Shining like a neon sequin lost in the sand of the Mojave Desert, Las Vegas is known as 'The Entertainment Capital of the World'.

It has come a very long way from its original roots, starting as a fort and a stopover for travellers on the Mormon Corridor Trail in the 1850's and a bustling railroad and mining town, in the early part of the 20th century.  It lost some importance as the railroads and mining circumstances changed, but the gained popularity again with the legalizing of gambling in 1931 and the completion of the nearby Hoover Dam in 1935.

Its rapid growth and early casino successes in the 1940's and 50's was possibly owed to the American 'Mob', who bought into the new gambling town, and used their money and contacts to make it the place to be seen.

The city started to lose its' organised crime contacts in the 1960's when Howard Hughes started to buy up casinos, radio and television stations in the city, and with a now constant stream of tourists, casino job hunters and Federal and Air Force personnel from the nearby Nellis Airforce Base, the start of modern day Las Vegas was created.

Accommodation in Las Vegas can be more than just a place to rest your head!  Most of the big Hotels and Resorts that line the 'Strip' (the main highway that runs through the middle of the city), or in Downtown, are more like attractions themselves, and are huge, each offering 1,000's of rooms and suites.  17 of the 20 biggest US hotels and 12 of the 20 biggest in the world hotels are in Las Vegas.  There are roughly 134,000 rooms in Las Vegas, twice as many as in New York!  From opulence and luxury at Mega-Resorts like the Bellagio, with its famous dancing fountains, the brand new Palazzo or Aria, The Wynn, Four Seasons, the Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, or the Mirage to iconic landmarks like The Flamingo, Harrah's, the Sahara, the Tropicana, the Golden Nugget and Fremont, at Fremont Street, Downtown.  Alternatively, you can have an almost Round The World experience at newer hotels such as the Roman-style Caesars Palace, the aptly named Venetian with its canals, the Egyptian-themed Luxor, New York-New York with its sky scrapers and Statue of Liberty, the Paris Las Vegas, complete with Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe, the tropical, pirate-themed Treasure Island (or TI as it's known) or the fun-themed Circus, Circus and fantasy castle-style Excalibur. Almost every year, older, smaller hotels are demolished, and modern, luxury mega-hotels are built in their place, so Las Vegas is forever changing to keep up with demand.  Large hotel groups have multiple properties in Vegas, in different budget categories to cater for as many guests as possible.  For example, the MGM Resort International Group owns 13 properties on the strip (Bellagio; Aria; Vdara; MGM Grand; Signature at MGM; Mandalay Bay; Delano Las Vegas; Mirage; Monte Carlo; New York-New York; Luxor; Excalibur; Circus Circus), plus the T-Mobile Arena and The PArk entertainment and dining area.

The main attraction of Las Vegas is the obviously gambling.  Many hotels have their own themed casinos on site and there are many others around the city.  Many millions of visitors take a chance on the turn of a card, the roll of the dice or spin of the wheel every year, and the gambling revenue last year was close to $17 billion!!  The high number of visitors has resulted in a vast network of services and businesses to provide everything they could possibly want.  There are hundreds of restaurants, shopping to seriously dent your credit card and a huge variety of shows and concerts, of every style and theme.  Las Vegas is famous for its magic shows, major sporting events, and for hosting some of the music entertainment industry's biggest names, in long running shows and in nightly concerts.

The second largest attraction of Las Vegas is surprisingly - weddings!  Las Vegas is also known as the Wedding Capital of the World and on average, over 300 weddings take place here every day!  You can have a traditional wedding, a small-budget wedding, a multi-million dollar wedding, a themed wedding, (with any theme you can think of!) or even a drive-thru wedding.

Although children and young people are not allowed inside any of the Casinos, there are still many things for them to do.  The Bellagio has a huge botanical Garden and the famous dancing fountains, Circus Circus has the Carnival Midway, with over 200 games and Circus acts, and the Adventure Dome, an indoor theme park and the Excalibur offers Fantasy Faire midway, with carnival-style arcade games and rides and the Magic Motion Film Ride.  Other attractions include the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay, Gameworks, games arcade, M&M World, 4 floors of interactive play and M&M merchandise, the Lion Habitat at the MGM Grand, the Secret Garden, Volcano Eruption, Siegfried and Roy's white tigers, Aquarium and Dolphin Habitat at the Mirage, Madame Tussauds at the Venetian, the  Coney Island Emporium games arcade and roller coaster at NewYork-New York, the Titanic Exibition at the Luxor, the Ethel M Chocolate Factory tour, Speed the Ride at the Sahara, high-speed thrill rides and the Observation Deck at the Stratosphere, and the Southern Nevada Zoo.  Although these are all family friendly attractions, adults can enjoy them just as much, or sometimes more than the kids!

Las Vegas is a hectic, busy bright-lights town with plenty to do, see and experience, and is an ideal stopover city, either at the beginning or end of your trip.

Average Las Vegas temperatures:

Winter: December, January and February average daily temperature is 45 degrees
Spring: March, April, and May average daily temperature is 70 degrees
Summer: June, July and August average daily temperature is 100 degrees
Autumn: September, October and November - average daily temperature 80 degrees

There are numerous websites that offer hints, tips and freebies that are worth looking into before you travel.  Just a few of them are:

http://www.lasvegas-how-to.com/

https://www.vegas.com/

http://www.lasvegas.com/uk/