Of the shows available in Las Vegas, I like KÀ at the MGM Grand. Unlike the other shows’ series of circus acts – albeit jaw-dropping – it has a thread of a story in it with an Asian flair.
Royal twins are orphaned by an evil vizier assassinating their parents then are separated when the boat they attempt to escape in is tossed by a storm. The bulk of the show is their separate journeys to find each other and the vizier getting his just reward.
These two museums (and Hoover Dam) were the only daytime must-sees that I had written in ink on our last vacation in Vegas, and I considered the trip to be a great success!
Maybe do strip activities one day but if you have a vehicle don’t miss Red Rock Canyon or Valley of Fire! Death Valley is about 2 hrs away, as is Zion. Grand Canyon is 4. Vegas is a great home base for getting out into the desert and seeing all the amazing sights there.
I’d add the Neon Museum to your list. We did just a day-time walk through without a guide, but an evening visit would be interesting.
I was going to suggest the Museum of Atomic Testing and Hoover Dam, but they’ve already been mentioned. Get to the dam early before the good tours (if they still do them) sell out.
I haven’t found many good German restaurants in the U.S., I enjoyed the Hofbrauhaus in Las Vegas. There was a live band when I was there, and they were rather loud, but I found out that every song ever written is a German drinking song.
Restaurant recommendations that haven’t already been mentioned;
Top of Binion’s steakhouse. Very old school feel to it, had an amazing porterhouse there once.
Tacos El Gordo. Mexican place at the north end of the Strip in the minimall between Wynn and the convention center. Great street tacos and asada fries, and they have a wide selection of organ meats if you’re feeling adventurous.
Secret Pizza at Cosmopolitan for New York slices.
Ri Ra at Mandalay Bay for a full Irish breakfast complete with black and white puddings.
Lobster ME at the Venetian for lobster rolls.
Heart Attack Grill on Fremont was overpriced last time I went and not as good as it used to be, but it’s a fun experience.
I’ll second (third?) these. I’ll add the exhibition of Titanic artifacts at the Luxor. They’ve re-created a first-class room, a typical steerage room, and the grand staircase; and have a number of objects retrieved from the Titanic on display. They’re just ordinary objects, but they are remarkable because they offer an insight into the everyday lives of the passengers.
As for Fremont Street at night—definitely. Bands play on the outdoor stages, buskers perform, and the passing parade is great for people-watching. Every hour, on the hour, there’s a sound-and-light display on the ceiling. Grab a drink and a seat in one of the outdoor bars, and just watch.
Luxor also has an exhibition of plastinated human bodies in various degrees of dissection, which is quite educational if somewhat morbid.
For a more lighthearted museum experience, Madame Tussaud’s at the Venetian has tons of selfie-friendly sculptures you can walk right up to and pose with. (They did put a barricade around the sculpture of Nicki Minaj on all fours after people started doing predictably crude poses with it.)
Thinking of museums …
It may not be to your taste, but I always make time to visit Bauman’s Rare Books in the Venetian. You may recall the name from “Pawn Stars,” when Rebecca Romney of Bauman’s was the old/rare book expert that Rick always called, when somebody wanted to sell a book.(*)
It’s not a museum, it’s a business where everything you see is for sale. But they have some great displays of first editions, many quite rare, and often autographed or inscribed by the author. The staff is quite knowledgeable (many learned from Rebecca Romney), and if you’d like to see something a little more closely, or perhaps even handle it, they will be happy to help if you ask. Don’t feel obligated to buy anything—they kind of expect that a lot of foot traffic is there just to look. I love books, so I always stop in and see what’s new.
Like I said, it’s not a museum, but it might as well be one. And admission is free, naturally. If you’re at the Venetian, wandering through the Grand Canal Shoppes, you might like to stop in, especially if you love books.
(*) Rebecca left Baumans a few years ago and now owns her own rare book store in Washington DC. Sadly, I never got to meet her at Bauman’s.
We enjoyed the,Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay.
Quick note: this is not the National Park. Those famous views? Not gonna see them on the Hualapai land.
