Las Vegas calls itself the “Entertainment Capital of the World”.
The city doesn’t just have a nightlife style of entertainment. It developed something for everyone: the outdoorsy, the artsy, the thrill seeker, or even the intellectual.
- The Neon MuseumVegas casinos are constantly expanding and being rebuilt to try and become the new hip property. This intense competition leads to the creation and ultimately excess of a ton of neon signs. Where do the extras or old ones go? To the Neon Museum of course. It’s wild to take a walk through the history of Vegas to see casino signs of the past.
- The Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay BayLots of places have cool aquariums, but the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay in the middle of the Las Vegas Strip makes for a great change of pace on an otherwise crazy trip. You get to see sharks, exotic fish, and my favorite, a tunnel that makes it feel like you are at the bottom of the ocean. The touch pool or shark feed are also fun options.
- Valley of Fire Day TripYes, another absurdly beautiful and unique natural formation is only 45 minutes outside of Vegas. Most people don’t get beyond the neon lights, but more and more people are discovering this state park. It gets its name because the rocks look on fire when sun hits them right.
- Zero-G – The No Gravity ExperienceEver wanted to go to space and feel what it is like to be weightless? Did you know you could experience that in Las Vegas?Just like you are in outer space can happen in Vegas. At the Zero-G flight experience you take off in a plane that flies in parabolic patterns (up and down and up and down) that literally take the effects of gravity away from you for 20-30 seconds at a time. You get to experience weightlessness 15 different times.
- Las Vegas SkiYes, in the mountains just 45 minutes away from The Strip developers built a ski-resort. It is not huge, and does not feature the world’s best snow, but the novelty of being able to ski within 45 minutes of the scorching desert heat is unreal.
- Gondola ride at the VenetianWant to go to Venice and be sung to in the canals? Is Italy too far away? Once again, the experience is available in Vegas. The opportunity to be serenaded by a real gondolier while being escorted through man-made canals in a miniature version of Venice is awesome.
- Seven Magic MountainsEver seen modern art in the middle of the desert just south of The Strip?
Internationally renowned Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone’s Seven Magic Mountains is a large-scale site-specific public art installation located near Jean Dry Lake and Interstate 15, approximately ten miles south of Las Vegas, Nevada. Comprised of seven towers of colorful, stacked boulders standing more than thirty feet high.
- Hoover DamThe Hoover Dam and Lake Mead are surprisingly pretty cool to see. The dam is on the border between Nevada and Arizona, and only about 30 minutes from The Strip. It is MUCH bigger than it looks in pictures. Also, the reservoir creates an awesome place to rent a boat and go waterskiing or wakeboarding.
- Helicopter toursHave you ever ridden in a helicopter? Affordable helicopter tours of the Las Vegas Strip are available, or you can even fly out and over the Grand Canyon (a 4 hour drive from Vegas).
