There are many places to visit in Las Vegas , the city of leisure and entertainment par excellence. Its huge themed hotels along the Strip offer all kinds of activities, from playing in its casinos, shopping in its shopping malls, seeing magic, circus or music shows, to celebrating your own wedding.
This city built in the middle of the Mojave desert, in addition to enjoying its attractions and shows, offers you the opportunity to take an excursion to the spectacular Grand Canyon of Colorado or rent a car and take a section of the mythical Route 66.
Based on the days we spent in Las Vegas on our trip through the Western United States, in which we wrote this Las Vegas guide, we have made a list of what we believe are the best essential places to visit in Las Vegas. Let’s start!
The Strip
The Strip is the most famous avenue in Las Vegas , which you have probably seen hundreds of times on the small screen, as it has been featured in many movies and is where most of the city’s entertainment is concentrated.
This street of more than 6 kilometers is a section of Las Vegas Boulevard South and its approximate limits are from the famous ” Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas ” sign to the Stratosphere hotel tower.
The most important hotels, casinos and resorts such as the Venetian, the Bellagio, the MGM, the Caesars Palace, the Paris Hotel or the New York New York, among others, are located on the Strip.
We recommend visiting it during the day and at night, since the lighting of some hotels at night is spectacular and some of the best shows in Las Vegas are performed, such as the light and sound of the fountains of the Bellagio Hotel.
To get around the Strip, the best option, if you don’t want to walk a lot, is to take The Deuce, a double-decker bus that runs the street 24 hours a day and stops at the most famous hotels and places of interest in Las Vegas.
Another option is to book the open-top tourist bus that allows you to get off at the stops you want for a day or two and go all the way to Freemont Street.
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Fremont Street
Fremont Street, located in the old part of the city, is another of the most famous areas and essential places to visit in Las Vegas . For a time it was the city’s favorite entertainment spot until the big Strip casinos and hotels began to be built. Its best-known show is the Fremont Street Experience , a light, video and sound show on one of the largest screens in the world, which covers part of this street.
To get to Fremont Street you can take The Deuce bus, which takes about half an hour, although if it’s your first time in the city, we recommend booking a night tour with a guide in Spanish to tour the Strip and get to Freemont Street. This tour, considered one of the best tours and excursions in Las Vegas , will also allow you to know the curiosities and anecdotes of the city.
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Shows in Las Vegas
Las Vegas shows are one of the main reasons why millions of American and foreign tourists spend their vacation days in this city. You can see all kinds of shows, from great singers like Celine Dion or Elton John to great magicians like David Copperfield or the best Cirque du Soleil shows.
But it’s not all about spending money in Las Vegas, there are also free shows like the light show and sound of the Bellagio fountains or the eruption of a volcano outside the Mirage hotel.
If you go with children it is interesting to stay or go to see the free clown and circus shows at the Circus Circus hotel .
In addition to the free ones, we went to see the acrobatic show Le Reveand we can tell you that it has been the best we have seen so far.
Other paid shows that are worthwhile are LOVE , KÀ and Mystère or Michael Jackson ONE , the 4 of the Cirque du Soleil.
Other shows in Las Vegas that are not of the Cirque du Soleil and recommended are All Shook Up, a tribute to Elvis , Vegas ! The Show , Zombie Burlesque , and V – The Ultimate Variety Show .
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The Welcome Sign, one of the places to visit in Las Vegas
One of the things you have to do in Las Vegas is to take a photo with the famous Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign behind it. This sign, located on the southern part of Las Vegas Boulevard, near the Mandalay Bay hotel, marks one of the limits of the Strip and is one of the symbols of Las Vegas. As a curiosity, we will tell you that on the back of the sign you can read the phrases ” Come back soon ” and ” Drive carefully “.
A great option to save is to book the Las Vegas Pass card that allows free access to more than 50 attractions in Las Vegas or the Go Las Vegas Card that includes top attractions depending on the days you are in the city.
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Las Vegas Attractions
The attractions of Las Vegas, many inside the most famous hotels on the Strip, are part of the entertainment offer of this city. Starting with the Stratosphere hotel with a tower 350 meters high, where the best viewpoint in Las Vegas is located and three attractions not suitable for those who suffer from vertigo: Big Shot, X-Scream and Insanity, the Ride.
In front of the New York, New York hotel you will find the roller coaster Roller Coaster, which can exceed 100 kilometers per hour. Another attraction in Las Vegas that you cannot miss is the High Roller, the largest panoramic Ferris wheel in the world.
