Las Vegas is a railroad stop in the desert that turned itself into the most famous few miles of lights in the world. The Strip runs for about four miles down Las Vegas Boulevard, one giant resort after another, each with its casino, pools, shows and restaurants; Downtown, around Fremont Street, is the older town where the city began. Beyond both is the Mojave, with red rock canyons, Hoover Dam and a lake within an hour’s drive.
This guide covers when to go, where to stay, what to see, a walk through Downtown from the Neon Museum to the Arts District, a day at Hoover Dam, what to eat, and the history and habits that make the city make sense, including how to plan it with a group.
What is Las Vegas good for?
Friends' trips
A pool day, a big dinner, a show and a night that ends at sunrise: Las Vegas is made for groups. Ride the High Roller together, eat your way along Fremont Street, and take a day out to Red Rock Canyon to remember what daylight looks like.
Bachelor and bachelorette weekends
Day clubs at the resort pools from spring to early autumn, a club night at Omnia or XS, a show, and a suite big enough for everyone. Book the club tables and the show early, and a dinner for the whole group a week or two ahead.
Weddings
The Clark County Marriage License Bureau downtown is open every day, with no waiting period and no blood test, and chapels up and down the Strip will marry you within the hour, with or without Elvis. A Little White Wedding Chapel has married couples since 1951.
Couples
The Bellagio fountains after dark, dinner high above the Strip, a Cirque du Soleil show, and Red Rock Canyon or the Valley of Fire at sunrise, when the desert is quiet and the rock glows red.
Families
The Adventuredome, an indoor theme park under a pink dome at Circus Circus, the Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay, the Discovery Children’s Museum and the gardens of the Springs Preserve. Casino floors are for 21 and over, but children can walk through with an adult.
Solo travel
Easy alone: a counter seat at a steakhouse, a good show, the museums Downtown and a morning hike at Red Rock. The resorts never close and the Strip is busy at any hour; take a rideshare rather than walking the empty stretches late at night.
Food lovers
Steakhouses from the 1950s and celebrity chefs on the Strip, the great buffets, a shrimp cocktail Downtown, and miles of noodles, dumplings and hot pot in Chinatown on Spring Mountain Road.
History
The Mob Museum in the old federal courthouse, the Neon Museum’s boneyard of old signs, the National Atomic Testing Museum, the adobe walls of the Old Mormon Fort, and Hoover Dam, under an hour away.
How do I plan a trip to Las Vegas?
When to go
Spring (March to May) and autumn (October and November) bring warm days and cool nights, the best weather for the pools and the desert both. Summer is very hot, often above 40°C in July, though the pools and day clubs are in full swing. Winter days are mild and the nights cold, and rooms are often cheapest from late November to February, apart from New Year and the big January conventions.
How long to stay
Three days covers the Strip, a show, a night Downtown and a pool day. With four or five, add Red Rock Canyon, Hoover Dam or the Valley of Fire, which each take half a day or more.
Getting there
Harry Reid International Airport is right beside the south end of the Strip, 10 to 20 minutes from most resorts by taxi or rideshare. From Los Angeles it is about four hours by car on Interstate 15, and longer on a Friday afternoon.
Getting around
Distances are longer than they look. The Strip is about four miles long, and getting from one resort to its neighbor can take 15 minutes through the casinos. The Las Vegas Monorail runs behind the east side of the Strip from the MGM Grand to the Sahara, and free trams link Mandalay Bay, Luxor and Excalibur, and Park MGM, Aria and Bellagio. The Deuce bus runs along the Strip to Downtown around the clock, and each resort has a marked pickup area for rideshares.
Tickets
Book the big shows ahead, especially at the Sphere and Cirque du Soleil on weekends; booths along the Strip sell same-day seats at a discount. In the cooler months, Red Rock Canyon’s scenic drive needs a timed entry booked online, and Hoover Dam’s tours sell out on busy days.
Money and tipping
Almost every resort adds a nightly resort fee to the room rate, and many charge for parking, so compare the total before you book. Tip 18 to 20 percent at restaurants and a dollar or two a drink at the bar. Drinks are often free while you play in a casino; tip the server. You must be 21 to gamble and to drink.
What is the weather like in Las Vegas, month by month?
Spring
March to May
Warm and dry, with highs in the low 20s°C in March and above 30°C by late May. Windy days can blow dust across the valley.
