Our Standout Las Vegas Experiences (After 2 Very Different Trips)

Las Vegas isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but we love the neon lights, upbeat atmosphere, elaborate luxury, and massive amount of fun activities on offer. We can’t help but find it entertaining. During our 5-day trip in October 2019, we split our hotel stays between the super-cheap Excalibur and the high-end The Palazzo on opposite ends of The Strip. We ticked off typical Las Vegas attractions like seeing O by Cirque du Soleil, playing TopGolf at MGM Grand, devouring massive breakfast buffets, chilling around the pool, and exploring every single Strip hotel.

Then we returned for another 5-night stay in November 2021. This time we stayed at Bally’s (now called Horseshoe) in the center of The Strip, with one last night at Circa Resort so we could experience Fremont Street properly. We joined a secret food tour, visited the Hoover Dam and Seven Magic Mountains, hiked in Red Rock Canyon and Valley of Fire, spent more money on meals out, and explored a bit more of Las Vegas rather than just sticking exclusively to the Strip. It was a better overall experience but the pools were closed because it was so late in the season.

We know Las Vegas is expensive, commercialized, and over the top. It got the nickname Sin City for a reason! But for us, that same excess is also part of its unique appeal. One thing that surprised us first time around was seeing so many families and couples. We expected nothing but big groups of friends partying and solo visitors in the casinos. It turns out there’s actually a lot of fun things to do in Las Vegas for any type of visitor.

We do have to warn you: The sensory overload burnout is real. A few days is more than enough time to spend on The Strip! Based on our two totally different trips, we’re going to walk you through the experiences we consider unmissable for a first-timer visiting Las Vegas. Let’s dive in!

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Walking The Las Vegas Strip At Night

Let’s kick things off with the one thing we think every single first-timer should do in Las Vegas – walk The Strip at night. This is the standout memory we took home after both trips. The famous hotels lit up, the traffic congested, swarms of people walking on both sides, warm air – it’s life happening in full flow and it’s cool to be a part of.

Across our 10 days in Las Vegas so far, we must have walked the entire length of The Strip at least a dozen times by day and night. We purposefully picked hotels on either end of The Strip during our first visit so we had no choice but to walk all the way up and down to fully explore everything. It’s free, it’s easy, and it’s the best way to soak up quintessential Las Vegas as a tourist.

We liked walking The Strip during the day because it was quieter and and easier to understand the layout, but even in October we had brutally hot temperatures which made it tough going. The summers would be downright oppressive. Whereas at night the crowds were intense and there were some aggressive street workers, but the neon lights, classic Vegas energy, and cooler temperatures give it a better overall atmosphere.

Our favorite part of The Strip to explore at night is around the central corridor, where the Bellagio Fountains dance, Paris’s Eiffel Tower lights up, and the dense collection of hotel facades are postcard-perfect Las Vegas. This is where it hits peak liveliness, noise, and neon. We’re not huge shoppers, but if we were, we’d go to The Forum in Caesars Palace, Miracle Mile in Planet Hollywood, Grand Canal Shoppes in The Venetian, and The Shops at Crystals in Aria at night for the atmosphere.

Kristen’s top Strip tip: If the streets are too chaotic and you need a breather, find a restaurant with outdoor seating that spills out onto The Strip. The people watching is on another level!

Watching One Big Show

Las Vegas’s famous hotels like Bellagio, Caesars Palace and MGM Grand are home to more than just casinos and high-stakes blackjack. Most major hotels on The Strip have theaters and performance venues hosting singers, comedians, magicians, Cirque du Soleil shows, adult entertainment, and similar acts. And for us, no first trip to Las Vegas would be complete without seeing at least one big show.

In 2019 we paid something like $150 each to watch “O” by Cirque du Soleil in Bellagio. It was pricey, but we wanted to watch an iconic show. And you know what? We loved it. So in 2021 we picked another Cirque du Soleil show called “KA” in MGM Grand. It wasn’t quite as impressive, but we still really enjoyed it and will continue to tick them off one by one each time we go to Vegas.

Next time, we’d like to see a musical artist or theater show in The Sphere, which opened in 2023 and gets rave reviews. But if Adele or Celine Dion got another residency somewhere in Vegas we’d put that straight to the top of our list. And we’d also like to watch a magic show like David Copperfield or Shin Lim, or maybe go to see the popular Absinthe which is a mix of comedy, acrobatics and adult humor.

Mark’s shows tip: If it’s your first time in Vegas and you don’t know where to look for concerts, start with this calendar of events. We’ve also written a full guide to the most popular Las Vegas shows.

