A primary-timer’s information to Vegas from the resorts to reveals that depart you gobsmacked

Neil Leslie visited Las Vegas for the first time and got a whirlwind tour of the hotels, casinos, shows and food that make Sin City such an iconic party destination

Maybe it was the moment when the view out the hotel room window was Donald Trump’s presidential motorcade, sweeping from the entrance of the golden monolith of Trump Tower. It could have been the sight of the $10,000 seats being installed in front of the famous Bellagio fountains for the best roadside view of the upcoming US Formula 1 Grand Prix. Then there was the rollercoaster plunging through the Manhattan skyline a few blocks from the unmistakable silhouette of… the Eiffel Tower.

Or the feeling of being literally swept up inside the Kansas twister that carries Dorothy Gale to the land of Oz, the theatre seat beneath me almost shaking from its bolts while leaves swirled as part of the immersive 4D experience of ‘The Sphere’. Whatever the exact moment during my first visit, the penny definitely dropped that – to borrow a line from Dorothy – “There’s no place like Vegas.”

I was here seeing America’s most improbable city through fresh eyes, and it felt every bit like waking up in Oz. Vegas only does life in glorious technicolour. From the moment its lights twinkle out of the black desert landscape it is an assault on all five senses at once.

For newcomers the first surprise is the approach to Harry Reid international airport, and the dizzying sensation you might be about to land on the famous Las Vegas Boulevard itself, its iconic hotels rising almost parallel to the runway to greet you. It takes just minutes from touching down to be plunged into the chaos and sensory explosion that is ‘The Strip’.

I stayed at the MGM Grand, its green tinted glass towers rising like Emerald City. By the time you are finished checking in you are already acclimatising to the cacophony of the casino floor. Vegas beats to the pulse of its patchwork of famous casino hotels with their gaming, world class restaurants and iconic shows featuring some of the planet’s biggest stars. Like the cathedrals or galleries of a European city, they are the must see attractions here.

One of the best ways to experience the chaos is to walk as much of it as you can. Hotels like the MGM, Caesars and the Bellagio have the footprint of entire city blocks. You can spend hours exploring the cavernous casino-hotel spaces while scarcely emerging on the street for air. As you move between them, Vegas brazenly sets out to astonish you at every turn, and frequently succeeds.

One moment you are under the girders of the Eiffel Tower, the next on St Mark’s Square in the Venetian with a gondolier floating by. Elsewhere the New York, New York, Excalibur and Park MGM hotels meet in what forms the most fun triangle of the strip, complete with that Manhattan rollercoaster ride that not even the Big Apple would dare.

Of course many visitors are here for the world famous gaming and gambling. And there really are few thrills like watching a roulette wheel spin on the floor of somewhere like Caesars Palace or the MGM Grande with your own chips laid out on the green felt. But then it’s also wise to recall the words of the leader of the Sin City rat pack, Frank Sinatra, when he said: “Vegas is the only place that money really talks…it says goodbye.”

These days there is so much more to a trip here than gambling. Like everything else the entertainment, the food and the shopping are supersized. You might not leave with a bulging wallet from the card tables and slots, but it will be hard to avoid departing without a bulging waistline.

A day could take you from the heaving breakfast buffet for the Gods at the Wynne or Sadelle’s at the Bellagio, via fish and chips at Gordon Ramsey’s Caesars Palace pub, to the exquisite tastes of restaurants like Kyu in the unbelievable luxury of the Fontainebleau hotel or Chicas at the Venetian. By day four I was willing to try the test at the downtown eatery which featured a weighing scale on the sidewalk, with the challenge that anyone tipping 350lb could eat for free.

Meanwhile malls inside hotels from the Venetian to the Wynn boast more designer stores than entire shopping districts I’ve been to. They certainly feature the only one where I’ve witnessed an assistant proudly display a $45,000 pen that was designed in honour of Dracula author Bram Stoker.

If the Strip is unashamedly dedicated to the sins of the flesh, you can find the heart and soul of old Las Vegas down around Fremont Street. It is home to iconic casinos like the original Golden Nugget and countless happy newlyweds emerging from the chapels that dot the boulevard in this part of town.

If your slice of the American dream consists of a happy hour beer for $7 and a seat to people-watch all human life pass under its covered awnings, there are few better spots to while away an afternoon. Old Last Vegas is also home to the Mob Museum where you can hear the history of how this unlikely metropolis rose from the desert sands. So much of its story is tied up with the mob that it’s the perfect prism to learn about how the site of the original Arizona Club grew to become one of the most iconic cities in the world.

There’s even the original wall that Al Capone’s goons shot their rivals up against in the infamous Valentine’s Day massacre. And a loving tribute to Vegas through its many cameos on the silver screen from the Lady Gambles to the Hangover, and Casino to Honey I Blew up the Kid. It also harks back to that golden era when the Rat Pack and Elvis turned Vegas into the show capital of the world.

‘Showtime’ is still the one thing that can really compete with the lure of the casino floor for the hearts and minds of visitors. It is where you could catch Lady Gaga playing in the intimate surrounds of the piano bar at the Reserve, or have seen recent residencies by global superstars like Adele and Celine Dion.

Then there is the newest kid on the strip, the $2.3 billion, 580,000 square feet of programmable LED space, and tech wonder of the world, that is the Las Vegas sphere.

U2 did a residency here when it opened. When I visited, Metallica were filling slots between performances of the Wizard of Oz, a reimagining of the original 1939 classic where flying monkeys literally shoot overhead and apples come flying into the crowd flung from enchanted forests.

As a triumph of the astonishing, something to make you doubt your own eyes, the Sphere is the perfect addition to this fantastical city. Oz may just be its perfect show, because there really is no place like it.

• Stay four nights at the Excalibur Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas from £1,047pp, based on room only. Includes return London Heathrow flights, 23kg baggage per person. Based on a May 2027 departure. Find out more at cooptravel.co.uk