Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
way (and if you want to hop aboard a roller coaster or dash inside a casino museum,
more power to you). Head off the Strip for dinner to the superb Lotus of Siam
(p. 101), and then rush back to take in a show (for options, see p. 181). Afterwards
hike the center of the Strip again—it looks totally different and even more dazzling
at night—and be sure to pause at the Bellagio fountains.
IF YOU HAVE 2 DAYS
On your first day, use the 1-day itinerary above; for
your second day, get out of town. Nothing in Vegas tops the majesty of the desert
scenery surrounding it. In the morning head to Red Rock Canyon for a driving
tour or hike; the intense heat won't have set in yet if you're there in summer (it's
just a 20-min. drive from the Strip). In the afternoon, stop at one of Vegas' more
interesting museums, either the superb Atomic Testing Museum (p. 130) or that
kingdom of kitsch, the Liberace Museum (p. 131).
IF YOU HAVE 3 DAYS
You can divide up your time along the Strip more sen-
sibly. Spend your first day simply exploring the area from the Luxor to the
Bellagio, perhaps taking in the King Tut Exhibit (p. 128),
BODIES . . . The
Exhibition
(p. 143), or the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art (p. 127). Cap off the day
with a special dinner, a show and a stroll along the Strip. Day two can be spent
exploring the central and northern reaches of the Strip; head to the Guggenheim
(p. 126) or Madame Tussaud's (p. 128) in the Venetian; wander Wynn Las Vegas,
TI, and the Mirage; try the Sahara for some $3 blackjack; or go to the
Stratosphere for the tallest thrill rides in the world. Have a nice, long dinner and
then head to a dueling piano bar or music lounge, perhaps ending your night at
one of Las Vegas' famous dance clubs (see chapter 9 for information on which
option will best suit your tastes). Then make Day 3 your day to do the desert and
the off-Strip museums we recommend above. For evening activities, you could see
another show or simply try a new bar or club.
IF YOU HAVE 4 DAYS OR MORE
Follow the 3-day itinerary above and add
a day at Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, and/or Valley of Fire. You may also want to
throw in a backstage tour of Star Trek: The Experience or that showgirl extrava-
ganza
Jubilee!
(p. 171), or try indoor sky-diving (p. 150). Or you could just gam-
ble some more . . . it's Vegas baby, and nobody's judging.
LAS VEGAS' ICONIC ATTRACTION: THE STRIP
Gaudy, glamorous, goofy—whatever your take on the Las Vegas Strip is, there's
no denying that it's one of a kind. You could travel the four corners of the globe
and up to Mars and back and still find no other place like it. Sin City's signature
attraction is actually 4
1
⁄
2
miles long, running from Las Vegas' own “Space Needle,”
the Stratosphere Hotel, all the way south to the glittering, bronze glass box that
is the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino. Someday soon, I have no doubt, it will
extend even further in both directions, when the three massive corporations that
control most of it get tired of bartering limited $20 million-per-acre lots back and
forth. But for now, that's how it stands, and seven of the world's ten largest hotels
sit on its flanks, each one more stupendous—or silly (it depends on your point of
view)—than the next, offering a “greatest hits” whirlwind tour of the world's archi-
tecture. When traffic is light—which is a rare early dawn occurrence nowadays—
