What are the best things to see/do in Vegas?

See one of the Circ shows. My favorite is Mystere’ but O is the most famous.
There is also Hover Dam if you want to get away from the glitz and glamour.
It would help if we knew your budget and interests. Active, observing, pampering, music, clubs, extravagance, gambeling,there is any number of ways to spend your money in Vegas. And plenty of people waiting to take it.

There is so much to do. There are rides that will scare you like no other. There is an aquarium that is great to see. In the Luxor they have Criss Angel from Mindfreak and they have shows often. There are many shows of different kinds. i would suggest googling and making some plans and get some reservations for any of the shows you want to go to.

@Summum;
Have you seen that Chris Angel show? It was so bad I was embarrassed for him.

Besides all the partying and clubs which you’ll probably do. Just walking down the strip at night time and seeing the shows outside of the hotels is a nice thing to with the lady. Also you should get dinner reservations for the Stratosphere hotel. They put you at the top and the restaurant spins around very slowly (you cant really feel it spin), but by the time dinner is over you get to view all of Vegas. Night time is the only time to go. Before i went i thought the restaurant was going to be corny but when I got there that was probably the best thing i did, and i’ve been to Vegas 3 times.

Definitely see a show. Pick music or comedy or spectacle (like Blue Man Group or Cirque de Soleil).

Lake Mead is an oasis in the desert. Along with the lake is Hoover Dam (the reason for the lake).

A lot of people like the Ethel M chocolates. You can tour the factory.

@Judi Was is a bad show? I haven’t seen Criss but I have seen him on TV. I am fairly close to Vegas so I have been many times and there is always things going on. Celine Dion was a good show and for me worth every penny. Smile

If you DO play the slot machines, downtown pays much more on slots, than the strip. The downtown casinos are paid for and thus bigger paybacks. If you stay on the strip, Circus Circus is a fun casino and you can win big on the 50 cent slot machines.

There is so much entertainment in Vegas, that its difficult to suggest just one.

Visit the Grand Casino and Hotel, if you see nothing else. The sites there will amaze you and your girlfriend.

@Summum, his stuff is more impressive on the street than on the stage.

The Stratosphere dinner is big bucks, but definitely a great experience. We timed ours to catch the sunset. Sahara might still have dollar blackjack during the week (if you want to gamble cheap). There’s another cheap casino in front and to the south of Circus Circus called Slots of Fun. It’s open-air that can be fun and cheesy. Across the street and north of the Wynn is the Peppermill, which is both an ‘80s throwback lounge (with pink and blue neon, mirrors, and fires in the center of fountains) and a good breakfast spot. Either the Mirage or TI has the white tiger/dolphin exhibit and if you go to the right underwater window the dolphins will respond to your gestures. One of my favorite things to do is to have a late afternoon lunch on the Strip-side patio at Mon Ami Gabi in Paris. Great food, great people watching and if you stay past 3 p.m. you’ll see the Bellagio fountains across the street. If something good is playing definitely go see it at the 7-story IMAX theater at the Palms (Brendan Theaters). It’s an amazing experience. The Imperial Palace has a sweet vintage/classic car gallery (every car is for sale). Here are free tickets for that. Something kind of offbeat and fun for a couple of hours is the Pinball Museum/Hall of Fame with over 200 playable pinball machines from the ‘40s to today. The shark reef at Mandalay Bay is also impressive, as is Burger Bar- a gourmet burger experience.

I haven’t tried the go-karts or indoor skydiving, but I bet those are fun.

smartervegas.com has a comprehensive list of attractions and discount codes.

Also, Rosemary’s Restaurant, which is a good ways off the Strip has an amazing Prix Fixe lunch.

Make sure you have breakfast at Hash House A-Go-Go. Not good for you by any means, but you must do it once in life.
In the parking garage adjacent to the Hash House is a classic car museum. Very fun.
If you like magic, check out Penn and Teller at Rio. Avoid Criss Angel
The Cirque shows are good, but over priced IMHO
If you go to Hoover Dam GO EARLY. The crowd “piles up” as the day wears on.
The best Bar is in the new Cosmopolitan hotel. It is the only cool bar that sits right on the strip. Great people watching.
Go to Tao for a great dinner “experience”. Palazzo or Ceasar’s can’t remember which.
Best and most lively craps is “downtown”. They covered part of Fremont Street, and it is sort of like an indoor mall. Big light show evey half hour at night.
The Atomic Bomb museum is pretty cool. As you may know, they used to test the Bomb right down the road.
Free lion exhibit in the MGM.
Make sure you see the water fountain show at Belagio (free). There is an out door cafe (Mon Ami, perhaps, or something like that) across the street at Paris. Get a table, have a drink and watch the show.
Ride the monorail to all the stops. Kind of fun.
You will run out of time, so plan your moves ahead.

Not sure how much you have to spend, so I’m going to give you the low to medium budget stuff that I’ve enjoyed.

