This is an article about taking a risk. It is an ode to the surprise that Vegas is. It is an invitation to create your own trip, wherever you go. It is a round-up of our (kid-free) weekend in Las Vegas and the best things to do in Las Vegas that aren’t gambling!
Can one post possibly be all those things? I’ve always been an over-achiever.
There is much about Vegas to judge and to hate. First, as Mr. Family Trip says, “It shouldn’t even be there.” Second, as one of our Uber drivers said, “It’s a hustle town, where everyone is hustling you for something.”
Vegas has also become incredibly expensive. Gone are the day of $12 brunch buffets and cheap hot dog stands. Now, Vegas is a foodie town, where gastronomical delights await, served with a hefty bill at the end. I was surprised, given our cheap lodging and our cheap airfare, how much money we spent just to eat and drink in the city.
But Vegas is also one of the only places I’ve been to where you can create whatever kind of vacation you want. Everything and anything are available; nothing is off-limits. There is an experience called the Wreck Room, where you smash things just for fun. You can get married, learn how to fly, enjoy history, drive bulldozers, rent exotic cars. Truly, Vegas has just about anything you want, depending on how much you are willing to pay and what you want to do.
Because of Vegas’s extreme versatility, it means something different for everyone. But it has certainly shed its primary reputation as a Bachelor/ette party city (that seems to belong to Nashville now).
Our trip to Vegas started with a plan to see U2 at Sphere (I am a GenXer who grew up in stonewashed denim, hair in a banana clip, listening to ‘Where the Streets Have No Name’ on my cassette player). But ticket prices were exorbitant, so we flew out with a prayer to get tickets on the secondary market when prices went down (we did), and to otherwise explore what this crazy city is all about.
My last trip to Vegas was in 2008, with my grandma, mom and aunt. I had fun in Vegas then, and I had fun in Vegas this time. Vegas has changed – check out the lack of traffic on that Vegas sign picture below! – but I still find it incredible that a town that is NOT pretty can offer so many beautiful experiences.
Mr. Family Trip and I don’t gamble. I don’t understand blackjack and anything that asks me to use math or numbers will be squarely in the “not fun” category. But without a single slot machine or roulette table, we still had a blast.
Vegas is yours – you get to tell it what to be. There aren’t many other places like that.
Best Things To Do In Las Vegas (that aren't gambling)
Table of Contents
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About Las Vegas
Las Vegas is located in the Mojave desert. The primary area of tourism is The Strip – which is block after block of luxury hotel, resort, and casino. “Downtown” Las Vegas, Fremont Street, is a few miles away from the Strip, and the journey there will take you through some pretty rough areas.
Vegas was founded in 1905 as a railroad town, but it was really put on the map in 1931, when gambling was legalized, the residency requirement for divorce went down to six weeks, and construction on the Hoover Dam started.
Since then, tycoons like Howard Hughes have built strange and marvelous buildings and mob life has become legend. Vegas has an identity all of its own and it just keeps growing. Between 1990 and 2000 the population nearly doubled, increasing by 85.2%. It is the 25th most populated city in the U.S. today.
Top tip:
While it can be fun to wander Vegas, I found I was very glad we had planned ahead. Restaurants fill up quickly and having reservations made weeks in advance was crucial. Also, Vegas is so large and overwhelming, with sensory overload, that it helped to have a general sense of what we might want to do and what restaurants/bars were worth our time.
Other tips:
- You’re going to want to cab or Uber nearly everywhere in the city. Walking between destinations isn’t possible as distances are deceiving. Parking is hard to come by or expensive; driving is painful on the stop-and-go Strip. There is a monorail, but we found the service too limited for our convenience.
- To get out for day trips, you will want a rental car (you can book a tour company if preferred), and rentals can be arranged day-of at nearly any hotel’s lobby desk.
- Vegas does have a winter. December to February daytime highs are in the 60s, with it getting down to the 40s at night. Most pools and all the “day clubs” close during this time.
- February is the wettest month, but Vegas is still pretty dry (they have water restrictions for residents year-round) and hot most of the year.
- If you want to know what to wear and what to pack, check out this article by a local blogger
What to do in Las Vegas
Tour the hotels
The casinos and hotels are THE THING in Vegas, even with all the other activities. Even if you don’t gamble, you must spend time walking around and taking in the opulence and creativity. They have created other worlds in the desert, like mirages for weary travelers.
Our favorites: Bellagio, Venetian, Paris.
It would be hard to see them all – Vegas acts like an oasis as well where things look much closer than they are. But take some time to stroll through a few.
BONUS TIP: I hate the smell of the piped-in, manufactured air in casinos. Luckily, the lobbies are where the hotels put on a show and try to make their grand impression.Â
To take it up a notch, consider a guided audio tour of the Strip that you can do on your own time – complete with stories from the Rat Pack!
See a show
Go see any show, but see something. Start on Vegas.com and check your dates. The classic Vegas experience is going to be any Cirque du Soleil show, of course.Â
Live performances at Sphere are expensive, with one band in residence at a time. But the general Sphere show (while still at $100 per ticket) is surreal and phenomenal.
