74 Best Sights in Las Vegas, Nevada

Everything at Planet Hollywood is designed to make ordinary people feel like stars. The main attraction in recent years has been Criss Angel MINDFREAK. Because the property is obsessed with celebrities, it often hosts residencies like the recent ones by Keith Urban and Miranda Lambert, as well as world-premiere events that attract stars from all over the world. There's something for everybody in the on-site Miracle Mile Shops, including clothing stores, restaurants, and more. Just be sure you bring a map, as the corridors of the mall wind around in circles and it's easy to get lost.

"Fat Mike" Burkett of NOFX is behind this two-story, 12,000 square-foot tribute and repository of in-your-face rock. The displays are organized by geography and eras—such as "1970s Los Angeles" or "1980s San Francisco Bay Area," complete with QR codes linking to relevant playlists. Along with the expected array of photos, stage get-ups, guitars, T-shirts and hand-written set lists (London Calling by The Clash), you'll find surprises such as monster masks, a partial bottle of Jack Daniels waiting for the late "Lemmy" of Motorhead, and even a . . . melodica? Yes, it was played onstage by Big D & The Kids Table. Something else you might not expect: it's pretty quiet. Because the music changes from room to room, nothing rattles the walls. The museum occasionally hosts stand-up comics, and guided tours are offered several times a month by veteran rockers. The full-service museum even hosts weddings and a tattoo studio. An indoor/outdoor bar called The Triple Down is a spin-off of the punk-enough Double Down near the UNLV campus.

Stretching 35 miles around the River Mountains, this multiuse paved trail is perfect for hiking, biking, running, jogging, and horseback riding. For a stretch, the trail parallels the shores of Lake Mead, and it connects with a historic spur that leads from the Lake Mead National Recreation Area to a parking lot just north of Hoover Dam. The route runs through Boulder City, Henderson, and Lake Las Vegas. You can rent bikes at All Mountain Cyclery ( www.allmountaincyclery.com) in Boulder City. The most popular trailheads are at the Alan Bible Visitor Center inside Lake Mead National Recreation Area and Bootleg Canyon Park, at the north end of Yucca Street in Boulder City. But you can also reach the trail from the eastern end of Equestrian Drive and from the Railroad Pass Hotel & Casino, both in Henderson.

Churchgoers staying in the South Strip area stagger into this beautiful Roman Catholic church for mass seven days a week. Among the more popular offerings are the Sunday masses, with three in English, one in Spanish and one in traditional Latin.

Frustrated after a losing streak in the casinos? This Town Square spot offers a “rage room” (in which customers pay to smash stuff to smithereens), axe-throwing, and splatter-paint experiences. Talk about a way to work out a bit of aggression. You can smash for as few as 20 or as many as 30 minutes, or you can organize smash parties for four, six, or more; there even are Date Nights because "the couple that smashes together stays together." Axe-throwing sessions run from 30 minutes to 2 hours (no experience necessary, and there are specials on Throwdown Tuesdays!). Up to six people can splatter-paint canvases in two sizes, so you get a souvenir to take home. Team-building events and birthday parties also are available.

It wouldn't be Vegas enough to build the world's largest slot machine and just leave it there. Now thrill-seekers can take off from a platform atop the 11-story slot machine and soar over Fremont Street. There are two options to zip: one line that averages 70 feet above the ground and a second that averages 110 feet. If you'd rather just play the big slot machine, you can do that, too. It is Vegas, after all.

About an hour from Downtown—and about halfway up Kyle Canyon Road to the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area—you'll find this eco-friendly visitor center, which opened in 2015 and welcomes those heading to Mt. Charleston. Spend some time perusing the educational exhibits about the ecosystems and microclimates in the region's tallest mountains. Then hike one of the short interpretive trails for a sense of what the cactus- and bristlecone pine–strewn landscape is like. In winter, a modest ski resort operates at the top of Lee Canyon.

