Nobody expects to love Las Vegas, and we didn't either. We arrived expecting a loud adult playground and left genuinely charmed. Yes, it's built on excess, but underneath the neon there's a real city with a food scene that punches far above its weight, a scrappy creative downtown, and some of the most dramatic desert landscapes in America within an hour's drive. We lived here for a short time as a family, and our Las Vegas with kids guide covers that side of the trip in full. If you're planning where to sleep, our off the Strip guide explains why staying outside the main drag can be the smarter move.

Why we love Las Vegas

Vegas is honest about what it is, and that's oddly refreshing. It never pretends to be anywhere else. What surprised us was how much lives beyond the postcard. There's a huge local city around the Strip, with neighborhoods, taquerias and Filipino restaurants that have nothing to do with tourists. The desert light at sunrise and sunset is beautiful in a stark way we didn't expect after flat, green Denmark. And the sheer scale of the ambition, entire Parisian streetscapes and Venetian canals raised in the sand, is ridiculous enough to circle back around to impressive.

What to see and do

  • Walk the Strip at night, when every casino becomes a light show and the whole thing makes a kind of sense.
  • The Bellagio fountains and the Bellagio Conservatory, both free and both better than they have any right to be.
  • Fremont Street downtown, the covered neon canyon with the old-school Vegas energy, best in the early evening.
  • The Neon Museum, a boneyard of restored vintage signs that tells the city's history better than any exhibit could.
  • The Mob Museum downtown, a genuinely good history museum in the old federal courthouse.
  • Red Rock Canyon, a twenty-five minute drive west, for a scenic loop, easy hikes and red sandstone that glows at sunset.
  • The Hoover Dam and Lake Mead, about forty minutes southeast.
  • Valley of Fire State Park, an hour northeast, with red rock and ancient petroglyphs, and far fewer people than it deserves.

Where to eat and drink

Vegas has two food cities stacked on top of each other. On the Strip, the big resorts host celebrity chef restaurants and enormous buffets, and the buffets remain one of the great Vegas values for families. Off the Strip, the real eating happens downtown on Fremont East, in Chinatown along Spring Mountain Road, and across the city's taquerias and Filipino kitchens, a legacy of the huge hospitality workforce. We ate our way through all of it. For a classic Vegas experience, an old-school steakhouse or a shrimp cocktail at a downtown bar still hits the spot.

When to go and how to get around

Spring and fall are the sweet spots, with warm days and cool evenings. Summer is brutally hot, regularly well over 100 degrees, though hotel pools are magnificent and rates can drop. Winter is mild and sunny, and surprisingly pleasant for hiking. On the Strip, distances deceive. Casinos look next door but the walkways are long, so budget time or use rideshares. The Las Vegas Monorail serves the Strip but does not reach Downtown or Fremont Street; use a bus, taxi or rideshare for that journey. For Red Rock, the dam or Valley of Fire, plan transport separately.

Our Las Vegas guides