Las Vegas Holidays

Red Rock Canyon sits around 20 miles west of the Strip, replacing neon with sandstone cliffs and desert trails. Walk routes such as Calico Tanks or Ice Box Canyon, with 26 numbered hikes and trails alongside a 13-mile scenic drive through the conservation area.

Step from a platform more than 800 feet above Las Vegas on SkyJump at The STRAT. The controlled open-air descent sends riders towards the ground at speeds approaching 40 mph, with the Strip spreading out below during one of the city’s boldest thrill experiences.

Take the wheel of high-performance supercars at SPEEDVEGAS, where visitors can drive on a dedicated circuit south of the Strip. Rather than watching from the sidelines, drivers experience acceleration, braking and cornering in cars built for considerably more speed than Las Vegas Boulevard allows.

Operate genuine excavators and bulldozers at Dig This, a heavy-equipment playground that turns construction machinery into an unusual hands-on adventure. Visitors can dig, push, lift and manoeuvre their machines through specially designed challenges under professional instruction.

Paddle the Colorado River through Black Canyon on a guided trip beyond Hoover Dam. Longer routes pass desert cliffs, hot springs and wildlife habitat before reaching places such as Emerald Cave, adding a surprisingly wild water adventure to a Las Vegas stay.

The Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort preserves remains of the adobe settlement built beside a spring-fed creek in 1855. The site also traces earlier Southern Paiute presence and the Old Spanish Trail, revealing why this patch of desert became the birthplace of modern Las Vegas.

Opened as Hotel Nevada in 1906, the Golden Gate stands at Fremont and Main streets, close to the land auction that launched the Las Vegas townsite. Original rooms remain, while the property also hosted Las Vegas’ first telephone in 1907.

The Mob Museum occupies Las Vegas’ former US Post Office and federal courthouse, opened in 1933. Exhibitions examine organised crime and law enforcement, while its restored courtroom hosted part of the 1950 Kefauver hearings investigating organised crime within the casino industry.

More than vintage signs sit inside the Neon Museum’s collection. Its Neon Boneyard preserves pieces from former casinos, motels and businesses, allowing visitors to trace changing design, entertainment and tourism eras through one of the visual forms most closely associated with Las Vegas.

Built between 1931 and 1936 around 45 minutes from Las Vegas, Hoover Dam became one of the region’s defining engineering projects. Some 21,000 people worked on its construction, while the project helped fuel population and economic growth across Southern Nevada.

The 18b Arts District has grown from its early-1990s beginnings into Las Vegas’ main independent arts hub. Galleries, studios, murals, vintage shops and performance spaces fill the neighbourhood southwest of Downtown, while regular community events bring local artists and residents together.

Historic Westside Legacy Park honours people who shaped one of Las Vegas’ most important Black communities. Public art and interpretive plaques share stories of residents, businesses, entertainment and Civil Rights history, giving visitors a grounded introduction to Black Las Vegas beyond the Strip.

Las Vegas’ Chinatown stretches for roughly three miles along Spring Mountain Road. What began around Chinatown Plaza in the 1990s has developed into a diverse Asian district filled with Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and other restaurants, markets, shops and late-night gathering places.

The West Las Vegas Arts Center is rooted in the cultural life of historic West Las Vegas. Music, theatre, visual art and dance programmes include traditions ranging from West African drumming to mariachi, while exhibitions and performances give visitors a window into local creative life.

Nuwu Pahsats, meaning “The People’s Garden”, introduces the traditions of Southern Nevada’s Nuwuvi, or Southern Paiute, communities. Native plants, heirloom crops, language interpretation and knowledge shared by tribal elders connect the desert landscape with Indigenous culture that long predates modern Las Vegas.

EDC Las Vegas transforms Las Vegas Motor Speedway into an enormous electronic music festival each May, filling multiple stages with DJs, elaborate production and late-night performances. The festival attracts dance-music fans from around the world, with additional EDC Week events taking place across the city.

Around 16 September, Las Vegas marks Mexican Independence Day with major Latin concerts, mariachi, restaurant events, nightlife and El Grito celebrations. The festivities spread from casino resorts to Downtown, reflecting both the city’s Mexican-American community and its longstanding popularity with visitors from Mexico.

Las Vegas PRIDE brings its annual Night Parade to Downtown in October, followed by a festival and programme of community events. Colourful floats, drag performers, live entertainment and exhibitors create one of the city’s most visible celebrations of Southern Nevada’s LGBTQIA+ community.

Formula 1 races through the heart of the city each November on the Las Vegas Strip Circuit. Cars pass some of the Strip’s most recognisable resorts at night, while concerts, fan zones and hospitality experiences turn race week into a citywide sporting event. The 2026 race runs 19–21 November.

Each December, the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo brings championship rodeo to the Thomas & Mack Center for ten nights. Bull riding, barrel racing, roping and other events are joined by concerts, viewing parties and Cowboy Christmas celebrations across Las Vegas.

Performed exclusively at Bellagio, “O” builds an entire production around a vast theatre pool. Artistic swimmers, divers, acrobats and aerial performers move between water and air in a 90-minute production that has become one of Las Vegas’ longest-running resident spectacles.

ABSINTHE at Caesars Palace combines acrobatics, cabaret and adult comedy in an intimate circular setting where the audience sits close to the performers. Its deliberately provocative humour gives it a very different character from the city’s larger theatrical productions and makes it firmly adults-focused.

KÀ at MGM Grand takes place on a technically complex moving stage that shifts dramatically during the performance. Martial arts, aerial work, acrobatics and large-scale theatrical effects drive a story-led production designed specifically for its purpose-built Las Vegas theatre.

Inside The Venetian’s Grand Canal Shoppes, Atomic Saloon Show mixes Wild West styling with acrobatics and decidedly adult comedy. The intimate 75-minute production is for audiences aged 18 and over, making it a lively alternative to Vegas’ family-orientated stage shows.

Dolby Live is a 5,200-seat venue at Park MGM built around an integrated Dolby Atmos sound system. Its changing calendar includes major music residencies, concerts and special events, making it a useful choice for visitors who want headline performers rather than a permanent production show.