Summer
June to September
Very hot: highs around 40°C in July, nights that stay near 30°C, and short, violent thunderstorms in July and August. Keep anything outdoors for early morning.
Autumn
October and November
Highs in the high 20s°C in October and around 20°C in November, with clear skies and cool nights: the best time for hiking.
Winter
December to February
Mild, sunny days around 14°C and cold nights close to freezing. Snow falls on Mount Charleston, under an hour away, and very rarely in the city.
What are the top sights in Las Vegas?
01The Fountains of Bellagio
Opened with the Bellagio in 1998, the fountains dance across an eight-acre lake in front of the hotel, set to everything from Sinatra to opera to pop. The shows run every half hour in the afternoon and every 15 minutes in the evening, and they are free.
Stand at the balustrade on the Strip, or cross to the Eiffel Tower at Paris Las Vegas to see the whole lake from above.
Photo: Supercarwaar, CC BY-SA 4.0
02Sphere
The largest spherical building in the world opened in 2023 beside the Venetian: 366 feet (112 m) high, its outside covered in about 1.2 million LED pucks that turn it into an eye, a moon or a basketball. Inside, a wraparound screen fills the view of some 17,600 seats, for films made for it and for concert residencies.
The outside is free to watch from anywhere nearby; the High Roller and the bridges over the Strip at the Venetian get you closest.
Photo: Y2kcrazyjoker4, CC BY 4.0
03Fremont Street Experience
Five blocks of Fremont Street Downtown, closed to cars and roofed in 1995 with a canopy now covered in LED screens, where light shows play every hour after dark. Around it stand the casinos of old Las Vegas: the Golden Gate, open as the Hotel Nevada since 1906, the Golden Nugget, and the El Cortez of 1941.
Fly under the canopy on SlotZilla, the zipline, and catch the free bands on the street’s stages at night.
Photo: APK, CC BY-SA 4.0
04The Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign
Betty Willis designed it in 1959 and never copyrighted it, which is why it is on everything from mugs to T-shirts. It stands in the median at the south end of the Strip, with a small parking lot of its own, and has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2009.
Go early in the morning or late at night to skip the line for photos; there is usually someone ready to take yours for a tip.
Photo: LasVegasGuy, CC BY-SA 4.0
05The High Roller
The tallest observation wheel in the world when it opened in 2014, at 550 feet (167.6 m), at the end of the LINQ Promenade. A turn takes about half an hour, in glass cabins that hold up to 40 people, with the whole Strip below.
Ride at sunset. Over 21? The Happy Half Hour cabins come with an open bar.
Photo: LasVegasGuy, CC BY-SA 4.0
06Red Rock Canyon
Under half an hour west of the Strip, cliffs of red and cream sandstone rise from the desert along a 13-mile (21 km) one-way scenic drive. Short trails lead to the Calico Hills, rock art and seasonal waterfalls, and climbers come from all over the world.
From October to May the scenic drive needs a timed entry, booked ahead online. In summer, go at sunrise and carry plenty of water.
Photo: Frank Schulenburg, CC BY-SA 4.0
07The Neon Museum
The Boneyard holds the old signs of casinos, motels and wedding chapels, saved since 1996. The visitor center is the lobby of the La Concha Motel, a 1961 shell of concrete curves by the architect Paul Revere Williams, moved here in pieces from the Strip.
Book a tour after dark, when some of the restored signs are lit.
Photo: Kory Westerhold from Palo Alto, CA, US, CC BY 2.0
08The Mob Museum
The National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement opened in 2012 in the federal courthouse and post office of 1933, where the Senate’s Kefauver Committee held a hearing on organized crime in 1950. It tells both sides, the mobsters and the agents who chased them, and keeps the brick wall of Chicago’s St. Valentine’s Day Massacre of 1929.
Downstairs, The Underground is a speakeasy with its own small distillery.
Photo: Gillfoto, CC BY-SA 4.0
Four hidden gems
Downtown, from the Neon Museum to the Arts District
Old signs in a boneyard, the courtroom of the mob hearings, the street where the city began, and a district of murals and cocktail bars.
Start at the Neon Museum on Las Vegas Boulevard North, with a tour booked for the late afternoon. The Boneyard holds the letters, stars and arrows of casinos long gone, and the visitor center is the lobby of the La Concha Motel, a 1961 curl of concrete by Paul Revere Williams, moved here from the Strip.
