Best Vacation Spots In Las Vegas Nevada
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You don't have to look far for the best vacation spots in Las Vegas. Whether it's luxury hotels, entertainment, hilarious headliners, sexy production shows or smooth lounge acts, action-packed adventures, roller coaster rides, neon lights, gambling, and nouveau cuisine, Las Vegas is the top destination city for over-the-top action, vacations and business conferences. They call this vacation spot the Entertainment Capital of the World, Sin City, and the City of Second Chances. But whatever you call it, the rules are a little looser in Vegas. Of course, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

Best Vacation Spots in Las Vegas

1. Best Vacation Spots in Las Vegas: Lake Mead and Hoover Dam
2. Best Vacation Spots in Las Vegas: Casinos on the Strip
3. Best Vacation Spots in Las Vegas: Downtown Casinos
4. Best Vacation Spots in Las Vegas: Weddings
5. Best Vacation Spots in Las Vegas: Attractions at the Casinos
6. Twenty Best Vacation Spots in Las Vegas Beside the Casinos
7. Video: Best Vacation Spots in Las Vegas
8. How Las Vegas Got Started
9. The Economy of Las Vegas
10. The Weather in Las Vegas
11. Transportation In Las Vegas

Best Vacation Spots in Las Vegas: Lake Mead and Hoover Dam

In 1935, the Hoover Dam was built across the Colorado River, thirty miles southeast of Las Vegas. The dam created Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States. This best vacation spot is one of the seven wonders of the industrial world. Hoover Dam provides power for Nevada, Arizona and Southern California, while Lake Mead provides water and recreation for this desert city. Lake Mead draws most of its water from snow melt in the Western Colorado Rockies

Best Vacation Spots in Las Vegas: Casinos on the Strip

Casinos are the best-known vacation spots in Las Vegas. Glamorous resort hotels are lined up and down the four-mile strip of Las Vegas Boulevard just outside the city limits. In fact, Las Vegas has 18 of the 21 largest hotels in the world, and the city is constantly remaking itself. Seen from space, the Las Vegas metropolitan area is the brightest city on Earth.

Whatever your favorite casino game, you can find it here: poker, sports betting, horse racing, video poker, blackjack, craps, keno, Pai Gow, Pai Gow Poker, Mini-Pai Gow Poker, roulette, slot machines and wheel of fortune. Most of the casinos have classes for beginners. Remember that the odds always favor the house. That's how casinos make their money.

On the South end of the Strip, the end nearest the McCarran International Airport, are the big vacation spots, the resorts and casinos: MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay, Tropicana, Monte Carlo, New York-New York, Excalibur, and Luxur.

The Center of the strip, about 20 minutes from the airport, is where you'll find Ballagio, Planet Hollywood, Bally's, Harrah's, Flamingo, the Mirage, TI, and Caesars Palace.

The north end of the strip, 30 minutes from the airport, has some of the most deluxe hotel-casinos, the Encore, the Venetian, the Palazzo, Wynn Las Vegas. Trump Hotel is a luxury hotel with no smoking and no gambling.

On Paradise Road, parallel to the strip, you'll find the Convention Center, Las Vegas Hilton, Hard Rock, Hooters, and Platinum. But there are other vacation spots in Vegas, too.

Best Vacation Spots in Las Vegas: Downtown Casinos

North from the Strip are the Downtown casinos, where rooms are less expensive, the table stakes are lower and games are said to be looser, which means your odds are a little better. Some of the Downtown casinos are: Golden Nugget, Four Queens, Binion's Gambling Hall and Hotel, Fremont Casino, Plaza Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas Club, Fitzgeralds Las Vegas, Golden Gate Hotel and Casino, and California Hotel and Casino. Brush up on your card games like Texas Holdem Poker.

Best Vacation Spots in Las Vegas: Weddings

Las Vegas is known as a vacation spot for weddings. It is called the wedding capital of the world. To get a marriage license, no blood test or waiting period is required. At least 150,000 brides and grooms get married here each year. Many hotels, restaurants, churches and specialized wedding chapels will perform the wedding ceremony on the spot. You can even get married at a golf course, or a drive-through wedding chapel, at the civil Marriage Commission, or by an Elvis impersonator. Graceland Wedding Chapel, a local landmark, been the site of many celebrity weddings.

Best Vacation Spots in Las Vegas: Attractions at the Casinos

The hotel-resort-casino vacation spots have a million ways to entertain you, even without gambling.

The Sirens of TI, formerly known as Treasure Island, is a sexy outdoor musical production where Siren ladies battle pirates.