This 180-acre complex defies traditional categories, combining botanical gardens, hiking trails, live animal exhibits, an ultramodern interactive museum, and a playground. The overarching theme of the facility is the rich diversity and delicate balance of nature in southern Nevada's deserts. Kids love the simulations of the flash-flood ravine, the re-created Southern Paiute Indian village (complete with grass huts!), and the trackless train, aboard which an engineer explains the role trains played in settling the West. The NV Energy Foundation Sustainability Gallery teaches about eco-friendly living, and a 2016 addition, Boomtown 1905, re-creates a streetscape designed to evoke turn-of-the-20th-century Vegas. There are also a few miles of walking trails that swing you by archaeological sites and may—if you're lucky—bring you face-to-face with some of the local fauna, such as bats, peregrine falcons, and Gila monsters.

The Springs Café provides famished eco-explorers with sustainable choices, like ethically raised cheeseburgers and environmentally mindful salads. The Nevada State Museum, with its famous fossil Ichthyosaur and a number of exhibits on local mining, is on the site (and included with admission) as well.

T-Mobile Arena has probably become most widely known beyond Las Vegas as the home of the National Hockey League's Vegas Golden Knights, an expansion team that reached the Stanley Cup finals during its inaugural season. It's also a popular concert venue, attracting acts from George Strait to Ariana Grande to Kiss. And it's rich in amenities, with a variety of restaurants, bars, and guest services. When there's downtime, you can tour the arena's backstage areas, but these tours are offered only sporadically.

Travel down to the bottom of the North Atlantic where the "ship of dreams" rests after grazing an iceberg in 1912. A visit to the 25,000-square-foot exhibit inside Luxor Las Vegas starts with a boarding pass representing an actual passenger. Visitors tour replicas of guest compartments, the grand staircase, and the promenade deck that movie fans will recognize from a little film by James Cameron. Among the 350 emotionally arresting artifacts: luggage, personal toiletries, a bottle of unopened champagne, and pieces of the ship, including a 15-ton section of the iron hull. You can even see what it would feel like to touch an iceberg.

The 50-foot-tall neon cowboy outside the Pioneer Club has been waving to Las Vegas visitors since 1947 (though, truth be told, he was actually replaced by a newer version in 1951). His neon sidekick, Vegas Vicki, went up across the street in 1980, was retired in 2017, then unretired—complete with her own lounge—in Downtown's new Circa Resort & Casino.

This theme hotel re-creates Italy's most romantic city with meticulous reproductions of Venetian landmarks. As such, this gilded resort is a hit with foodies, shoppers, and high rollers alike. From the Strip you enter through the Doge's Palace, which stands on a walkway over a large lagoon. Inside, Renaissance characters roam the public areas, singing opera and performing mime. Walking from the hotel lobby into the casino is one of the great experiences in Las Vegas: overhead, reproductions of famous frescoes adorn the ceiling; underfoot, the geometric design of the flat marble floor provides an Escher-like optical illusion of climbing stairs. On a lagoon in front of the resort visitors can take gondola rides and look out on the Strip; gondola rides also are available in the canals that thread through Grand Canal Shoppes upstairs. The Venetian is especially known for its restaurant scene (including several that have opened in 2025) and the heralded bar project, Electra Cocktail Club, has gotten rave reviews for its rum, agricole, and mezcal specialty cocktails. Note that there is a direct walking route from The Venetian to the Sphere, so you may pass through on your way to a concert or event there.

An endless variety of wedding themes and add-on shtick is available, ranging from elegant to casual to camp. You can say your vows in the presence of Elvis, the Blues Brothers, or Liberace. Live webcams stream nuptials on the chapel's website in real time. Of the four chapels, one has a Doo-Wop Diner theme.

One of the largest outfitters in the Las Vegas Valley, McGhie's rents equipment for skiing, bicycling, and sandboarding. This location, in downtown Blue Diamond, which is just west of the city in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area (there are others in Henderson and on South Fort Apache in Las Vegas), specializes in bikes—convenient, since it's right on the doorstep of 125 miles of hard-core mountain biking. The company rents bikes individually, and also offers a host of guided tours around Red Rock and beyond. Unlike other outfitters in the area, McGhie's also rents bikes specifically for kids.