Go to the top of the Stratosphere tower. You don’t need to eat at the restaurant (one floor below) because it’s very expensive, but you can get a soft drink from the bar at the top. Go at night for fabulous views of the lights of Las Vegas. Not sure if you like scary rides (I don’t) but there are several outside, on the top of the tower. I just enjoyed it for the photo ops.

Also, go to the top of the Eiffel Tower at night so you can see the dancing fountains at the Bellagio across the street. Bring a jacket for both of these towers because it gets cold up there. The Paris Hotel (where the Eiffel Tower is located) has probably the prettiest interior of any hotel/casino on the strip. All of the casinos have penny slots. Stick with those and avoid the higher priced slots (or just try one quarter slot for fun, with only one quarter). The Paris Le Village Buffet is really good (although a little pricey) but if you like seafood, you’ll love it. There’s an indoor hallway of shops and restaurants that makes you feel like you are actually outside, it’s very pretty and there’s a very good, inexpensive crepe shop called La Creperie that makes delicious sweet and savory crepes.

Most of the buffets in Vegas are pretty tasty, but prices vary from inexpensive to very expensive. One of my favorites in the lower range is the Feast Buffet at Palace Station in the Downtown area. The food is good and there’s a huge variety. I recall getting some awesome garlic bread there. Before or after you eat there, you should take in the “Fremont Experience” which is this huge pixellated vaulted video screen that covers the street. If you like technology, you will enjoy this. It’s within walking distance of the Palace Station and all of the old casinos from the Golden Age (like Binions) are there. These are the casinos that you see when you watch a movie from the 80’s or before, when the street that went between them was accesible to cars. It’s much nicer now, that they’ve added the video screen cover. There’s lots of great things to photograph in the downtown area. Go at night. There’s always a very cheap, but tasty, prime rib dinner special in these hotels too.

If you want to go to the biggest, most extensive buffet in Vegas (with pretty good food and a mid-range price) go to the Carnival World Buffet at the Rio hotel.

The strip is terrific for photos, food and people watching. Try to walk outside both at night and during the day time to get a total sense of the strip. The best end (because it has a bunch of great hotels clustered together, accessible by interconnecting trams) is the south end. There you will find the MGM Grand, New York New York, Excalibur, Mandalay Bay, the Tropicana and Luxor which is currently showing the exhibition Bodies which I think you will especially like considering your line of work! All of these hotel/casinos have very interesting interiors with lots of shops and restaurants.

At the mid to North end of the strip are the Bellagio (which has one of the most unique and beautiful glass chandelier sculptures called Fiori di Como by artist Dale Chihuly. There’s also an art museum and a botanical garden. The buffet is one of the best, but also one of the most expensive. Don’t miss the free dancing fountain show in front of the hotel. Also at this end is the Venetian which also has an indoor (but looks like outdoor) meandering walkway complete with real gondolas floating down the “river” and lots of shops and restaurants. Right next door to the Venetian is the very fun Madame Tussad’s Wax Museum which has a very nice statue of Patrick Stewart! You can usually get discount tickets from the local free entertainment magazines that they have at all of the hotels. And there is the free, live outdoor pirate show at Treasure Island

Make sure you get to the off strip Hard Rock Hotel and Casino this is a fun one to go to in the middle of the night and it has an extensive collection of rock and roll memoribilia in both the casino and the Hard Rock Cafe restaurant. I prefer lunch at the main restaurant, but for middle of the night excursions to this casino, the Mr. Lucky’s cafe is open 24 hours a day and serves diner style food and breakfasts for a reasonable price.

And if you like to see beautiful scenery, don’t miss Red Rock Canyon It’s about 25 minutes west of the strip. There is a driving loop that takes about 45 minutes, which takes you around starting from a really nice visitors center/gift shop, then there are small parking lots and porta potties at the trail heads (if you want to get out and do a little bit of hiking, but you can just drive and stop and take photos if you want). The photo ops are magnificent!

And if you have time, try not to miss the tour (and brand new suspension bridge) at Lake Mead Hoover Dam. The dam, the lake and the bridge will give you breath taking photo ops and the tour of the dam is pretty interesting and informative. If you like to take photos, don’t miss this opportunity.

And last, but not least, try to see at least one “impersonators” show, whether it’s fake Beatles, Kiss, Cher, or whatever you like. There are great free shows to see these “famous” folks at many of the hotel lounges, or you can pay to see review types of shows in the theaters at most of the hotels. When you arrive in Vegas, make sure to pick up the free entertainment magazines that are in the lobbys of all the hotels. They will have all of the current listings off all shows (free and pay) plus all of the restaurants, buffets and discount tickets to shows and attractions (like the wax museum) Plus it will have a map so you can find what you’re looking for. I’ve seen a couple of the “Beatles” shows, including The Fab Four and it was loads of fun!!!

Be safe and have a wonderful time!

@Summum; Celine was worth every penny to me too I got to see her free! Great sets!

@Judi I paid $100 per seat to see her and we were up on the balcony but we could see everything. It was amazing when the Baby Grand Piano went across the top of the stage. I loved it all and would go again. She has signed a new contract and will be performing for the next 5 years.

We had connections and got free seats. I’ve also seen KA 3 times.