But every hotel has multiple theaters with live acts from famous pop stars to magicians, to comedy acts, to burlesque. Pick what appeals to you in the moment but you’ve got to see something.
BONUS TIP: Some Tix4Tonight shops sell tickets for 40% off. The catch? The booths are hard to find and they only sell for what is available that night. It’s worth the savings if you don’t care much about what you see or what time, but we found that not to be feasible around our dining reservations.
Visit the sign
This is just such a brilliant tourism/marketing thing, and best because it is so simple. But this is a must-do. Uber drivers will wait. There will also be a line to do this.
Or, get a hop-on hop-off bus tour and let them take you there!
Go hike
Even though, by all accounts and practicalities, Vegas should not exist due to the severe drought conditions, the surrounding desert and landscape are welcoming, stunning and worth exploring as much as you can.
We ended up renting a car and driving to Valley of Fire State Park. We regretted nothing about this. (Interested in catching all of our articles and trips? Be sure you’re subscribed).
Rocks waved in colors from pinks to yellow, bighorn sheep stared at us indifferently, petroglyphs begged to be deciphered, and rock formations similar to those we saw in Arches National Park perched on ledges. It was all magical.
BONUS TIP: If Valley of Fire isn’t your place, consider Red Rock State Park (see notes below). Death Valley National Park can be done as a daytrip, but that felt awfully ambitious to us when there were gorgeous natural parks just a jump away. Additionally, people list Antelope Canyon as a day trip from Las Vegas but that seems crazy to me. That’s a four hour drive – IN ONE DIRECTION! But, since this is all about you creating the trip you want, go there if that’s your dream.
There are guided tours you can arrange to help you with your Valley of Fire experience if you’d prefer to relax and let someone else do the planning.
Watch the Bellagio Fountain
Obviously, you have to do this a la Ocean’s Eleven style and have some Clair de Lune playing in the background. But this is a quick show, free, and entertaining. Plus, it’s iconic.
- Bellagio fountain hours: Mon – Fri 3pm – 6:30 every half hour; 7pm – 12am every 15 minutes.
Sat – Sun 12pm – 6:30pm every half hour; 7pm – 12am every 15 minutes. (Schedule may vary and shows are subject to cancellation due to high winds.)
Visit the Hoover Dam
This monstrosity of a thing is the entire reason Vegas can even be here. It created jobs for thousands at a time when thousands needed jobs. It is an icon; it is an eyesore. The Hoover Dam is something that is so much a part of our culture and our heritage – something we’re just now starting to understand the ramifications of – that it bears a trip.
- You can walk across the free bridge which has views down to the dam.
- You can pay to go to the observation deck and to walk inside. There are guided tours and also a Visitors Center.
BONUS TIP: Your car will be searched before you head into the area at a security guard station.
Visit Lake Mead
Having a few hours to kill one morning, but not feeling overly ambitious, we took advantage of the fact we still had a rental car. We drove out to Lake Mead and walked along the Historic Railroad Tunnel Trail, which has been designated a National Historic Trail.
The entire trail is 7.2 miles out-and-back, so you likely won’t do it all unless you arrange a shuttle service (since out and back would be over 14 miles, and that’s a bit aggressive on a Vegas vacation – there are tacos to be eaten!). But going through the tunnels and getting views of Lake Mead below where, yes, you can see how much the waterline has receded and the Lake has dried up, is memorable.
BONUS TIP: You really want to walk through the tunnels. Depending on where you start, you may be walking away from the Dam, and that’s a good call. The stretch of trail from the last tunnel to the Hoover Dam bridge is pretty uninspiring.
BONUS TIP: A lot of the hiking trails in the region close through the hottest summer months – and for good reason! Even if the trails are not actually closed, don’t hike in the direct summer heat. There is little shade on any of the hiking trails we experienced, and conditions could be dangerous.
Things to do if you have more time (and money)
1– Neon Museum: this just looks so fun but since it was outdoors, it wasn’t an option in the cold rain we experienced.
2- Red Rock State Park: this was covered in snow when we were in Vegas, which was a bummer as we wanted to do this. Next time! If you go, use this blog post to inform your explorations. BONUS TIP: It is a timed entry with limited tickets available every day. If you are going during peak season, buy in advance.
3- Go up the Eiffel Tower at the Paris hotel: tickets are $25/per person and can be purchased in advance or at a kiosk at the elevator.
4- Spin around the observation wheel, the High Roller.
5- Take a kayaking tour on the Colorado River: we really wanted to do this and to see the Emerald Cave but couldn’t work it in. As you know, we love kayaking.
6- Visit the Seven Magic Mountains: this is an art installation south of the city that is free to see and looks so vibrant against the desert sands.
Where to Eat in Las Vegas
Cheap eats
We rolled into town with some serious jetlag as well as general exhaustion. We flew a discount carrier to Vegas, so we had little to no food or beverage during our travel. It was worth the price, but we were ready to chow down. We wanted food that we could really fill up on, that wouldn’t damage the wallet if we needed to inhale intense amounts of food (isn’t travel sexy?).
