I am, but this isn’t the Vegas that most tourists experience.
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Read More“Half of Vegas’s locals haven’t even been out here,” my guide, Stephen, from Pink Adventure Tours, tells me as we rattle through the park’s trails in a custom-made lipstick-pink Jeep Wrangler.
In the Valley of Fire State Park, high-rise hotels are replaced by sky-scraping slabs of stone and the soundtrack of slot machines is substituted for the chirrups of chickadees and the scurrying of ground squirrels among the creosote bushes, cholla plants and black brush.
Then there are those with petroglyphs (rock carvings). These primitive drawings of horned sheep, desert tortoises and riverbeds are thought to have been carved into the rock by the hunter-gatherer peoples who lived here between 2,000BC and 500AD.
The Neon Museum charts the history of Las Vegas (Photo: Getty)
At The Neon Museum, a 10-minute drive from the Strip, more than 250 disused and restored neon signs tell tales of a past that’s as colourful as the lights themselves.
Further stories about the making of Vegas are disclosed on a Secret Food tour of the Downtown area.
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Read MoreIn the run-up to Christmas, the canopy shows are holiday-themed, the street performers don Santa hats, and the whole area glints in the glow of a 50ft Christmas tree.
Over an “original” and “secret” version of shrimp cocktail at Saginaw’s deli, I find out how it became Vegas’s signature dish. The Golden Gate casino started selling it for 50 cents a serving in 1959, and by 1991 it had sold more than 25 million portions. It was discontinued in 2017, but Saginaw’s brought it back in 2020.
During a comfort break at Main Street Station Hotel, I’m surprised to be snuck into the men’s bathrooms to see how a slab of the Berlin Wall backs the urinals as part of the hotel’s eclectic antiques collection.
The surprises continue at The Vault, a new speakeasy in the Bellagio hotel. Identifiable by an inconspicuous zigzag symbol next to the door, this chandelier-lit bar serves theatrical cocktails like the Vapour Trail, served beneath a smoke-filled cloche.
Meow Wolf’s Omega Mart (Photo: Christopher DeVargas)
I start at Wink World, a “psychedelic funhouse” created by Chris Wink, chief creative officer at the Blue Man Group. Across the course of a series of rooms, I see plasma balls moving in time to music, mini astronaut models bouncing up and down from the ceiling on slinky springs, and neon whirligigs reflected infinitely by mirrors. If Zebedee had fever dreams, they would be a lot like this.
As I prepare to leave Vegas, I realise that I’ve not put a single dollar in a slot machine. I quickly stuff a fiver into a one-armed bandit at Caesars Palace, where I’ve spent the past four nights. I lose, but it doesn’t matter. I leave feeling like I’ve hit the jackpot for experiencing Vegas’s lesser-seen side.
Getting thereNorse Atlantic Airways offers direct flights from Gatwick three times a week until March 2025.
Staying thereRates at Caesars Palace Las Vegas start at £72 a night (excluding resort fees and taxes).
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