Las Vegas Holidays

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.

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.

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.

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.