A Guide to Visiting Las Vegas

I visited Las Vegas for the first time in 2015 and have been back twice since because I liked it so much. But I don’t gamble or party, so what’s the attraction? Well, I love exploring the amazing hotels on the strip – travelling from Venice to Cairo to New York all in the middle of the Nevada desert! There are fantastic restaurants, lots of live entertainment, beautiful hotel pools to relax at, with a cocktail in hand. And perhaps best of all, it’s a perfect place to start or end a road trip around my favourite part of the world: the US southwest and it’s brilliant national parks. So if you’re visiting Las Vegas, here’s a guide to help you plan your trip.

Getting there

The McCarron International Airport is really easy to use and is only a few minutes’ drive from the strip. As the plane lands, it’s always a thrill to spot the landmark strip hotels seemingly just across the road from the runway. You can hire a car at the nearby rental car centre or just grab a taxi or uber to your hotel. You won’t need a car on the strip but you will do so if you want to venture further afield.

Or you might be visiting Las Vegas as part of a road trip – it’s a great place for some R&R at the end of a busy trip and only about five hours from the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, four hours’ drive from LA and less than three from Death Valley National Park.

Where to stay

There’s accommodation for all budgets in Vegas but it’s a great place to splash out a bit because the luxury hotels are better value than elsewhere. For location, it’s best to be right on the strip and ideally mid-strip. My favourite is the Bellagio as the location is perfect, its luxurious and a fountain view room adds something special. Other hotels located nearby (some also with fountain view rooms) include Caesars Palace, Paris and the Cosmopolitan.

If you don’t mind staying a bit further north on the strip (which is a bit quieter but will mean a slightly longer walk to get anywhere), the Wynn is another beautiful, luxury hotel with impressive rooms, a wonderful pool area, and a great choice of restaurants. Nearby, the Encore, Venetian/Palazzo and Mirage would also be good choices.

If you have a tighter budget, or prefer something a bit removed from the bustle of the strip itself, consider the Signature at the MGM where for a reasonable price you can stay in a very comfortable, apartment-style room, just a short walk to the strip and with all the amenities of the MGM hotel on your doorstep.

Where to eat and drink

You won’t be short of choice for where to eat and drink in Vegas. There’s everything from fast food to gourmet restaurants, including a lots of opportunities to eat in restaurants of celebrity chefs, from Gordon Ramsay to Bobby Flay to Emeril Lagasse.

Here are my top recommendations:

• Gordon Ramsay’s Hell Kitchen – inspired by his TV show and located at Caesars Palace.
• Mesa Grill – by Bobby Flay is also located at Caesars Palace and features southwestern dishes
• Emeril’s New Orleans Fish House – located at the MGM Grand and featuring creole seafood dishes
• La Cave – at the Wynn Hotel, offering small plates and wine flights
• Stripburger – at the Fashion Show Mall and great for a more relaxed meal of burgers
• Wicked Spoon – you have to eat at one of Vegas’ famous buffets while you’re here and Wicked Spoon at the Cosmopolitan is one of the best, with individually presented small dishes
• Buffet at Wynn – another good buffet choice with great decor
• Mon Ami Gabi – located strip side outside the Paris and with views across the road to the Bellagio fountains – especially great for breakfast
• Terrace Point café – another great breakfast choice at the Wynn

Exploring the strip’s hotels

You could spend days just wandering around the hotels on the strip – one of the joys of visiting Las Vegas is getting a bit lost and stumbling onto something unexpected, but here are the highlights that you should not miss. (From north to south along the strip.)

The Wynn Hotel is one of the most beautiful on the strip and even if you’re not staying there, you should definitely find time to have a wander around it. There’s lots of special little touches that give it an Alice in Wonderland feel, from moving parasols on the ceiling, to a flower carousel in the lobby.  

The Venetian Hotel is the epitome of Vegas-style – gondolas drift along an indoor canal past shops and restaurants. It’s bizarre but great fun!

Flamingo – the interior of this hotel is nothing special – just an average casino – but it’s worth a visit for the outside Wildlife Habitat where you can view the hotel’s namesake flamingos along with other birds and exotic fish. It’s an oasis of calm just steps from the busy strip.

Caesars Palace – one of the landmarks of Vegas with nearly 4000 rooms, it will transport you to ancient Rome with classical statues everywhere. The attached Forum Shops is a huge shopping mall with circular escalators and a ceiling resembling a sky.

Bellagio – you have to stop and admire the fountain shows outside the Bellagio – it’s great fun watching the huge fountains dancing to the music and nothing feels more ‘Vegas’ than this. It’s also well worth a look around inside this hotel to see the glass sculpture on the ceiling of the lobby, and the Conservatory with seasonal displays  of flowers.

Paris – you can’t miss the Paris hotel because it has a half size replica of the Eiffel Tower, as well as a replica of the Arc de Triomphe.

New York-New York – further south along the strip, you’ll come to the New York- New York with its replica Statue of Liberty and an NYC skyline through which a roller coaster whizzes.

Luxor – perhaps the craziest of all the strip hotel’s architecture if that of the Luxor which resembles a pyramid with a sphinx outside.

Don’t miss a stroll down the strip after dark so you can watch a volcano erupt at the Mirage and watch the fountain shows at the Wynn and Bellagio.

Venturing off-strip

There’s enough to keep you busy on the strip for days but it’s worth making the effort to tear yourself away from the pools, bars and hotels and explore a bit further. Here are two great days away from the strip that you won’t regret:

Spend a Day Downtown

Start at the Neon Museum with a guided tour of the neon ‘boneyard’ where lots of the old iconic signs of Las Vegas now reside. There’s some interesting facts and lots of great photo opportunities.

Then drive a few minutes to the Mob Museum, located in the old Post Office and Courthouse building, where you can view exhibits about the history of the mafia and of Vegas itself.

A short walk from the museum you will find the Fremont Street experience, which every evening has a famous light show.

Take a mini-road trip to Hoover Dam, Lake Mead and Valley of Fire

It’s about a 40 minute drive from the strip to the Hoover Dam where you can walk the bridge for a birds eye view of the iconic dam, then take a tour of its interior.

Then drive along Lakeshore Road to the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, where you can dip your toes in the cool lake, take a boat ride or even rent a boat yourself.

Continue driving along Northshore Road and you will soon arrive at the Valley of Fire State Park where you can take a hike amongst the impressive red rocks.

You could do all this in one varied day away from the strip or just pick one for a half-day activity, leaving time to chill by the pool!

The start of a road trip…?

Best of all, though, visiting Las Vegas is a perfect beginning or end stop for a fantastic road trip around the amazing scenery of the Southwest. The Grand Canyon National Park is about a five hour drive and you even drive a bit of the old Route 66 on the way. (Don’t be misled by the closer ‘west rim’ which is not part of the national park and does not have the same impressive scenery, although many enjoy a quick helicopter ride there) Or head north first and visit the beautiful scenery of Zion National Park which is less than three hours’ drive, and a world away, from the Las Vegas Strip.