from Tuscany. The Ritz has about 50 fewer rooms than Loews, but its spa has twice the number of treatment rooms plus a white-sand beach and a waterfall on-site. Its Medici Cafe and Terrace and the Firenze Lobby Lounge emphasize farm-to-table freshness and excellent cocktails.

The new M Resort Spa Casino in Henderson is adjacent to both Interstate 15 and the Henderson Executive Airport for easy access, and once there, visitors will find plentiful meeting rooms, the Spa Mio to soothe aches and pains, and several on-site restaurants. Although this is one of the more hip Vegas-area resorts, it successfully straddles the relative quiet of non-gaming Ritz and Loews properties, and the anything-goes energy of the Strip.

As Ed Kirby, national sales manager at the Henderson CVB, says, "You could walk into M Resort and right into the meeting space and not go through the casino."

The JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort & Spa is a little closer to the action—it is actually on the Las Vegas street grid, several miles west of the Strip in Summerlin. It’s also psychologically closer; it offers a casino, although its 100,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting space help keep business on track. It also features excellent access to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area’s hiking and wildlife-viewing opportunities and, in keeping with that healthy, outdoorsy vibe, is a smoke-free property.