Las Vegas divides opinion like few other destinations — some dismiss it as gaudy excess, others embrace its unashamed commitment to spectacle — but the city is harder to dismiss once you engage with it on its own terms. Beyond the casino floors and the headline shows, it offers a genuinely varied range of experiences: world-class immersive art at ARTE Museum, the haunting nostalgia of the Neon Museum, organised crime history at the Mob Museum, and a surrounding desert landscape that contains some of the most dramatic scenery in North America. Red Rock Canyon is 30 minutes from the Strip; Death Valley, with its salt flats and painted badlands, is a long but spectacular day trip; and a network of road trip routes into Arizona and California makes Las Vegas an ideal base for exploring the wider Southwest. These guides address the practical questions that actually matter when planning a visit — from navigating the monorail to choosing between Cirque shows to finding where locals actually eat — with honest reviews of the city’s attractions and detailed information for the best excursions beyond it.
Planning and getting around Las Vegas
Las Vegas rewards visitors who do a little planning and punishes those who don’t. These articles cover the practical foundations of a good trip — the single piece of advice that makes the biggest difference, how the monorail works, where to eat away from the tourist traps, and how to reach the city’s most photographed landmark without spending money on a taxi.
- The single best piece of advice for first-time visitors to Las Vegas — the one thing that makes more difference to a Las Vegas trip than anything else, from someone who has spent a lot of time working out what that is.
- 101 things to do in Las Vegas besides gamble — a comprehensive list for visitors who want to fill their time in the city without sitting at a slot machine, covering free attractions, outdoor activities, cultural experiences and neighbourhood discoveries.
- Which hotels are on the Las Vegas Monorail? A practical guide — the route, the stops, the ticket prices and the honest answer to whether the monorail is actually useful for getting around the Strip.
- Where locals eat and drink in Las Vegas — the restaurants, bars and neighbourhoods that Las Vegas residents actually use, away from the hotel restaurant complexes and the tourist-priced Strip dining rooms.
- How to visit the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign without a taxi — practical options for reaching the city’s most famous photo opportunity on foot, by bus or by the free tram, without paying unnecessary transport costs.
Shows, entertainment and family activities
Las Vegas’s entertainment offer is vast and navigating it — particularly for families or those with a budget in mind — requires some advance research. These articles cut through the choice on Cirque du Soleil’s multiple resident shows and cover the best of what the city offers for younger visitors.
- Which Las Vegas Cirque du Soleil show is best for children? — a comparison of the resident shows with recommendations based on age-appropriateness, running time, intensity and what younger audiences tend to respond to best.
- Which is the cheapest Las Vegas Cirque du Soleil show? — ticket prices compared across the resident shows, with advice on when and how to buy for the best value.
- Seven best things to do in Las Vegas with seven-year-old children — a practical family guide based on real experience of what actually works for young children in a city not primarily designed with them in mind.
Las Vegas attractions and museums
Las Vegas has quietly built one of the more interesting collections of museums and immersive attractions in the American West — ranging from serious cultural institutions to deliberately bizarre experiences. These reviews cover what each attraction actually involves, whether the ticket price is justified, and who will get the most from a visit.
- Mob Museum Las Vegas: ticket prices, hours and visitor guide 2026 — a serious and well-curated museum in the former federal courthouse where the Kefauver hearings were held, covering the history of organised crime in America with genuine depth and impressive artefacts.
- Neon Museum Las Vegas: is it better by day or night? — an honest assessment of the boneyard of retired casino signs, covering what to expect from both the daytime and illuminated night tours and which is worth the premium.
- Atomic Testing Museum Las Vegas: exploring the city’s nuclear history — the surprisingly fascinating story of the Nevada Test Site and the era when mushroom clouds were visible from the Strip, told through strong exhibits and genuine Cold War artefacts.
- ARTE Museum Las Vegas: review — an immersive digital art experience with large-scale installations that represent some of the most technically impressive visitor attractions in the city, reviewed for what it delivers and who it suits.
- Area 15 Las Vegas: ticket prices and which attractions are worth it — the immersive entertainment complex housing Omega Mart and a collection of other art and experience installations, with guidance on what to prioritise inside.
