The best attractions to visit outside of Las Vegas

It is possible that Las Vegas Boulevard, with its singing gondoliers and singing fountains, a volcano that erupts in thunderous eruptions, and a spotlight in the shape of a pyramid, is the most lively street in the West. Famous worldwide as “The Strip,” this thoroughfare runs right through the heart of Sin City, a former truck stop that has become one of the most visited places in the United States.

Even while the vast majority of Las Vegas’s approximately 43 million visitors in 2016 probably stayed on the Strip the entire time, there are still plenty of jackpots to be won by venturing to the city’s other attractions. If you’re tired of the constant ringing of slot machines, the throbbing of nightclubs, and the sight of bikini-clad card dealers, consider visiting one of these ten places outside the Strip on your next vacation.

Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area

Red Rock Canyon is a large tract of land controlled by the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) to the west of Las Vegas, close to Summerlin. It is a favorite destination for rock climbers, mountain bikers, hikers, botanists, wildlife watchers, and boulderers. The 13-mile beautiful driving loop passes via an educational visitor center and leads to most trailheads.

There are also a small number of campsites to choose from. Cowboy Trail Rides is an operation that offers half-day and full-day horse rides that begin right outside the forest and end inside on an east-facing vista. Guests of every age can enjoy the rides. If you’re lucky, a couple of big-eared jackrabbits may even hop across your path.

Seven Magic Mountains

Just 15 minutes south of Las Vegas, in the Mojave Desert, are seven rock towers that make up the installation known as Seven Magic Mountains. These towers, painted in a rainbow of colors, stand out against the otherwise dreary environment. It was all a part of Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone’s plan, his imaginative take on life in the desert. Each tower, made from stones from the area, measures over 30 feet in height.

They can be seen from the I-15 Freeway. Still, their true magnificence is only fully appreciated when one is standing in their presence. However, getting there can be a bit of a challenge. The route from the parking lot to the towers is not paved, but the parking lot itself is. There are numerous interpretive displays throughout the route, and visitors can even listen to a recorded audio tour on their mobile devices.

Valley of Fire State Park

About an hour northeast of the Las Vegas Strip sits Nevada’s oldest state park, and no, the landscape is not on fire there. Looking at the 40,000 acres dominated by outcroppings of ochre-red Aztec sandstone, it’s easy to see how the area received its name. You may enjoy more than just the rocks there. Petrified trees and petroglyphs, estimated to be around 2,000 years old, may also be found in this open space, which was created in 1935 thanks to the efforts of the Civilian Conservation Corps.

It’s really peculiar, but the park hosts a championship for the ancient art of spear throwing, known as an atlatl, every March. The park is more crowded than it usually is on this day.

A mysterious ghost town

Nipton is not your typical ghost town, with a population of 16. The mining and ranching businesses that once dominated the area have long since abandoned it. Furthermore, the town is full of dilapidated structures from the city’s heyday. However, Mayor Jim Eslinger ensures that the once-thriving municipality, located just three kilometers from the Nevada state line and an hour’s drive from Las Vegas, continues to hum with activity. Eslinger is in charge of Nipton Trading Post, the only retail establishment in town.

He is also responsible for the sole accommodations for visitors, the Hotel Nipton, and its eco-cabins. As far as Eslinger is concerned, he is the “keeper” of Nipton. Because of its proximity to the Mojave National Preserve, this hamlet is a convenient starting or ending point for excursions into the desert.

Things are just going to pick up speed from here on out. To make it a “cannabis-friendly hospitality destination,” American Green Inc., a marijuana-focused tech and growing corporation, bought the entire town in 2018.

Lake Las Vegas

Lake Las Vegas is a 320-acre recreational oasis just 40 minutes southeast of the Strip, surrounded by high-end hotels and mansions (Celine Dion owns one). The lake is popular with tourists, who can rent kayaks, stand-up paddleboards, and rowboats from local outfitters to explore the lake’s shores. For golfers, the lake is a haven; it’s bordered by three courses, one of which, Reflection Bay, is in Golf Magazine’s top 100.

