Arts and Architecture

In Vegas, history means Elvis and culture is imported from New York.

Flashing lights have given way to laser shows but the aim is old-fashioned: keep the punter gaga, entranced and coming back for more and more. Beyond the clamouring casino Strip, the Elvis museum has recently been upstaged by the Guggenheim and amusement parks galore.

Places to go

Guggenheim Hermitage

3355 S Las Vegas Blvd Call for info: (702) 414 244009:00-20:30

Opened in October 2002, this austere gallery exhibits masterworks from the museum's vast collection of impressionist, postimpressionist and early modernist works. A partnership with the State Hermitage Museum of St Petersburg ensures that the masterpieces will keep on coming.

Admission: full $15.00 concession $12.00 child $7.00

Luxor Casino

3900 S Las Vegas Blvd Call for info: (702) 262 4000

This hotel-casino inside a 30-story pyramid fronted by a 10-storey high crouching sphinx tops the (very competitive) wow factor for Sin City's mega-resorts. The interior is so spacious there's room for the world's biggest atrium, which is topped off by a beacon of light so strong it can be seen by astronauts.

Wet 'n' Wild

2601 S Las Vegas Blvd Call for info: (702) 765 9700May-Oct: 10:00-18:00

During heat waves, this huge water park is the coolest place on The Strip. Families enjoy the dozens of slides, chutes and floats refreshed by gallons of shipped-in H2O. Noteworthy rides include the Raging Rapids simulated white-water rafting adventure and Willy Willy, a monstrous whirlpool.

Admission: full $28.00 child $21.00 concession $16.00

Elvis-A-Rama Museum

3401 Industrial Rd Call for info: (702) 309 720010:00-18:00

The King may have left the building, but his impersonators and the largest private collection of his memorabilia are still very much in the house. It's gaudy, cheesy and over-the-top, but so was the man himself.

Admission: full $10.00

Imperial Palace Auto Collection

3535 S Las Vegas Blvd Call for info: (702) 731 331109:30-21:30

Car buffs will lose their minds over the world's largest private auto collection. Among the superb vehicles on hand are Marilyn Monroe's pink 1955 Lincoln Capri convertible, Adolf Hitler's armour-plated 1939 Mercedes-Benz 770K convertible and Liberace's 1981 Zimmer Golden Spirit.

Admission: full $7.00

Mirage

3400 Las Vegas Blvd S Call for info: 702 791 7111

This casino was the first of the ridiculously theatrical flash palaces that today define modern Las Vegas. A fake volcano erupts every 15 minutes after dusk, with flames rising out of orange-colored water and a deep rumble threatening to break windows. While Siegfried & Roy are no longer performing shows, you can still see their white tigers in a habitat.

Fremont St Experience

Fremont St

The five-block-long covered pedestrian mall known as the Fremont St Experience is a sound-and-light extravaganza devised a decade ago to inject new life into a Las Vegas downtown deserted by tourists in favour of The Strip. It's weird, but definitely captivating.

Admission:  free

Bellagio

3600 S Las Vegas Blvd Call for info: (702) 693 7111

The Bellagio casino is one of the most opulent pleasure palaces in Las Vegas. The lake in front of this glam palace comes alive nightly every 15 minutes with more than 1000 water jets dancing to Pavarotti, Sinatra and (gulp) Lionel Richie. Inside is the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art.