Walk south down Las Vegas Boulevard to the Mob Museum, in the courthouse of 1933 where the Senate held its hearing on organized crime in 1950; the courtroom upstairs is set as it was. A block away, Fremont Street begins.
Under the canopy of the Fremont Street Experience, the old casinos stand shoulder to shoulder. The Golden Gate has been open since 1906, when it was the Hotel Nevada, and in a case off the lobby of the Golden Nugget lies the Hand of Faith, a gold nugget of about 61 pounds found in Australia in 1980.
East of Las Vegas Boulevard the street becomes Fremont East, the city’s bar district: Atomic Liquors, pouring since 1952, the El Cortez, the oldest casino still in its first building, and Downtown Container Park, a mall of shipping containers guarded by a giant metal praying mantis that breathes fire after dark.
From there, walk about 25 minutes south, or take a rideshare, to the Arts District around Main Street and Charleston Boulevard: murals on warehouse walls, vintage and antique shops, breweries and some of the best restaurants in the city. On the first Friday of every month a street fair fills the district at night.
Where should I stay in Las Vegas?
Pick the neighborhood first, then the hotel. Each link opens a map of places to stay around it.
Center Strip
First visitThe Bellagio fountains, Caesars Palace, the LINQ and the High Roller, with the Cosmopolitan and the Venetian a short walk away. The most central place to stay, and the busiest.
See hotels in Center StripSouth Strip
Shows and arenasMGM Grand, New York-New York, Luxor and Mandalay Bay, with T-Mobile Arena and Allegiant Stadium nearby and the airport minutes away. Good value for the Strip, with long walks to its center.
See hotels in South StripNorth Strip
Newer resortsWynn and Encore, Resorts World, the Fontainebleau and the Sahara, quieter and more spread out, with the monorail’s northern stops.
See hotels in North StripDowntown
Value and old VegasFremont Street, the Golden Nugget and the El Cortez, where the city began: cheaper rooms, smaller casinos and the Mob and Neon museums on foot. About 15 minutes by car from the Strip.
See hotels in DowntownArts District
Food and drinkBetween Downtown and the Strip, a few blocks of murals, vintage shops, bars and some of the best restaurants in the city. Few hotels: stay Downtown and walk over.
See hotels in Arts DistrictSummerlin
Hiking and quietThe western suburbs at the foot of Red Rock Canyon, with resorts that cost less than the Strip’s and the trailheads 15 minutes away. You will want a car.
See hotels in SummerlinHotel links go to Stay22. If you book, we may earn a commission, at no cost to you.
What should I eat and drink in Las Vegas?
Las Vegas eats around the clock. The resorts brought the buffets, the shrimp cocktails and the steakhouses of the 1950s, and the celebrity chefs who arrived in the 1990s; the city itself grew one of the best Chinatowns in the West. Dinner runs late, popular restaurants need booking, and something is always open.
Shrimp cocktail
Cold shrimp piled in a tulip glass with cocktail sauce. The Golden Gate on Fremont Street has served it since 1959, and it became a Las Vegas classic.
Photo: Bobak Ha'Eri, CC BY 3.0
The buffet
All you can eat, from crab legs and carved prime rib to dim sum and a wall of desserts. Bacchanal at Caesars Palace and the Buffet at Wynn are the big names; book a time on weekends.
Photo: kennejima, CC BY 2.0
Chinatown
West of the Strip along Spring Mountain Road, mile after mile of restaurants: pho, hot pot, dim sum, Korean barbecue and ramen, many open long after midnight.
Photo: star5112, CC BY-SA 2.0
Breakfast at the Peppermill
A 24-hour diner on the Strip since 1972, with plates big enough to share. Next door, the Fireside Lounge glows with neon around a fire pit set in a pool of water.
Photo: daryl_mitchell, CC BY-SA 2.0Steak
Old-school steakhouses with red booths and dishes flamed at the table. At the Golden Steer, open since 1958, booths carry the names of Sinatra, Elvis and the regulars of its heyday.
Tacos
Tijuana-style tacos at all hours, from the counters of Tacos El Gordo on the Strip to the taquerias of East Las Vegas.
Go to Chinatown on Spring Mountain Road for Asian food late at night, the Arts District and Fremont East for cocktail bars and local restaurants, and the resorts for celebrity chefs, steakhouses and the buffets.
The dam, the bomb and the Strip
A spring in the desert, a railroad auction, a dam, a highway to Los Angeles and a mushroom cloud: how a stop on the line became Las Vegas.
