Things to do in Las Vegas

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The bright lights of Las Vegas, located in the Nevada desert is definitely a place you must include on any bucket list. But don’t just come here for the gambling, nightlife or the shows as there’s so many other things to do in Las Vegas.

Enjoy the architectural design of the hotels along the strip, take a day trip out of the city to the Grand Canyon, or relax by the pool after a long day of sightseeing.

But don’t forget to do a little bit of gambling while you’re there.

So, to help you plan your next big and bright adventure, check out these things to do in Las Vegas.

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Table of Contents

Looking to do more than party hard and gambling? Then check out these things to do in Vegas:

Bellagio Hotel

Opened on 15^th October 1998 and located along the main strip. What makes the hotel famous, is the water fountain that’s synchronized with music and it featured in the Oceans 11 film.

Throngs of tourist’s crowd around the fountain to watch the magical fountains come to life. Enjoy the fountains from evenings onwards, as the water and lights dance away to the music. But get there early to find a good spot to watch the display.

During the day, the fountain comes to life every 30 minutes, but once the sun sets, enjoy the display every 15 minutes.

You can avoid the crowds, by booking a room at the hotel with fountain views (an additional $45.00 per night).

Get out of the hot sun and enjoy the interior of Bellagio hotel. Glass blown flowers hang from the lobby ceiling, check out the botanical garden with different themes depicting the seasons through the year.

Try your hand at gambling at the slot machines. If you’re feeling lucky try your hand at the tables or maybe the poker room.

But the poker room isn’t for the fainthearted. You might get to play against a famous poker player, but at a price of $4000.00 as a minimum bet.

If you don’t fancy blowing all your cash on just one game, don’t worry non-professional poker players can still try their hand at the other poker tables in Bellagio.

Don’t spend all your cash on gambling, we would recommend a Cirque du Soleil show. Bellagio hosts the aquatic show ‘O’.

Guests of the hotel can use the large pool facilities, sun bed/loungers, cabanas and the pool bar.

Looking for day trips out of Las Vegas, well the Grand Canyon is an obvious option, but there are other lesser-known places to explore such as visiting Alabama Hills.

Interior design at Bellagio Hotel, Las Vegas, USA

The botanical gardens at Bellagio Hotel, Las Vegas, USA

Caesars Palace

One of the older hotels on the strip, built on 5^th August 1966 and has seen many popular entertainers perform here over the years.

Frank Sinatra, Celine Dion, Shania Twain, Bette Midler, Cher, Elton John, Liza Minnelli and Maria Carey just to name a few.

The first performance back in 1967 was Frank Sinatra.

Much of the hotel represents Rome, the Coliseum is the main entertainment venue, the pool area has been modelled as Roman Baths and many of the statues in the hotel have been imported from Italy.

The prominent statue of Julius Caesar stands center stage at Caesars Palace, while other important Roman Emperors are located throughout the hotel.

Try your hand in the casino with 30 gambling tables and 250 slot machines. We hope you have more luck at winning, than you might have had in Bellagio or the other hotels on the strip.

For you retail therapy lovers, will enjoy wandering around the shopping mall.

Venetian

Opened on 3^rd May 1999, with its concept from Venice, Italy.

Spot the Venice landmarks and take a gondola ride around the hotel.

The stand out inside the hotel is the bright blue sky and white clouds above. It’s so realistic, but it isn’t the Las Vegas sky above, it’s a realistic picture, but one that can’t be missed off these things to do in Las Vegas.

Paris Las Vegas

Another newer hotel on the strip, built on 1^st September 1999 and represents the city of love.

Spot the iconic Paris landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe, all but on a smaller scale than the real thing back in Paris.

The hotel has a French vibe.

New York New York

Opened on the 3^rd January 1997 and located south of the strip. You can understand the theme of the hotel as the name gives it away.

Visit the iconic landmarks of New York all in one location, with a replica Empire State Building, Chrysler Building and the Statue of Liberty.

While the exterior might be more visible, the interior continues its theme of New York, with many of the gambling rooms, meeting rooms, lounges and restaurants named after locations in New York.

Want to be whirled into the Las Vegas skyline, then take on the exhilarating rollercoaster ride, that wizzes you around.

Never get fed up with gambling, with many tables and slot machines to try your hand at.

What about visiting Las Vegas during the festive period. You could have an amazing Christmas Vacation with the family in Las Vegas with this itinerary.