Experiencing A Casino Floor

In life we tend to lean risk-averse, so gambling isn’t our scene. We’d much rather spend our money on food, beers, and ticking off fun attractions. But just being on a proper Las Vegas casino floor in the Bellagio, Wynn or Venetian is a seriously unique experience. The smoke is truly awful, but it’s fascinating to see these massive closed-in rooms filled with endless blackjack, roulette, craps, baccarat, and poker tables.

For us, it’s a case of throwing $20 into a slot machine and letting it run until we’re down to zero. The house always wins, right. But it isn’t about winning or losing money, it’s about the grandeur, the spectacle. Watching other people risk it all, seeing overwhelming joy and disappointment – usually one after the other!

The wild thing was that most of the casinos were busy all day and all night. It didn’t matter if it was four in the afternoon or four in the morning. And even without gambling, we loved walking around the casinos in Bellagio, Wynn, Cosmopolitan, Venetian, Aria and Caesars Palace just for the experience. They’re high-end hotels with jam-packed casinos, lots of energy, and top-drawer people watching. You don’t get that in many places around the world.

Seeing The Bellagio Fountains

Is there a more iconic landmark on The Strip than the Bellagio Fountains? We don’t think so. The fountains are one of those genuinely unmissable Las Vegas bucket list items that every single first timer should see, especially at night. We loved watching the water jets pulse, jive and waltz to the tune of different songs each time we walked past Bellagio. It always had a calming, romantic, and uplifting atmosphere.

The fountain display runs on the hour from 3:00 PM to midnight during the week, and from noon to midnight on weekends. According to reviews on Tripadvisor, Bellagio Fountains is the most popular Las Vegas attraction. And we can see why. It’s free, it’s central on The Strip, and it’s cool. What’s not to like?

Most people (including us) bunch up to watch the water show on S Las Vegas Blvd, but it gets densely crowded. We got a better elevated view from the top of Paris’s Eiffel Tower, and from our table as we ate breakfast at Mon Ami Gabi on the opposite side of the road. But we think the best place to see the water show would be from a fountain-view table on a Bellagio restaurant terrace like Lago, Spago, Carbone Riviera, or Mayfair Supper Club. We saw the view through the restaurants and it looked awesome – but we’re sure they’d cost a pretty penny.

Kristen’s fountains tip: There’s a pedestrian bridge connecting the north side of Bellagio to Grand Bazaar Shops with reasonable side-on views to the fountain, but it has perspex windows so it’s not ideal for photos. So instead, our top recommendation is to arrive near the front of the main viewing area at quarter to the hour and find a free spot to get the best free photos.

Going Out For A Splurge Dinner

Before our first trip to Vegas, we honestly thought eating out was going to be super tacky and full of overpriced restaurants serving up terrible touristy food. We were mostly wrong. Our “overpriced” guess was accurate (everything costs more in Vegas – even a simple coffee), but it turns out Las Vegas is actually one of the strongest foodie cities in the US for high-end restaurants, and a lot of them are owned by celebrity chefs.

Splurging on a celebrity chef dinner was never a problem during our trips. We tried a few lower-end-of-luxury places like Gordon Ramsay Fish & Chips (Mark is from England after all!), Buddy V’s for Italian food, and Momofuku for the most expensive ramen we’ve ever eaten. They were great, but next time we’d love to try a tasting menu at one of the proper elite-tier places like L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, e by Jose Andres, or Restaurant Guy Savoy.

The thing we found interesting was struggling to find decent cheap eats or even standard mid-range food. It felt like there was a great big void in quality between ritzy food and everything else. The everything else category was average, at best. Next time, instead of spending $80 on an average meal, we’d rather spend $120 at a celebrity-chef restaurant – because at least there’s an experience element to it.

On our second trip in 2021, we decided to try something different. We wanted to know more about the world of celebrity dining in Sin City, so we joined this secret food tour. It was a 3-hour guided tour with stops at various celebrity restaurants in completely random places that we’d never have thought to look. We arrived hungry, but left full of food and fun information about the venues and chefs. It was well worth the money. Read our Las Vegas secret food tour review to learn more.

Seeing The Vegas Strip From The Eiffel Tower

Yes, of course Las Vegas has its very own replica Eiffel Tower! Nevada’s is a half-sized version of the original in Paris with an observation deck at 460-ft above The Strip, along with an exceptionally in-demand dining experience at the Eiffel Tower restaurant. We didn’t eat there but if we did we’d reserve a table way in advance.

