This Las Vegas itinerary is not your typical weekend in Sin City

Las Vegas has evolved a lot over the years and it's best attractions lie past The Strip. Photo / Beth Coller, The New York Times

Las Vegas has rebranded itself in recent years. Ditching its former Sin City credo, it now aims to lure visitors with the promise of unique experiences. (The famous slogan that winked at its hedonistic reputation, “What happens here, stays here,” was subtly updated in 2020 to “What happens here, only happens here.”

Indeed, Las Vegas’ glut of entertainment options can lead to decision paralysis: Where else can you play 1960s pinball machines, see headliners like Adele and Bruno Mars, tuck into a 16-course underwater-themed banquet, and play poolside blackjack in the same night — all within view of the Rialto Bridge and the Eiffel Tower?

The trick is knowing how to balance all the spectacle. More than ever, a well-rounded tour of Vegas requires going beyond the Strip: What you find may surprise you.

ITINERARY

Friday

6pm | Lounge around

Wakuda, a new Japanese restaurant inside the Venetian hotel, boasts a US$500 ($826) omakase menu, but there’s more here than just exorbitant fish. Its adjoining lounge is a gold-flecked, dreamlike sanctum with some of the most distinctive cocktails on the Strip. A good entry point is a particularly fizzy Japanese highball (US$20), made with a machine that the bartender said adds five times the CO2 of a regular soda, or the Cable Gai (US$24), named for Tokyo’s Golden Gai district, which pairs fresh-pressed apple juice with Mars Iwai whiskey. Light bites such as sashimi toast (small crackers with lobster, US$25, or marinated tuna, US$10) and yuzu-drizzled kanpachi (US$35), or amberjack, offer a taste of the main dining room, which is the US debut by acclaimed chef Tetsuya Wakuda.

7:30pm | Dine with the family

Organised crime helped build Las Vegas, and few places embody that history — or at least, the lore — like Piero’s. This elegant and moody Italian eatery opened in 1982, and director Martin Scorsese featured it in his 1995 film Casino. (Not to mention its real-life mob ties: According to the owner, FBI agents once kept an apartment across the street to spy on regulars like “Fat Herbie” Blitzstein and Tony “The Ant” Spilotro.)

Of the six dining rooms, locals are partial to the oak-panelled Tarkanian Room (reservations for this room recommended); or you can live out your Rat Pack fantasy with a martini in the Monkey Bar. As for the menu, think family-style portions of bone-in veal parmigiana (US$65), a four-hour-simmered osso buco (US$49) and an appetiser known simply as Pat’s Meatballs (US$21).

9:30pm | Pick a card, any card

The Magician’s Study is a 90-minute magic show that diverges from the jumbotron antics of David Copperfield in two big ways: The audience is small, with a maximum of 40 guests; and children aren’t allowed. This intimacy lends an impromptu feel to the card magic and Houdini-style stunts of a performer who, even as he pals around with the audience, remains nameless.

The venue changes frequently: You won’t know where you’re going until a few hours before the show, when an email provides instructions. By the time the magician emerges in a giant rabbit mask, the audience is already in giddy suspense. That a Vegas show can sustain such mystique, even in today’s age of oversharing, is quite the trick. Tickets from US$99.

Card tricks, bunny ears and more at the intimate Magician's Study show, in Las Vegas. Photo / Beth Coller, The New York Times

Saturday

9am | Brunch like a Las Vegan

When PublicUs took over a deserted storefront in downtown Las Vegas in 2015, the cafe had little company in the area (a record store, a mall with indie retailers, and a pink, 1950s-themed wedding chapel have since moved in). On weekends, locals cram around communal tables, enjoying the kitchen’s international take on the brunch format.

Choose from Hawaiian loco moco (US$14), a gravy-smothered platter of eggs and hamburger patty served over rice; Japanese bento boxes (from US$14); or colossal Belgian waffles (US$11). Iced coffee is a must on 46C days, and baristas serve it a few ways, including flash-brewed and Kyoto-style slow-drip. For something unusual, try the espresso old-fashioned (US$6), a nonalcoholic drink served with an ice sphere, fresh muddled cherries and aromatic bitters.

