Las Vegas City Guide

Part of the Las Vegas strip

This is your free Las Vegas City Guide!  It’s truly a city that never sleeps and you’ll find the casinos as busy at 4am as they are at 4pm.  There’s so much more to this city than gambling though.  Here are our personal recommendations…

WHAT TO DO IN LAS VEGAS

Apart from a few quarters in slot machines, we didn’t gamble in Las Vegas.  If you’re going to gamble, you’ll know all about the casinos, but it’s the hotels themselves which formed the attraction here for us. Almost every hotel on the strip has a different “theme” and they are all absolutely huge.  We spent hours wandering in and out of them all to see what they had to offer.  Most have shopping centres and other attractions.  All the hotels are worth a visit, but we’ve listed some of the highlights below…

The Bellagio – One of the most amazing sights in Las Vegas is the fountain display in the giant pool at the front of the hotel.  It “performs” to music every 15 minutes in peak times, but you’ll need to be there in good time to get a good view.  The hotel itself is very luxurious with white gaming tables and a lovely indoor garden.  More info, pics, links & map…

Paris – The highlight here is the mini Eiffel Tower which is about a 3rd the height of the original.  We recommend the trip up the elevator to the top where there are some magnificent views of the strip – far cheaper than a helicopter ride!  You’ll also find a mini Arc de Triomphe and the outside of the hotel is shaped like some of the traditional Parisian buildings like the Paris Opera House.  More info, pics, links & map…

The Venice Hotel

The Venetian – Outside this hotel are all the sights of Venice crammed into the frontage along the strip.  You’ll find the Rialto Bridge, the Camponile and the Doge’s Palace, along with mini canals and gondolas.  Inside the hotel, the shopping centre has Italian restaurants, more gondolas and a mini St Mark’s Square.  More info, pics, links & map…

The Mirage – Two attractions we’d recommend here.  The volcano outside “erupts” with fire, water and light every night on the hour from 8pm.  At the rear of the hotel though is Siegfried and Roy’s Secret Garden which is a sort of mini animal park.  To be honest, we thought the big cat cages were on the small side, but it was the dolphins that we will remember for a long time to come.  This is the closest we have ever been to them and they have lots of pools to swim in.  While we were there, they had a fantastic time chasing each other and jumping of their own accord for the crowds.  More info, pics, links & map…

Caesar’s Palace – This place is absolutely huge and quite a lot of the public areas are underground.  The casino floor is at ground level, but when you descend to underneath the hotel you’ll find a massive shopping centre which stretches back to the strip.  Some of the fountains here are really worth seeing both outside the hotel and inside the shopping centre.  More info, pics, links & map…

New York New York – From the outside the hotel has the appearance of some of the most famous buildings of the New York skyline like the Empire State Building and the Chrysler building.  You’ll also find mini reproductions of well known landmarks like the Statue of Liberty and Brooklyn Bridge.  Inside, the hotel has a mini theme park and we can thoroughly recommend the roller coaster which starts there and moves all around the outside of the building.  More info, pics, links & map…

Circus Circus – This hotel is one of the older ones further down the strip, and it looks a little tired too.  However, inside you can catch the daily 10 minute free circus trapeze shows and at the rear you’ll find a dome with all kinds of theme park rides and entertainment.  More info, pics, links & map…

The Flamingo – Head through the casino to the peaceful garden at the back of the hotel where you’ll find real flamingos.  More info, pics, links & map…

MORE THINGS TO DO IN LAS VEGAS

See A Show – Almost all of the hotels have their own theatres and you can see just about everything in Las Vegas ranging from Broadway musicals to big name singing stars.  The Cirque de Soleil shows are hard to describe but combine circus arts and street entertainment to create compelling stories with breathtaking feats.  

Grand Canyon – One of our biggest regrets is not seeing the Grand Canyon when we were last in Las Vegas.  Tour companies and hotels will happily organise this for you and you can go by helicopter, small plane or coach.  Many of the trips will touch down and leave you time to enjoy the surroundings.  Bear in mind if you choose the coach option that it takes 5 hours to get there!

Hoover Dam – This is another out of town excursion you can take and it’s another that’s on our list for next time.  Everyone we’ve spoken to who’s been here says it’s well worth it.  Have you been?  Please leave your thoughts on the comment form.

The incredible roof in downtown Las Vegas

OUR TOP TIP IN LAS VEGAS

The Fremont Street Experience - Away from the modern hotels, Las Vegas has made a huge effort to attract tourists back to the old “Downtown” area where you’ll find hotels like the Golden Nugget.  All the streets here are closed off and they’ve constructed a roof on which light and picture shows are shown.  You’ll also see some of the old neon signs dotted around as exhibits in the Las Vegas Neon Museum.  To get downtown, hop on the busses that run up and down the strip or for a quicker journey, hail a cab.  More info, pics, links & map…

GETTING AROUND LAS VEGAS

The Las Vegas monorail has stations at the MGM Grand, Paris/Bally’s, The Flamingo, Harrah’s, The Convention Centre, The Hilton and the Sahara.  It’s not cheap though, so we only took it when our feet ached from walking the strip.  Cabs on the strip are easy to hail and not that expensive.  We found the best way to get to our hotel from the airport was to join the line for a cab.