During our 2021 trip, we had the Eiffel Tower and High Roller on our shortlist for elevated views over Las Vegas. In the end we went for the Eiffel Tower because it had more direct views over The Strip and Bellagio Fountains. The High Roller went up higher, but we saw on the map that it was set back from The Strip, which was the main reason we voted against it.

From the top of Las Vegas’s Eiffel Tower, we could see most of the major hotels up and down The Strip, the Bellagio Fountains, and the Paris swimming pool. The observatory was enclosed by a mesh metal fence but it had a few holes for taking photos through, and we were happy to have chosen it over the High Roller.

The only problem? We made a mistake. We went up after breakfast because we thought it would be better without the crowds. And it was quiet enough, but we should have done it for sunset and stayed up until everything was lit up, including the Bellagio Fountains. That said, for less than $30 each, we still thought it was a cool experience and well worth doing. We’d do it again next time, but we’d go up for sunset.

Exploring The Venetian Canals

One of things we like most about visiting Las Vegas is exploring the extravagantly themed hotels. The famous hotels are all free to enter and walk around, and there’s some seriously fun facades to uncover. Luxor is a pyramid, Excalibur is a castle, and our favorite The Venetian has canals and gondola rides. Is it silly? Yes. But is it also worth doing? Yes!

We stayed at The Palazzo (sister property to The Venetian that shares the same complex) in 2021, and we honestly loved walking around both the indoor and outdoor canals by day and night. There were tons of shops and places to eat around the canals, and the whole place was always swarming with tourists. We didn’t pay for a gondola ride (we just couldn’t do it!), but we saw lots of other tourists taking them.

For us, Bellagio, Wynn, and Cosmopolitan were worth exploring to see the more upscale, swanky, and sophisticated hotels on The Strip. After that, it’s more about over the top fun at hotels like Luxor, Excalibur, New York New York, Paris Las Vegas, Caesars Palace, Planet Hollywood, and of course The Venetian.

Out of all the hotels, we thought The Venetian had the best balance for the majority of first timers. It wasn’t stuffy like the poshest hotels, and it wasn’t tacky like the cheapest hotels. The pool had a mix of solo travelers, couples and families, and we didn’t feel out of place. If we wanted a trendier luxury stay we’d book Cosmopolitan, otherwise we’d book The Venetian.

Seeing The Other Side Of Vegas On Fremont Street

We didn’t even leave The Strip during our 2019 trip to Vegas. So when we went back in 2021, we decided to spend our final night at Circa Resort in the old downtown strip so we could properly explore the Fremont Street Experience. The hotel was cheap, quiet, and felt brand new. And the reason we chose it was so we had access to Stadium Swim – an adults only pool amphitheater with a huge screen for sports. It was heated, so it stayed open even in November.

We had no idea what to expect from Fremont Street, and it turned out to be totally different to The Strip. The main drag was like a condensed and narrow tunnel-like pedestrian street lined with bars, restaurants, stages, casinos, hotels, museums, arcades and attractions. It was open-air but there was a digital roof above us with light shows and music blasting, which gave off this kind of high-energy, sensory-overload vibe.

We saw people zip-lining above us (but still under the canopy), the crowds were intense, there was live music, and the bars all had tables overflowing into the main drag and they were jam-packed. We’ll be honest, it felt a bit cheaper, tackier and grittier than The Strip. But at the same time, the beers and food were cheaper, and the atmosphere was more laid-back.

One thing we wished we’d done in the area was visit the Mob Museum, which actually looks fantastic. Otherwise, we did a pretty good job of seeing Fremont Street. Overall, we wouldn’t say it’s unmissable for every single first-timer going to Las Vegas, but it was a nice change of pace and we thought it would be good for visitors with 4+ days to try something different.

Chilling Out At A Hotel Pool During The Day

It’s easy to get carried away with all the hotels, food, shows, and ridiculousness of Las Vegas – and forget that this is a city in the middle of a desert. Our trips were in November and October, and even in October we could seriously feel the blazing Mojave Desert heat. There’s a reason every hotel on The Strip has a pool. And some of those pools aren’t just for sunbathing around, they’re also for mega pool parties.

Now, the most important thing to know is that Las Vegas has a pool season. Most major pools open in early March and close in late October. We spend a few hours chilling around the hotel pools at Luxor, Excalibur, MGM Grand and The Venetian during our October trip. And every pool was packed full of tourists. But none of The Strip pools were open during our November trip, and that completely changed the vibe of our visit.