The dancing fountains at the Bellagio are a delightful vacation spot that is also free. Everyone gathers at Bellagio to watch the dancing fountains performing with lights and music every half hour.

Flamingo has exotic birds roaming near the swimming pool.

Lion Habitat at MGM Grand has big cats to see up close.

The Secret Garden at the Mirage has white tigers and the Dolphin Habitat. This is a vacation spot for animals lovers of all ages.

At New York-New York you can walk across a mini-Brooklyn Bridge and ride the roller coaster through a scale model of New York City.

Tour Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay for fish and reptiles. Inside Red Square, the bar is a block of ice.

There are thrilling rides at Stratosphere Tower, 112 floors high, where you'll ride Big Shot, X Scream and Insanity. This is a popular vacation spot.

The Tank at Golden Nugget downtown has a huge water slide and an enclosed ride through a shark tank.

Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum is at the Venetian.

The Mirage has an exploding volcano with glowing lava.

Caesars Palace has a popular animatronics show with laser lights and a dazzling modern-day Roman Empire.

Wynn Las Vegas and Encore has a quiet vacation spot that features a conservatory and gardens where 50 gardeners look after the flowers.

Adventuredome at Circus Circus is a vacation spot with a 5-acre indoor amusement park. There are 25 rides, indoor roller coaster, pirate ship, flume ride, bumper cars, laser-tag, rock-climbing, and the Fun House Express.

At the Sahara, take a race car ride on the speedway, or ride the roller coaster, Speed, zipping along at 70 mph to 200 feet above the strip.

The Excalibur offers a Midway Fair and Fantasy Special Effects Virtual Rides, like a virtual log ride, a dinosaur ride and Sponge Bob. It is another example of Vegas vacation spots for the kids and young at heart.

The Fremont Street Experience downtown is a pedestrian mall with a music and light show that is amazing, to say the least.

Many casinos have at least one lounge, and often more, with free admission and live performances. What's not to like about a free vacation spot?

Pick up tickets for one of the many big-name stage performances at Vegas vacation spots.

Twenty Best Vacation Spots in Las Vegas Beside the Casinos

• The Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas neon sign is a Las Vegas Strip landmark vacation spot designed by Betty Willis and built in 1959. Be sure to take a picture.
• During your vacation, visit Hoover Dam and Lake Mead. These are inexpensive vacation spots. At Lake Mead, you can scuba dive into a real sunken town, ride a paddle wheel boat or take in the sun. There are water sports, boating, fishing, marinas and ferries.
• The Southern Nevada Zoological-Botanical Park, informally known as the Las Vegas Zoo, has three acres and 150 species of plants and animals. This vacation spot includes a small gem exhibit and a gift shop. Exotic chickens and peacocks roam freely on the grounds.
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  Lehman Caves, Las Vegas
  Lehman Caves is a set of remarkable limestone caverns in Great Basin National Park near Las Vegas, and a thrilling vacation spot. Daily vacation tours are available all year.
• Retail shops are some Las Vegas vacation spots, too. At Planet Hollywood you'll find the Miracle Mile Shops. Across the street, the Forum Shops at Caesars offer lots of top-tier brand name stores. Around the Venetian canals are shops, and nearby is Barney's New york and Palazzo. Fashion Show Mall is across from Wynn Las Vegas.
• Bonanza Gift Shop is a landmark located on the Las Vegas Strip between the Sahara Hotel and Casino and the Stratosphere Las Vegas. It calls itself the World's Largest Gift Shop with over 40,000 sq.ft. of space.
• GameWorks, the famous entertainment chain, is a giant arcade with 250 interactive video games including pool, sports and dances. GameWorks entertainment complex is in the Showcase mall next to MGM Grand.
• Pole Position Raceway lets you race miniature electric cars competitively on an indoor track.
• At Las Vegas Motor Speedway you can drive a real 600-horsepower stock car at the Richard Petty Driving Experience, or ride shotgun with a professional driver. It's a vacation spot to take your breath away.
• 
  Valley of Fire, Las Vegas
  Take a ride to the Valley of Fire, a gorgeous vacation spot. It is 50 miles NE of Vegas, a breathtaking natural wonder and state park. The Valley of Fire is world renowned for its beautiful rock formations and red sand. You can rent a dune buggy, take a guided buggy tour, go by helicopter, or hike. It is also one of the top off-road riding areas in the United States. Trekkies will recognize many of the early Star Trek sets here.
• 
  Indoor Skydiving, Las Vegas
  Indoor sky diving sounds impossible, but not in las Vegas. On Convention Center Drive, Vegas Indoor Skydiving lets you feel what it is like to float, hover and fly in a stream of air. Instruction and guides are available. You might have seen this vacation spot on TV.
• Las Vegas Springs Preserve has desert gardens, hiking trails, live desert animals, and experiences of the people, animals and culture of the Mohave Desert. The Nevada State Museum is on the site of this vacation spot.
• Red Rock Canyon is a spectacular natural vista.
• Las Vegas hosts the popular annual Helldorado Days, or Rodeo Days, a cowboy festival, parade, carnival and a professional rodeo.
• Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort, built by early Mormons in 1855, has been restored in Downtown, a historic vacation spot.
• The Atomic Testing Museum tells the history of nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site. There are testing devices and pop culture from the period. In the Ground Zero Theater you can watch a simulated nuclear test.
• If you are looking for the Liberace Museum, I'm sorry to say this vacation spot has been closed. It used to be 5 minutes east of McCarran Airport, with souvenirs of the piano genius celebrity.
• Another unusual vacation spot is the Pinball Hall of Fame. It has over 100 working and playable pinball machines, and historical exhibits.
• If you vacation during the winter months, there's skiing at Mt. Charleston.

