Things to Do in Las Vegas, Nevada Besides Gambling
Story and videos by Cassie Hepler, Submitted Photos
I’ve never enjoyed gambling. Watching my hard-earned money disappear within seconds and not returning anything tangible is not my idea of a good time. I do however like to watch people gamble as a lot of my friends enjoy it. I legit learned in two hours watching someone that Blackjack, or 21, is literally counting cards except you’re not supposed to count cards. I also learned that if you get free play from a casino (which seems to be drying up like the desert in summer), to just stick to penny slots and hit buttons. For real, I have no clue WTF I’m doing. I just find the most shining, attractive game, enter the card and start hitting buttons. One time I won $10, woo-hoo a real high roller here. I prefer to invest in real estate where I can see it because let’s face it, my luck is complete shit sometimes, ha! But hey, if that’s your thing more power to you. But this story is about places to go that don’t involve betting your bucks on the big roll. Discover Las Vegas’ best-kept secrets waiting to be explored!
Crowned the city’s most underrated destination and located off the Las Vegas Boulevard Strip near Cortez Hotel, this shopping mall has a rating of 4 out of 5 stars and 1,030 “excellent” reviews on Tripadvisor. Downtown Container Park is an outdoor shopping mall and entertainment complex located in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. The many business tenants are housed in metal cubes and shipping containers creating a village of fun. The project was conceived by Tony Hsieh and his Downtown Project, a group dedicated to revitalizing the downtown area. It’s an immersive open-air shopping center filled with boutique retail shops, unique restaurants, live music and more. Go explore yourself!
Las Vegas Natural History Museum
The Las Vegas Natural History Museum is a private, nonprofit natural history museum that is located in Downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. There’s a cafe and admission fee but it’s very low and you can always score a discount deal online. From the desert to the ocean, from Nevada to Africa, from prehistoric times to the present, the Las Vegas Natural History Museum takes people of all ages on a learning adventure around the world. Discover dinosaurs, marine life, the wonders of ancient Egypt and more at the Las Vegas Natural History Museum. Interactive exhibits, special events, and shark feedings (!) are all but guaranteed to keep you coming back for more.
Guardian Angel Cathedral is a Catholic cathedral in the Las Vegas Valley of Winchester, Nevada, located just off of the Las Vegas Strip, north of the Encore and Wynn hotels. It is the home of the Archdiocese of Las Vegas and is unique not only for its world-renowned windows, mosaics, murals, and stunning architectural design but also for its origin and history. The story of Guardian Angel Cathedral begins in 1958, when the Clerics of St. Viator began celebrating early morning Sunday Masses at 4:30 a.m. in hotels and casinos along the iconic Las Vegas Strip. By 1963, this mission found a permanent home at Guardian Angel Shrine. As the Catholic community in southern Nevada grew, so did the shrine’s significance. In May of 2023, Pope Francis elevated the Diocese of Las Vegas to the Archdiocese of Las Vegas, and Guardian Angel Cathedral was honored as its Metropolitan Cathedral – a central spiritual home for Catholics across southern Nevada.
The Liberace Museum Collection
Located off the Strip, The Liberace Museum Collection specialty museum has a 5-star rating and is a private museum collection that includes many stage costumes, cars, jewelry, lavishly decorated pianos. American entertainer and pianist Wladziu Valentino Liberace, better known as Liberace, has numerous citations for philanthropic acts. You can also do a virtual tour right now! The original contents of the Liberace Museum in Las Vegas continue to be owned and managed by the Liberace Foundation, and exhibited around the world. The Liberace Museum Collection is stored primarily at two locations: Liberace Garage, a 10,000 square foot facility located on Dean Martin Drive, near the Las Vegas Strip, and Thriller Villa, the former home of Michael Jackson, near downtown Las Vegas. Exhibits are prepared and shipped from here to various locations in Las Vegas and all over the world. Tours are by invitation and arranged in advance only. The Liberace Garage is open to the public daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with various tickets available.
