The Best Non-Gaming Las Vegas Attractions
Las Vegas is known for its gambling, but the modern city has grown well past being just a place to make a bet.
Visitors who never touch a chip still have full days of things to do, and locals know it: the biggest convention city in the country runs on far more than its casino floors.
Here is our updated guide to the best of it, checked and refreshed for 2026.
The STRAT
The tower formerly known as the Stratosphere now goes by The STRAT, and it remains the tallest observation point in Las Vegas, just north of the Strip.
The SkyPod observation deck is still the best 360-degree view in the valley, the tallest of its kind west of the Mississippi River. The ride lineup up top has changed over the years: the claw-armed Insanity closed in 2023 and X-Scream is currently offline, but the classic Big Shot still fires riders up the mast from more than 1,000 feet above Las Vegas Boulevard, and it remains one of the great pure adrenaline hits in the city.
The most daring visitors opt for the SkyJump, a controlled descent off the side of the tower from more than 800 feet. It’s a bucket-list stunt that ends with a certificate, and the view on the way down is unlike anything else in Nevada.
The rides are not for everyone. Bars, restaurants and lounge space fill the top of the tower for anyone who prefers the view with a drink in hand and both feet on the floor.
Fremont Street Experience
Fremont Street is where Las Vegas rose from the Nevada desert more than 100 years ago.
In 1995, the city closed five blocks of it to create the Fremont Street Experience, and the pedestrian mall has only grown louder and brighter since. Live stages run most nights, with headline acts on summer weekends.
Overhead hangs Viva Vision, the block-long video canopy nearly 100 feet above the sidewalks, running light-and-music shows every hour after dark. The people watching below it is a show of its own, and the bars lining the street keep the night going between sets.
Those not wanting to walk the length of the mall can take the Slotzilla zip line instead. Two versions run: a lower line under the canopy and the higher “zoomline” that sends riders the length of the street superhero-style.
Downtown Container Park
Just east of the Fremont Street Experience sits the Downtown Container Park, an open-air shopping and dining block built from repurposed shipping containers.
Shops, restaurants and bars are arranged three stories high around a central courtyard, with a children’s tree house and playground at the center that make this one of the few downtown destinations suited to families. Out front stands a massive flame-throwing praying mantis sculpture, a Burning Man veteran, which lights up the entrance once the sun goes down.
Neon Boneyard
The Neon Boneyard at the Neon Museum is where the Las Vegas past still lives. Rescued neon signs from the city’s earliest casinos rest in the open air, from wedding-chapel script to towering casino marquees.
Tours run daily, and the after-dark visits, when the restored signs glow again, are the version worth planning around. The museum sits just north of downtown Las Vegas.
Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower at Paris Las Vegas stands in the middle of the Strip at half scale of the original, and its observation deck trades The STRAT’s height for location.
Directly across the street are the Fountains of Bellagio, and the tower’s deck is the single best vantage point for the water show. Time a visit to an evening performance and the whole center-Strip spreads out beneath the choreographed jets.
Circus Circus
Circus Circus was one of the first family friendly attractions in Las Vegas, and its midway still stages free circus acts throughout the day.
It is also home to the Adventuredome, the five-acre indoor amusement park under the big pink dome. Roller coasters headline a lineup that skews toward smaller children but keeps enough thrill rides, plus laser tag, to hold teenagers and adults for an afternoon. In a city that grew up around adult entertainment, it remains the reliable rainy-day answer for anyone visiting with kids.
Pinball Hall of Fame
The Pinball Hall of Fame moved in 2021 from its old Tropicana Avenue home to a purpose-built hall at 4925 Las Vegas Boulevard South, near the famous welcome sign at the south end of the Strip.
Inside wait hundreds of playable pinball machines, some dating to the 1950s, alongside rows of classic arcade games. Everything runs on coins the way it always did, most games still cost pocket change, and the nonprofit behind it keeps the machines in playing condition. For the price of a single cocktail on the Strip, an entire nostalgic evening is hard to beat.
Linq High Roller
Another option for a great view of Las Vegas is the High Roller at The Linq, the giant observation wheel rising over the center of the Strip.
The wheel carries riders 550 feet in the air in glass cabins, and one full rotation takes about 30 minutes, enough time for the entire Las Vegas Valley to roll past. Night rides face the Strip at full glow, and the cabins with an open bar turn the rotation into a happy hour with the best window in town.
Mandalay Bay Shark Reef Aquarium
The Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay holds around 2,000 animals in some 1.6 million gallons of water, with a walk-through tunnel that puts sharks and rays directly overhead.
Premium add-ons like diving with the sharks and animal encounters run alongside general admission. It sits at the far south end of the Strip, an easy pairing with the Pinball Hall of Fame just down the boulevard.
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