IN BRIEF

Less than a decade ago, Las Vegas was strictly a 24-hour adult gambling mecca, with budget rooms, cheap buffets, lounge acts and 99-cent shrimp cocktails. Remnants of old “Sin City” are there—you can still gamble and eat at all hours of the day and night. But more diversified forms of amusement have flourished in this desert landscape: an exploding volcano, a resinkable pirate ship, roller coasters and theme parks. The Entertainment Capital of the World now offers something for both young and not-so-young players. To attract not only gamblers but everyone to their casino resorts, developers have imploded hotel after hotel, obliterating Las Vegas’ short history to make way for newer, bolder and more lavish creations. A few years ago Manhattan’s skyline was replicated in smaller scale. The latest offering is The Venetian, which reproduces the major landmarks of Venice to actual scale, complete with outdoor canals (in the middle of a desert, no less). Other resorts are open: Bellagio, Mandalay Bay and Paris-Las Vegas, each one bidding for vacationers in search of the ultimate spectacle.

BIRD’S-EYE VIEW

Sitting in a Mojave Desert valley that averages only 4 in/10 cm of rain annually, Las Vegas (Spanish for “the meadows”) is built on the site of Las Vegas springs. It’s tucked far into southern Nevada, actually closer to Los Angeles and the Grand Canyon than to cities in the northern part of the state.

There are two areas of the city that most interest visitors. Foremost is the part of Las Vegas Boulevard South called the Strip. It’s a 3.5 mi-/5.5 km-long avenue lined on both sides with the newest and most elaborate casino hotels. The center of the action is at the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard South and Tropicana Avenue, where pedestrian walkways connect the MGM Grand Hotel, New York-New York, the Tropicana Hotel and Excalibur. The second area, about a 10-minute cab ride away from the northern end of the Strip, is downtown Las Vegas (formerly known as Glitter Gulch). There, long-standing hotels, such as the Golden Nugget, Binion’s Horseshoe and the Four Queens, still compete for gamblers. Visitors are also drawn downtown by the Fremont Street Experience, an outdoor pedestrian mall with nightly, multisensory sound-and-light shows. Off of Fremont Street are many businesses and government offices.

Beyond the city’s casinos, swimming pools and wedding chapels lie Hoover Dam and Lake Mead, about 35 mi/55 km southeast. Death Valley is approximately 120 mi/195 km northwest.

ESPECIALLY FOR KIDS

The dolphins and the white tigers at the Mirage; Sega’s Virtual Arcade at the Luxor; the shows and amusements at MGM Grand Adventures; interactive exhibits at the Lied Discovery Children’s Museum; a painless art/history/science lesson at Hoover Dam; circus acts at the Circus Circus midway; thrill rides and animated dinosaurs at Grand Slam Canyon.

CITYSCAN

1 Jan, New Year’s; 18 Jan, Martin Luther King Day; 15 Feb, Presidents’ Day; 31 May, Memorial Day; 4 Jul, Independence Day; 6 Sep, Labor Day; 11 Oct, Columbus Day; 31 Oct, Nevada Day; 11 Nov, Veterans Day; 25 Nov, Thanksgiving; 25 Dec, Christmas.

Note: Casinos remain open every day.