Located off the Las Vegas Boulevard Strip, The Burlesque Hall of Fame is the world’s only museum dedicated to the history of burlesque. The definition of a true hidden gem, The Burlesque Hall of Fame’s School of Striptease offers burlesque classes for the hobbyist, the novice, and established performers of all levels. Our classes are guided by the principle that “all bodies are burlesque bodies”, with a commitment to the comfort and empowerment of students. This inclusive space welcome all ages over 18, ethnicities, body types, levels of physical ability, and levels of personal comfort. Learn the art of burlesque from the industry’s top performers of today and days gone by!
Miracle Mile Shops is a 1.2 miles-long shopping mall located on the Las Vegas Boulevard Strip at Planet Hollywood and has everything from retail stores to live entertainment venues located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The mall is 475,000 square feet and 1.2-miles long so pack some comfy sneakers and get your steps in. It houses 170 tenants, including retailers, restaurants and live entertainment venues. Don’t miss the awe-inspiring Rain Show Las Vegas, a free indoor spectacle located inside Near Harmon Avenue entrance. Every hour on the half hour from 10:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., this immersive attraction blends thunder, lightning, fog, and real rain showers in a synchronized light and water performance. Experience a full-blown storm – all under one roof for free! Walk across the custom-built bridge to feel the storm erupt around you for a one-of-a-kind experience. It also offers a cool break from the desert heat!
Zak Bagans The Haunted Museum
Zak Bagans The Haunted Museum offers a unique, spooky experience that appeals to fans of the paranormal, oddity and horror genres. Many visitors praise the immersive atmosphere (don’t touch haunted dolls though, duh!), though some find it overwhelming and costly. The Haunted Museum’s location is accessible via rideshare, although it’s advised to plan transportation ahead of time with tours typically lasting 2 to 3.5 hours. Visitors should prepare for an intense sensory environment and consider VIP options for added experiences if you have the dough. Venture through creepy hallways and secret passages while exploring paranormal exhibits and cursed artifacts, as well as possessions once owned by notorious people. This paranormal museum has 30 spooky rooms and winding corridors in a known haunted 1938 mansion so beware of ghosts hitching a ride home with you. Go during off peak hours if you can as people are sometimes crammed into tiny rooms with nowhere to roam.
Princess Diana & The Royals: The Exhibition
Located inside the Shops at Crystals and spread out over 10,000 square feet, Princess Diana & The Royals: The Exhibition holds over 700 artifacts related to Diana and the royal family. It is a great daytime escape into the wide world of the royals and for the Epsteinth time, perhaps has something to do with quite a disgusting coverup of PDFs. Plan to linger about one to two hours to explore the world’s leading collection of Diana and royal memorabilia to offer North America’s premiere journey inside the royal family. Some iconic items include several of Diana’s authentic evening gown and fashion garments, artist installations, historic royal textiles and a collection of correspondence, gifts and personal items of Diana and the royals. Beginning at Diana’s aristocratic family estate and journeying through her whirlwind introduction to and ultimate reinvention of royal life, the exhibition contains 12 curated rooms anchored by three standout collections: “Wedding of the Century,” “Fashion Icon” and “Royal Obsession.”
Nostalgia Street Rods
Established in 1988, Nostalgia Street Rods is a museum featuring tours of a private collection of vintage automobiles, hot rods and other cars dating back to 1910. Do you love Ford’s, Chevy’s, semi trucks or anything NHRA? When you book a tour here at Nostalgia Street Rods, you’ll get access to a private collection of those from 1910 to 1984. They also offer a large selection of memorabilia and antiques including signed sports memorabilia from Kobe Bryant, NFL football teams, Arnold Palmer, Mohamad Ali and many more. Music memorabilia signed by famous musicians like Elvis Presley, Jimmy Hendrix and others. If you love hot rods and other classic cars, vintage street rods to rare scooters. you’ll absolutely love it at Nostalgia Street Rods.
