Things to do in Las Vegas

Land, check in, and do nothing ambitious on night one. The Strip is four miles long and looks about one mile long from a hotel window — every first-timer walks too far.

Day two: something indoor and air-conditioned before 2pm, a sit-down dinner at 7pm, one show at 9pm. That's a full day here.

Keep one afternoon completely unplanned. The best thing that happens on a Vegas trip is usually not on the itinerary.

Chinatown on Spring Mountain Road is the strongest food corridor in the city. It's a ten-minute ride off the Strip and the prices are ordinary.

On the Strip, lunch menus at the marquee restaurants run a fraction of dinner for the same kitchen.

Book anything with a view two to three weeks out. Everything else can be walked into on a weeknight.

Treat 11am to 5pm as indoor time. Locals do. Pools, museums, spas, and the covered walkways between casinos exist for exactly this.

Outdoor plans go at 7am or after 8pm. Red Rock Canyon at sunrise is a completely different experience from Red Rock Canyon at noon.

Carry water everywhere. The dry air removes it from you faster than it feels like it should.

Red Rock Canyon: 30 minutes west, a 13-mile scenic loop, half a day at most. The easiest escape from the city.

Valley of Fire: an hour northeast and the most photogenic landscape within reach. Go early.

Hoover Dam is 45 minutes and genuinely impressive up close. The Grand Canyon West rim is a full-day commitment — decide before you book.

The Strip is resorts, scale, and spectacle. Downtown is older, denser, cheaper, and easier to walk end to end.

Split the difference: sleep on the Strip if it's your first trip, and give Downtown one full evening.

The Arts District, just south of Fremont, is where the city's newest bars and restaurants have been opening.

General admission online is almost always cheaper than the door. Guest lists move faster but rarely skip the queue entirely.

Clubs fill after midnight and empty around 3am. Arriving at 11pm means an hour of an empty room.

If a table host quotes a minimum spend, that number is before tax and service. Budget roughly 30% on top.