Vegas is very good at separating people from money in exchange for a slightly worse version of something they could get cheaper elsewhere. That’s not a criticism, it’s the business model.
But there’s a real city here, and a desert around it that’s genuinely spectacular, and most visitors never see either.
So: the things that aren’t worth it, and what to do with the time instead.
Overrated: The Big Buffets
The all-you-can-eat buffet was Vegas’s signature and it was cheap. It is no longer cheap.
The good ones now run 60 to 90 dollars a head with drinks extra, and at that price you’re paying restaurant money to serve yourself in a queue.
Instead: Vegas has become a genuinely serious food city. Chefs with actual reputations run restaurants here, and lunch at one of those costs less than a buffet dinner.
Or go where the staff eat, off-Strip on Spring Mountain Road, where Chinatown runs for several miles and the food is excellent and cheap.
Overrated: Bottle Service and the Big Clubs
A table at a headline nightclub starts in the high hundreds and goes into the thousands. What you get is a bottle of spirits that costs the club forty dollars, and somewhere to stand.
The queues without a table are long and the door policy is arbitrary.
Instead: pool parties in the day are cheaper, more fun and considerably less shouty. Or the cocktail bars downtown, where a genuinely good drink is fifteen dollars and you can hear the person next to you.
Worth It: The Bellagio Fountains
Let’s be fair to Vegas where it earns it. The fountains are free, they run every 15 to 30 minutes from mid afternoon until midnight, and they’re genuinely impressive.
1,200 jets, water going up 140 metres, choreographed to music. It costs you nothing and it’s the single best free thing in the city.
Watch from the walkway on the Strip rather than paying for a table. The view is the same.
The conservatory inside the Bellagio is also free and changes seasonally, and it’s one of the few genuinely lovely interiors on the Strip.
▶ Watch This Before You Go
Overrated: Walking the Strip
On a map the Strip looks walkable. It is four miles long, the casinos are enormous and set back from the road, and the pedestrian bridges add distance.
Two neighbouring hotels can be a twenty minute walk apart. In 40 degree heat, with no shade, this destroys people.
Instead: use the monorail, the free trams between certain resorts, or ride shares for anything more than one property along. Walk the Strip once at night when it’s cooler and you’ll enjoy it far more.
Overrated: The Grand Canyon Day Trip
Sold everywhere in Vegas, and the version most people buy goes to the Skywalk on tribal land, not the national park.
It’s a five hour drive each way to the South Rim, or a shorter trip to a less impressive stretch of canyon, with a big fee for a glass walkway you can’t take your own camera onto.
Instead: if you want the Grand Canyon, give it two days and stay overnight at the South Rim. If you want a spectacular canyon day trip from Vegas, the options below are better and closer.
Instead: Red Rock Canyon
Twenty minutes from the Strip and a completely different world. A 13 mile scenic loop through red and cream sandstone cliffs, with trails leading off it.
Calico Tanks is a 2.5 mile round trip with a view back to the Strip from the top, which is a genuinely surreal sight.
Timed entry reservations are required October to May, and it’s cheap. Go at sunrise when the rock is at its best and the heat hasn’t arrived.
This is the thing I’d tell every Vegas visitor to do, and almost nobody does it.
Instead: Valley of Fire
An hour north east, Nevada’s oldest state park, and it’s extraordinary. Bright red Aztec sandstone eroded into waves, arches and slots.
Fire Wave is a 1.5 mile round trip to a striped rock formation that looks painted. The Seven Wonders loop takes in most of the highlights in a couple of hours.
Almost no crowds compared to anything in the national park system. Closed to hiking in the hottest part of summer afternoons for safety, which tells you something about the heat.
Instead: Downtown and the Neon Museum
Fremont Street is old Vegas, and it’s cheaper, weirder and more fun than the Strip. Lower table minimums, older casinos, and a canopy screen overhead playing light shows.
The Neon Museum is a boneyard of old casino signs, rescued as the resorts were demolished. Go on the night tour when many are relit. It’s the closest thing Vegas has to a history museum with a soul.
The Arts District just south has breweries, vintage shops and murals, and is where people who live here actually go 🙂
Overrated: The Themed Attractions
The fake Eiffel Tower, the fake Venice canals, the fake New York skyline. Fine to walk past, and the paid observation decks are hard to justify.
The gondola ride at the Venetian costs more than an actual gondola in Venice, which is a fact worth sitting with.
Instead: the High Roller observation wheel gives you the best actual view of the valley, and the Sphere is a genuinely new thing worth seeing if there’s a show on.
The Resort Fee Warning
Every hotel charges a mandatory daily resort fee on top of the room rate, typically 40 to 60 dollars a night, and it’s not in the price you see when you book.
Parking is often extra on top of that. So is the airport transfer, and the ATM in the casino has the worst fees you’ll see anywhere.
Budget an extra 60 to 80 dollars a day beyond the room rate before you’ve done anything at all. It’s the single most common bill shock in Vegas :/
Common Questions
How many days do you need in Las Vegas? Three is plenty for most people. Four if you’re adding Red Rock and Valley of Fire, which you should.
Is Las Vegas still cheap? No. Rooms can be, but resort fees, food, drinks and parking have all risen sharply. Budget more than you expect.
What’s the best free thing to do? The Bellagio fountains and conservatory, and walking Fremont Street at night.
Is the Grand Canyon worth a day trip from Vegas? Not really. It’s a very long day for a short visit. Red Rock Canyon and Valley of Fire are far better value for a day.
When is the best time to visit? March to May and September to November. Summer regularly passes 40 degrees, which changes what you can do outdoors entirely.