Video: Best Vacation Spots in Las Vegas

How Las Vegas Got Started

Once home to many Native American tribes, the Las Vegas Valley has been populated for 2,000 years. What is now a desert used to have artesian wells and green meadows. Vegas in Spanish means meadows. Located in Clark County, Nevada, Las Vegas is in the south tip of the state, bordering Arizona and Southern California. Las Vegas started as a stopover on the pioneer trails to the west, and became a popular railroad town in the early 1900s. It was a shipping point for all the mines in the area.

After the Nevada State Legislature made gambling legal in 1931, organized crime figures like Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, Meyer Lansky and other mob figures built or funded the early Vegas casinos. Then in the 1960s, billionaire Howard Hughes bought some Las Vegas casino-hotels, and the federal government cleaned up the organized crime. Now Las Vegas is a major vacation spot and the 28th largest city in the United States.

The Economy of Las Vegas

The business of Las Vegas and the basis for its economy is tourism, gaming, and conventions, all of which support the retail, dining and hospitality industries. The world's two largest Fortune 500 gaming companies, Harrah's Entertainment and MGM Mirage, have their headquarters here. Nellis Air Force Base, located 8 miles northeast of Las Vegas, is the biggest and busiest base in the Air Force, a major center for air combat training. Las Vegas is one of the fastest growing communities in the U.S. To diversify its economy, the city is targeting light manufacturing, banking and commerce. In 2005, the World Market Center opened, the world's largest furniture wholesale showroom and marketplace. The World Jewelry Center is a similar marketplace planned for the jewelry industry.

In the state of Nevada, there is no individual income tax and no corporate income tax. It is relatively easy to incorporate a business here.

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas, is about two miles east of the Strip. The University of Nevada Medical School has a campus near downtown Las Vegas. Several national colleges, including the University of Phoenix, have campuses in the Las Vegas area.

The Weather in Las Vegas

Las Vegas lies in the Mojave Desert, with the Spring Mountain to its west. There is sunshine all year, and very little rainfall. In the summer, temperatures often exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit, with very low humidity. Winter is short and mild with temperatures between 40 and 60 degrees. Snow is very rare in the Las Vegas Valley. Spring and fall are temperate.

Transportation In Las Vegas

McCarran International Airport is the major airport for international and domestic flights into the Las Vegas Valley. Other aviation traffic uses the smaller North Las Vegas Airport and Henderson Executive Airport.

Traffic on the strip is hectic, but since you are on vacation, you can park your car and walk while you are on the strip or downtown. Parking is free at most casinos and other vacation spots. The Las Vegas Monorail runs on the east side of the Strip from Tropicana Avenue to Sahara Road.You can travel the strip on double-deck buses known as The Deuce, a tourist trolley service. The Deuce runs every 15 minutes, from the southern end of the Strip almost to the Fremont Street Experience downtown, with stops near every casino. Two small, free monorail trams also operate on the strip 24 hours a day. One tram runs between Treasure Island and The Mirage, while the other tram serves Mandalay Bay, Luxor, and Excalibur.

Taxis can only pick up riders at hotel entrances or designated spots. Free shuttles are offered by major casinos to specific destinations and vacation spots. Some of the shuttles have a policy requiring a room key from an affiliated casino.

I hope you have a wonderful vacation.
I wish you a very happy day.

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Best Vacation Spots in Las Vegas