Las Vegas | City Life
Nevada
Terrain // Roadside Parking + Apartment | Cost // Free | Our Rating // 9
Overview
My youngest brother, Caleb, moved to Vegas for his job in September 2022. He’s doing big things at his company and recently won Rookie of the Year (so proud!). We don’t get to see him that often, so when he invited us to spend New Year’s in Las Vegas, we jumped on board. Caleb was the best host letting us live in his spare bedroom, finding a spot for us to park our camper, and showing us the sites. We also got to meet his girlfriend, Brianna who was visiting at the same time. The four of us had the best time exploring this massive city. We spent a week here and barely scratched the surface of everything Vegas has to offer. We also did a bit of hiking while here, which you’ll get a chance to see in our next blog post :)
The Strip vs. Fremont Street
Like the tourists we are, we wanted to see “The Real Vegas.” Of course, we had to go to the main strip to see the Fountains of Bellagio, the Eifel Tower, and the Mirage Volcano Eruption Show. So many things! We got to walk from one casino to the next with a beer in hand. We checked out Flamingo, The Venetian Resort, The Mirage, and Ceasar’s Palace. The people, the lights, the pot smell, all in all, a great vegas experience. Another night we went to Fremont Street. And hands down, a better experience. There’s a giant canopy covering four blocks and about 2.1 million lights that play nonstop. It’s simply incredible and totally exemplifies “the city that never sleeps.” We walked up and down Fremont Street (again with beers in hand), watched the street performers, listened to live music, gambled a little, and drank the biggest sangria of my life.
You’ll want to add both destinations to your travel itinerary, but if you have to pick just one, go with Fremont Street.
Food & Drink
We ate and drank somewhere new every night! Check out some places of note we visited during our stay.
Rebar – Loved this bar! It has a really fun vibe, and the place is decorated with a bunch of stuff from other bars that have gone out of business. Plus, everything is for sale! We ended up here a few times. They also have some great food options for a late-night snack.
Horse Trailer Hideout – This turned out to be one of our favorite bar in the Arts District. They have a couple of arcade games in the back and delicious canned wine.
McMullan’s Irish Pub – This place had some pretty good food. Their chicken alfredo was delicious, and they had an amazing Irish Coffee cocktail.
Able Baker – This is a fun brewery with a duck as their mascot. If you order a flight you get a small one to take home!
Slaters 50/50 – This place had some really good burgers. Came on a Thursday and stayed longer for trivia.
Pizza Cake – We spotted this place walking on the main strip. They drew us in with their $5 beers, and large slices of pizza!
Good Morning Kitchen and Cocktail Bar – Great spot for brunch! Get their chicken and waffles.
Hennessy’s Tavern – We stopped by here while exploring Fremont Street. I “accidentally” ordered a giant sangria
Sangria Rating Average – 7/10
I had much better luck with Sangrias in Vegas. Out of the 5 I had, Al’s Garage had a rich and flavorful sangria, but it was a bit pricey for my liking. The mega sangria at Hennessy was probably the most memorable because it was so damn huge. I will always take a good sangria recommendation! Let me know where I need to grab one the next time I’m in Vegas.
Murals
The Arts District was my personal favorite part of Las Vegas. It’s an 18-block area filled with displays of artistic talent of all types. We pretty much only came for the bars, but I’d love to come back when it’s warmer and walk around to see more shopping, eating, and art galleries. I mean, check out this small sampling of the murals we saw! Show some love to the artists listed below:
@greetingstour | @BJ_inks | @carexlessxness | @prettydone | @theloverenegade | @doctorziso37 | Gina Ribaudo | @prettydone | @leftyoutthere
This is also where we rang in the New Year! Horse Trailer Hideout had a nice view of the fireworks that went off on Stratosphere Tower.
Tip:
Pick out a few ideas. There is so much to do in Las Vegas. You could live here for a year and still not see everything the city offers. We’d recommend picking out 3-5 things you really want to do/see. Then explore the area around those things. We got a lot of ideas from TourScanner.
Don’t drive. If you’re doing things in the city, you’re better off not driving at all. There are so many Uber and Lyft drivers in the area it doesn’t make sense to try and drive as well as finding a parking spot.
What’d we miss!?
We barely scratched the surface on the city that never sleeps. What do we need to add to our list for our next visit? Let us know in the comments below.
