If you think about it, the site for the city of Las Vegas seems to be a rather odd choice. It is in the middle of the Mojave Desert in Nevada with no real water source, its hot and miles from anywhere, but astonishingly this hasnt stopped it from being Americas playground and the worlds largest gambling city.
Everything in Las Vegas is built to entertain. It is a fantasy world where you can see the Eiffel Tower, the Egyptian Pyramids and the Empire State building within a 15 minute walk. Although, it is a contrived city where nothing is really real, this doesnt matter because you come to Las Vegas for one reason to have fun.
When it comes to attractions, the city itself is the biggest. There is something to see everywhere you look and the giant neon signs mean this city never sleeps and is best explored at night. This means your days are free to lounge by the pools in some of the worlds biggest hotels.
If you go to Vegas without stepping foot in a casino you havent done the city justice. It was built on gambling, so to deny this side of it would be to ignore its history. Las Vegas Boulevard, or The Strip, is where you will find the biggest and brashest casinos including the Venetian, the Bellagio, the Mirage and the Luxor. These casinos are mega, with thousands of rooms, massive casino floors and 24 hour entertainment.
In the Venetian, canals mean you can cruise around the hotel in a gondola and visit a replica of St Marks Square; in the Bellagio you can watch and listen as water dances to music; the Mirage is where you can admire the beauty of Siegfried and Roys white tigers; and the Luxor is a giant black pyramid that showcases some of the citys best performances from international artists, dancers and entertainers.
Seeing as gambling is the raison dtre for Las Vegas, you simply must visit the area where it all started back in the 1930s. The Area around Fairmont Street is where you will see iconic neon signs that have been photographed a billion times as well as the citys oldest casinos such as the Golden Nugget.
Las Vegas has more entertainment than any one person can watch in a year, but one show that is definitely worth checking out is the Cirque du Soleil. Many of the biggest hotels host their own versions of this exciting mix of circus art and street entertainment.
Other activities worth your time are riding the Manhattan Express roller coaster at the New York New York Hotel and the High Roller at the Stratosphere Hotel which circles the outside of the building over 100 stories up although you probably wont have time to admire the view.
