Lonely Planet - 48 hours in Las Vegas

WHY GO Las Vegas is a wild ride. It doesnt matter if you play the penny slots, lay down a bankroll on the poker tables or never gamble at all youll leave this town feeling like youve just had the time of your life. Guaranteed.

According to Hollywood legend, the day mobster Bugsy Siegel drove from LA into the Mojave Desert and decided to finish raising a glamorous, tropical-themed casino under the searing sun, all there was here were some ramshackle gambling houses, tumbleweeds and cacti. Nobody thought anyone would ever come here. But everybody couldnt have been more wrong, baby.

Today, Las Vegas welcomes more visitors each year than the holy city of Mecca. Admittedly, its tourist traps, especially on the infamous Strip, are nonstop party zones. But scratch beneath the surface, and youll find Sin City has much more on tap than just gambling, booze and cheap thrills. There are as many different faces to Nevadas biggest metropolis as there are Elvis impersonators or wedding chapels here.

Sprawled immodestly along Las Vegas Blvd, the Strip is a never-ending spectacle, especially at night with all of its neon lights blazing. Ever since Bugsys Flamingo casino hotel upped the ante back in 1946, casino hotels have competed to dream up the next big thing, no matter how gimmicky. You can be mesmerized by the dancing fountain show outside of the Bellagio, an exploding faux-Polynesian volcano in a lagoon fronting the Mirage, singing gondoliers plying the artificial canals of the Venetian or sexy pirates in a mock battle of the sexes with pyrotechnics galore at TI (Treasure Island). Rise above the Strips madness inside glass elevators shooting up the half-scale replica of the Eiffel Tower at Paris Las Vegas, or ascend the 110-story Stratosphere Tower, where the worlds highest thrill rides await.

All of this showy stuff is old hat for Las Vegas. This century-old city is quickly metamorphosing into a sophisticated but still sexy and sybaritic destination. Boutique hotels within casino resorts (for example, the Signature Suites at MGM Grand), star chefs restaurants (including a recent invasion of high-flying French folk: witness CityCenters Twist by Pierre Gagnaire), and indulgent spas such as Spa at Aria, also at CityCenter, with Japanese-style stone sauna beds and a therapy room made of illuminated salt bricks, are what hip, younger crowds demand. Ironically, this polish and sophistication hearken back to Old Vegas heyday in the Fabulous 50s, when mobsters mixed with Rat Pack movie stars and even showgirls dressed in diamonds and silk to just step inside a casino. The most decadent high-roller casino resorts such as Palazzo and Wynn Las Vegas each have their own galaxy of catwalk couture shops, epicurean restaurants and entertaining diversions, from Broadway shows to nightclubs on par with LA or NYC. To gawk at the VIPs, stroll through the front doors anytime theyre free, and they never close.

You can still find the kitschier and oh-so-cheesy side of Las Vegas. After all, this is the city that brought fame and fortune to flamboyant Liberace, and staged a 1969 comeback show for Elvis outfitted in a rhinestone-studded jumpsuit. Pay your respects at the outrageous Liberace Museum, stuffed with hand-painted antique pianos, luxury cars including a mirror-tiled Rolls Royce, and a collection of feathered capes and million-dollar furs. Elvis has indeed left the building, but you can still play blackjack with the King at the Imperial Palace, where dealertainers do double duty as casino card dealers and celebrity impersonators. Speaking of casinos, theres none tackier than the 1960s Circus Circus, where trapeze artists, high-wire workers and contortionists steal center stage. Grab a seat at the revolving Horse-A-Round Bar, made famous by Hunter S Thompsons Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. At Slots A Fun next door, grab a coupon book, give the giant slot machine a free spin and scarf down a few $2 beers and hot dogs; then relax and enjoy the laughable lounge acts. At the retro Fireside Lounge, a swingin 70s hideaway, cooing couples nestle into blue-velvet couches and make out like theres no tomorrow.

When youve exhausted the hurly-burly Strip, take yourself downtown to the Fremont Street Experience, a five-block-long pedestrian mall with a canopy steroid-enhanced by a super-big Viva Vision screen and 550,000 watts of concert-hall sound. When the 12.5-million synchronized LEDs come on, its silly sound-and-light shows hypnotize passersby (especially anyone whos already drunk on those 99 fluorescent-pink margaritas sold in gigantic souvenir glasses). Fremont St is the citys historic quarter, preferred by serious gamblers who find faux volcanoes beneath them; the smoky, low-ceilinged casinos have changed little over the years. Check out the nerve-wracking, no-limit Texas- hold-em action at legendary Binions, where the World Series of Poker was born. Then stumble across the street to the Golden Nugget