Las Vegas, formally the City of Las Vegas but often referred to as just Vegas, is a city in the United States. It is the state of Nevada’s most populous city, the county headquarters of Clark County, and the city proper of the Las Vegas Valley. Las Vegas is a world-famous large resort city best known for gaming, shopping, fine dining, and nightlife. It is also Southern Nevada’s financial, economic, and cultural hub.

The city promotes itself as the “World’s Entertainment Capital,” and is well-known for its huge casino–hotels and related entertainment. Las Vegas is a developing retirement and family metropolis, ranking 29th in the United States with a population of 603,488 according to the 2013 United States Census Estimates. The Las Vegas metropolitan area had a population of 2,027,828 people in 2013. The city is one of the top three convention, business, and meeting destinations in the United States. Additionally, the city’s metropolitan region has the highest concentration of AAA Five Diamond hotels in the world, making it a worldwide leader in the hospitality business. Today, Las Vegas is one of the world’s most popular tourist attractions.

Las Vegas was founded in 1905 and constituted as a city in 1911. Las Vegas was the most populated American city formed in the twentieth century at the turn of the century (a similar distinction earned by Chicago in the 19th century). Las Vegas’ tolerance for different types of adult entertainment gave it the moniker “Sin City,” and has made it a favorite location for films, television shows, and music videos.

The term “Las Vegas” is often used to refer to regions beyond the municipal borders, particularly resort districts on and around the Las Vegas Strip, as well as the Las Vegas Valley. The Las Vegas Strip is a 4.2-mile (6.8-kilometer) length of South Las Vegas Boulevard that runs through the unincorporated towns of Paradise, Winchester, and Enterprise in Clark County.

Las Vegas – Info Card

Tourism in Las Vegas

Las Vegas is the state’s biggest city, located in the heart of the southern Nevada desert. Las Vegas and its neighboring cities, dubbed Sin City, are famous for its mega-casino resorts, which are often lavishly furnished with names and themes evoking romance, intrigue, and exotic places. Visitors will discover a variety of amusements and entertainment along the brilliantly illuminated Strip, including circuses, stage acts, thrill rides, erotica, exotic animals, fine dining restaurants, nightclubs, shopping, and extravagant fountain displays, to mention the age-old appeal of gambling and drinking.

Tourism, gambling, and conventions are the key drivers of the Las Vegas economy, which in turn fuel the retail and restaurant sectors.

The casinos and hotels are the primary attractions of Las Vegas, however other attractions have started to appear in recent years.

The majority of casinos in the downtown area are situated on the Fremont Street Experience, with the exception of The Stratosphere. Fremont East, next to the Fremont Street Experience, received variances to enable bars to be closer together, comparable to San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter, with the intention of attracting a different clientele than the Strip.

CULTURE

The city is home to several museums, including the Neon Museum (which houses a large collection of historical signs from Las Vegas’ mid-20th century heyday), the Mob Museum, the Las Vegas Natural History Museum, the DISCOVERY Children’s Museum, the Nevada State Museum, and the Old Las Vegas Mormon State Historic Park.

The city has a sizable Downtown Arts District, which is home to several galleries and events, including the annual Las Vegas Film Festival. “First Friday” is a monthly event that features arts, music, special presentations, and cuisine in a portion of downtown Las Vegas known as 18b, The Las Vegas Arts District. The event also takes place in the Fremont East Entertainment District.

The Thursday before First Friday is dubbed “Preview Thursday” in the arts area. This nighttime event celebrates the district’s latest gallery shows.

The Las Vegas Academy of International Studies, Performing, and Visual Arts is a Grammy-winning magnet school in downtown Las Vegas.

The Smith Center for the Performing Arts is located in Symphony Park in downtown. Broadway productions and other major touring attractions, as well as symphonic, opera, ballet, choir, jazz, and dance acts, are presented in the world-class performing arts facility.

UNDERSTAND

Las Vegas is a relative newcomer in comparison to other American cities, including those in the western United States. It was formed in 1905 and remained a very tiny community for many years. However, a series of important events in the early to mid-twentieth century rocketed Las Vegas to popularity and established the stage for its development into what it is today. The first was the neighboring Hoover Dam’s construction from 1931 to 1936, which drew thousands of laborers to the region. The second was Nevada’s legalization of gambling in 1931, which resulted in the creation of casinos and speakeasies, establishing Downtown Las Vegas as an entertainment destination for Hoover Dam employees.

