18b arts district
Feel the need to get off the beaten tourist track, to where the hipper locals hang out? Welcome to the 18b arts district, an 18-block zone created in 1998 to encourage artistic activity, halfway between Fremont Street and the Stratosphere. Larger now, it’s full of quirky independent boutiques selling antiques, vintage clothing and art, as well as boho cafes and restaurants. Look out for Snowball, a 10ft Styrofoam head of a super-cute cat with its tongue out – ready to lick your face for that Facebook photo op.
Hidden green spaces
Amid the bustle and non-stop fun of Las Vegas, sometimes you just need a bit of green breathing space, and there’s plenty if you know where to look. The Mirage has its tree-filled central dome and Siegfried & Roy’s Secret Garden, where you’ll find white tigers, white lions and bottlenose dolphins. The Wynn has the Lake of Dreams, set around a 12-metre waterfall cascading from a pine-topped hill, enlivened at night by light shows and holographics. And the Bellagio has its conservatory and botanical gardens, with exquisite themed displays that change with every new season. New last year was The Park, connecting New York-New York and Monte Carlo, although it’s more an alfresco dining and entertainment area than a chill-out nature zone.
Mermaids of the Silverton
The Golden Nugget and Mandalay Bay may have shark tanks, but the Silverton hotel, near the southern end of the Las Vegas Valley, goes one better: it has a mermaid tank. Yes, as well as 4,000 tropical fish in a 532,000-litre saltwater aquarium, you’ll find mermaids waving to you through the glass as you sip your cocktail in the Mermaid Lounge. You’re welcome.
The Mob Museum
The early history of Las Vegas is inextricably linked with organised crime: it was the infamous mobster Bugsy Siegel who had the vision to create a gambling town in the middle of the desert (or, more precisely, stole the idea from William Wilkerson then cut him out of the loop). Opened in the Downtown area in 2012, this massive exhibition space across several floors is full of arcane memorabilia and fascinating facts, as well as, chillingly, the bloodstained wall of the St Valentine’s Day Massacre rebuilt here brick by brick, and an electric chair to sit in for your next Facebook profile picture.
National Atomic Testing Museum
Over more than four decades, starting in 1951, nearly 1,000 nuclear bombs were set off in the Nevada desert. The mushroom clouds could be seen for 100 miles around. Far from being concerned, Las Vegas celebrated with bomb parties on rooftops and a Miss Atomic Bomb contest. The National Atomic Testing Museum to the east of the Strip delves into this fascinating and troubling past. Discover 12,000 artefacts, from personal atomic weapons, such as the cheerily named Backpack Nuke and Davy Crockett Weapons System, to a large nuclear reactor; experience a simulated blast in the Ground Zero Theatre; and uncover the mysteries of Area 51. The truth is out there …
Pinball Hall of Fame
This electronic Valhalla is where great pinball games of the past get their shot at immortality. Although some, inevitably, may be out of order when you visit – I was heartbroken to find the Black Knight game of my youth out of commission – they are maintained with love and expert care. Games go as far back as the hilariously analogue Flipper game from 1960 and include original Star Wars and Batman machines. You can buy popcorn from a dispenser for a quarter. You don’t pay to enter, just to play.
Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area
When there’s so much to do in Las Vegas, why would you ever want to leave? One reason would be that Red Rock Canyon has the sort of wild, rugged beauty you’ll have seen in westerns, with 600 types of plant, including the Joshua tree. It’s a popular area for hiking and biking – plus you’ll never fully appreciate Las Vegas until you look back at it from the outside, and see it magically sprout from the desert like some modern-day City of Oz.
Titanic: the Artifact Exhibition at the Luxor
This may seem rather pricey at $32 (£25) a ticket, but consider this: to retrieve the objects on display, specially designed submersibles had to descend to a depth of 4km (2.5 miles), where the pressure exceeds 6,000lb (2,720kg) per square inch. The grand wooden staircase with its dome of stained glass that you’ll recall from the James Cameron movie has also been recreated. But the real fascination is in the simpler stuff: hairbrushes, bottles, glasses, even rows of dishes that were recovered from the seabed “stacked up like dominoes” after the wooden crate they came in had rotted away. There are fascinating stories from the voyage, including warnings of onboard cardsharps and the tale of a traveller who missed the voyage due to being shanghaied and sold into forced labour – which may have turned out to be a lucky break. The showstopping piece is a huge section of the hull, weighing 15 tonnes.
VooDoo Lounge rooftop club
This is one of my favourite Las Vegas tips: if you eat in the excellent VooDoo Steak restaurant on the 50th floor of the Rio, you’re then allowed into the upstairs nightclub for free. The night-time view from its rooftop is, as far as I’m concerned, the best in Las Vegas – since the Rio is a little west of the main Strip, you can see the whole glorious neon skyline, like so many bright jewels scattered at your feet. Order the gigantic “witch doctor” cocktail – but if you want to retain happy memories of your trip, or indeed any memories at all, consider sharing it.
Wine angels of Mandalay Bay
When you order a nice bottle of wine in a restaurant, the sommelier invariably heads off to some dusty cellar to fetch it. Boooring! At Aureole in Mandalay Bay, the wine racks are a central feature of the decor, built into a central pillar 13 metres high. To reach your bottle, Aureole’s “wine angels” nimbly zoom up and down on climbing ropes. It’s like dining inside a Mission Impossible film.