11am | Swim with the sharks

The Fremont Street Experience — a five-block pedestrian mall covered by the world’s largest video screen — is sensory overload, and its crowds can be unruly. Still, the Fremont East District’s old-time casinos are worthwhile. At the Golden Nugget, opened in 1946, sharks circle in a 758,000-litre tank at the centre of the outdoor pool (day passes, from US$30, are available for nonguests); go see the “Hand of Faith,” a 28kg gold nugget on display in the lobby.

Farther north, Main Street Station, opened in 1978, flaunts treasures from the Gilded Age and onward: Its previous owner packed the casino with crystal-beaded chandeliers, a giant brass boar from Nice, France, and an original 1927 Pullman train car. In the spirit of random historical artefacts, the men’s room contains a portion of the Berlin Wall.

2pm | Jam out, or veg out

Entertainment comes in all forms in Las Vegas. The city, which hosts two annual punk festivals, opened a first-of-its-kind Punk Rock Museum this month. Even casual music fans will geek out over rare collectables like demo tapes, beer-stained journals and a studded leather jacket worn by Joan Jett. (A 1989 poster for the band Operation Ivy lists an obscure opening act: Green Day.)

Admission is US$30, but for an extra US$70 a distinguished punk alum like Glen Matlock of the Sex Pistols or Don Bolles of the Germs will take you on a guided tour (see schedule). If noisy rock isn’t your thing, catch a matinee at the Beverly, a new, 150-seat cinema nearby that screens art house and international titles.

5pm | Eat in a submarine

If SpongeBob SquarePants and P.T. Barnum threw a candlelit dinner party, it might resemble 20,000 Leagues. Set aboard a fictional submarine inside a real rum distillery, the underwater-themed restaurant invites strangers to dine elbow-to-elbow at a 8m banquet table over 16 courses (US$299pp, including drinks). Don’t worry: The potent (and frequently served) rum cocktails will help dissolve any shyness.

The chef Taylor Persh steers away from literal recreations from Jules Verne’s 1870 novel (no curdled whale milk here), but her innovative and masterful seafood dishes tell quite a story. The distillery is inside a sprawling arts complex known as Area15, so after you’re done, walk off the rum next door at Omega Mart (tickets from US$59), a surreal adventure course disguised as a convenience store.

Daniel Yang, the lead mixologist at the lounge in Wakuda, a new restaurant inside the Venetian hotel, in Las Vegas. Photo / Beth Coller, The New York Times

8:30pm | Drop a coin in the slot

Unlike the Strip’s 35,000 slot machines, pinball requires at least some strategy. Test your flipper skills at the Pinball Hall of Fame, a hangar-size (and air-conditioned) warehouse at the south end of the Strip with 200-plus machines.

Head to the back rows, where older models from the ‘50s and ‘60s beckon with vivid, comic book-style graphics. (A 1966 game called Buckaroo features a mechanical horse; score points and the horse will kick a spinning cowboy.) If you pass duplicate versions of the same machine, look closer: Because of a nationwide crackdown on pinball in the early 1940s, certain models had to be built without the “free play” feature. The reason? Authorities considered it a form of gambling. Admission is free, games cost a quarter to a dollar.

10pm | Swing the night away

It might seem as if every bar in Vegas is screaming for your attention, but at so-called secret bars, the fun is in the hunt (see: Ghost Donkey, 1923 Prohibition Bar, the Lock). At Easy’s, a nondescript doughnut counter on the second floor of the Aria casino leads to a velvet-draped, jewel box lounge. There’s a small bandstand at the front; starting at 9pm, a jazz quartet launches into spirited renditions of songs by Amy Winehouse and Lorde.

Seating is limited, especially on weekends, but walk-ins are welcome, and the music will have you on your feet anyway. The cocktail menu offers classics alongside more flamboyant creations like the Shroomin’ (US$50), a two-person gin-and-matcha concoction served in twin mushroom-shaped glasses on a moss-covered tray.

Sunday

7am | See Jurassic-Era Vegas

No buses connect Red Rock Canyon to the city, and the half-hour drive is best done early to avoid the stifling midday heat. But the popular hiking spot is well worth the early wake-up call. Head for the Calico Basin Trail, an easy 2.4km loop that crisscrosses a natural spring with cottonwood, oak and honey mesquite trees. Continue up the rocky path to see 180-million-year-old Aztec Sandstone peaks that reach into the sky like giant embers.