Welcome to Las Vegas sign

This has to be the top thing to do in Las Vegas.

Build in about 1959 and at the most southern point on the Las Vegas Strip.

The white circles around the letters of the word ‘Welcome’ represent silver dollars. While the opposite side of the sign, isn’t as famous which reads, ‘Drive Carefully Come Back Soon’.

Due to its popularity, a car park and pedestrian crossing has been built, to allow safe access to the sign.

Due to its southerly location, you’ll have about a 10-minute walk to the sign from Mandalay Bay Hotel.

Get here early to avoid long queues for that all important selfie and Instagram image.

Bev & Shams Adventures, at the Las Vegas Sign, in Las Vegas, USA

Mandalay Bay

Another newer addition to the strip only opening in March 1999.

Home to the famous Broadway shows such as Chicago, followed by Mama Mia stage show and then the Lion King.

It now hosts the Michael Jackson: One took over and one that has to be seen on your visit to Las Vegas.

Relax by the pool, but which one do you choose? Mandalay Bay have a few! Check out the wave pool. Only on special events, the wave pool is set for large waves for surfers. Nonevents, the waves are considerably smaller.

You could get a full body tan at the nudist pool. The pool is surrounded by protective smoke screen glass and must be over 21 to enter.

Shark Reef exhibit will be ideal for families travelling to sin city, with a variety of different species to see.

Luxor

This was one of our favourite hotels to visit on the strip, with so many things to do, to keep you entertained in Las Vegas.

The hotel opened in 1993 and has a whopping 2000 slot machines and 87 gambling tables.

The theme of the hotel is of course based on the city of Luxor in Egypt, with the hotel represented by the pyramid.

When it was first built, the hotel was the tallest building on the strip and to the similar size as the Red and Bent Pyramid of Egypt.

At night the strongest beam of light can be seen, it can also be seen 275 miles away from aircrafts at cruising altitude.

The interior of the hotel is one of the best. Egyptian statues are in keeping with the pyramid and the theme of Egypt.

The ever so popular exhibits will keep you entertained for some time. There’re two exhibits here, The Bodies: The exhibition and the Titanic exhibition.

Wander between the original artifacts on display at the Titanic exhibition. Walk on the replica Titanic deck and feel the artic conditions felt on the fateful night.

Learn while on holiday at the Bodies: The exhibition, full bodies and organs are on display. A great way to dive in and learn about our bodies outside of a lab.

All tickets can be purchased online in advance.

Is visiting Las Vegas expensive? NO! There’re many ways to save money in Las Vegas, but still have a memorable holiday that will last for a lifetime.

The fountain show at night, the view from our room window in Bellagio

Day trips from Las Vegas

Sometimes it’s great to get out of the hustle and bustle of the city and explore other regions of a country.

The Grand Canyon is one of the popular day trips from Las Vegas.

We took a guided tour from Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon.

The tour guide collected us from our hotel and took us to the south rim of the Canyon. We stopped at two points on the south rim, before returning back to our hotel later in the evening.

It takes about 5 hours to reach the Grand Canyon and definitely one you must include on your trip to Las Vegas.

You can book your day trip to the Grand Canyon here:

There are some great options here. On our next visit, we would definitely look to book the train journey, the flight over the Grand Canyon and visit the west rim.

Have you booked any of there tours?

You could also do a self-guided tour. By hiring a vehicle and driving to the Grand Canyon.

If you do take a self-guided tour, then you’ll need to ensure you plan the details and take plenty of food and drink with you.

After a hectic few days in Las Vegas, why not take a trip out of sin city and relax back with a retreat in Sedona.

Conclusion

Las Vegas is packed with so much to see and do that doesn’t include gambling. Just wandering between hotels, admiring the hotels architecture and design are completely free. Making it possible to visit Las Vegas on a budget.

We hope you enjoy Las Vegas as much as we did, so much so that we can’t wait to get back. You never know, you could meet us out there for a few drinks.

After you have visited Las Vegas, you could visit Los Angeles. Instead of going on a road trip, why not take a more scenic route with this complete guide to traveling by bus from Las Vegas to Los Angeles.

Have you visited Las Vegas? What was your highlight of the trip? Is there somewhere you visited in Las Vegas that we haven’t covered? Maybe you have always wanted to visit Las Vegas and not been yet? Let us know, by leaving a comment below.

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