Las Vegas tourist attractions
Known for
Casino resorts and round-the-clock entertainment on the Strip
Must-see landmarks
Sphere, the Fountains of Bellagio and Red Rock Canyon
Best time to visit
March, April, October and November, ahead of the extreme summer heat
Free to visit
Fountains of Bellagio and Fremont Street's shows
11 must-see tourist attractions in Las Vegas
Las Vegas' tourist attractions start with Sphere, Fountains of Bellagio and Fremont Street Experience. The 11 top sights are ranked below, followed by free things to do, upcoming events and visitor FAQs.
1. Sphere
The largest spherical building on Earth stands 366 feet tall beside the Venetian, its outer shell covered in about 1.2 million LED discs that turn the whole exterior, the Exosphere, into a screen seen from across the eastern Strip. Inside, a wrap-around 16K display and a beam-forming sound system stage concert residencies and immersive films; The Wizard of Oz at Sphere headlines the current line-up alongside acts such as the Eagles and Metallica. It opened in September 2023.
Architect: Populous · Opened: 2023
Location: 255 Sands Avenue, Las Vegas
Access: The Exosphere is free to see from the surrounding streets; shows inside are ticketed.
2. Fountains of Bellagio
The lake in front of the Bellagio covers 8.5 acres of Strip frontage, and its fountains throw water as high as 460 feet from more than 1,200 jets, choreographed to a rotating playlist of opera, pop and film scores. The show has run since the resort opened in 1998 and stays free, watched from the sidewalk railing on Las Vegas Boulevard or from the pedestrian bridges at either end of the lake. Performances start every half hour from 3pm on weekdays and from noon on weekends, then every 15 minutes from 8pm to midnight, and a strong wind stops a show on the spot. The Conservatory inside the resort changes its garden with the seasons.
Lake: 8.5 acres · Jets: more than 1,200
Location: 3600 Las Vegas Boulevard South, mid-Strip
Access: Free; no ticket exists
3. Fremont Street Experience
Five blocks of old downtown Las Vegas sit under a barrel-vaulted canopy of LED lights, known simply as The Canopy, which runs synchronized shows above the crowd after dark. The pedestrian mall stays open around the clock, with free concerts and performances on three stages every night, buskers, and the vintage casinos of Glitter Gulch on either side. The SlotZilla zipline launches riders beneath the canopy as a separate paid attraction. The covered street opened in 1995.
Opened: 1995
Location: Fremont Street, Downtown Las Vegas
Access: Free and open 24 hours; the zipline and individual shows are ticketed.
4. Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Sign
Designed by Betty Willis in 1959 and never copyrighted, this Googie-style neon sign greets drivers at the south end of the Strip and has become the city's unofficial emblem. Silver dollars spell out the word Welcome, while the reverse reads Drive Carefully, Come Back Soon. It stands on a landscaped median with a small dedicated parking lot, and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Designer: Betty Willis · Style: Googie · Built: 1959
Location: 5100 Las Vegas Boulevard South
Access: Free, with a small parking lot; expect a queue for photos.
5. Red Rock Canyon
Red sandstone escarpments and desert trails spread across this protected area roughly 20 miles west of the Strip, managed by the Bureau of Land Management. A 13-mile one-way Scenic Loop Drive threads past the Calico Hills and the trailheads for hikes and rock climbing, with a visitor center at the entrance. From October to May the drive runs on a timed-entry reservation system booked through Recreation.gov.
Location: 1000 Scenic Loop Drive, Las Vegas
Access: Timed entry. Reservations are required for the Scenic Drive from 8am to 5pm, October 1 to May 31; seasonal hours and reservation details are on the BLM page.
6. AREA15
An immersive entertainment complex off the Strip on Rancho Drive, AREA15 packs galleries, bars, rides and interactive art under one roof. Wandering the neon-lit central hall is free, while the flagship attractions, such as Meow Wolf's Omega Mart, a surreal supermarket that hides a sprawling art world behind its shelves, are ticketed. The venue opened in 2020 and keeps adding experiences.
Opened: 2020
Location: 3215 South Rancho Drive, Las Vegas
Access: Free to wander; individual attractions are ticketed. Open daily.
7. Seven Magic Mountains
Seven towers of boulders painted in fluorescent colors rise from the desert about ten miles south of Las Vegas, near Jean Dry Lake beside Interstate 15. The Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone created the installation, which opened in 2016 as a two-year work and has been extended by popular demand. Each stacked column stands over 30 feet tall and glows against the brown Mojave landscape.
Artist: Ugo Rondinone · Opened: 2016
Location: Las Vegas Boulevard South near Jean, off Interstate 15
Access: Free, no reservation required; the official site confirms current opening.
8. Bellagio Conservatory & Botanical Garden
Inside the Bellagio, a glass-roofed conservatory is replanted several times a year around seasonal themes, filling its beds with tens of thousands of flowers alongside oversized sculptures, water features and moving displays. A team of horticulturists rebuilds the scene for spring, summer, fall, winter and Lunar New Year. It sits just off the lobby, below a ceiling of Chihuly glass flowers, and admission is free.
