The Fremont Street Experience is the heart of historic downtown Las Vegas and is an exciting five blocks of entertainment in a pedestrian mall on Fremont Street from the east entrance at Las Vegas Boulevard to the west end on Main Street.  Among the bright flashing lights, street performers, casinos and SlotZilla Zipline, stands the main attraction of the Fremont Street Experience, Viva Vision. Viva Vision has 49.3 million LEDs, a 600,000-Watt sound system and is the world’s largest video screen at 90 feet wide and spanning 1,375 feet, 90 feet above the ground.  Free featured entertainment including Viva Vision light shows every night from 6:00 pm to 2 am on the top of the hour and three stages of live music make Fremont Street the place to be for a nightly party.  The downtown stages are also home to some of the biggest names in music with the free yearly Downtown Rocks Concert Series starting in the Spring and extending into the Fall. 

The Downtown Las Vegas Alley is a unique urban gallery walk of the hidden collection of street artwork of murals, sculptures and landscaping in a T-shaped network of alleys behind bars and restaurants on East Fremont Street between Fremont, Carson, Las Vegas Boulevard and 6th Street.  Located at the far eastern end of East Fremont Street is an open-air shopping center constructed of you guessed it, 43 repurposed shipping containers and 41 locally manufactured Xtreme cubes!  Downtown Container Park is a collection of 38 unique retail shops, boutiques, restaurants and bars, live entertainment and games.  Visitors are greeted by a giant 40 feet tall and 30 feet wide Mantis which shoots flames from its antennas six stories into the sky and has a built in 4,000-watt surround sound system.  Sundown is when the Mantis comes to life beginning with a drum circle and operates until closing, weather permitting.  The Lawn has a variety of daily activities and events and is the open area guests gather for the live entertainment stage, a graffiti wall with an illuminating “DTLV” sign, lounge chairs for relaxation and life-size Lego blocks and checkers board game. Overlooking the Downtown Container Park from the center is The Treehouse, where children and adults alike will enjoy the boardwalks making their way through the tree, a 33-foot-tall slide and the NEOS play system.

A few miles south of Fremont Street is home to an area not likely known to many Las Vegas visitors and one of Vegas’ best kept secrets, The Arts District.  The Arts District or 18b (18 blocks) is a quarter in Downtown Las Vegas known for galleries, shops, restaurants, bars and performances.  At the center of the gallery and performance experience are Art Square and The Arts Factory building.  The buildings are home to studios where visitors have the unique opportunity to meet and discuss works with artists and photographers, poetry readings and music and theatrical performances in Art Square Theater and Cockroach Theatre, all in one place.  First Friday is a monthly arts and cultural festival in the Arts District that occurs every month on the First Friday of each month. This exciting gathering of local artists and their work, food trucks, crafts, vendors and musicians make First Friday a great way to celebrate the start of every new month with local culture.  The Smith Center located in the 61-acre Symphony Park is a 5-acre performing arts center with two buildings and three theaters.  Ranked as on of the top 10 theaters in the world by Pollstar Magazine, The Smith Center is Las Vegas’ foremost destination for performing arts and culture with the presentation of famous musicians and vocalists, dance, musicals and the best of Broadway.

Some great eateries, restaurants, breweries and coffee houses lie in the heart of the Arts District.  Foodies can pick from the best ethnic food offerings ranging from Mexican, Japanese, Thai, German, English and of course American in restaurants such as Casa Don Juan and Doña María Tamales Restaurant, YU-OR-MI Sushi Bar, Berlin, D E Thai Kitchen, Berlin Bar, Cornish Pasty Co and Main St. Provisions.  Great crafted beers and cocktails are to be had on pub crawls and brewery tours all throughout the 18 blocks of the district.  Must visits for fine drinks and atmosphere include Artifice, Velveteen Rabbit, 18Bin, Rebar, Three Sheets Craft Beer Bar, Servehzah Bottle Shop and Tap Room, Garagiste, Silver Stamp and Millennium Fandom Bar and for breweries Hop Nuts, Able Baker, Beer District Brewing, Craft Haus Brewery, The Mad Fermentist, Nevada Brew Works and HUDL.  Passionate coffee connoisseurs will be pleased with the selection of premier and specialty coffees from around the world of Vesta Coffee Roasters, Makers and Finders, Dragon’s Alley Coffee, Golden Fog Coffee and Bungalow Coffee. 