- Omega Mart Las Vegas: is it worth the ticket price? — an honest review of Meow Wolf’s surrealist supermarket experience, the most talked-about attraction inside Area 15, covering what it involves and whether it justifies the cost.
- Museum of Illusions Las Vegas: review — the Las Vegas outpost of the global illusion museum chain, assessed for what it offers beyond the photo opportunities and whether it merits time alongside the city’s more substantial cultural attractions.
- Strat Tower observation deck Las Vegas: ticket prices, opening hours and parking guide — the 1,149-foot observation deck at the north end of the Strip, with the best elevated views of Las Vegas available for a reasonable ticket price, plus the optional thrill rides on the roof.
- Seven Magic Mountains: is it worth the trip from Las Vegas? — an honest assessment of Ugo Rondinone’s towering neon boulder sculptures in the Nevada desert south of the city, covering how to get there, how long to allow and whether it justifies the detour.
Day trips from Las Vegas
The desert surrounding Las Vegas is extraordinary, and some of the most memorable experiences available from the city require leaving it entirely. Red Rock Canyon is close enough to be a half-day excursion; Death Valley demands a full day and an early start; Hoover Dam and the Techatticup Mine work well combined. These guides cover logistics, what to prioritise at each location, and how to make the most of limited time.
- Red Rock Canyon Las Vegas: why an ebike tour is the best way to explore it — the case for skipping the driving loop in favour of a guided ebike excursion through one of Nevada’s most spectacular sandstone landscapes, just 30 minutes from the Strip.
- Death Valley from Las Vegas: a guide to visiting the hottest place on earth — the full-day excursion to one of North America’s most extreme and visually remarkable landscapes, with guidance on the best route, what to bring and how to survive the heat.
- Dante’s View, Death Valley: why it might be California’s finest lookout — the 5,475-foot viewpoint overlooking Badwater Basin and the full length of the valley floor, reached by a paved road and offering one of the great desert panoramas in the American West.
- Zabriskie Point, Death Valley: practical visitor guide — the eroded golden badlands that have appeared in everything from Antonioni films to U2 album covers, with information on the best time to visit and what to expect from the short walk to the viewpoint.
- Badwater Basin, Death Valley: visitor guide to North America’s lowest point — the salt flat 282 feet below sea level, where a vast white crystalline expanse stretches toward the valley walls in one of Death Valley’s most otherworldly landscapes.
- Artists Palette, Death Valley: visitor guide to the technicolour badlands — a short loop drive through hills streaked with oxidised minerals in shades of pink, green, purple and gold, best visited in late afternoon light.
- Rhyolite ghost town, Nevada: visitor guide — the ruins of a Mojave Desert boomtown abandoned in 1916, on the edge of Death Valley, with a remarkable bottle house, a sculpture garden and an atmosphere entirely unlike anything on the Strip.
- How to see Hoover Dam from the water — the case for a boat tour on Lake Mead as the most dramatic way to appreciate the scale of the dam, with practical information on tours and what to expect.
- Techatticup Mine, Nevada: the quirky gold mine tour near Las Vegas — a guided tour of one of the oldest and most storied gold mines in the Nevada desert, combining genuine Wild West history with a memorably eccentric presentation.
Road trips from Las Vegas
Las Vegas sits at the intersection of routes into three states, and the drives outward into Arizona, California and deeper into Nevada reward those with time and a rental car. These guides cover the best stops, distances and drive times for three routes that work either as one-way drives or as loops back to the city.
- Las Vegas to Williams, Arizona: best stops, distance and drive time — the route south through the Mojave and across the Arizona border toward the gateway town for the Grand Canyon’s South Rim, with recommended stops along the way.
- Kingman, Arizona to Las Vegas: best stops and driving guide — the reverse of the Williams route, travelling northwest along Historic Route 66 country through the Mojave Desert with stops that include the ghost town of Oatman and the Mojave National Preserve.
- Las Vegas to Lake Havasu City: best route, distance and drive time — the drive southeast to the Arizona city famous for its relocated London Bridge, through the Valley of Fire and along the Colorado River, with route options and stop recommendations.
You can also browse a wide range of Las Vegas activities, tours and experiences on Viator.
