Our Las Vegas Travel Guide is focused on helping you find the  Best Places to Visit in Las Vegas.  We review, casinos, resorts, gambling, best shows, best restaurants, best shopping, free things to see and do, the area's best daytrips and Las Vegas Travel Facts.  The information on our pages is arranged hierarchically - starting with the best and then getting to the rest.

Before we get to the details, you can access each section of our guide to Las Vegas by clicking any section of the roulette wheel at the top of the page or the jump table at the right.

Las Vegas is a city that is like no other place on earth. Whether you fly-in or drive, you will eventually descend into a flat valley and encounter what appears to be a mirage: a large city in the heart of a vast desert, where almost two-million residents have gathered to watch the evolution of one of the world’s true fantasy-vacation destinations. If you first see Las Vegas at night, you will be stunned.  You will experience one of the most colorful spectacles on earth, thanks to miles of neon, a billion watts of architectural lighting and, of course, the  Hoover Dam power plant.  Who knew there was that much glitz anywhere?

The first time you see "The Strip, you might mimic Tom Sawyer the first time he saw a "real" city. There on the left, is that an enormous, black, pyramid next to a sprawling medieval castle? Across from it, is that the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, and the New York City skyline? But New York City appears to be opposite an incredibly large, emerald-green hotel, which is just down the street from the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe.  But how could Paris be across the street from a hotel located on what seems to be one of the Italian Lakes and doesn’t that look like Venice, just to the north? 

According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, approximately forty million travelers visited the city each year.  Most visitors are from the U.S. and Southern Californians appear magnetically attracted to Las Vegas, as they account for approximately twenty-seven percent of the visitors. Twelve percent of the city’s guests are from international locations.

While Las Vegas may have been single-threaded in the past, over the last twenty years, the city has matured into a destination that is capable of filling the needs of many different types of vacationers. That’s a good thing because many of the couples visiting Vegas often are made up of one gambler and one non-gambler. In today’s Las Vegas, the non-gambler will find fabulous shopping, great golf, luxurious spa’s, terrific shows and top-tier restaurants.

Fifty percent of the visitors to Las Vegas shop and, believe us, shopping in Vegas is compelling.  Stores range from the expensive to the discount and from the unique to the commonplace. Many travelers are attracted to the expensive shops at Wynn’s, the Bellagio and other hotels, if for no other reason than to  ogle the eye candy (the jewelry is to die for and you can pick up your next Ferrari or Maserati at the Wynn Esplanade). We cover the best places to shop in Las Vegas in a separate section of our Guide.

One of the interesting, recent changes in Las Vegas is that the trappings of luxury now loom large everywhere.   Many visitors come to town to be pampered in ways that they simply can’t find at home or at many resorts. The high-end casino-resorts have expanded their offerings to include luxury lodging options, dedicated concierge service, gourmet-quality restaurants, top-drawer shopping, extravagant stage shows (think KA at the MGM Grand or La Reve at Wynn's) and championship-level sporting events.

With each passing year, a new resort-casino opens that captures the public’s imagination.  At the same time, several of the off-Strip casinos have become trendy, especially the Palms, which caters to players of professional sports, Hollywood stars and the groupies that both attract.

As noted previously, our coverage of the Best Places to Visit in Las Vegas includes the best casinos, best resorts, gambling, best shows, best restaurants, best shopping, best free things to see and do, the area's best daytrips and Las Vegas Travel Facts.

Click any arc of the circle below for our page containing that information. The segment shown in gold indicates the section of the guide you are viewing.

When you want a rest from Vegas, consider our recommendations for day trips, including helicopter tours of the Grand Canyon.

If you need information about another travel destination, try our Destination Guide Index or Googling ThereArePlaces.

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