Las Vegas - A City Guide

Introduction

Las Vegas is the most populated city in Nevada, United States. The city was founded in the first decade of the 20th century, and is a major vacation, shopping, and gambling destination. The center of gambling in the US, Las Vegas is sometimes called Sin City due to the popularity of legalized gambling, availability of alcoholic beverages any time (like all of Nevada), various forms and degrees of adult entertainment. The nickname favored by local government and promoters of tourism is The Entertainment Capital of the World. The city's glamorous image has made it a popular setting for films and television programs.

History

Major events in Las Vegas' history include:

¢ Establishment of Las Vegas as a railroad town (May 15, 1905).
¢ Legalization of gambling (March 19, 1931).
¢ Completion of Hoover Dam (October 9, 1936).
¢ Opening of Bugsy Siegel's Flamingo Hotel on what would become the Las Vegas Strip (December 26, 1946).
¢ Above-ground testing of nuclear bombs (1951 to 1963).
¢ The floods of 1955, 1984, 1999, and 2003.
¢ MGM Grand Hotel fire (November 21, 1980), the worst disaster in Nevada history.
¢ Opening of the Mirage (November 22, 1989), this began the era of mega resort casinos.

Place of interest

The city and surrounding areas offer many attractions for both visitors and locals to enjoy. Just walking on the Strip and gazing at the gaudy, garish, absurd wonder of it all can occupy quite a lot of time. This is the number-one activity in Vegas; at night and there are shows and plenty of other nighttime entertainment.

There are also plenty of out-of-town sightseeing options, like Hoover Dam (a major tourist destination), Red Rock Canyon, and nexus-of-all-conspiracy-theories Area 51, along with excursions to the Grand Canyon.

The main attractions for the tourists are the casinos and their free shows. Free hotel attractions, such as Bellagio's water-fountain ballet, The Mirage's volcano and white-tiger exhibit, and the masquerade show at the Rio and the utter piece of hooey that replaced the pirate show at TI at the Mirage.

Museums & Art Galleries

Besides the casinos another attraction in Las Vegas is its museums. These museums are very much attached with the history of Las Vegas, better to say, with the history of America.

¢ Boulder City / Hoover Dam Museum,
¢ Bruno's Indian Museum,
¢ Central Nevada Museum,
¢ Clark County Heritage Museum,
¢ Guinness World of Records Museum and Gift Shop

are some of those museums. Other than these some art museums and auto museums are there in Las Vegas. Las Vegas Art Museum, George L. Sturman Museum of Fine Art, Southern Nevada Museum of Fine Arts are some of arts museums.

Shopping

Shopping in Vegas is endless and it's a shop-till-you-drop kind of city. Some extensive malls and many hotels have comprehensive, and sometimes highly themed, shopping arcades. The most notable of the arcades are in Caesars Palace, Aladdin, and The Venetian. In addition to the malls, outlets, and shops, it's a good idea to drive to Maryland Parkway, which runs parallel to the Strip on the east and has just about one of everything: Target, Toys "R" Us, several major department stores, Tower Records, major drugstores, some alternative-culture stores (tattoo parlors and hip clothing stores), and so forth. Las Vegas has a big factory-outlet center just a few miles past the southern end of the Strip. Vegas has quite a few antiques stores, nearly two dozen, of consistent quality and price, nearly all located within a few blocks of each other.

Food & Drink

Among the many images that come to mind when people think of Las Vegas are cheap food deals, bargains so good the food is practically free. Some of the big names are Pinot, Le Cirque, Alizé, Aqua, Aureole, Olives, Lutèce, Border Grill, Nobu and Rosemary's Restaurant. Las Vegas has some theme restaurants like The House of Blues, Harley Davidson Café, The Hard Rock Café, the Rainforest Café and Margaritaville.

Universities

University Of Nevada-Las Vegas is the main university located in Las Vegas. Among other universities and community colleges University Of Phoenix-Nevada, Community College Of Southern Nevada, Community College Of Southern Nevada, Southern Nevada University Of Cosmetology are some notable entities.

Sports

Las Vegas isn't known for its sports teams. Except for minor-league baseball and hockey, the only consistent spectator sports are those at UNLV. The Las Vegas Motor Speedway is a main venue for car racing and should draw major events to Las Vegas.

But since the city has several top-notch sporting arenas, there are important annual events that take place in Las Vegas. The PGA Tour's Las Vegas Senior Classic is held each April in nearby Summerlin, and the Las Vegas Invitational takes place in Las Vegas each October. The National Finals Rodeo is held in UNLV's Thomas and Mack Center each December.

Hotels & Accommodation

If there's one thing Vegas has, its hotels, big hotels and lots of them. The 10 largest hotels in the United States - 9 of the top 10 in the world - located in Vegas. There are lots to choose from according ones need and choice.

Luxury Hotels

Vegas have elegant and grand hotels in its possession. The MGM Grand, the Las Vegas Hilton, the Ritz-Carlton, the Hotel, the Mirage, Stratosphere Casino Hotel & Tower - are some of these big names.

Budget Hotels

If the visit to Vegas is in a particularly busy season and booking in prominent hotels are over, here's a list of moderate to very inexpensive alternatives - Budget Suites of America, Travelodge, Budget Inn, Motel 6 Boulder Highway etc.

Tours and Sightseeing

Just about every hotel in town has a sightseeing desk offering a seemingly infinite number of tours in and around Las Vegas. You're sure to find The Reservation Center, a tour company of international repute that will take you where you want to go a good choice for your sightseeing tours. The tours include Air Tours including Airplane, Helicopter Tours; Land tours including ATV Tours, Bicycle Tours, Bus Tours, Walking / Hiking and Horseback Riding; Water tours including Jet Ski Tours, Lake Cruises, River Rafting, Wakeboarding, etc. These tours contain destinations like Hoover Dam, Mount Charleston, and Red Rock Canyon, Valley of Fire and Lake Mead. The Reservation Center is one of the most comprehensive tour agencies and offers a wide variety of tours.

Transport

The CAT Bus is the popular means of public transportation among locals and tourists with 52 bus routes operating covering a large portion of the valley. The Las Vegas Monorail runs from the MGM Grand Hotel at the south end of the Strip to the Sahara Hotel at the north end of the Strip.
McCarran International Airport provides commercial flights into the Las Vegas valley. The airport also serves private aircraft, domestic and international passenger flights, and freight/cargo flights.

Intercity bus service to Las Vegas is provided by traditional intercity bus carriers, including Greyhound; many charter services, including Green Tortoise; and several Chinatown bus lines.
Union Pacific Railroad (UP) is the only class one railroad to provide rail freight service to the city.