Four of a Kind: A Quartet of Vegas Attractions Not to Miss
Viva Las Vegas!
It’s the town for partying hard, playing harder, and living life to the extreme. From the bright lights of the Strip to the dimmed poker rooms of backstreet casinos, the city never sleeps. There’s always an open door, a food vendor with tasty treats, or a dealer ready to throw cards across the table at you. The term ’24-hour’ has never applied to a place quite as it does to Vegas.
More people than ever are hitting Vegas in post-pandemic America. Travelweekly.com suggests as many as 32.2m went there in 2021, with more expected in 2022. That’s a lot of people, and for many, it can be a little daunting at first, the oasis of madness in the tranquil, perhaps even barren Nevada desert. For those willing to scratch a little deeper than the superficial surface, Vegas holds many delights. Some choose to base themselves outside the city, somewhere like Lake Las Vegas and pop in when the mood takes them. Others like to be in the heart of the action, but wherever you are, know this; Vegas is much more than a party city.
Oh yes, much more indeed. Here are four things to do on your Las Vegas visit.
Exploratory Glory YouTube Channel
Las Vegas
Gaming
Ok, whilst in Vegas, you probably want to hit the casinos, and we’d heartily recommend doing so. There’s plenty to choose from, the high-end places like the Bellagio are great to look around, but often it’s the smaller establishments that offer the best value for money. If poker is your thing, you won’t want to be around a high-roller table, as you’ll probably lose the shirt off your back. Instead, find a small casino with more reasonable buy-in to ensure you’re playing for the right reasons.
Hoover Dam, Las Vegas
Hoover Dam
Vegas might be a new city in relation to others across the US, but it still has plenty of historical value, and if you’re busted at the blackjack table, a trip to the Hoover Dam is what you need to get some perspective. It’s a striking view for sure, with a 726-foot-high curved façade providing a spectacular photo opportunity. It took five years to construct and involved 21,000 men. It is definitely worth visiting for its historical importance and to appreciate the engineering genius that went into putting it up.
Hockey in Las Vegas
Sports
In the middle of the desert, under the scorching sun, who could have guessed that Ice Hockey would be so popular. Instead of taking your chances around a poker table, why not watch a team take their chances on the cold surface of the T-Mobile Arena. You might find tickets hard to come by; Poker.org explains how they’ve become as rare as a straight flush, so you may need to look to other sports in Vegas. The Raiders have only been in Vegas for a couple of years, with NFL.com announcing it three years after it was agreed in 2017. They are the only other male professional sports team, but the Las Vegas Aces are a women’s basketball team that won their conference in 2020 and might be worth checking out.
The Mob Museum Las Vegas
The Mob Museum
The mob wasn’t viewed as a good thing back in the early days of Vegas, but there’s no doubting their influence over the city we see today. Ironically, the permanent reminder of their involvement is in an old courthouse, the very place they did their best to stay out of! There are some rather macabre, if not fascinating, things to see here, including a piece of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre wall, a vintage electric chair, and an in-house distillery with tasting included. It's just the place to check out the history of the men who raised the stakes in Vegas during its early years.
