Las Vegas Holidays

Casinos without clocks, gorge-worthy restaurants and budget-busting shows from the biggest divas in pop – Las Vegas holidays put the fun back into sinning.

Vegas, baby

This American mega-city’s a glitzy take on a desert oasis. It’s big, brash and OTT, but that’s exactly the point. Take everything you’ve read or heard about Vegas, then pump up the colours, crank up the volume and you’re still only halfway there. After all, there aren’t many places in the world you can climb the Eiffel Tower, gawk at Lady Liberty and take a gondola ride through Venice’s canals – all in the space of an hour or two.

Hit The Strip

The Strip in Vegas runs for a whopping four miles. There’s so much to see, so you’ll want to put in the legwork – but, don’t worry, a handy monorail system will help you out. Themed hotels sprout up like mushrooms along it. They’re like one-stop-shops for entertainment, with more high-roller casinos, big-name boutiques and bars than you can shake your dollar bills at. Then there are the extras, like The Mirage’s flaming volcano, or The Bellagio’s dancing fountains.

Neon-lit signs and showgirls

Las Vegas doesn’t subscribe to the ‘out with the old, in with the new’ motto. The Fremont Street Experience is a shrine to its glam past. This downtown neighbourhood’s classic Vegas, with grand-dame casinos, like the Golden Nugget and the Four Queens. Elvis impersonators and sequin-clad showgirls pound the pavements. And if you’re after more neon, there’s a museum for retired signs. Plus, The Strip isn’t the only one to put on a party. There are nightly light shows here, too.

From casinos to canyons

It might be in the desert, but Vegas is hardly in the middle of nowhere. You can get to the Hoover Dam in less than an hour’s drive. Plus, the Grand Canyon’s west rim – yep, the one with the glass Skywalk – is just over two hours away. If you’ve lucked out at the casinos, you can splash your hard-won cash on a helicopter ride over there instead. That way, you’ll easily make it back in time to see a show, or a world-famous DJ on the Las Vegas Strip.

At a glance

Zip line over the casinos on Fremont Street
Ride the coaster at the New York-New York Hotel
Gawp at the mighty Hoover Dam on a daytrip

Palm trees and pools

As a city that’s surrounded by land, Las Vegas doesn’t have any real beaches to call its own. The nearest is in Los Angeles, which is nearly a four-hour drive away. But, since it’s in the middle of the Mojave Desert, there’s plenty of sand to go around. A couple of the hotels have made good use of it, moulding it into their own manmade beaches, and accessorising them with the likes of wave pools, lazy rivers and towering palm trees.
Mandalay Beach

The Mandalay Bay Hotel is where you’ll find as close to a beach as you can get in Las Vegas. Here, nearly 3,000 tons of sand brush up against a wave pool that’s big enough for surfing. There’s no race for the sunbeds, either. You can hire out your own private cabana or bungalow, fitted out with lounge chairs and love seats, an MP3 docking station, and a fridge stocked with drinks.
Voodoo Beach

The manmade Voodoo Beach is tucked within the grounds of the Rio Hotel, and non-hotel guests are welcome to use it for a fee. It lays claim to a sandy beach zone and three wiggly-edged pools, each with a whirlpool bath on the side. You can set up camp for the day on one of the poolside loungers, or in your own personal cabana. Waterside massages are up for grabs, as well.

Bargain Buys

Labelling itself as the world’s largest gift shop, Bonanza lines up 36,000 square feet’s worth of Las Vegas memorabilia at knock-down prices. With that much space to play with, there’s every type of souvenir you can imagine – from mugs, key rings and t-shirts to handbags, American footballs and magnets.
Mid-Range Buys

The Las Vegas South Premium Outlets centre is one of the city’s top-rated places for outlet shopping. Here, you’ll find 145 stores covering a whole range of goods, including everything from Michael Kors to Claire’s Accessories, Levi’s jeans, and Skechers trainers. There are plenty of cafés and restaurants dotted around, too, giving you every reason to make a day of it. You’ll find it just south of the strip, five minutes’ drive from the Welcome to ‘fabulous’ Las Vegas sign.
Designer Buys

At the Crystals shopping mall, there’s no such thing as popping to the shops. Spread over 500,000 square feet, it’s more like visiting a small town. Here is where you’ll find some of Las Vegas’ largest designer boutiques. The two-storey Louis Vuitton store is the biggest in the United States. There’s also a 10,000-square-foot Tiffany & Co, along with Versace, Gucci, Dior and Cartier – to name a few. Shopping aside, the mall is full of surprises. Have your camera ready for the colour-changing fountains, the ‘flower carpet’ and the tree house.

Laid-back evenings

No trip to Las Vegas is complete without seeing the Bellagio Fountains work their magic. Watch water from over a thousand jets dance and change colour to the music during this carefully-choreographed performance. The water can shoot as high as a 24 storeys and it all takes place at the centre of a lake the size of eight football fields in front of the Bellagio Hotel. Timings-wise, the shows are on every 15 minutes, from 8pm until midnight, so there are plenty of opportunities to catch one. And best of all, it’s free.
Lively evenings

As the entertainment capital of the world, there are hundreds of options for nights out in Las Vegas. But one of the most iconic things to do is to go to a pool party – because where better to rave in the sizzling hot desert than in the water? Wet Republic at MGM Grand is one of the best. The likes of Tiesto and Afrojack take to the decks as hundreds of bikini-clad partygoers dance in and around the water, and sip Champagne cocktails while lounging on daybeds.

Wagyu steak at CUT

Wagyu beef is known for being the richest and tastiest beef on the planet, with a distinctive melt-in-the-mouth texture. And CUT, owned by skilled restaurateur Wolfgang Puck, is one of the best places for it in Las Vegas. Pair your steak with a red wine bordelaise sauce, hand-cut fries, and tempura onion rings.
Italian fare at Battista’s Hole in the Wall

The legendary Battista’s Hole in the Wall has been serving Las Vegas locals since 1970. Book a table here and you’ll be surrounded by quirky décor – there’s everything from buckets hanging from the ceiling to old vinyl records – from a comfy booth. The menu features Italian favourites, like spaghetti and meatballs, and the staff are renowned for their friendliness.
French fine-dining at Joël Robuchon

At this three Michelin Star French Restaurant, every dish looks like a piece of art. Take the langoustine with green curry jus, or the salmon confit with caviar and wasabi cream. The desserts are just as spectacular. One of them consists of a white-chocolate sphere, which is drizzled with hot raspberry sauce to make it bloom like a flower.
Peanut Butter Bacon Crunch Burger at Pub 1842

Peanut butter in a burger sounds totally wrong but this daring combination of savoury and sweet just works. A Black Angus beef patty is slathered with creamy peanut butter, and then layered with bacon and – wait for it – crisps, inside a toasted bun.
Sushi at Barmasa

Barmasa redefines the term ‘fresh’ – dishes are prepared using only fish that’s been caught within the last 24 hours. Cuisine covers modern Japanese, including seafood tempura, miso cod and grilled unagi rice. But our favourite is the sushi – there are 14 different types of sushi roll on the menu.