Big Bus Las Vegas: Sightseeing Night Tour by Open-Top Bus
Meet at the kerbRecorded commentaryMax 48
From $59 per person
What to Expect on a Las Vegas Night Tour
An evening tour here is not a daytime tour with the lights on. The start time moves by three and a half hours across the year, half the departures leave from a kerb rather than your hotel, and about a third of them will not let you aboard without original photo identification. None of that is difficult — it is just worth knowing before six o'clock on the day.
How an evening actually runs
- Ninety minutes before. Eat. Almost nothing here includes food, and the two that do are booked as dinner packages.
- Forty-five minutes before. If you are being collected, be in the lobby early and have roaming data on; if you are meeting a kerb, leave now, because Strip distances are longer than the map suggests.
- Departure. Bus and van tours leave on time and do not wait. Helicopter check-in closes 30 minutes before the slot.
- The first hour. Photo stops, usually the Welcome sign and the Bellagio. This is when the light is best.
- The second hour. Downtown, or the flight, or the first club. The gap between the Strip and Fremont Street is 20 minutes of driving each way.
- The end. Most tours return you where you started. Two do not: one party bus runs one way, and the club crawls leave you at the last venue.
How dark it will actually be
Check the sunset time for your date before you pick a departure. In December the sun is down by about 4:26pm and a 5:30pm start is a full night tour. In late June sunset is around 8:03pm, so a 7pm departure spends its first hour in daylight and only the 8pm and 10pm runs are night tours in any meaningful sense. The month-by-month page has the numbers.
What to wear, by season
The desert loses heat quickly and an open vehicle adds wind on top. In December and January the normal overnight low is around 40 °F, so an open top deck wants a proper jacket rather than a layer. In July and August the normal high is 105 °F and the normal low 82 °F, which means a 10pm departure sits between the two and you will want water rather than a coat.
The nightclub crawls enforce a dress code at the door in every season: no jerseys, no hats, no athletic wear. Reviewers who were turned away all mention the same three things.
How much walking
It ranges from almost none to two solid hours. The helicopter flights involve a car park and a terminal. The open-top bus is a seat. The guided vans and jeeps stop eight or nine times and walk you around each one, which their own listings describe as needing a moderate fitness level. The Strip walking tour is exactly what it says.
Shoes matter more than anything else you pack. The Strip's pavements are wide and level, and the walking is not hard — there is simply more of it than people expect.
Identification and age rules
Age and identification rules as stated on each operator's own listing.
| Format | Minimum age | ID required | What is checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open-top bus, standard | None stated | No | Ticket only |
| Open-top bus, 8pm adults tour | 21 | Yes | Age at boarding |
| Guided van | None stated | No | Ticket only |
| Open jeep | 2 | No | Age at pick-up |
| Helicopter flight | 2, in a paid seat | Yes, original photo ID | Every passenger 18 or over, plus a declared weight |
| Club crawl and bar crawl | 21 | Yes, physical ID | Age and dress code at every door |
- Helicopters: everyone aged 18 or over needs original government photo identification. A photocopy or a photograph on a phone is refused, and one operator states plainly that a guest without it is denied check-in with no refund.
- Nightclubs and bar crawls: 21 and over, physical ID checked at every door, and a passport if you are visiting from outside the United States.
- Children: the open jeep sets a minimum age of two; the helicopters require a paid seat from age two, with under-twos on a lap where the operator allows it.
What you will spend beyond the fare
Gratuities are excluded from almost every listing here and are expected in cash: 15 to 20 per cent of the fare is the range for a guide, a driver, a pilot or a party host. Two listings include the driver's tip and say so. On a club crawl, budget for drinks inside the venues, which are not included on either of them. On the helicopter flights, souvenir photographs are sold separately and are not cheap.
Drinking, and where you cannot carry it
An over-21 can walk the Strip with an open drink, but glass beverage containers are banned for pedestrians there under Clark County Code 12.43.025, and the Fremont Street Experience bans cans as well as glass inside the mall. Read the signs at the entrance to any pedestrian area. Every tour vehicle here has its own rule and the party buses are the only ones that carry drinks aboard.
If the weather turns
Wind is the one thing that stops an evening here. It grounds helicopter flights and cancels a fountain show. Both are recoverable: the flights reschedule or refund, and the fountains run again fifteen minutes later. If your date looks marginal, the tours with a 24-hour refund window give you a free decision the day before — see the cancellation questions.
Rain is rarely the problem. Las Vegas averages 4.18 inches a year across about 26 rain days, and the open-top buses run in light showers — one reviewer describes the Welcome sign stop going ahead in the rain with no rush at all.
Getting home afterwards
Most tours return you to where they collected you. The exceptions are worth planning for: one party bus runs one way, and both club crawls finish inside a venue you are free to stay in until close. The Deuce runs the boulevard 24 hours a day, and rideshare pick-up at the big resorts is usually in a garage rather than at the door. The map page has the departure and return points, and every departure is on Las Vegas lights night tour.
The start time, the pick-up arrangement and the refund window for every departure are on Las Vegas Night Tours.
Tours these timings are drawn from
Las Vegas Helicopter Night Strip Flight Tour with Optional Dinner
Meet at the kerbFlight time 10-12 minDinner optional
From $99 per person