Dig This – Las Vegas
Along the lines of heavy machinery, if your life-long goal was to dig a giant hole then your dreams can come true here! A giant sandbox for grown-ups, this venue lets people over 13-years-old operate bulldozers and excavators. Dig, push and tear up a Las Vegas construction playground operating heavy equipment. Drive real earth-moving machines with your choice of these machines: Caterpillar D5K Track-Type Bulldozer, Caterpillar 3I5CL Hydraulic Excavator, Skid Steer, or Mini Excavator. First, start each session with a quick overview of the safety procedures that are required to follow while digging. After you pass the breathalyzer test (beware: your Dig is non-refundable if you fail the breathalyzer test), you get fitted for your super-cool neon yellow vest and hardhat. Then the instructors walk you through every lever, button, and doodad that you need to know to maneuver the machines with newbie grace. After just a short time of in-cab training, you’ll be operating like a pro! Make sure you come dressed for being outside and wear hard soled and closed toed shoes. No flip flops here!
The Neon Museum
Explore signs from old casinos and other businesses displayed outdoors on 2.27 acres of land at The Neon Museum in Las Vegas, Nevada. When you think of Las Vegas, you probably think of big, glittering signs lighting up the desert for miles and you’re drawn like a moth to a flame. Making a home for some of the very first neon signs that lined Vegas and gave the city its first nickname: Glitter Gulch. With some help from the Hoover Dam, this space shows visitors how neon has powered Vegas for decades with an archive of all the most iconic signs and landmarks of the city past and present. Neon gems such as the vintage Sahara with its twin camels, the Hard Rock guitar, spiky capitals spelling out “Stardust” plus more than 200 other rescued signs still exist here. You can visit them all in the Neon Boneyard, one of the two main galleries at the museum that showcase these treasures up close.
Absinthe Cabaret
Located inside The Green Fairy Garden at Caesars Palace, this refreshing and irrepressibly raunchy cabaret show Absinthe is an intoxicating cocktail of jaw-dropping adult circus, burlesque and vaudeville, remixed and reimagined to tease, please and delight even cynical, seen-it-all audiences. Dubbed staggeringly sexy and death-defyingly thrilling, it’s equally off-the-wall hilarious and a zillion times safer than you’d expect. Unapologetically outrageous and undeniably absurd, Absinthe is for ages 18 and above featuring the filthy rich (or just plain filthy). The Gazillionaire behind it dredged every broken-down circus, dive bar and detention center from Tokyo to Toledo in search of the world’s most sensationally talented, seductively beautiful artists. So drink up and settle down, ’cause once the Green Fairy escapes her bottle, you’ll definitely be seeing things. Plan for an 80-minute runtime with no intermission. Cheers!
The Punk Rock Museum
The Punk Rock Museum is a music saturated 12,000-square-foot space dedicated to the punk rock music genre. Opened April 2023, the museum was founded by “Fat Mike” Burkett of the band NOFX, and developed by Burkett and production manager Lisa Brownlee. It is governed by a 10-person collective of musicians and museum investors including Burkett, co-founder Pat Smear (The Germs), and skateboarder Tony Hawk. Dubbed a homey museum of rock’s “bastard step-child,” with flyers, instruments, art and costumes showcased, it’s been over 45 years since punk rock slammed its way into music, fashion, film, and popular culture. Proudly shoving in your face the history, culture, and absurdity of the genre, this museum invites lifelong fans and curious looky-loos of all ages to experience a hands-on, uniquely punk rock experience.
Pinball Hall of Fame
Opened in 2006, The Pinball Hall of Fame is a nonprofit hands-on museum for playable pinball machines in Las Vegas, Nevada. The nostalgic gaming space is a project of the Las Vegas Pinball Collectors Club featuring pinball machines, arcade games and other novelty machines from all eras. It’s a beloved, budget-friendly family fun destination for many travelers, featuring free entry and low-cost games in a low key setting. While some machines might be out of order and good for just photos, visitors find the experience worthwhile and the retro arcade-museum vibe appeals to all ages, though some families report less-than-friendly encounters with staff. Convenient, free parking exists with no wait times to enhance the visit. Enthusiasts may spend hours playing, but casual visitors often enjoy a shorter stay. Regardless, a couple of games that only cost 25 cents are good for your soul!