The Hilton Lake Las Vegas Resort & Spa, a contemporary homage to Italy’s historic Ponte Vecchio, spans across the lake at its western end, next to a little “town” called MonteLago. The bridge may be corny, but its aesthetic appeal cannot be denied.

Spring Mountains National Recreation Area

Winter weather? In the valley surrounding Las Vegas? About an hour north of the city, this occurs frequently in the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area. The park is called Mount Charleston because it is typically 20 degrees cooler than in the Valley below. In the summer, when temperatures can reach 115 degrees, this makes it an ideal place to cool off, which means that there is enough snow on the peaks throughout the winter months to maintain a ski area.

There are many other reasons why the environment in the Spring Mountains is well-known. These bristlecone pines are among the oldest living things on Earth, and they can only be found in this small region of Nevada. Recently opened in 2018, a state-of-the-art visitor center serves as a terrific resource for those seeking more information about the park before setting out on a hike.

River Mountains Loop Trail

The River Mountains Loop Trail is 34 miles of pure beauty and is one of the best regional routes you can hike. About 45 minutes southeast of the Strip, the paved trail follows the River Mountains, linking Boulder City, Henderson, and the wilderness in between. After more than 20 years of planning and collaboration between the public and commercial sectors, the doors finally opened in 2012. The route spends around a third of its time passing within Lake Mead National Recreation Area, which follows the curving contours of the lake’s shoreline and crests.

Another attraction is a trail that leads directly to Hoover Dam along a former railroad right-of-way constructed for the dam’s construction. Between Lake Las Vegas and Henderson, three consecutive hills are higher and more demanding than before. In the area, these peaks are known as “The Three Sisters.”

Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument

This location, designated a National Park Service site in 2014, is steeped in history. You may find fossils of mammoths, lions, and camels, among other Ice Age animals, just 30 minutes northwest of Las Vegas. In addition to being the first place in the United States where radiocarbon dating was used, Tule Springs is also notable for being one of the earliest parks dedicated to presenting the history of Pleistocene paleontology.

Tule (too-lee) Springs is so young that it does not yet have established trails or facilities; instead, the park service provides visitors with maps that outline suggested hikes. Keep your eyes peeled for volunteer tour guides from the charity Protectors of Tule Springs as you explore the area. All four of these women are over the age of 70, and they worked relentlessly to get the area designated as a park.

Lake Mead National Recreation Area

Lake Mead is not a lake at all; instead, it is the largest reservoir in the United States, stretching 112 miles in length and more than 530 feet deep. Located about 45 minutes southeast of Sin City, the “lake” provides Arizona, Nevada, and California with drinking and irrigation water by diverting water from the Colorado River. In addition, it offers a fantastic opportunity for entertainment. Locals and tourists enjoy a wide variety of water sports on Lake Mead, including jet skiing, sailing, sport fishing, and boating.

The lake and the nearby mountains make for excellent hiking and riding and together make up the recreation area. The park’s total land and water area are 1.5 million acres. Guided tours of Lake Mead often include this item of trivia, which park rangers believe to be the most interesting: A yearly average of around 4% of Lake Mead’s water usage is absorbed by Las Vegas Strip hotels.

Hoover Dam

We’ve saved the best for last!

Hardly anyone can picture what modern Las Vegas would be like if the Hoover Dam hadn’t been built. The dam used to be a significant source of energy for the casinos. (Today, only a fraction of the electricity used by casinos comes from hydroelectric generators at the dam’s base.) The Boulder Dam project (renamed in 1947) brought thousands of employees to the area in the 1930s, long before Sin City was anything more than a basic truck stop, and therefore helped put Las Vegas on the map.

Located roughly 30 minutes southeast of Las Vegas, the dam crosses the Black Canyon of the Colorado River and creates the southern end of Lake Mead. For those who want the technical term, it’s an arch-gravity dam, which means it’s arched in such a way that the weight of the water presses against it to reinforce it. The dam site is open to the public, and the Bureau of Reclamation offers several tours, including one that takes guests within the power plant.

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