Las Vegas offers lots to see and do, from the megaresorts of the Strip to the old-time charm of downtown to the natural sights in the desert. Even if you travel to Sin City solo, you'll find plenty of fun. Hit the blackjack tables or enjoy the great outdoors. Visit a museum or swim some laps in the pool.
They say that when you're in Rome, you should do as the Romans. Well, when you're in Las Vegas, you might as well gamble. While playing table games such as blackjack or craps, the players root for each other to win. Often when one player beats the house, everyone cheers. If you're in Las Vegas alone and want some social interaction, you'll enjoy the team spirit at the tables and will most likely make lots of quick friends.
Las Vegas has several museums worthy of afternoon visits. The Liberace Museum, dedicated to the legendary showman, features many of the entertainer's bejeweled, over-the-top costumes. The Atomic Testing Museum offers a history of the nuclear testing done by the U.S. government in the Mojave Desert north of Las Vegas. At wax museum Madame Tussaud's Las Vegas, you can view lifelike representations of your favorite celebrities.
If you like spending time in great outdoors, you'll find options for both short and long hikes right outside the city. Red Rock Canyon, about 20 miles west of Las Vegas, offers a scenic drive to get to and various trails. Valley of Fire state park, about an hour north of town, has both a drive and trails that run through the red sand dunes and picturesque rock formations scattered across the land.
Many of the major casino resorts have extravagant pools. Perhaps the most remarkable is the Tank at the Golden Nugget on Fremont Street. The pool, with a water slide running through it, surrounds a huge aquarium with several species of sharks and other fish. In the mid-Strip area, Flamingo features several large pools set in a tropical-themed landscape. On the south end of the Strip, the Mandalay Bay pool area includes a wave pool and lazy river.
Travel about half an hour southeast of Las Vegas to visit this modern marvel, which was built from 1928 to 1936 and created Lake Mead, allowing Las Vegas to develop into the metropolis it has become. The visitor center here gives a nice presentation on the history of the dam's construction and interesting facts about the dam, which is 726 feet tall and holds back more than nine trillion gallons of water.