AREA15 is a surreal assemblage of immersive art, exhibits, virtual reality experiences, rides, shopping and food all under a giant hangarlike building with characteristics of those associated with Area 51.  Prior to entering the alternate reality that is AREA15, wander through a giant permanent 3D outdoor art and sculpture gallery including a giant robot, bird in flight and airplane wreckage in Art Island.  Upon entry, visitors experience a welcome assault on the senses of bright fluorescent moving colors synchronized to music and sounds, touch, and tastes with magnificent food and drinks.  Meow Wolf’s Omega Mart is a surreal immersive work of art based on a journey through a supermarket that is more than it seems with art, storytelling and secret portals in every aisle.  Wink World combines motion, light, colors and sound along with infinity mirror rooms in an exhibit created by one the co-founders of Bule Man Group, Chris Wink, who is best known as being one of the three Co-Founders and the Chief Creative Officer of Blue Man Group.  Cluster in Museum Fiasco is a creation of synchronized sound and light display with geometry exploring the connection between space time and human perception. 

Additional attractions range from Virtual Reality (VR) and games in experiences like Birdly, Virtualis VR, Particle Quest, Oz Immersive, Army of the Dead: Viva Las Vengeance and Emporium and rides and sports including Haley’s Comet zipline, Five Iron Golf and Dueling Axes.  Experience your favorite art works like never before by being in them in a 360-degree digital projection of light and sound with renowned artist exhibits VAN GOGH: The Immersive Experience and KLIMT: The Immersive Experience.  All the rides, exhibits and activities creating sensory stimulation works up an appetite and thirst.  Fortunately, there are a multitude of choices for children and adults alike with The Beast by Todd English, Lumin Café & Kitchen, Emack and Bolio’s ice cream, Rocket Fizz soda and candy, Makers and Finders coffee, Oddwood digital forest bar and Lost Spirit’s immersive distillery experience dubbed the “Willy Wonka of Booze” by Playboy Magazine and “Disneyland for Liquor” by WIRED with live music, submarine rides and burlesque.  Liftoff Lounge sets the stage with cocktails before ascending 130 feet in the helix structured, open-air balloon ride and outdoor lounge providing panoramic 360-degree views of the Strip skyline and city.  Flights can be taken day or night, with each providing a distinctly unique viewpoint and experience.

The beautiful and elegant Bellagio Las Vegas is home to the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art and a rotation of historic fine and modern art exhibits from private and museum collections that vary twice a year. Past displays have showcased the works of famous artists Pablo Picasso and Fabergé.  Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit Las Vegas is the original Van Gogh experience located in the Shops at Crystals next to the ARIA Resort & Casino.  A digital experience, complete with sound and interaction with Van Gogh’s most famous landscapes and portraits awaits visitors in an enormous 500,000 cubic feet of exhibits.  Stunning photography is what National Geographic has become known for and the Rarely Seen Photographs of the Extraordinary immersive exhibit Bally’s Las Vegas Hotel & Casino offers 50 photographic masterpieces of people, places, events, wildlife and natural wonders from around the world.  Master and award-winning photographer Peter Lik has galleries on the Las Vegas Strip at Caesar’s Forum Shops, Grand Canal Shoppes in The Venetian and Mandalay Bay which include the most prestigious of Lik’s nature and landscape images on display for viewing and sale.  Aracadia Earth is the 15,000 square foot art and alternate/virtual reality (AR/VR) immersive exhibit that provides an exploration of the planet’s ecological challenges that impact the entire population.  Guests embark on a journey that includes fifteen exhibits highlighting coral reefs, an LED aquarium, projections on mist, a glass forest, environmental concerns, education, artworks that utilize recycled and reusable materials and possible implementable solutions utilizing AR/VR experiences that stimulate one’s senses.  Museum Of Dream Space (MoDS) is an immersive digital art museum and is the first of its kind in the United States.  MoDS is a space where digital innovators, content creators and social media influencers can experiment and create digital art pieces through DREAM.LIVE.CREATE. within infinity rooms, distinct structural elements and state of the art projections.  The studio is fun for the entire family to experience the digital innovation, creation and lasting memories that are captured in their works of art.

Las Vegas is a pop culture icon in and of itself, but Vegas is home to other globally famous phenomena.  The Hunger Games: The Exhibition at MGM Grand Las Vegas provides an interactive experience of the films with exhibits featuring props, costumes, set recreations, trivia, singing games and even archery training.  Marvel comic sensation the Avengers also has a place in Las Vegas with the Marvel AVENGERS S.T.A.T.I.O.N. at Treasure Island – TI Hotel &Casino.  Your mission is to research Captain America, Hulk, Thor and Iron Man’s history, science, engineering, genetics, technology and profiles to bring case files together and qualify members.  The Exhibit displays the Marvel Hero Gallery with Iron Man’s MK 45 and Hulkbuster suit, Captain America’s uniform and shield, Hawkeye and Black Widow uniforms and weapons and additional operational equipment of the Avengers.

