Ten things that will surprise first-time visitors to Las Vegas

Las Vegas is somehow a place where all the stereotypes are true, yet none of them are. It’s supersized, it’s gaudy, it’s cheesy and debauched – yet it can also be inventive, arty and proudly historic. Crucially, it never stays still, and new ideas can always find a place among the old rocker residencies and Egyptian-themed resorts.

It was made by the Mob

Inside Las Vegas’ original post office and courthouse, the huge Mob Museum looks at how organised crime fed Las Vegas’ boom as a desert gambling getaway. Sections look at the tricks and techniques used to cheat the casinos, how the big Mob syndicates from around the country treated Vegas as a free-for-all, and the US Senate special committee hearings into organised crime that preceded the clean-up of the city. The museum pulls few punches, and provides plenty of rabbit holes where you can get merrily lost in the detail. See themobmuseum.org

The shows are stellar

Las Vegas is famous for its residencies by long-established pop and rock stars, but the best shows are by unknown and highly skilled ensemble performers. In a sea of music and dance productions, Cirque du Soleil remains the heavyweight of Las Vegas entertainment, with five shows of jaw-dropping acrobatics and magical whimsy across the city, usually in purpose-built theatres. If picking one, O at the Bellagio gives the extra dimension of giant on-stage pools to the twirling, swinging, leaping and clowning. See cirquedusoleil.com

The Sphere dominates the night

The newest major entertainment venue – the Sphere – is a controversial monument to Vegas excess. The largest spherical building in the world, which has already hosted residencies from U2 and the Eagles among others, is covered in a 54,000-square-metre high-resolution LED display. The result from the outside is a glaring, unmissable 112-metre-tall ball. Inside, you can be wowed in 360 degrees by director Darren Aronofsky’s visual blizzard Postcard From Earth. See thesphere.com

There’s the world’s freakiest supermarket

Omega Mart initially presents as a typical brightly lit supermarket, but closer inspection of the shelves reveals unsettling weirdness. Promo signs say things such as “$ave Yourself Now!” while there’s excessive promotion of “America’s Forgotten Vegetable, Zalg”. Step through the fridge doors or the tent in the outdoor gear section, however, and a vast, fever dreamesque warren of discombulation slowly unveils a sinister story. This giant, immersive art installation by New Mexico collective Meow Wolf is hugely impressive in both scale and detail. See omegamart.com

Interaction is in

Omega Mart is inside Area 15, an enormous warehouse of light shows, virtual reality helmet games and laser mazes. The marriage of tech, art and play is thriving in Vegas at present, with Electric Playhouse hosting a series of motion-controlled activities where what the projected lights do depends on what your body does. There’s also the ARTE Museum, where gigantic moving artworks cover the walls, encouraging guests to immerse themselves in the beach or jungle scenes. See area15.com; electricplayhouse.com; lasvegas.artemuseum.com

The old signs live on

When hotels and casinos close – or undergo a significant revamp – the massive neon signs aren’t destroyed. The Neon Museum has made preserving and restoring the abandoned signs its mission, and puts them on display in a walk-through outdoor complex. On a simple level, this looks really cool, and photographers can have a field day. But the explanatory displays around the signs act as a tale of Las Vegas through the ages, chronicling the march of progress as the old styles drop out of fashion. See neonmuseum.org

But the buffets are dying out

The gluttonous buffet used to be a Las Vegas trademark, but COVID-era restrictions and changing tastes have put paid to many of them. A few titans of excess still remain, however, with the Bacchanal buffet at Caesars Palace being the towering colossus. An extraordinary display of fresh seafood by the entrance gives way to cuisine from around the world, whole roast pigs, lines of ceviches and as much tender prime rib and smoked brisket as you can possibly eat. See caesars.com

Food courts are booming

As the buffets die out, they are being replaced by food courts. Some are dismal fast-food-chain holding pens, others such as the Fontainebleau’s Promenade bring together freshly made takes on gourmet pizzas, bagels and sashimi.

The Proper Eats Food Hall in the Aria, meanwhile, has finally found a good use for QR codes while solving the long-standing problem of group members wanting to eat from different stalls. You order whatever you want from across the outlets, then the buzzer goes only once all the dishes are ready. See fontainebleaulasvegas.com; aria.mgmresorts.com

Country music is king

It’s a city associated with cabaret crooners and dance club doof-doofery, but Las Vegas is secretly a big country town. You never have to go too far to find slide guitar twang and big hats – most of the free gigs on the stages along Downtown’s Fremont Street are country performers, while numerous resorts have country music residencies. Latest on the scene is country star Blake Shelton’s Ole Red on the Las Vegas Strip – where bands play loud as guests feast on barbecue sauce-slathered burgers and ribs. See olered.com

One more thing

Las Vegas is usually seen as a destination, but it makes a mighty good springboard. Grand Canyon West in Arizona, Death Valley National Park in California and Zion National Park in Utah are all within plausible day-tripping distance, while the Hoover Dam is a 35-minute drive away from the Strip. The bright lights of Vegas make an ideal start or end point to an epic road trip around the deserts and mountains of the south-west.

The writer was a guest of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and Travel Nevada. See visitlasvegas.com and travelnevada.com