Across from Circus Circus, ready and waiting for us, was Tacos el Gordo. It was perfect!
We were dazed and overwhelmed by the process – there are different walk up counters to approach depending on the dish you want, and you can order from multiple stations. The menu didn’t try to translate things to English and the meats prepared in front of us, to a cacophony of loud sounds and intense charcoal heat, were not the usuals (think heads and feet). But we figured it out with some help and got some damn good tacos for a good price tag.
Splurge dinner restaurants
There are so many places in Las Vegas to spend hundreds of dollars, gorge oneself, try new dishes, and feel like a gourmand. In reality, just about any celebrity chef can slap their name on a Vegas restaurant inside a casino or hotel, and people come to it (whether or not it’s good).
When getting ready to drop Vegas prices on a meal, it can be hard to decide where to go! I do not recommend just picking a celebrity chef restaurant at random and wandering in.
My first choice had been Delilah Lounge, but getting a table or a reservation there was impossible. I used my go-to website, Eater (which was also really helpful while in Chicago), and cross-referenced their list with other online reviews and blogs.
We ended up at a celebrity chef restaurant (although we didn’t know him because we only watch football, college basketball or Amazing Race on TV):Â Jose Andres. I later learned that his original restaurant which launched his career is Jaleo, which was my go-to night out with girlfriends when I lived in D.C. So apparently Jose and I have been together for decades, I just didn’t know it.
Our splurge dinner was Bazaar Meats by Jose Andres, located inside the Sahara. It was decadent. The decor was spot-on, the menu different than anything we’d experienced, and the food was a journey.
BONUS TIP: Definitely make reservations. Plan to stay a long time. Ask the waiter to help you navigate the menu if you don’t want to do the chef’s choice menu. The wagyu beef looked delicious and was popular, but at $150 for a few ounces, we didn’t try it.Â
Brunch
We’re not breakfast people, but when in Vegas…
I read in multiple places online that brunch at Mon Ami Gabi in the Paris hotel was the best in town.
It didn’t disappoint! The food came out remarkably quick and the weather was agreeable enough to sit outside on the patio with a view of the Bellagio.
BONUS TIP: Reservations are suggested, but there were plenty of open tables when we arrived.
- Mon Ami Gabi online (with a link to reservations)
Dining off the Strip
A place that came highly recommended from multiple sources – Herbs and Rye. You know you are in for a treat when your Uber driver picks you up to take you there and tells you it is “his favorite restaurant in all of Vegas.”
While Herbs and Rye requires a car to get to, we enjoyed it. It is a speakeasy-style through and through.
The bar menu offers dozens of cocktails, all grouped by era. The drinks were an art, the steaks were fantastic (and far cheaper than what we saw on the Strip), and the ambience was sultry and secretive. The service left a lot to be desired, but we still were glad we ate here.
BONUS TIP: Definitely make a reservation. There is also a happy hour pricing listed online that saves you on steaks and drinks.
- Herbs and Rye online (including a link to reservations)
Where to Drink in Las Vegas
There are so many bars and places to purchase an alcoholic beverage in Vegas. It is, after all, one of the things the Sin City is known for.
But since we don’t spend time in the casinos, we were looking for some creative craft cocktails in a cool place.Â
We thoroughly enjoyed the Chandelier Bar in the Cosmopolitan. Drinks here were not cheap (think $20-$25 for a cocktail), but they were well-balanced and had concoctions we had never heard of. With four levels, the tucked-away tables and benches nestled behind purple lights and crystals made it feel like we were hidden. It also, true to its name, felt like we were inside a chandelier hanging in the middle of a Vegas resort.
We took an Uber over to Downtown Vegas, or Fremont Street. This place, which was rebranded and revitalized in 1995, was…. interesting.
According to Wikipedia, the “five-block area features 12.5 million LED lights and 550,000 watts of sound from dusk until midnight during shows held at the top of each hour.” The covered pedestrian walkway was built in front of the original, old casinos in Vegas. Each side of the walkway had vendors selling souvenirs and walk-up bars with everything from alcohol slushies to huge beers.
Here at Fremont Street, prices were lower for a drink, the screen was mesmerizing, the people watching was also topnotch, and there were plenty of places to grab a beverage of choice. During the evenings, the screen is choreographed to music by popular artists and/or the stage hosts bands performing live.Â
Obviously, there are a slew of places to grab a beverage on the Strip, or off (again, Herbs and Rye had the most comprehensive and fun cocktail list I’ve seen).
A couple of notes on Fremont Street...
Fremont Street felt like Vegas’s attempt at Bourbon Street but without the same depth of culture. There are street “performers” that are pretty aggressive, suggesting photos with them, then asking for $80. Hustle culture. This area also seemed to be where people aggregated to ask for money from tourists. Not that much of Vegas is clearly in the “family vacation” vein, but this area in particular we’d probably steer clear off if we had our kids with us.
Overall, our Vegas vacation was a surprise, a pleasant one! We were ready to leave after a few days just due to the pace, the price, and the concrete jungle aspect of the city. But we also left so many interesting things undone that I could see a return trip.
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