In terms of Las Vegas pool parties, well, that might sound like the ultimate fun-in-the-sun activity or the worst idea you’ve ever heard. Honestly, we’d be open to a daytime pool party with big name DJ’s if either of us went on a girls or boys trip to Vegas. We think that would be more our scene than the famous nightclubs like Hakkasan or Omnia. Staying out until 4:00 AM is firmly in our rear-view window!

If we wanted to try a pool party, we’d look at Cosmopolitan’s Marquee, Venetian’s TAO Beach, Cromwell’s Drais, MGM Grand’s Wet Republic, and Aria’s Liquid. We’d also check this pool party events schedule to see which DJ’s are playing at the various hotels.

Drinking Cocktails In A High-End Bar

We tend to lean more beers and wine over cocktails unless it’s a special occasion (or we’re in Italy drinking Amaretto sours). But this is Las Vegas. The cocktail bars are obscenely excessive, and they’re just crying out for average non-cocktail drinking visitors to splurge and push the boat out. And that means us.

The Cosmopolitan is our favorite “posh” hotel on The Strip, so we decided to try Las Vegas our cocktail drinking experience at the very purple, multi-level cocktail bar with a dramatic atmosphere called The Chandelier. It was happy hour when we bought our two cocktails, and it still cost us $44 before tax and tip.

For people who manage and monitor travel budgets for a living, that kind of expense is rare. But we loved it, and we’d do it again next time in a heartbeat. There’s some things you just have to do in Las Vegas. We think it’s better to arrive with the mindset of “we’re going to spend more than usual, but that’s how we’re going to have the best time”.

We really liked The Chandelier, but we’d also like to try Vanderpump in Caesars Palace and Juliet in The Venetian. There’s loads more cocktail bars, pubs, and happy hours – but dressing up for high-end cocktail lounges is another experience altogether. We wouldn’t make a habit of it, but for a one-off in Vegas, count us in.

Hiking In Red Rock Canyon Or Valley Of Fire

Trust us when we tell you, anymore than three days in Las Vegas and you’re going to need a break. The noise, lights, chaos, cost – it starts to wear thin. The perfect escape? Blowing the cobwebs off with a hike in Red Rock Canyon or Valley of Fire. We’ve done both, and we really liked them for different reasons.

We actually spent half a day hiking in Red Rock Canyon on the way from Death Valley to Las Vegas. It was basically a short loop road with around ten trails varying from quick and easy through long and hard leading into a red and white rocky landscape. We hiked Calico Hills, Calico Tanks, Keystone Thrust, and Ice Box Canyon. Calico Tanks and Ice Box Canyon were our favorites, but next time we’d also like to hike Turtlehead Peak for a bigger challenge. It was only 30 minutes drive from The Strip and cost us $15 total.

Then we visited Valley of Fire State Park after leaving Las Vegas on the way to Zion. This time we spent a night at a hotel in Overton so we could explore the park in late afternoon and for sunset, then head back in again to hike Fire Wave for sunrise. The sunrise hike was immense, and overall we thought Valley of Fire was far more photogenic and diverse than Red Rock Canyon. We actually had some of our Valley of Fire photos published in this Gestalten book in 2022. This one was a little over an hour from The Strip and also cost us $15 total.

Mark’s no car tip: If we didn’t have a car in Vegas but desperately wanted to see the striking Valley of Fire, we’d join this affordable half day guided tour with near-perfect ratings. Or if we wanted to do both Valley of Fire and Red Rock Canyon in one long day, we’d join this top rated guided tour.

Taking An Easy Day Trip To The Hoover Dam

There’s a range of excellent day trips from Las Vegas, but for us the Hoover Dam has to be considered the classic and quintessential day trip for first timers. We’re talking about one of America’s engineering marvels here, and it’s only 45 minutes drive southeast from hotels on The Strip. That’s “it would be rude not to” territory.

We actually drove our car down to see the weird but surprisingly photogenic Seven Magic Mountains art installation first thing in the morning, before heading east to the Hoover Dam. When we arrived, we parked on the Nevada side in a multi-story parking lot and paid $10. If we’d known, we’d have crossed the dam into Arizona, driven up the hill a bit, and parked for free.

Seeing the Hoover Dam in person was so much better than seeing photos. And it was super interesting to learn about the scale and size of the immense project. The big mistake we made was not knowing about the official guided tours on-site. We would have booked either a guided dam tour or guided power plant tour.

After walking across the dam and taking photos from both sides, we walked across the Memorial Bridge to see the dam from an elevated front-on perspective. We also stopped at Lake Mead Lakeview Overlook to take an awesome photo. There were a few other smaller hikes that we didn’t bother with, but they could be good for a bit more exercise. Read our guide to visiting the Hoover Dam from Las Vegas to learn more.