And if you still want more, we will tell you that one of the favorite attractions of the people who visit this city is to take a night helicopter ride.to see Las Vegas lit up.
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Hotels in Las Vegas
When visiting Las Vegas it is almost mandatory to stay in one of its most famous themed hotels on the Strip. These huge hotels have shops, restaurants, bars, cafes, theaters, a swimming pool, spa areas, a nightclub, a chapel to get married, including everything you want to spend your money in their casino and not have to leave the hotel.
We stayed at the Luxor Hotel , located at the beginning of the Strip and inspired by the Egyptian civilization, in which its great pyramid stands out.
Other hotels to visit or stay in Las Vegas are The Venetian, where you can ride a gondola through its canals, New York New York with an impressive façade of the New Tork skyline, Caesars Palace where you will feel in the old Rome, Paris with an Eiffel Tower over 100 meters high or the Excalibur, which recreates a medieval castle.
Other non-themed hotels that are also worthwhile are the MGM Grand, the largest in the city, The Bellagio, the most expensive hotel to build, or the Wynn, one of the most luxurious.
All these hotels can be booked through this Booking link , which always has the best offer.
For more information about the best hotels and neighborhoods you can consult this post bywhere to stay in las vegas
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Vegas Wedding
Las Vegas is the world capital of marriage, where more than 100,000 weddings are celebrated each year as a result of the low price and ease of acquiring a marriage license, and also, to all this we must add the glamor that many Celebrities and Hollywood stars have been married in Las Vegas.
Weddings in Las Vegas can be legal although you have the option of having it theatrical , just for fun and without all the paperwork.
Most people choose either the fairy tale, western, vampire, Star Trek themed wedding, or the more classic and popular wedding option where Elvis and Marilyn will star.
Most hotels have a chapel inside to celebrate the wedding, although another option is to choose a chapel outside the hotels, such as the emblematic Graceland, where an Elvis impersonator will sing his greatest hits. You can book the Elvis wedding at Graceland Chapel.
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Restaurants in Las Vegas
The restoration in Las Vegas is very varied, fast food, international, medium and high quality restaurants, without forgetting the incredible hotel buffets.
You can find fast food and hamburger places like Shake Shack, Five Guys, or pizza places like Grimaldi’s, all of them very famous since they are New York franchises.
But if gourmet cuisine is your weakness, you have restaurants like Bouchon at The Venetian, Joe Vicari’s Andiamo Italian Steakhouse at The D Las Vegas, Top of the World at the Stratosphere, with views of the entire city, and the Eiffel Tower Restaurant at the Paris hotel, overlooking the Bellagio fountain show.
A good option to eat well and at a good price, between 10 and 20 dollars, are the free buffets in the hotels and although we are not much into buffets, we tried the one at the Luxor and we have to say that it met all expectations.
For more gastronomic recommendations you can follow this list of restaurants where to eat well and cheaply in Las Vegas .
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Casinos
The motto of the city is ” What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas ” and if you lose a lot of money in their casinos, that’s a motto to follow.
Many tourists who travel to Las Vegas hope to have a lucky break playing cards or slots and go home millionaires or at least cover the expenses of the trip. Although we are not going to lie to you, this is not always the case.
All the hotels have casinos and they are open 24 hours a day and it is not uncommon to see people playing on the same machine from when you go to sleep until you get up for breakfast.
If you want to try the experience of playing in a Las Vegas casino, we recommend exchanging a small amount of dollars in chips, of which you can also keep some as a souvenir.
If you are not an expert in poker or blackjack, it is best to try your luck at roulette or slot machines, you never know and you can end the night in a suite drinking champagne.
Of course, remember that to play in casinos you must be at least 21 years old in the United States.
Shopping
To finish the list of places to visit in Las Vegas , we recommend some places to go shopping. Many of the hotels, such as Caesars Palace or The Venetian, look like large shopping malls inside, with international brand stores that are found in any European city.
Then there are also the shopping centers outside the hotels such as the Fashion Show Mall with more than 200 stores or the Crystals, with spectacular architecture.
We recommend going to an outlet if you want to go shopping and get quality clothes at a good price. There are three major outlets in and around the city: Fashion Outlets Primm, Las Vegas Premium Outlets South and Las Vegas Premium Outlets North, for us the best.
The last two are in Las Vegas and can be easily reached by bus or by booking this tour.
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