Lawrence Travel

Las Vegas

The sidewalk in front of the Bellagio slows to crawl every 30 minutes as hundreds gather to watch illuminated columns of water blast 240 feet into the night sky. As Sinatra sings the last lines of “Fly Me to the Moon” and the spectacular water ballet ends, the crowd disperses, and a giant curtain of mist forms over the lake, appearing as a ghost walking across the water, perhaps on its way to Caesars Palace to place a c-note on red.

This is Las Vegas, the Entertainment Capital of the World, where fantasy is the mayor, nickel slots applaud as you walk into a casino, and a cab ride rolls you past Egypt, Paris, Venice and New York faster than an Elvis impersonator can shake his hips.

Enticing over 36 million visitors a year with its million-gigawatt smile and globetrotting attractions, Las Vegas is more than glitz and gambling. This desert oasis shines with room rates lower than any other major U.S. city, inexpensive restaurants and buffets, high-caliber golf courses, world-class shopping, relaxing spas and a wide range of shows and entertainment options for adults and kids alike. And that’s just inside the city limits.

For the best deals in Las Vegas and the greatest adventures outside, your safest bet is to contact a trusted travel agent. Travel agents won’t tell you when to double down, but they will put you in the flashiest hotel at the right price, leaving you with enough chips to act like James Bond at the baccarat table.

Anything is possible on the Strip, a four-mile stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard anchored by 18 of the 21 biggest hotels in the world. The Strip is the heart of Vegas, where you will find kings sitting next to jokers and dice that defy gravity; hypnotizing roulette wheels and ringing armies of slot machines; ex-model cocktail waitresses and pit bosses named Nikki; and parking attendants wearing Prada shoes next to showgirls with electric smiles.

On the Strip the characters take backstage to the hotels, where the entire world is lavishly portrayed for your amusement and wonder. The grandeur of ancient Rome reigns triumphantly at Caesars Palace, while the Paris gushes with European romance and wondrous replicas of the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe. The Egyptian mystique at the Luxor creates a captivating resort, marked by an unmistakable beacon of light and pyramid design to make it unlike any other hotel on Earth, while the Venetian captures the magnetism and beauty of Italy's timeless jewel with stunning accuracy, featuring canals teaming with serenading gondoliers.

Other hotels create their own attractions instead of paying homage to the world’s finest locales. The Stratosphere's space-needle, for example, with its must-see-from observation deck, takes Las Vegas excitement to new heights as the High Roller coaster twists and turns at the very top—1,149 feet high! Hotels need more than razzle-dazzle to lure visitors, so they bring in the biggest names in showbiz to headline mind-blowing spectacles, leaving audiences breathless night after night. With more than 40 major shows each night, the Strip has it all from divas and magicians to Cirque du Soleil and the Rockettes.

Once the shows are over, nighclubs provide even more to do in a city that never sleeps. The bartenders at Baby’s, tucked away inside the Hard Rock Hotel, wear black leather from head to toe—the way its celebrity clients like them. Crazy nights are guaranteed at Studio 54 and rumjungle, while dance frenzies prevail at Club Rio and Dragon.

And what do you do after meeting someone in a nightclub? You get married! Well, not really, but at least it’s always an option in Vegas, with more than 80 independent chapels offering everything from traditional ceremonies to fantasy weddings 24 hours a day. And in Vegas every wedding includes a fabulous honeymoon—all you have to do is step outside the chapel doors and voilà!

Getting hitched on the Strip is a Vegas right of passage for some, but you’ll need to walk past the wedding chapels and casinos to appreciate the city’s true beauty. Off the Strip travelers can discover Glitter Gulch, where Vegas Vic and his pal Sassy Sal, two of the best-known neon icons in the country, shine. Seventeen miles west, Red Rock Canyon celebrates everything Vegas is not: raw, naturally beautiful and very old—65 million years old to be precise. Also nearby is Hoover Dam, a giant slab of concrete that’s as high as a 70-story building and as thick as two football fields, making it an architectural gem that was named the Civil Engineering Monument of the Millennium.

Both inside and out of the city limits, a trip to Las Vegas offers you a chance to surrender to fantasy—and you'll have the time of your life doing it.

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