The area is home to sagebrush lizards, grey foxes, desert tortoises and jackrabbits, who use the protruding rock to escape the desert heat. Nearby, the Red Meadows Boardwalk is a half-mile, wheelchair-friendly trail built over lush saltgrass meadow; find a bench to sit and enjoy the trills of white-crowned sparrows and spotted towhees.

9am | Explore Chinatown

Las Vegas’ Chinatown began as a single Chinese strip mall in 1994, and has since expanded into one of the city’s most vibrant and multicultural neighbourhoods. The Spring Mountain Road corridor is the subject of dedicated foodie walking tours and is easy to explore on foot. A good starting point is Taiwan Deli, where you can have Taiwanese doughnuts and fresh soy milk (US$7) in a dining room that evokes the glamour of 1930s Taipei.

Next door, Shanghai Plaza has a dizzying array of restaurants and bakeries: Try the sheng jian bao, or pan-fried soup dumplings (US$8.95), at Shanghai Taste. Finish at Sul & Beans, the Los Angeles-based Korean dessert chain that specialises in bingsoo, or shaved ice sundaes, in flavours like fresh mango and injeolmi, made with roasted soybean.

A hike on the Calico Basin Trail at Red Rock Canyon, a half-hour drive from Las Vegas. Photo / Beth Coller, The New York Times

11am | Atone for your sins

Peace, prayer and penance don’t describe the typical Vegas experience, but the words, stamped on a sea-blue mosaic outside the Guardian Angel Cathedral, offer a clue to the calm that awaits inside. The church was designed in 1961 by Paul Revere Williams, a prominent California-based architect who is also responsible for the shell-shaped Concha Motel, now part of the Neon Museum. (Williams designed homes for stars like Frank Sinatra and Lucille Ball, and was the first Black member of the American Institute of Architects.)

During Sunday morning Mass (11am, open to visitors), the stark, light-filled hall is a serene oasis amid the roar of the Strip. Be lulled by the clean, unbroken geometry of Williams’ design; you can take that tranquillity with you when you step back outside.

KEY STOPS

Red Rock Canyon, a popular hiking spot close to the city, offers a 13-mile driving loop, hiking trails and a stunning glimpse into Vegas’ ancient geology.

Chinatown, a one-stop shop for Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Malaysian and other cuisines, is spread over a 3km stretch of West Spring Mountain Road.

Area15 is a sprawling off-Strip arts complex that is home to interactive, often-psychedelic spaces including Omega Mart, Illuminarium and Lost Spirits, a circus-inspired rum distillery.

WHERE TO EAT

Wakuda Lounge offers sophisticated Japanese cocktails and adjoins a high-end sushi restaurant inside the Venetian hotel.

Piero’s serves Italian-American classics such as veal parm and osso buco in a polished, old-school space.

PublicUs is a downtown cafe that hums on weekends when locals stop in for Hawaiian loco moco, Belgian waffles and seriously strong cold brew.

20,000 Leagues is an underwater-themed restaurant that serves 16 elaborate courses (with rum cocktails) in a space that resembles a Victorian-era submarine.

The PublicUs cafe features an international take on brunch in Las Vegas. Photo / Beth Coller, The New York Times

WHERE TO STAY

NoMad Las Vegas, a hotel inside a hotel, occupies the top four floors of the Park MGM on the Strip; among its perks is a sixth-floor rooftop pool inspired by Jardin Majorelle in Morocco. Rooms from US$159.

Virgin Hotels Las Vegas has all the amenities of a major Strip casino, but sits a few blocks away from the action. The playful, ‘70s-inspired rooms (from US$70) are spread among three towers that are named Opal, Canyon, Ruby; the last overlooks Elia Beach Club, an outdoor pool hangout that doubles as a live music venue in the summer.

El Cortez Hotel and Casino, in the heart of lively Fremont Street, isn’t just the oldest continuously running casino in Vegas, it’s also one of its best deals. Rooms (from US$39) are all recently renovated, although the original Spanish Colonial-style building remains gloriously unchanged since 1941.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times

Writer: Alex Schechter

Photographs: Beth Coller