Big Bus Las Vegas: Sightseeing Night Tour by Open-Top Bus
Meet at the kerbRecorded commentaryMax 48
From $59 per person
A Las Vegas Night with Kids: What They Can Do After Dark, and What They Cannot
Short answer. Yes, and the best of it is free. The Bellagio fountains, the Fremont canopy, the conservatory and the Welcome sign all take children of any age at any hour. The hard line is 21, not bedtime: every club crawl and bar tour here is adults only, and the helicopters need a paid seat from age two.
Las Vegas has a reputation as an adults' city and it is only half earned. The half that is free — the shows, the lights, the fountains — is open to everyone at every hour, and children generally like it more than adults do. What is closed to a family is narrower and more specific than people expect, and it is worth knowing exactly where the lines are before you plan an evening.
Is an evening here worth it with children?
Yes, on one condition: treat the free shows as the main event rather than as filler. A child who has watched the Bellagio fountains from the rail, stood under the Fremont canopy for a full Viva Vision show and been photographed at the Welcome sign has had the Las Vegas evening. None of that costs anything and none of it has an age limit.
What does not work is trying to run an adult's itinerary with children attached. The late departures, the club crawls and the long dinners are not built for it, and the ones that are not built for it say so in their own listings.
What they will like most
- The Fountains of Bellagio. Every 15 minutes from 8pm to midnight, and they are loud from the front rail. Children want to see two.
- The Fremont Street canopy. Standing under a 1,375-foot screen for six minutes is the single most memorable free thing here.
- Sphere from a distance. The Exosphere changes constantly and reads best from a few blocks away.
- The Bellagio Conservatory. Open around the clock, seasonal, and the queue disappears after the fountain crowd moves on.
- The Welcome sign. A photograph they will recognise for the rest of their lives, and there is a free car park.
Useful Tip: the top deck of an open-top bus is the best seat in the city for a child, and the standard and late-night departures take all ages. The 8pm one does not — see the bus tours page for which grade is which.
Where the age limits actually fall
Age rules as stated on each operator's own listing.
| Format | Minimum age | ID checked? | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open-top bus, standard and late | None stated | No | The easiest family evening here |
| Open-top bus, 8pm adults tour | 21 | Yes | Includes a drink; not a family option |
| Guided van | None stated | No | Hotel collection, eight timed stops |
| Open jeep with the High Roller | 2 | No | Fear of heights is worth thinking about |
| Helicopter flight | 2, in a paid seat | Yes, from 18 | Under-twos on a lap where allowed |
| Club crawl and bar crawl | 21 | Yes, physical ID | Closed to families entirely |
| Strip walking tour | Drinking age 21 for the Champagne | No | Two-person minimum booking |
What to prepare for
The heat, or the cold. In July and August it is still above ninety degrees at ten at night and an open deck offers no relief; in December and January the normal overnight low is 40 °F and a moving bus makes it feel worse. Neither is a reason not to go, but both decide what you pack.
The distances. Children walk more slowly and the Strip is longer than it looks. A twenty-five minute walk between two resorts is a forty-minute walk with a seven-year-old. The map page has the real times.
The late finish. The 15-minute fountain cycle runs to midnight and the Fremont shows to 2am. Plan the evening backwards from when they need to be asleep, not forwards from dinner.
Casino floors. Under-21s may walk through them on a designated path but may not stop, and that path is often the long way round. It is the one genuinely awkward thing about moving around a resort with children.
Eating, and where the evening falls apart
Feed everyone before you start. Almost nothing listed here includes food, the resort restaurants fill from seven, and a queue at nine o'clock with tired children is how a good evening ends badly. The food courts inside the big resorts are the pragmatic answer and they run late.
Toilets are the other thing worth planning. They are plentiful inside the resorts and scarce on the pavement between them, so use the one in the building you are already in rather than the one you will reach in twenty minutes. That single habit removes most of the friction from an evening on foot with children.
What about the casino floors?
Under-21s may walk through a casino floor on a designated route but may not stop, stand or play, and the route is often the long way round the building. In practice this means crossing a resort takes longer with children than the map suggests, and that the shortest path between two points on the Strip is frequently outside rather than through.
It is worth knowing rather than worrying about. Nobody will stop a family walking through; you simply cannot pause at a machine while somebody catches up. Plan the route along the boulevard and through the shopping arcades instead, which is more interesting anyway.
The best evening with children, hour by hour
- An hour before sunset. Eat. Everything after this is standing around.
- Sunset. The Bellagio Conservatory, which is indoors and takes no time.
- 8pm. The first 15-minute fountain show, from the lakeside rail.
- 8:30pm. Walk north to the LINQ past Caesars, with Sphere visible on the way.
- 9pm. A High Roller rotation, or the bus north to Fremont Street.
- 10pm. One full Viva Vision show under the canopy, then home.
Two things worth booking ahead
If the Neon Museum is on your list, buy the evening slot before you travel. It admits in timed groups, last admission is 10pm, and it is the one paid attraction here that regularly sells its evening capacity. Children aged 7 to 17 are $17.50 on the museum's own rate and under-6s are free, which makes it the best-value ticket of the evening for a family.
The other is the open-top bus, and for a different reason: seating is first come, first served, so booking secures the date rather than the seat. Arrive fifteen minutes early and take the upper deck, which is the whole point of it. Both are covered on the attractions page.
Which tour, if you book one
The open-top bus, on almost every count: it is the cheapest, it takes any age, it covers both districts, and it is two hours in a seat rather than three on foot. The open jeep is the other good answer if the High Roller appeals, because admission is inside the fare and seven travellers is a small group.
Skip the helicopters unless your children are old enough to sit still in their own seat and produce nothing at check-in, and skip the nightlife entirely. The options page compares all six formats, and what to expect covers the practical side. Every departure is listed on None.
The free half of this city is the family half, and it runs every night of the year. Every departure is on Las Vegas Night Tours.