Vegas has been the birthplace of several of the most memorable and fascinating personalities made famous by reality television shows.  Pawn Stars, Counting Cars, American Restoration, Toy Shack and Ultimate Sports Cards and Memorabilia are reality shows and stores featured that have interest and success due to there businesses famous Sin City locations.  Pawn Stars is set in the World Famous Gold and Silver Pawn Shop located on Las Vegas Boulevard and is a working pawn store specializing in fine art, coins and currency, jewelry and watches, collectibles and antiques, clothing and souvenirs, and of course, collectibles and memorabilia associated with famous people and history featured on the show.  Count’s Kustoms best known as the location of Counting Cars, is the restoration and hot rod and chopper customization shop owned by Danny “The Count” Koker featured on the show.  Take a free tour of the shop and Count’s personal collection of hot rods, exotic cars, choppers and more which is open seven days a week.  Rick’s Restorations of History’s American Restoration features restoration projects of “worthless” items in the condition they arrive to valuable collectibles ranging from antique gas pumps to collectible slot machines.  Rick Dale’s shop has been involved in restoring items seen on Pawn Stars as well.  Often experts called in to appraise Pawn Star memorabilia and collectibles, the Toy Shack and Ultimate Sports Cards and Memorabilia are located just off the Fremont Street Experience in Downtown Las Vegas in Neonopolis.  Toy Shack is a shop that is reminiscent of an antique and collectible toy museum with die cast cars, figurines and nostalgic toys from different eras.  Ultimate Sports Cards and Memorabilia is a sports cards and memorabilia shop in Neonopolis adjacent to Toy Shack, specializing in vintage and modern cards, autographed balls, bats, jerseys, helmets and photographs and other sports collectibles.

Las Vegas is well known for its bright lights, but also has developed a reputation for sightings of unusual lights in the sky both in the city and the surrounding areas.  Area 51 first came to public prominence in 1989 when Bob Lazar conducted an interview under the pseudonym “Dennis” and with his face hidden withs Las Vegas investigative journalist George to discuss his claim of employment at subsidiary facility of Area 51 named “S-4”.  In the interview, Lazar claimed to have examined and reversed engineered alien craft that exist at the facility and aliens have been actively involved with humans for 10,000 years.  Whether factual or fabricated, Area 51 and Las Vegas has become synonymous with aliens.  Area 51 is the common name for Homey Airport or Groom Lake is derived from an Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) numbering grid.  The base has been responsible for testing of some the United States’ most high tech and influential military planes including the U-2, SR-71 Blackbird, F-117 Nighthawk and Boeing YF-118G Bird of Prey.  Area 51 is 83 miles northwest of Las Vegas and a popular tourist destination for the area is Rachael known as the “UFO Capital of the World”, which is accessed by The Extraterrestrial Highway (Nevada State Route 375).  The beginning of the highway is around 110 miles and just shy of 2 hours north of Las Vegas at Crystal Springs.  About another 30 minutes north will bring you to the town of Rachael, where alien themed tourist attractions including the Black Mailbox, the Little A’Le’Inn and Restricted Area Gates await.  It is important to note the military base itself is not a tourist attraction and disobeying any of the perimeter signs and crossing into the Restricted area can result in ARREST and USE OF DEADLY FORCE IS AUTHORIZED for the armed guards that patrol.  The gate on Groom Road and back gate are many miles from the actual base and are separated by lots of desert and mountains in between that obstruct any view, so don’t chance crossing the perimeter, it’s not worth it!  The famous Black mailbox is located on the Extraterrestrial Highway and has been the meeting point for enthusiasts trying to catch a glimpse of a UFO or just to snap a photo of the legendary landmark.  The Little A’Le’Inn is a must for any trip to Area 51 and on the Extraterrestrial Highway.  This functioning inn has 5 units with 2-to-3 rooms each, restaurant, bar and gift shop.  Be sure to get pictures of the iconic inn and signage, as well as the downed hanging UFO out front.  Inside, photos of alleged first-person UFO encounters are available for viewing, Alien Amber Ale is served for quenching that desert thirst and unique alien hard to find gifts and souvenirs are available for the perfect memento of the out of this world trip to Area 51.