Big Bus Las Vegas: Sightseeing Night Tour by Open-Top Bus
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From $59 per person
Las Vegas Night Attractions
Seven things in this city are worth arranging an evening around, and four of them cost nothing. What follows is what each one actually does after dark, what it charges, and how you get to it — because on the Strip the distance between two landmarks is almost always longer than it looks.
Fountains of Bellagio — free, every 15 minutes from 8pm
What it is: a choreographed water display on an eight-acre lake in front of the Bellagio, on the west side of Las Vegas Boulevard between Flamingo and Harmon.
After dark: the show cycle tightens once the sun is down. Through the afternoon it runs every 30 minutes; from 8pm until midnight it runs every 15. The lighting is what makes the night version a different show from the day one.
What it costs: nothing. You watch from the public pavement, and the best angle is from the Bellagio's own lakeside walk rather than from across the road.
Getting there: the Deuce stops outside. High wind cancels a show, so if one is skipped, wait fifteen minutes rather than assuming it is closed for the night.
Fremont Street Experience — free, shows on the hour to 2am
What it is: five blocks of Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas, closed to traffic and roofed with a barrel canopy 1,375 feet long and 90 feet above the mall. The Viva Vision screen in it carries 16.4 million pixels, upgraded in 2019 at a cost of $32 million.
After dark: the light-and-sound shows run at the top of every hour from 6pm until 2am, each six to eight minutes long, and three stages under the canopy run live music most nights. The SlotZilla zip lines launch from 77 and 114 feet above the street.
What it costs: the mall and the shows are free. SlotZilla and the casinos are not.
Getting there: 425 Fremont Street, about five miles north of the middle of the Strip. There is no walkable route; the Deuce runs it around the clock.
The Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign — free, lit, always open
What it is: Betty Willis's 25-foot Googie diamond, erected in 1959 and on the National Register of Historic Places since 1 May 2009. It is owned by the Young Electric Sign Company and leased to Clark County. The back of it reads "Drive Carefully" and "Come Back Soon".
After dark: it is lit around the clock and the bulb border is the whole photograph. Queues for the front of it build at weekends and move quickly.
What it costs: nothing, including the car park.
Getting there: 5100 South Las Vegas Boulevard, on a median about a mile south of Mandalay Bay, with a free car park added in 2008 and expanded twice since. There is no sensible pavement walk to it, which is why almost every guided evening here stops there.
The Neon Museum — $35, 6pm to 11pm
What it is: an outdoor collection of rescued Las Vegas signs at 770 Las Vegas Boulevard North, arranged in a gravel yard the museum calls the Boneyard.
After dark: the evening experience is a different product from daytime entry, with light and sound projected across the collection. Not every sign in the yard is illuminated, which and expecting a field of burning neon is the thing most visitors get wrong.
What it costs: the museum's own published evening rate is $35 for an adult, $30 for Nevada residents, over-65s and students with ID, $17.50 for children aged 7 to 17 and free for under-6s. Evening hours are 6pm to 11pm daily with last admission at 10pm.
Getting there: a mile north of Fremont Street. One tour listed here includes the ticket in its fare.
Sphere — free from the outside
What it is: a 366-foot-high, 516-foot-wide venue at 255 Sands Avenue behind the Venetian, opened on 29 September 2023. Its outer shell, the Exosphere, carries 1.23 million LED pucks across 580,000 square feet.
After dark: the exterior runs continuously and changes through the evening. Inside is a ticketed 17,600-seat auditorium with a 16K wraparound screen, and the two are frequently confused.
What it costs: looking at the outside costs nothing. A show inside is a separate ticket bought from the venue.
Getting there: best seen from a distance rather than from underneath. Several night tours stop for it and every helicopter flight passes it.
The High Roller — ticketed, 550 feet up
What it is: the observation wheel at the end of the LINQ Promenade, 550 feet tall, opened on 31 March 2014, with 28 cabins holding up to 40 people each. It was the world's tallest until Ain Dubai opened in October 2021 and is now the second.
After dark: one rotation takes 30 minutes, which is long enough to watch the Strip light up and short enough not to drag.
What it costs: an evening ticket costs more than a daytime one, and prices move with the date, so buy from the operator's own calendar. One evening jeep tour here includes admission in its fare.
Getting there: the LINQ Promenade, off Las Vegas Boulevard between the Flamingo and Harrah's. It is also where the open-top night buses board.
The STRAT — ticketed, 1,149 feet up
What it is: the tallest observation tower in the United States, opened on 30 April 1996 at 2000 South Las Vegas Boulevard, with an indoor deck on the 108th floor and an outdoor one on the 109th.
After dark: it is the only place you can look down the whole length of the Strip from a fixed point. Four thrill rides sit at the top: Big Shot, X-Scream, Insanity and SkyJump.
What it costs: tickets are bought from the tower and are not included in any tour listed here.
Getting there: the north end of the Strip, past the point most visitors walk to. Several night tours pass it.
Show times at a glance
Show times and admission are the venues' own published figures. High wind cancels a fountain show.
| Landmark | After dark | Cost | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fountains of Bellagio | Every 15 minutes, 8pm to midnight | Free | 3600 S Las Vegas Blvd |
| Fremont Street Experience | On the hour, 6pm to 2am | Free | 425 Fremont St |
| Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign | Lit 24 hours | Free | 5100 S Las Vegas Blvd |
| Sphere Exosphere | Continuous through the evening | Free from outside | 255 Sands Ave |
| The Neon Museum | 6pm to 11pm, last entry 10pm | $35 adult | 770 Las Vegas Blvd N |
| The High Roller | 30-minute rotation | Ticketed, dearer at night | LINQ Promenade |
| The STRAT SkyPod | Two decks and four rides | Ticketed | 2000 S Las Vegas Blvd |
Four of the seven are free and always on, which is the honest starting point for planning an evening: you can see a great deal of this city for the price of a bus pass. What the tours solve is the distance between them — the sign is a mile past the last resort, downtown is five miles further, and nothing about that is walkable. That is the argument for a Las Vegas lights night tour, and the things-to-do page puts the free and the paid side by side.
Every departure that reaches these landmarks is compared on Las Vegas Night Tours, with what each one covers and what it leaves out.
Tours that stop at these landmarks
Las Vegas: Neon Museum Night Experience and Open-Top Bus Tour
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From $84 per person
