When at Las Vegas there are plenty of things which are a must see and must do. Many of them are free and do not offer extra burden on your pockets. Here is a list of things which you must be sure to check out when in Vegas:
- The free Volcano mountain at Mirage which erupts every fifteen minutes sprouting out smoke, lava and ashes.
- The gondola rides at the Venetian. There are actually two different rides, both featuring serenading gondoliers. One outside in front of the resort and one inside through the Grand Canal Shoppes. Inside rides are given from 10 am to 10:30 pm (until 11:30 Friday and Saturday) and outside rides are from 11 am to 7 pm.
- The free Sirens of TI in front of Treasure Island which is held every night at 7, 8:30, 10, and 11:30 pm.
- The Bellagio fountain show can be viewed from the Eiffel tower from 10 am to midnight with a $9 fee. Tickets are available at booths both inside the casino and outside the Strip entrance to the casino.
- You can witness the animated statue show every hour from 10 am to 11 pm at the Caesars Palace. Those who love shopping can visit the Forum Shops attached to Caesars Palace.
- For the art lovers, Las Vegas has the Gallery of Fine Art at the Bellagio which routinely features works by van Gogh, Monet, Renoir, Cezanne, Matisse, and Gauguin at $15 fee.
- When in Las Vegas, you can witness the auto collection at the Imperial Palace featuring antiques and vehicles owned by celebrities and presidents.
- You can not only enjoy different acrobats at the world’s largest ‘Circus Circus’, but can also enjoy roller coaster rides here. Adventure and thrill lovers can also check out a roller-coaster (called the “High Roller”) and a tower launcher (called the “Big Shot”) on the roof of the Stratosphere Tower, and bungy jumping at Circus Circus.
- The Fremont Street Experience features a free light and sound show with 2 million individual bulbs. Shows start at dusk and are repeated until 11 pm Sunday thru Thursday and midnight Friday and Saturday.
- You can enjoy a host of fun activities in Las Vegas right from gambling. Skydiving, riding in a helicopter, driving race cars at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and horseback riding in Red Rock Canyon.
- Among all the thrills, one of them worth mention is the tandem skydive which involves no lengthy training classes and need just 3 to 4 hours. There are two places which offer this ride and both of them are about 20 miles outside of Las Vegas but they both have a shuttle service (and you can see the Strip resorts from both drop zones). They also both offer a package which includes a video tape and still photographs of your jump. There’s also an outfit called Fly Away Indoor Skydiving which is an indoor vertical wind tunnel where you can simulate a free-fall.
- Weekends tend to be busier than weekdays so if your stay in Las Vegas includes a weekday you may want to make your reservation then rather than on a Saturday or Sunday. You won’t have as long of a wait for ride up. Also, you should schedule a jump in the morning as winds tend to pick up in the afternoon. Higher winds cannot only increase the chance that your jump will be cancelled, but it kicks up dust which can reduce visibility of the distant scenery.
- Another wonderful thing to do in Las Vegas is experience the night-time helicopter flights up and down the Strip by Heli USA. They call this their “Apollo Night Flight” package under which they pick you up at your hotel, give you free champagne while you’re waiting to go to the flight line, and drop you off at your hotel after your flight. While going on such trips use a camera without a flash and preferably one that that can take high-speed (ASA 800 or 1000) film, or a low-lux camcorder as cameras with a built-in flash are not allowed on night flights because the flash will mess up the pilot’s night vision.
- Heli USA also offer a variety of day-time air tours of the Grand Canyon (which is the best way to see the Grand Canyon in my opinion). The Chariot of Fire is their basic Grand Canyon tour costing about $300 and takes less than four hours pick-up to drop-off (flight time is about 1.5 hours departing from McCarran Airport).
- Do not miss the horse back canyon ride along the desert around Red Rock Canyon. Cowboy Trail Rides offers a free Strip shuttle that picks you up and drops you off at the tour lobby in the “Rear Rotunda” of the Excalibur. They offer a $129 morning “canyon Rim” ride (8:00 am pickup) and a $189 “Sunset BBQ” ride (pickup times vary throughout the year) which includes a steak dinner with all the fixin’s cooked on a large outdoor BBQ grill after your ride. Book your ride in advance as there are limited number of horses and guides for these rides.
- When in Las Vegas, you can experience the continuously run shows like Lance Burton at the Monte Carlo and Cher at Caesars Palace to small lounge acts. If you are lucky, you could also get a chance to see limited engagement shows by big names at the Hilton, Mandalay Bay, Paris, and the MGM Grand. Some of the shows worth a mention here are Mystere (Cirque du Soleil) at Treasure Island (seats further back are better) and the traditional Vegas-style show check out Jubilee at Bally’s.
- The Stratosphere (Viva Las Vegas), and Flamingo (Bottoms Up adult show) have “free” afternoon shows where admission is the price of an expensive drink (around $4 to $6) with some requiring a coupon or as part of a lunch buffet package.
- You can also check out the live musical entertainment at the Harrah’s open-air lounge in the shape of a carousel from the early afternoon until around midnight.
- There are also many lower-priced shows of all sorts including adult entertainment, comedy, magic, musical, or combinations of these at various resorts.