I thought the views from Hualapai land were famous enough when I went in 2014. Their attraction also hosts a glass-bottom walkway that extends out over the edge and an abandoned tramway from the days when guano was mined out of caves on the canyon floor, carried up to the rim in said trams, and then trucked away.
I spent one season flying air tours in the Grand Canyon. The three main regions are the Hualapai in the west, the Supai area in the middle, and the traditional South Rim at Tusayan.
Each have spectacular scenery, but each are quite different.
For certain! I’ve visited south rim, north rim, and Hualapai and they were all amazing in their own rights.
CNN weighs in.
https://www.cnn.com/travel/classic-las-vegas-places-to-visit/index.html
Basically stating things Dopers have already suggested, but there are a few different.
My preference is Love at Mirage. What can I say - I’m a sucker for the Beatles.
There’s the volcano show at Mirage. You’ll have to look up the times but I think it starts around dusk. It’s going to be permanently closing in the foreseeable future. They’ll be tearing it down to build a guitar-shaped set of rooms. It was closed for the F1 and then the Superbowl but it’s open again now.
Another museum-type thing is the Titanic exhibition at the Luxor. I saw it when it was at the Tropicana. I don’t have much interest in the Titanic really but I was surprised at how interesting it was.
I loved Love, the Beatles-themed Cirque. KA seems to be one of those shows that people either love or hate. I haven’t seen it so I can’t weigh in.
One of my favorite places to eat is the Greenwich Village area of NYNY. There’s a wide variety of foods and prices. It has a lot of chairs and tables so everyone can get what they want, bring it to the tables, and still eat together.
If you like zip lines, there’s Slotzilla downtown and one at the Linq. There’s the Promenade area between the Linq and the Flamingo with a variety of shops and restaurants.
Paris is another casino that’s nice to walk through and look around.
You’ll never see everything in that short a trip. You won’t see everything even in a much longer trip. My advice is to pick what you most want to see and try to arrange other places or restaurants in the area to maximize your time. Don’t overplan.
If you’re wanting to get some souvenirs, get them downtown. They have most of the same things for a lot lower price. The ones inside the casinos are hugely overpriced.
Another recommendation for something outside: The Springs Preserve, located just west of downtown, is a huge open space with walking trails and botanic gardens, as well as a recreation of old (1930s) Las Vegas and a couple of museums. We’re overwintering in Las Vegas in our RV, and we bought a membership to the preserve because there’s so much to see and do.
The casinos are a blast, too. We much prefer the vibe downtown, especially at night when the bands are playing.
There’s the Pinball Hall of Fame. I haven’t been there since it relocated to across the street from the Mandalay Bay, but five or six years ago $20 could last you an hour- about ten times as long as a 20 will last among the slots.
It’s like being inside the opening titles of a James Bond movie.
I’ve been to the south rim, bottom, and north rim, in that order.
$20 probably still would last an hour, even if you limit it to the newest games, which are $1/play - and chances are, those are among the only ones still working.
It’s hard to find Secret Pizza, as they don’t advertise it. What you do is, you go up two levels of escalators from the casino level, then look around; you should be able to see the end of a walkway with LP album covers on it - the pizzeria is at the other end of the hallway.
One problem with it: unless you want just a slice per person, it’s strictly to go - there’s no real place there for people to sit down and eat a pizza.
If you’re downtown, I recommend Pizza Rock (there’s also a location near Green Valley Ranch, if you’re in that area), which has a variety of pizza styles.
Might I add Battista’s Hole in the Wall - pretty much each meal comes with free wine and a meal-ending cappuccino. It needs the patronage; it took a major hit while the F1 race was set up, as one of the temporary road closures kept people away from it. It’s also not nearly as expensive as, say, Sinatra.
The National Organized Crime Museum is much better known as The Mob Museum. There’s even a speakeasy in the basement, but you need to access the museum’s app on your phone to get that day’s password.
I second this one. It’s not a large museum, so only part of the day needed, but it’s probably one of the best museums I’ve ever been in.