The magnificent El Rancho Vegas resort debuted in 1941 on what would become the Las Vegas Strip, during significant expansion in the local gaming industry. This was followed by Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel’s Flamingo Hotel in 1946, ushering in an era of construction booms and one-upmanship. Additionally, this would establish a precedent for organized criminal participation in the Nevada casino business. While government rules and enforcement, as well as investments by established firms, have effectively eliminated mafia participation today, the building boom continues with the construction of ever-more complex resorts and attractions.

The city is planned out in the following manner: Both Main Street and the numbered streets are north-south roadways, beginning with Main Street in the west. Main Street is the location of the bus terminal. Downtown is home to multiple hotel-casinos, as well as the “Fremont Street Experience,” a pedestrian promenade packed with casinos, shops, and restaurants at Fremont Street’s western terminus. The “Strip” (Las Vegas Boulevard South) begins a few miles south of downtown. It is a north-south roadway dotted with major casino-hotels, retail malls, and several other attractions. The massive Stratosphere Tower marks the Strip’s northern terminus. City buses travel frequently up and down the Strip, connecting it to downtown. The Las Vegas monorail and convention center are situated directly east of the Strip, while the University of Nevada at Las Vegas (UNLV) is somewhat farther east on Maryland Parkway. The airport is located on the Strip’s southern end.

Climate of Las Vegas

Las Vegas has a subtropical, hot desert climate (Köppen climate classification: BWh), which is characteristic of the surrounding Mojave Desert. The city receives year-round sunlight, with an average of around 310 bright days each year. It is almost completely devoid of tornadoes and ice storms. Summer dewpoints are quite low, ranging between 40.6 °F (4.8 °C) and 44.0 °F (6.7 °C).

Summer months from June through September are very hot and largely dry, with an average day temperature of 92.5 °F (33.6 °C) in July with nocturnal temperatures sometimes exceeding 80 °F (27 °C). There are an average of 134 days with temperatures over 90 °F (32 °C) and 74 days with temperatures above 100 °F (38 °C), with the majority of days in July and August topping the latter benchmark and only sometimes falling short of the former. Humidity is very low, often less than 10%.

Winters in Las Vegas are brief, and the season is often moderate. December is the coldest month, with an average temperature of 47.7 °F (8.7 °C). During the winter, the mountains around Las Vegas collect snow, although snow is uncommon in the Las Vegas Valley. Las Vegas most recently got 3.6 inches on December 16, 2008. (9.1 cm). Temperatures dip below freezing on 16 nights each year but seldom fall below 20 °F (7 °C).

Las Vegas receives around 4.2 inches (110 millimeters) of precipitation each year, which falls on average 26–27 days per year. Winter receives the majority of precipitation, yet even the wettest month (February) averages just four days of precipitation.

Geography of Las Vegas

Las Vegas is located in Clark County, in a depression on the bottom of the Mojave Desert, and is flanked on all sides by mountain ranges. The environment is mostly rocky and dry, with desert plants and fauna. It is susceptible to flash floods, while much has been done to lessen the consequences of flash floods via better drainage systems.

The peaks that encircle Las Vegas reach altitudes of nearly 10,000 feet (3,000 m), acting as obstacles to the intense flow of rainfall from the surrounding region. The elevation is around 2,030 feet (620 meters) above sea level. The city has a total area of 135.86 square miles (351.9 km2), of which 135.81 square miles (351.7 km2) is land and 0.05 square miles (0.13 km2) (0.03 percent) is water, according to the United States Census Bureau.

Nevada is the third most seismically active state in the United States (after Alaska and California); the United States Geological Survey (USGS) estimates that an M6.0 or higher earthquake will strike within 50 kilometers of Las Vegas within the next 50 years.

There are several grass, trees, and other vegetation around the city. Because of water scarcity, there has been a push to promote xeriscapes. Scheduled watering days for home landscaping are another component of conservation initiatives. A grant from the United States Environmental Protection Agency in 2008 supported a study that examined and forecasted growth and environmental implications through the year 2019.

Internet, Communication in Las Vegas

Most hotels demand an extra cost for WiFi access (usually $13/day). Burger King locations are another option for infrequent WiFi users; WiFi is free for all customers and no password is required.

The Las Vegas Airport offers free WiFi. There are various internet cafés on the Strip with fees starting at $20 per minute.