Local favourites
Hidden gems
Local favorites away from the Strip crowds. Hours and prices change, so check the official site before you go.
The StripPinball Hall of Fame
4925 S Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89119
The Pinball Hall of Fame is a nonprofit, hands-on museum located in Las Vegas, Nevada. It features playable pinball machines, arcade games, and other novelty machines spanning various eras. Operated by volunteers, the museum donates its excess revenues to the Salvation Army.
Why locals love it: Locals appreciate this unique attraction for its wide selection of playable games and its charitable contributions to the community.
Driph, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Northwest Las VegasGilcrease Orchard
7800 N Tenaya Way, Las Vegas, NV 89131
Gilcrease Orchard is a working farm located in Las Vegas, Nevada. It offers visitors the opportunity to pick their own seasonal fruits and vegetables, including apples, peaches, and various produce. The orchard provides a natural, agricultural experience.
Why locals love it: Locals appreciate the fresh, seasonal produce and the chance to enjoy an outdoor, family-friendly farm experience.
Noah Wulf, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
HendersonEthel M Botanical Cactus Garden
2 Cactus Garden Dr, Henderson, NV 89014
The Ethel M Botanical Cactus Garden features a diverse collection of cacti and succulents. It is located in Henderson, Nevada, next to the Ethel M Chocolates factory.
Why locals love it: Locals enjoy the serene botanical garden and the adjacent chocolate factory experience.
Acroterion, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
East Las VegasClark County Wetlands Park
7050 Wetlands Park Ln, Las Vegas, NV 89122
Clark County Wetlands Park is the largest park in Clark County, Nevada, located on the east side of the Las Vegas valley. It extends along the Las Vegas Wash, connecting to Lake Las Vegas and Lake Mead, and features a nature center with displays about local plants and animals. Visitors can explore miles of walking paths within the park.
Why locals love it: Locals appreciate the park as a place for education about the environment and the history of the valley, offering a natural escape with extensive walking paths.
Stan Shebs, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Northwest Las VegasTule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument
N Decatur Blvd & Moccasin Rd, Las Vegas, NV 89131
Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument, located near Las Vegas, Nevada, was established in 2014. This 22,650-acre monument protects significant Ice Age paleontological discoveries and the Tule Springs area within the Upper Las Vegas Wash.
Why locals love it: Locals appreciate the monument for its role in preserving important Ice Age fossils and unique natural landscapes like the rare Las Vegas bear poppy.
National Park Service, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
DowntownOld Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Historic Park
500 E Washington Ave, Las Vegas, NV 89101
Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Historic Park features the first permanent structure built in what would become Las Vegas, completed in 1855. Located less than one mile north of downtown, it is the only U.S. state park in a city that houses the city's first building. The site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and marked by several historical tablets.
Why locals love it: Locals appreciate this park for preserving the city's original structure and early history, offering a glimpse into Las Vegas's past.
Jrozwado, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
NelsonEldorado Canyon & Nelson Ghost Town
15 Eldorado Canyon Rd, Nelson, NV 89046
Nelson is a census-designated place situated in Eldorado Canyon within the Eldorado Mountains in Clark County, Nevada. Located in the southeast region of the Eldorado Valley, the community is in the Pacific Standard Time zone.
Why locals love it: Locals appreciate the small community feel of this historic location.
WPPilot, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Arts DistrictArts District
The Writer's Block
519 S 6th St, Las Vegas, NV 89101
The Writer's Block is an independent bookstore located in downtown Las Vegas. It offers a curated selection of books for all ages, alongside unique literary events and workshops. It serves as a community hub for readers and writers.
Why locals love it: Locals appreciate its quiet atmosphere and diverse literary offerings, providing a cultural escape from the city's typical attractions.
- HendersonHenderson
Seven Magic Mountains
A large-scale public land-art installation by Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone, consisting of seven towers of colorful, boulder-sized stones stacked up to 30 feet high in the Mojave Desert. It opened in 2016 as a temporary exhibit organized by the Art Production Fund and the Nevada Museum of Art, but its run has been repeatedly extended due to popularity. It sits just off Interstate 15 south of the Strip, near Jean, Nevada, with no formal street address.
