To visit Las Vegas is to visit a city unlike any other in the world. "Sin City", as it is known today, is an improbable city founded in 1905 in the middle of the Mojave Desert in Nevada and which today has a population of 650,000. A city where all activities and entertainment are possible day and night, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, notably on the Strip, the famous 4-mile avenue lined with themed hotels and casinos, but also on Fremont Street, where the world of gambling was born in Las Vegas.
The capital of gambling and all the vices, the capital of Nevada is also a perfect stopover to combine the city and the great outdoors. Tired of casinos and shows? We'll show you that between the Valley of Fire and Death Valley, you'll have no reason not to put your nose outside during a stay in the city that never sleeps. As for activities, you'll see that there's no shortage of choice either.
Visiting Las Vegas and surroundings: Tips, good plans for visits and excursions
Here is the plan of this article on how to visit Las Vegas and its surroundings.
This blog post is part of a road trip in the American West of 4 weeks where starting from Denver in Colorado, we went to Los Angeles visiting many natural American parks and crossing 5 American states including Nevada. You can find all the route and many practical advices to help you to travel in the United States in the main blog post related to the road trip. A road trip realized in a car that we rented from SIXT.
We came from Bryce canyon. After a quick trip to Zion park, 1 night in Hurricane at the Super 8 by Wyndham motel and 1 other night in Hurricane at the Virgin River Hotel and Casino2 addresses that we recommend you if you are looking for a place to sleep between Las Vegas and Bryce canyon, we arrive in the world capital of entertainment, Las Vegas
1. What to do in Las Vegas?
If you plan to do several attractions and visits in Las Vegas and surroundings, we advise you to buy one of the available ACTIVITY PASSES: The Explorer Pass or The All-Inclusive Pass. A great way to save time and money!
1.1. Visiting Las Vegas and the Strip
Visiting Las Vegas means first of all touring the casinos on the Strip, the avenue that concentrates the most casinos and theme hotels in the world. Four miles long, you'll never see the end of it. To the south, don't miss the famous city sign that announces the colour.
There is of course a whole list of must-see casino hotels to visit in Las Vegas. Some offer free activities and shows while others offer thrill-seeking experiences. Here are the casinos on the Strip that you won't regret visiting. Click on the blue links in this list to see the room rates.
L'Stratosphere Hotel and its platform offers a number of activities including access to the observatory. By clicking on the link below, you can buy in advance your access to the observatory of the tower, theObservation Deck, with the possibility to book in addition some optional activities like Big Shot, X-Scream, Insanity, or Skyjump.
Planet Hollywood and its relaxed atmosphere. Note that there is a free car park right behind.
The Mirage and the Treasure Island and its free pirate show every day from 7pm to 11pm.
The MGM and its world famous concerts
L'Paris Las Vegas Hotel and its famous Eiffel Tower but not only! The Arc de Triomphe is also there.
The concerts and shows of the Venetian and its gondolas. Every hour, as soon as night falls, a free video mapping show is proposed.
The free fountain show set to music at the Bellagio. A grandiose show that takes place every 30 minutes from noon on weekends and 3pm on weekdays. From 8pm until midnight, the sound and light show takes place every 15 minutes.
The New York New York and its roller coaster.
And if Las Vegas makes you want to grow wings, you should know that there are helicopter tours over Las Vegas. At sunset, the experience is incomparable. There are of course different tours and packages. In VIP mode, you also have a longer helicopter flight over the Grand Canyon + Hoover Dam + Las Vegas with a ground tour and picnic included.
We could see the helicopters flying over the Strip all day long from the balcony of our flat. More on that below.
If you plan to do several attractions and visits in and around Las Vegas, we advise you to buy one of the available ACTIVITY PASSES: The Explorer Pass or The All-Inclusive Pass. A good way to save time and money!
1.2. Visit Fremont Street in Old Vegas
A city of entertainment, Las Vegas sparkles day and night on the Strip, the city's most famous boulevard, but also on Fremont Street, a street located in the heart of the city's history and which is an attraction in itself. Covered with 250 m of LED panels, it comes to life every half hour during an exceptional show. The show is amazing!
You can even go zip-lining under the vault, overlooking the whole street. Strong sensations guaranteed!
Las Vegas or the city that wakes up when the sun goes down.
A free attraction not to be missed on Fremont street is to go and see the biggest gold nugget in the world. But you have to know where it is!
Go to the Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino Las Vegas. The Hand of Faith, the name of the gold nugget, was discovered by Kevin Hillier in Australia on September 26th 1980. The treasure weighs 27 kg and is 47 cm high, 20 cm wide and 9 cm deep.
You have to look for this gold nugget once you arrive in the establishment. It was while we were weaving in and out of the slot machines that we stumbled upon it almost by chance. The Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino bought it at auction for 1 million dollars. The famous nugget is therefore naturally protected behind a very thick glass. Many tourists walk past it without even noticing. It must be said that nothing really indicates its presence when you enter the casino.
