On one side the spouting fountains of the iconic Bellagio rise and fall in streams of light, and on the other, the whirring sounds of urban rollercoasters whirl and whiz overhead. Nearby, the click and slap of casino chips ticks over like a clock keeping time, while a bass line of Sinatra and Elvis and Tom Jones echoes faintly from the chandelier bars behind. Everywhere joviality, everywhere hedonism, everywhere fun.
Welcome to Las Vegas, America’s undisputed king of sin; the place where hopefuls go to bet their piggy banks on blackjack tables, where the nouveau riche strut their stuff beneath the neon of the palm-dotted strip, where romantic honeymooners fresh from an ad hoc wedding ride gondolas beneath gaudy casts of the Eiffel Tower and the Rialto Bridge. There really is nowhere quite like it on earth.
But Vegas has another side, oft-overlooked. It’s nestled betwixt the sprawling Grand Canyon just across the border in Colorado, and the eye-popping wonders of the Nevadan desert all around. Anyone interested in going a little off-the-beaten-track should be sure to ask their Las Vegas tour guide about the rugged wilds of the Red Rock Park, or the curious human history of the nearby Valley of Fire.