- Boulder City & Lake MeadBoulder City & Lake Mead
Nevada State Railroad Museum – Boulder City
1000 Boulder City Pkwy, Boulder City, NV 89005
A state-operated railroad museum preserving the history of the Boulder Branch Line, the railroad built in the early 1930s to haul materials and workers for the construction of Hoover Dam. The museum displays vintage locomotives and rail cars, includes a restored 1931 depot, and offers seasonal excursion train rides along a portion of the historic route. It is one of three branches of the Nevada State Railroad Museum system.
- Arts District (18b)Arts District (18b)
Zak Bagans' The Haunted Museum
600 E Charleston Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89104
A privately owned paranormal-themed museum housed in a 1938 Tudor Revival mansion, opened in 2017 by 'Ghost Adventures' host Zak Bagans. It displays a collection of allegedly haunted and cursed objects, including items tied to the Manson Family, the Dybbuk Box, and Bagans' own paranormal investigations, presented through immersive, themed rooms. Guided tours are timed and limited in group size due to the site's small residential-scale layout.
- The StripThe Strip
Guardian Angel Cathedral
302 Cathedral Way, Las Vegas, NV 89109
A Roman Catholic cathedral built in 1963, tucked just off Las Vegas Boulevard behind the Strip's resort corridor, designed in a mid-century modern style with a distinctive folded, tent-like roofline by architect Paul Revere Williams. Its stained-glass windows depict scenes unusual for a Catholic church, including casino dealers and entertainers, reflecting its ministry to the city's hospitality workforce. It remains an active parish and a quiet architectural counterpoint to the neighboring casino towers.
- Symphony ParkSymphony Park
Historic Fifth Street School
401 S 4th St, Las Vegas, NV 89101
A 1936 Art Deco schoolhouse built with WPA funding, originally known as the Las Vegas Grammar School, and one of the city's few surviving early-20th-century civic buildings. After decades as a school it was restored and reopened in 2010 as a city-owned event, meeting, and cultural arts space adjacent to Symphony Park and The Smith Center. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
- Fremont EastFremont East
Downtown Container Park
707 Fremont St, Las Vegas, NV 89101
An open-air shopping, dining, and entertainment complex built largely from repurposed shipping containers, opened in 2013 as part of the Downtown Project revitalization effort backed by Zappos founder Tony Hsieh. Its entrance is marked by a giant fire-breathing praying mantis sculpture (relocated from Burning Man) that shoots flames nightly, and the park includes a treehouse play structure and rotating local boutiques. It has become a landmark of the Fremont East entertainment district.
- Summerlin & Red RockSummerlin & Red Rock
Spring Mountain Ranch State Park
6375 NV-159, Blue Diamond, NV 89004
A historic ranch property at the base of the Wilson Cliffs within the Red Rock Canyon area, with a history spanning Native American use, a 19th-century sandstone cabin, and 20th-century ownership by figures including German actress Vera Krupp and reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes. Nevada purchased the ranch in 1974 to preserve it as a state park, and its restored ranch house, orchard, and spring-fed pond are open for tours. The park also hosts an outdoor summer theater series.
- University District & East of the StripUniversity District & East of the Strip
Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art
4505 S Maryland Pkwy, Las Vegas, NV 89154
A free contemporary art museum on the UNLV campus, originally founded in 1967 as a natural history museum before transitioning in 2017 to focus on contemporary art, with an emphasis on artists from Nevada, the Southwest, and Latin America. Its rotating exhibitions occupy a modest campus building and highlight emerging and regional artists often overlooked by larger institutions. Admission is free to the public.
- Downtown & Fremont StreetDowntown & Fremont Street
Emergency Arts
520 Fremont St, Las Vegas, NV 89101
A collective of art studios, small galleries, and independent shops housed in a former 1932 medical clinic building at the corner of Fremont and 6th streets. Opened in 2011 as an early cornerstone of the Downtown Project's revitalization of old Las Vegas, it has hosted artist co-working spaces, the Beat Coffeehouse, and rotating pop-up exhibits inside its converted clinic rooms. Its adaptive reuse made it a symbol of downtown's arts-driven redevelopment.
- ChinatownChinatown
Chinatown Plaza
4255 Spring Mountain Rd, Las Vegas, NV 89102
The founding anchor of Las Vegas's Chinatown district, opened in 1995 as the first Asian-themed shopping center on what is now the Spring Mountain Road corridor. Its entrance features a traditional Chinese ceremonial arch and pagoda-style architecture that established the visual identity later echoed by the dozens of Asian shopping centers that followed along the strip. It remains home to long-running restaurants, markets, and shops predating the district's later expansion.