The valley had water, which was rare in the Mojave. In 1829 a scout with a Mexican trading party on the Old Spanish Trail found springs feeding green meadows, las vegas, and the name stuck. John C. Frémont camped by them in 1844, and the downtown street that carries his name runs past the spot. In 1855 Mormon missionaries built an adobe fort beside the creek; they gave up within three years, and part of the fort still stands.
The city began on a single day. On May 15, 1905, the railroad building a line from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles auctioned off town lots beside its tracks, and a tent town became Las Vegas. Drinking was allowed on one block only, Block 16, which filled with saloons and brothels. For twenty-five years it was a railroad town and not much more.
Then came 1931. Nevada legalized casino gambling and cut the residency it asked of anyone wanting a divorce to six weeks, and the federal government began building a dam on the Colorado River, thirty miles away. The workers lived in Boulder City, a government town built with no gambling and no bars, and on payday they came to Fremont Street. The dam was finished in 1936, two years early, and the power and water it sent back made a city possible.
In 1941 El Rancho Vegas opened on the highway to Los Angeles, just outside the city limits, and the road began to fill with resorts. The Flamingo followed in 1946, built by Benjamin Siegel with money from the mob; he was shot dead in Beverly Hills the next June. Mob money, and later loans from the Teamsters’ pension fund, built many of the casinos of the 1950s and 1960s, and in 1950 a Senate committee led by Estes Kefauver held a hearing on organized crime in the federal courthouse downtown, today the Mob Museum.
A railroad auction, a dam and a highway to Los Angeles made a city where there should not be one.
From January 1951 the government tested atomic bombs at the Nevada Test Site, 65 miles northwest. The city turned the tests into a show: hotels told guests when to look, bars mixed atomic cocktails, and a showgirl was photographed as Miss Atomic Bomb in 1957, a mushroom cloud of cotton on her swimsuit. The tests above ground ended in 1962; underground ones went on until 1992.
In 1960 Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and their friends played the Sands at night while filming Ocean’s 11 by day. Howard Hughes moved into the top of the Desert Inn in 1966 and, told to leave, bought the hotel, then several more, and new laws in 1967 and 1969 let public companies own casinos. In 1989 the Mirage opened with a volcano out front, and one by one the old resorts were brought down by implosion, the Dunes in 1993, the Sands in 1996 and the Stardust in 2007, to make room for bigger ones.
What art is Las Vegas known for?
The Neon Museum
The city’s design history is written in its signs. The museum has collected them since 1996, from casinos, motels and wedding chapels, and has restored some to light along Las Vegas Boulevard.
Seven Magic Mountains
In the desert south of the city, Ugo Rondinone stacked 33 limestone boulders into seven towers about 30 feet high and painted them in fluorescent colors. It opened in 2016 as a two-year show and is still standing.
Art in the resorts
Dale Chihuly’s glass flowers, Fiori di Como, cover the lobby ceiling of the Bellagio, and the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art holds changing exhibitions. At Aria, a silver cast of the Colorado River by Maya Lin hangs behind the front desk.
Immersive art
AREA15, a warehouse of installations, bars and rides just west of the Strip, is home to Meow Wolf’s Omega Mart, a supermarket that turns into a portal.
The Arts District
Galleries, studios and murals around Main Street and Charleston Boulevard, open late on the first Friday of every month.
What is the culture like in Las Vegas?
Shows
Cirque du Soleil has played Las Vegas since Mystère opened at Treasure Island in 1993; O, staged in a pool at the Bellagio, and KÀ at the MGM Grand followed. Magicians, comedians and headliners play every night.
Weddings
Las Vegas is famous for fast weddings: a license from the bureau downtown, a chapel on the Strip, and a minister dressed as Elvis for those who want one. Plenty of couples come back to renew their vows.
Casinos
You must be 21 to gamble. A player’s card is free at any casino and earns points on what you play, and table minimums are lower Downtown and on weekdays.
Sports
The Vegas Golden Knights play hockey at T-Mobile Arena and won the Stanley Cup in 2023, the Raiders play football at Allegiant Stadium, and Formula 1 races down the Strip itself each November.
Conventions
Huge trade shows fill the city and push up room prices, CES in January most of all. Check the convention calendar before you book.
Pool season
From about March to October the resort pools open, and the day clubs turn some of them into parties with DJs. Some pools are for adults only.
What is the music and nightlife like in Las Vegas?
