Whether shimmering in the desert sun or sparkling in

the neon night, Las Vegas is much more than casinos and

card sharps. Deal yourself in for a 24-hour hand.

Built in one of the world’s most

extreme deserts (the Mojave) by

an unlikely combination of Mormon

pioneers, Hoover Dam construction

workers and the Mafia, Las Vegas is

a city that comes with a reputation.

Everyone thinks they know Vegas.

It’s the world’s speakeasy, the place

where you can do what you please

and, unless you’re Prince Harry,

no-one will ever be the wiser. All

of this is, to some extent, true. But

greater Las Vegas is also a proper

city; a sprawling urban fabric of two

million people with a fascinating,

often bizarre, history. Las Vegas

may conjure images of indulgence,

extravagance and shameless gaudy

glamour, but that’s only part of the

story. Whether it’s off the Strip or

on it, Las Vegas is a city with quite

a few tricks up its sleeve.

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One perfect Day

09:00What better way to start the day in Vegas than eating an enormous breakfast? Don’t worry: there’s no judgement. Like collared shirts and rational decision-making, shame has no place in this city. The best place to push to the limit is Bacchanal, the buffet at Caesar’s Palace (caesarspalace.com/restaurants). Newest and fanciest of the high-end buffets, Bacchanal has nine kitchens producing everything from Shanghainese dumplings to carved “slab bacon”. The food is of the highest quality and unless you’re in training for a super-sumo contest you won’t want lunch. For those who prefer the

Las Vegas

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red rock Canyon National Conservation Area (top, 10am); Jaleo restaurant (above, 8pm); The Neon Boneyard Park (opposite, 3.30pm)

continental option, nearby Aria hotel and casino (arialasvegas.com) offers the Jean Philippe Patisserie. Collect a cafe latte and enjoy what might be some of the best pastries and ham-and-cheese croissants outside France.

10:00Las Vegas is west coast USA in attitude – walking here is an eccentricity reserved for zero-carbon hippies and the homeless. So, assuming you’ve hired a car, jump in it and drive half an hour west to the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area (blm.gov/9kkd). If visiting a national park in Vegas seems

counterintuitive, it’s only because this city’s best-kept secret is that it sits in the middle of a dazzling desert landscape, the likes of which would require an all-terrain vehicle and a month’s supply of water to reach anywhere else in the world. Entrance to the park is $US7 ($7.80) per vehicle and the 21km scenic round trip should take about an hour, with stops. Of course, it could take longer – many find themselves inspired to walk to some of the more spectacular lookouts or become distracted by the wild burros (donkeys). For lunch, stop in to Sen of Japan (8480 West Desert Inn Road, senofjapan.com) for sushi on the way back to town. Chef Hiromi Nakano

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Las Vegas: Hot new HoteLs and a Legendary cLassic Insider tips on where to stay in this desert oasis. http://travelinsider.qantas.com.au/las_vegas_hot_new_hotels_a_legendary_classic.htm

Las Vegas: 7 fine-dining finds eating Vegas has never been easier. http://travelinsider.qantas.com.au/las_vegas_7_fine_dining_finds_restaurants.htm

wHat Happens in retro Vegas Resurrecting a city in the desert. http://travelinsider.qantas.com.au/what_ happens_in_retro_las_vegas_city_guide_things_to_do.htm

destination guide: Las Vegas everything you need to know before you go. http://travelinsider.qantas.com.au/destination-guide-las_vegas.htm

V egas at tR aV elInsIDeR

Q A N T A S . C o m / T r A v e l i N S i d e r

One perfect Day

Clockwise from left: Fireside lounge (10.30pm); The Neon museum Boneyard (3.30pm); a Bacchronut at Bacchanal Buffet (9am); James Turrell’s Akhob and Crystals (7pm)

used to be head chef at the original Nobu in the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, but this low-key suburban eatery is, frankly, better and half the price.

13:30If going to a national park in Vegas seems weird, then visiting a museum is perhaps doubly so. The Mob Museum (300 Stewart Avenue, themobmuseum.org), however, is a very Vegas institution. Officially called the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, this is a fascinating journey through the various “colourful characters” who spread organised crime throughout America and built Las Vegas. Housed inside the former Las Vegas Post Office and Federal court, it was here in 1950 that the Las Vegas chapter of the infamous Kefauver Committee hearings were held and the existence of the Mafia became public knowledge.

15:30A few blocks from the Mob Museum is The Neon Museum (770 Las Vegas Boulevard South, neonmuseum.org). The main attraction here is The Neon Boneyard, a unique pop-art graveyard containing hundreds of the finest neon signs to shine in Las Vegas. A few have been restored to working order, but the broken ones, with their rust patches and shattered tubing, add a poignant quality to this disappearing art form. Tours are mandatory and run on the half hour.

