24 Hours in Las Vegas

If you find yourself with a day to kill in Las Vegas, you’ve definitely played your cards right (pun intended). But all the sins on offer in the eponymous city can get a little overwhelming for the uninitiated. Fret not, we have a jam-packed day of fun, food, and frolic planned out for whenever you visit next.

Start the day with some good old American breakfast at Hash House A Go Go at the Plaza Hotel near Fremont Street. The farm-fresh food in larger-than-life portions comes with a funky, modern twist. The restaurant is set alongside the casino and can give you quite the photo-op with its plating. The chicken and waffles come with a steak knife stabbed through the precarious tower of sweet and savoury goodness, and if you want to try their signature hash browns, make sure to grab a friend to go to town on the leftovers. Wash it all down with tumblers of OJ, or some strong, black, free-flowing coffee.

You’ll need to work off this breakfast for champions and we recommend driving up 45 mins to Lee Canyon in the Spring Mountains. Skiing in the desert might seem unheard of, but just north of Mount Charleston—Nevada’s highest peak—Lee Canyon provides snowy hills well into March. And if you’re not quite as sure-footed as you’d like, they also provide lessons free of charge! There are 24 serviced snow trails, three lifts and a tubing area as well. But skiing isn’t the only thing on the menu, the day-lodge facilities of Lee Canyon offer 445 acres of hiking terrain with nearly 2,000 vertical feet of hiking routes.

For lunch, head to one of the multiple dining options at Lee. The Bighorn Grill has some grilled burger and fries options, loaded potatoes, and pizza slices. They don’t have plastic—or any—straws on offer so that’s a bit for the environment too. The Brewin’ Burro is a coffeeshop located in the new Hillside Lodge and offers lovely views of the snowy peaks, made only better with a tall-non-fat-latte-with-caramel-drizzle in hand. Head to the Bristlecone to taste an array of local beers because, well, it must be 5 o’clock somewhere.

Speaking of 5 o’clock, make your way back downtown and check out the Fremont Street Experience across the street from the Plaza. This strip-before-the-Strip has one of the largest television screens spanning the length of the street. The entertainment and gaming destination is speckled with casinos, restaurants, bars, and vivacious street performers, not to mention you can zipline over the entire show.

As the night gets younger, head to the actual Las Vegas Strip for an early dinner at any one of the numerous Gordon Ramsay restaurants. Think Hell’s Kitchen and Steak. If you walk towards the New York New York Hotel and Casino, south of the Strip, you’ll find an array of local souvenir shops brimming with t-shirts and momentos for as cheap as a dollar. No visit to Vegas is complete without catching whatever Cirque du Soleil show is on the roster and while you’re at it, stop for a second to marvel at the Bellagio fountains, which burst into life to the tunes of old classics every half an hour.

You can check out the volcano show at the Mirage on your way out of Cirque du Soleil and head straight into the LINQ street experience to bring in the rest of the night where the alcohol flows free and the cards are dealt swiftly.

The observation deck of the Eiffel Tower in the Paris Hotel might just be the perfect end to your day in Sin City as you watch the city unfurl its charm from your perch up above. There are hotels and casinos aplenty, a stone’s throw away from the great Mojave. So, when you’re looking at the twinkling city, know that it is truly a wonderful world.