Elvis
Elvis Presley played the International Hotel, later the Las Vegas Hilton, every year from 1969 to 1976, to rooms sold out night after night, and made the residency a Las Vegas tradition.
The Rat Pack
Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. made the Copa Room at the Sands the hottest ticket in town in 1960. The Sands came down in 1996, and the Venetian stands on its site.
Residencies
Celine Dion played Caesars Palace for most of two decades, and the stars have kept coming. At Sphere, U2 opened the building in 2023.
Clubs
XS at Wynn and Omnia at Caesars Palace book the world’s biggest DJs. Dress up, and expect a cover charge and table minimums.
Electric Daisy Carnival
Every May, three nights of dance music fill the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, at one of the largest festivals of its kind in the world.
Lounges
For something smaller: lounge acts in the casinos, bands on the stages of Fremont Street, and live music in the bars Downtown.
What are the best parks and day trips around Las Vegas?
Red Rock Canyon
Beyond the scenic drive, trails such as Calico Tanks and Ice Box Canyon lead into the rock. Start early, carry more water than you think you need, and look out for desert tortoises in spring.
Valley of Fire
About an hour northeast, Nevada’s oldest state park, opened in 1935: red sandstone in waves and arches, rock art and the Fire Wave trail. Some trails close in the heat of summer.
Lake Mead
Swimming, boating and kayaking on the reservoir behind Hoover Dam; Boulder Beach is the closest beach to the city.
Mount Charleston
Under an hour northwest, the Spring Mountains rise to over 3,600 m: pine forests and trails far cooler than the city in summer, and skiing at Lee Canyon in winter.
Zion and the Grand Canyon
Zion National Park is about two and a half hours away by car and the Grand Canyon’s South Rim about four and a half, both better with a night away. Grand Canyon West, with its glass Skywalk, is closer.
Death Valley
Two hours west, across the California line: salt flats below sea level at Badwater, sand dunes, and the view from Zabriskie Point. Go between November and March.
A day at Hoover Dam
About 45 minutes southeast of the Strip by car, past Boulder City, the town built for the dam’s workers. Tours of the power plant leave from the visitor center, and the walkway on the bridge is free.
What local customs should I know in Las Vegas?
Tipping
Tips are part of the pay: 18 to 20 percent at restaurants, a dollar or two a drink, a few dollars for the valet and for housekeeping, and something for the dealer when you win.
Resort fees
Almost every resort adds a nightly fee for the pool, the gym and the wifi, whether you use them or not, and many charge for parking. Compare the total, not the room rate.
At the tables
Watch a hand before you sit down, put your cash on the table rather than handing it to the dealer, and keep your phone away from the game.
Smoking
Smoking is still allowed on most casino floors, though a few, such as Park MGM, are smoke-free. If smoke bothers you, pick one of those and ask for a non-smoking room.
The heat
From June to September, drink water all day, walk on the shady side and keep hikes for the early morning. The sun is strong all year.
Around the clock
There is no last call: bars, casinos and many restaurants stay open all night, which is how a dinner turns into a sunrise.
What else do people ask about Las Vegas?
How many days do you need in Las Vegas?
Three days covers the Strip, a show, a night Downtown and a pool day. Four or five leave time for Red Rock Canyon, Hoover Dam or the Valley of Fire.
Where should I stay in Las Vegas on a first visit?
The Center Strip, around the Bellagio, Caesars Palace and the LINQ, puts you closest to everything. Downtown is cheaper and has more of old Las Vegas, and the South Strip is good value and close to the airport.
When is the best time to visit Las Vegas?
March to May and October to November, when the days are warm and the nights cool. Summer is very hot, often above 40°C in July, and winter is mild and usually cheapest, apart from New Year and the big January conventions.
How do I get from the airport to the Strip?
Harry Reid International Airport is right beside the south end of the Strip: a taxi or rideshare takes 10 to 20 minutes to most resorts.
Is Las Vegas good for a group trip or a bachelor party?
Yes: a pool day, a show, a big dinner and a club night, with suites big enough for everyone. Book the show, the club tables and a dinner for the group ahead, especially on weekends.
What should first-time visitors know about Las Vegas?
Expect a nightly resort fee on top of the room rate, longer walks than the map suggests, strong sun, and tipping almost everywhere. You must be 21 to gamble and to drink.
Plan Las Vegas with your group
Everyone swipes on the sights they want. SwipeSights builds the days around the picks, in walking order.