Kristen’s no car tip: If we wanted to see the Hoover Dam but didn’t have a car, we’d simply join this cheap 3-hour tour with minivan transport to the Hoover Dam from The Strip. It’s an easy winner.

What To Skip

Welcome to Las Vegas sign: First up, the iconic “Welcome To Fabulous Las Vegas” was a bizarre stop on our first trip. We parked in one of few remaining spaces in this small lot by around 7:45 AM, and it took us 45 minutes waiting in line to get to the front for our turn. The queue was ridiculous, and this was early on a weekday morning in October. There was actually a guy employed by the state taking photos of each group so the line moved quicker, and he didn’t take tips which was good. But overall we thought it was a waste of time.

The Strat: We didn’t even consider going up The Strat either time. Paris’s Eiffel Tower has close-up views over The Strip and Bellagio, plus the High Roller is a perfectly solid backup, which kind of makes The Strat redundant. It’s not easy to get to, and while the views are more expansive, they’re not directly over The Strip.

Big Bus Tour: We didn’t actually do the Las Vegas Big Bus Tour but we saw the buses drive by us on The Strip plenty of times and we agreed that it just wouldn’t be the same as walking it. Paying $58/person to be crammed into tight seats with other people behind glass windows is not the way we want to experience the Las Vegas Strip. If we were traveling with grandparents or young kids it might be more worthwhile, but even then it’s still expensive for what it is.

Graceland Wedding Chapel: This was one of those “it’s famous, but what do we actually do here” moments. It was fun to get a photo from the outside, but that was it. What would have been the point of us going inside? Now, if you’re heading to Las Vegas to get married or renew your vows, the Elvis-inspired Graceland Wedding Chapel is the place to do it, otherwise don’t bother.

Mystic Falls: We saw photos of Mystic Falls Park and thought it looked awesome. It was an indoor park with trees, winding paths, waterfalls, streams, animatronic animals, and lasers un. Sounds great, right? Well, it was a bit of let down. The park itself was nice, but the complex felt run down and isolated with cheap and dirty casinos. Even with Christmas decorations on display in November, we still felt like it wasn’t worth the effort.

Stadium Swim: Don’t get us wrong, we loved our relaxing evening in Stadium Swim at Circa hotel on Fremont Street. But that’s because we’d already spent 4 nights on The Strip and it was quiet in November. Now, if there was a sports game on the giant screen and we were in Vegas with friends, sure, it would be a cool spot to hang with friends. But for the average first timer heading to Las Vegas, it is not what we would call an unmissable attraction.

What We’d Do Next Time

Mob Museum: We mistakenly wrote the Mob Museum off as a gimmicky, tourist trap. It’s got sky-high ratings on Google, and it looks legit. Next time, we’ll definitely visit to learn about the startling history of America’s organized crime.

Helicopter tour: If we wanted a luxury splurge from our Vegas trip, we’d take a helicopter ride over The Strip. There are places to book in person on The Strip, but if we wanted it all booked before arriving, we’d join this night flight of The Strip, or this deluxe helicopter tour over Lake Mead, Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon West (with touch down at Grand Canyon), and The Strip.

The Sphere: As we mentioned earlier, The Sphere wasn’t open when we last visited, but we’d love to see a show, musician or pretty much anything there. It looks awesome.

Nelson Ghost Town: It’s a bit out of the way so we’d only do it if we had plenty of time, but Nelson Ghost Town is the site of an abandoned gold mine and restored buildings from the 1800’s. We’d like to tour the gold mine (which is called Techatticup Mine), then continue down the dead-end road to Nelson’s Landing and the Colorado River to see people cliff diving.

Kristen’s attractions tip: If you plan to visit tons of attractions, consider buying a Go City Las Vegas Pass. When used efficiently, you can save a lot of money. And the Hoover Dam with transport from The Strip is included. Have a look, price it up, and see if you can save. Use MORGANS5 as a promo code and you’ll get 5% off the entire order.

Next Steps

We hope our guide on the top things to do in Las Vegas helps with planning your trip.

If you’d like more personalized help, we offer expert travel planning video calls where we answer any questions you have, help you avoid tourist traps, and map out your perfect American southwest trip. See our packages and reviews.

Still researching for your trip?

• Here’s what to know about Las Vegas in November
• This is how to spend one day in Death Valley
• Here’s our USA destinations bucket list

Finally, if you’ll be visiting more places on the same trip, read our first-timers Nevada travel guide for more helpful tips and advice.

Happy travels,

Mark and Kristen

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