Binion's Gambling Hall and Hotel also offers to have your picture taken for $20 amidst $1 million in new money. It's not our thing to find ourselves in the middle of wads of cash, but why not, for fun.
To conclude on the Strip and Fremont street, we really wanted to emphasize our preference for the atmosphere that can reign on Fremont street. The place is on a human scale and without traffic. Everything is easily accessible on foot whereas on the Strip, to go from one casino to the other, it can take 20 minutes even though the 2 establishments are neighbours! It's just that the casino hotels are oversized and the waiting time at the traffic lights to cross is just atrocious because of course, the priority is always given to cars. Finally, we won't hide it, the casinos on Fremont street are more old-fashioned than on the Strip, but we like this style too.
2. Nature excursions from Las Vegas
Going from casino to casino is fun, but nature is nice too! And Nevada has so many spectacular sceneries to offer like Valley of Fire or Death Valley that it would be a shame not to take advantage of it to put the nose outside.
2.1. Valley of Fire
From Mesquite, we take Highway 15 South, Highway 169 and finally the Valley of Fire Highway. We arrive at the East Gate. The access fee is not included in the America the Beautiful card. It costs $10 for a car. They give you a map to find your way in exchange.
If you are coming from Las Vegas, take Highway 15 North and exit at the Valley of Fire Highway. You will enter the Valley of Fire Park through the West Gate which is exactly 41 miles from downtown Las Vegas.
The first thing you'll come across is elephant rocks, which are easily accessible on foot from the small car park next to the park's cashier. We reassure you, they are not real elephants but rocks that look like them.
Then a few miles further on, we park at the historic Cabins which were built in the 1930s for travellers.
The vast majority of tourists come to take a quick tour around the historic habitats and leave after 3 minutes. We wanted to continue our journey by going deeper into the small canyon that continues beyond the car park. Ah the curiosity! Just follow the unmarked path for a few hundred metres and you come across mind-boggling rock formations of all sizes that give free rein to the imagination and the infinite possibilities of animals and other faces. We don't know where to turn ^^
We then take our road by turning right after passing by the Visitor Center in the direction of Fire Wave. We find ourselves driving on a sublime scenic road which we did not expect! It reminds us of the great landscapes of Northern Argentina around Salta. The scenery around us is just magical with many arches and natural concretions of all colours and shapes. Thousands of small cavities that contrast so much with the immensity of the desert.
Valley of Fire, a nice surprise in the nature, only 1 hour drive and 41 miles from Las Vegas.
We explore the Valley of Fire without suffering from the heat. It is only 15 degrees (we are in November). It was still 25 degrees a week before. And summer is hellish. In general, avoid spending the day exploring the Valley of Fire in the rain or in strong winds.
Once through the park, we took the 15 South highway towards Las Vegas.
2.2. Death Valley
Death Valley is easily accessible from Las Vegas. After our stay in the gambling capital of the world, this is the direction in which our road trip in the American West will take us in this direction before we reach our last stop: Los Angeles.
Exploring Death Valley
While waiting for the article, here is the video of our stay in Death Valley.
3. Where to stay in Las Vegas? Good plan Airbnb flat
You can sleep in Las Vegas at any price. There are also all the comforts.
All the casinos on the Strip and Fremont Street are also hotels. On booking for example, you will certainly find low prices. The problem is that the extra fees inflate the room prices enormously. A $15 room at theStratosphere Las Vegas Hotel ends up at $80! We were wasting our time researching. So we opted for the Airbnb website, which we like to use when we visit cities both here in the US and anywhere else in the world.
And once again, we found a great opportunity!
We slept in an Airbnb in the heart of Las Vegas at 100€/night (mid-November 2018 rate), parking included, with a crazy panoramic view on the Palms hotel and the skyline of the Las Vegas Strip. The flat does indeed have a balcony even though we are on the 25th floor so you can imagine the little shiver that goes through your body when you first step outside. But afterwards, it's like anything else, you get used to it. In any case, the view is particularly exceptional in the early morning and at sunset.
This is not our first time in Las Vegas and having stayed at the Treasure Islandand the Encore at Wynn Las Vegas hotel or at the The Miragewe can assure you that the view is a thousand times better here. On the other hand, it is true that the flat is not directly on the Strip. But we want to say that it's better because anyway, as in all the cities in the USA, it's always difficult not to take your car to get around.
In conclusion of this stay in Las Vegas,
A new stay in Las Vegas that reminded us of the previous ones but that we managed to enrich with the discovery of Fremont street. So Las Vegas, we like it or we don't like it. We would say that we can get tired after a while of going from one casino to another. Even though the atmosphere is completely different in each establishment, you end up coming across the same slot machines everywhere. Unless you're an inveterate poker player, for example, otherwise it's nice to be able to explore desert areas like Death Valley or the Valley of Fire, which are about an hour's drive from Las Vegas.
Next step is Death Valley where we will spend 3 days.
Road trip in the American West
Next step : Death Valley
Previous stage : Visit Bryce Canyon
This road trip in the American West was realized in collaboration with the car rental agency Sixt within the framework of content creation. This partnership does not take away our freedom of speech.