Best Things to Do in Las Vegas

Las Vegas can swallow a lot of money on things you'll forget. This list leans towards what's distinctive to the city, with a note where we think something is overrated.

1. The Strip after dark. Walk the center Strip from Paris to the Mirage site once the lights come on. It's the free show that the whole city is built around. Our Strip guide has the route.
2. The Bellagio fountains. Water jets choreographed to music across an eight-acre lake, several times an hour through the evening. Watch from the balustrade, then from the Paris side across the road.
3. The Bellagio Conservatory. A glass-roofed hall of flowers and installations just off the lobby, replanted for each season. Free, and quieter early in the morning.
4. A show. Pick one and book it. Cirque du Soleil's "O", performed in and above a pool at Bellagio, is the classic. Residencies by big-name singers change every season.
5. The Sphere. A 366-foot dome east of the Strip whose outer skin is one huge LED screen, visible across the valley at night. Inside, films and concerts are made for the curved screen that wraps around you. Seeing the outside is free.
6. The Neon Museum. A "boneyard" of old casino signs rescued from demolition, some relit. Book a guided tour at dusk. Our Downtown guide has more.
7. Fremont Street. Downtown's pedestrian mall under a giant LED canopy, with light shows after dark, older casinos and a zipline overhead. Loud, cheap and fun for an evening.
8. The Mob Museum. The history of organised crime and the people who fought it, in the 1930s federal courthouse where hearings on the mob were held.
9. The High Roller. An observation wheel 550 feet tall at The LINQ, with glass cabins that take about half an hour to go round.
10. The Venetian. Indoor canals under a painted sky, with gondoliers who sing. Touristy, but done with conviction.
11. The "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign. The 1959 sign at the south end of the Strip. Go early in the morning, before the queue for photos builds.
12. Chinatown. Not a tourist district but a long stretch of Spring Mountain Road with some of the city's best-value food: ramen, hot pot, Korean barbecue, dim sum.
13. Red Rock Canyon. A scenic drive past red and cream sandstone cliffs, thirty minutes west of the Strip. The fastest way out of the neon.

What we'd skip: the replica attractions you've seen in the original (the Eiffel Tower ride, for one), and paying for a buffet you'll only pick at. Spend that on one great dinner instead.