Location: Bellagio, 3600 Las Vegas Boulevard South
Access: Free, open daily.
9. The Mob Museum
Officially the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, the Mob Museum traces the story of the American mafia and the agents who pursued it. It fills a restored former federal courthouse in downtown Las Vegas, one of the rooms where the 1950 Kefauver Committee held hearings on organized crime. Exhibits run from Prohibition to modern policing, and the basement holds a working speakeasy. It opened in 2012.
Opened: 2012
Location: 300 Stewart Avenue, Las Vegas
Access: Ticketed.
10. The Neon Museum
The Neon Museum collects the retired signs that once lit the Strip and downtown, arranging them across an outdoor lot known as the Neon Boneyard. Visitors walk among salvaged marquees from old casinos, motels and wedding chapels, some restored and relit, others left weathered. Timed tickets cover daytime visits and after-dark tours, when selected pieces glow again. The museum was founded in 1996.
Founded: 1996
Location: 770 Las Vegas Boulevard North, Las Vegas
Access: Ticketed, timed entry.
11. High Roller
The High Roller turns slowly at the heart of The LINQ, just off the Strip, carrying passengers in 28 glass cabins on a single 30-minute rotation. At 550 feet it was the tallest observation wheel in the world when it opened in 2014, since surpassed by Ain Dubai. Views reach across the resort corridor toward the surrounding desert, and some cabins run as moving bars. An open-air promenade of shops and bars leads up to the boarding gate.
Height: 550 feet · Opened: 2014
Location: The LINQ, 3545 Las Vegas Boulevard South
Access: Ticketed.
Upcoming events in Las Vegas
The Wizard of Oz at Sphere
The Wizard of Oz at Sphere plays Sphere on 14 September at 14:00.
Paranormal Mind Reading Magic
Paranormal Mind Reading Magic plays Laugh Factory at Horseshoe Las Vegas on 14 September at 16:00.
Jabbawockeez
Jabbawockeez plays Jabbawockeez Theater at MGM Grand Hotel & Casino on 14 September at 17:30.
The Australian Bee Gees (Vegas)
The Australian Bee Gees (Vegas) plays Thunderland Showroom at Excalibur on 14 September at 18:00.
Lucky Aces Volleyball Invitational
Lucky Aces Volleyball Invitational comes to Orleans Arena on 18 September at 16:00.
Las Vegas Lights FC vs. Hartford Athletic
Las Vegas Lights FC vs. Hartford Athletic comes to Cashman Field on 19 September at 19:30.
Free attractions to visit in Las Vegas
Downtown Container Park
There is no entrance fee to browse the shops or let children loose on the free Treehouse play structure; only what is bought inside the individual stores and restaurants costs money.
Las Vegas Arts District First Friday
The monthly First Friday art walk through the Arts District is free, with live painting, music and open studios; food and drink from the vendors along Main Street are sold separately.
Grand Canal Shoppes at The Venetian Resort
Strolling the shopping centre's cobblestone streets under its painted sky ceiling is free; only a seat in one of the gondolas that glide down the quarter mile canal is ticketed.
What makes Las Vegas special
What makes Las Vegas unique
Las Vegas began as a railroad stop, its townsite auctioned off on 15 May 1905 and the settlement incorporated as a city in 1911, according to the city's own account of its history. Nevada legalised gambling in 1931, the same year construction began on Hoover Dam east of the city, and the casino boom that followed built the Strip a few miles south of downtown, inside the unincorporated communities of Paradise and Winchester rather than the city itself. Downtown, centred on Fremont Street, kept the older neon-lit casinos that gave the city its early reputation.
Downtown, the Strip and the neighbourhoods around them
The City of Las Vegas covers historic downtown around Fremont Street and the Arts District just south of it, while the resorts most visitors picture, Bellagio, Caesars Palace, the Venetian and Sphere among them, sit just outside city limits in Paradise and Winchester. Henderson, a separate city to the southeast, holds the road out to Seven Magic Mountains and a growing share of the valley's suburbs, and both the Strip and downtown lean on Clark County for many services despite feeling like one continuous city to a visitor.
When to go and how long to stay
Summers bring extreme heat, and the National Weather Service issues excessive heat warnings across the Las Vegas Valley through the hottest months, making spring and autumn far more comfortable for walking outdoors. Three to four days cover downtown's museums and the nearest Strip landmarks at an easy pace, with an extra day worth setting aside for an excursion out to Red Rock Canyon, Hoover Dam or Valley of Fire.
Getting around
Downtown is compact and walkable, but the Strip is a separate, much larger district a few miles south, better reached by bus, monorail or rideshare than on foot in the heat. Nevada state law sets the minimum age for casino gambling and buying alcohol at 21, and anyone under that age is barred from loitering on a casino floor. The Strip itself lies outside the city limits in unincorporated Clark County, and the desert around it, from Red Rock Canyon to Zion, holds several of the best known tourist attractions to visit in the United States.