17:00Head back to the hotel, draw the blackout curtains and have a nap. No, really. It’s nice to take a little time out in Vegas. Between the heat, lights, noise and drunks, this city can really take its toll. By the time you’ve washed off the desert and put on your dancing shoes,

the lights of the Strip will be on and this city will have transformed into something altogether more fabulous.

18:00On the 23rd floor of the extravagant Mandarin Oriental hotel (3752 Las Vegas Boulevard South, mandarinoriental.com) is the Mandarin Bar, one of the city’s best. The view here faces both ends of the strip, encompassing the fake New York skyline, the fake Eiffel Tower and the dramatic modern towers of CityCenter. It’s well worth an $US18 ($20) cocktail. In late summer, you may be lucky enough to see one of Las Vegas’ infamous “monsoon” storms – apocalyptic squalls that come out of the desert to strike the casinos with lightning bolts, as if the gods were wreaking vengeance on this glittering modern Babylon.

19.00Take the lift down and walk through the Aria hotel, noting the monumental sculptures by Tony Cragg and Henry Moore, to reach The Shops at Crystals (crystalsatcitycenter.com). Home to high-end international fashion boutiques – Prada, Balenciaga, Gucci, etc – this mall was designed by architect Daniel Libeskind of Berlin’s Jewish Museum fame. Probably the best, but certainly the least-visited, attraction here is hidden above the Louis Vuitton boutique. Akhob (2013) is an enormous light installation by James Turrell, regarded as one of America’s greatest living artists. Because only four or five people are allowed in at a time, an appointment is required (call 739 8520). The secret lift leads to a room of white-clad attendants who guide visitors into a series of womb-like chambers that slowly change colour in an experience that is best described as disorientating but near-religious. A

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One perfect Day

for airfares and holiday packages to Las Vegas call Qantas Holidays on 13oo 735 542 or visit qantas.com/holidaysaustralianway

FeAr ANd loAThiNg iN lAS vegAS

Hunter S Thompson (Harper Collins)

Thompson, the legendary gonzo journalist, admitted to making much of this book up, but it still stands as the seminal work about Las Vegas.

liTerAry lAS vegAS

Edited by Mike Tronnes (Holt)

With contributions from such luminaries as Joan Didion and Noël

Coward, and relatively unknown locals, this offers a fascinating

account of Vegas’ hidden histories.

leArNiNg From lAS vegASRobert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown &

Steven Izenour (MIT Press)

In the 1970s, architect Robert Venturi argued that we needed to take “bad” architecture seriously.

This book is why he is often called “the father of postmodernism”.

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The golden leaf cocktail, mandarin Bar (top, 6pm); Seared fresh squid with squid ink sauce, pearl onions and artichoke, Jaleo (above, 8pm)

If you’re still steady on your feet when it’s done, head across the sky bridge to The Cosmopolitan hotel and casino (cosmopolitanlasvegas.com).

20:00The high-end dining options in Las Vegas are as competitive as those in almost any international capital, and often more expensive. For something really special that would make a merely great day perfect, getting a seat at é by José Andrés (ebyjoseandres.com) is worth the considerable difficulty involved.

A protégé of El Bulli’s Ferran Adriá, Andrés doesn’t actually cook here, but under his supervision this restaurant serves what is probably the most innovative food in the city. Hidden inside his more classically Spanish restaurant Jaleo (jaleo.com), which is in The Cosmopolitan, é does only two eight-diner seatings per night and requires three months’ advance email booking. Yes, it’s ridiculous. But the food, such as Iberico ham broth with “liquid” white beans, or chocolate treated with liquid nitrogen and served on sweet toast and olive oil, is ridiculously good. Those lucky enough to have a meal here never forget the experience. But if you can’t get in, don’t despair – Jaleo is superb and many may find its classic tapas and hearty paellas more satisfying than the esoteric flavours of molecular gastronomy.

22:30Every visitor to Vegas needs to visit at least one classic bar, the kind of storied, slightly shabby establishment where legendary performers once discussed who got whacked and when. For an unsurpassed vintage Las Vegas extravagance, drive a short distance north on the Strip to the Fireside Lounge, a bar connected to the Peppermill restaurant (2985 Las Vegas Boulevard South, peppermilllasvegas.com). Featured in Scorsese’s film Casino, the interior is an extravagantly kitsch jewel box of mirrored walls, purple neon, fake plants and the eponymous fire floating atop a pool of bubbling water. The Fireside Lounge is a pristine time capsule of old Vegas, an architectural monument to the spirit of this city and the perfect springboard into its endless neon night.