Las Vegas Itinerary – 3 Days in Vegas for First Timers

Our guide to spending three days in Vegas.

By Katie Sagal
Las Vegas Skyline

Spending a few days in Las Vegas? See the best of this delightful city and experience all the highlights with our 3 days in Las Vegas itinerary. Jam-packed with classic Vegas sights and attractions, this popular 3-day itinerary encompasses a wide variety of things to do to showcase the best the city has to offer in a limited amount of time.

This 3-day itinerary includes:

  • Hop-on Hop-off Big Bus Sightseeing Tour
  • Bellagio Conservatory & Botanical Gardens (free!)
  • Fountains at Bellagio (free!)
  • Show at the V Theater
  • Madame Tussauds Las Vegas
  • High Roller Observation Wheel at The LINQ
  • Eiffel Tower Experience
  • Grand Canyon South Rim Tour

Day 1, Stop #1: Big Bus Las Vegas

If you really want to see what Las Vegas is all about, then you have to take a Hop-On Hop-Off tour with Big Bus. They offer the most informative sightseeing tours around, with insider tips and historical trivia for all to enjoy. Best of all, as it's a hop-on hop-off tour, if you find something you just have to explore during your travels, you can disembark and spend some time checking it out.

The Classic Tour takes 2.5 hours if you stay on the bus for the entire time, so it packs in a lot to see! Be sure to check out our helpful Hop-On Hop-Off guide for top tips to make the most of your visit.

Getting In: Big Bus Las Vegas Sightseeing Tour tickets are included with the Go Las Vegas pass.

Big bus

Stop #2: Bellagio Conservatory & Botanical Gardens

Check out the seasonal displays at the Bellagio Conservatory & Botanical Gardens, prepared by a team of 140 horticulturalists. Bring your camera for memorable photo opportunities, displays that include incredible flower formations, and water features that are nothing short of mesmerizing.

Getting in: Bellagio Conservatory & Botanical Gardens are free to enter.

Bellagio Conservatory

Stop #3: Fountains at Bellagio

Next, stroll over to the Fountains of Bellagio for a beautiful musical water show. This stunning water show features choreographed fountains timed to famous musical numbers, from concert opera and classical to Broadway tunes, for an always entertaining show. The fountains are a quirky, classic Las Vegas attraction and an unmissable stop on your itinerary.

Getting in: Fountains at Bellagio are free to watch.

Bellagio fountains

Stop #4: Catch a show at the V Theater

Don’t leave Las Vegas, the “Entertainment Capital of the World,” without seeing one of the shows that uphold the city’s title. Head to the V Theater to catch one of their award-winning performances. Owned by the famed Las Vegas producer David Saxe, the V Theater is home to some of the most entertaining shows, including VEGAS! The Show; V - The Ultimate Variety Show; The Mentalist; Zombie Burlesque; and several more!

There are plenty of kid-friendly options, too like pet-based shows and comedy shows. Each show creatively pays tribute to the spectacle that is Las Vegas’ unique entertainment culture.

V Theater

Day 2 Stop #1: Madame Tussauds Las Vegas

Be sure to work some celebrity sightings into your Las Vegas itinerary. Head to Madame Tussauds for an interactive and entertaining experience with all your favorite movie stars, athletes, celebrities, and more. Pose for the paparazzi with Lady Gaga, relive a crazy Vegas night with Bradley Cooper, sing on stage for Simon Cowell, and fight crime alongside Nick Fury.

Taking pictures with the wax statues is highly encouraged, and props are provided that visitors can use for unforgettable (and highly believable) photos. Cameras at the ready - be prepared to fool your Instagram followers!

Getting In: Madame Tussauds Las Vegas tickets are included on all Las Vegas passes.

Madame Tussauds Las Vegas
The images shown depict wax figures created and owned by Madame Tussauds.

Stop #2: High Roller Observation Wheel at The LINQ

Take an afternoon spin on the High Roller, the world’s tallest observation wheel – 550ft above the ground! Your 30-minute ride will feel like it ends too soon, as you soak up amazing panoramic views of the Las Vegas Strip and the scenery below. Don't forget to keep your phone or camera charged for this attraction!

Ready to get the party started? Grab a drink from the High Roller’s wheelhouse bar before boarding. Afterwards, there are plenty of options to explore in the LINQ area, whether you're after food and beverages or shopping. For our High Roller top tips, read our helpful guide.

Getting in: High Roller tickets are included on all Las Vegas passes.

High Roller

Stop #3: Eiffel Tower Experience

Visit Paris without the transatlantic flight! Head to the Paris Las Vegas Hotel - their Eiffel Tower Experience is just like setting foot into a recreated Parisian cityscape. Ascend to the top of their Eiffel Tower (46 storeys above ground level), and then stroll through replicas of the Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre, and more.

It's a great way to experience the grandeur and opulence of Las Vegas casino culture, and makes for some awesome photos to fool your friends that you're in Paris too. Here's our guide to the Eiffel Tower Experience before your trip. It's full of top tips and ideas to help you make the most of your visit.

Getting In: Eiffel Tower Experience tickets are included with the Go Las Vegas pass.

Las Vegas Eiffel

Day 3 Stop #1: Grand Canyon South Rim Tour

You simply can't visit Las Vegas without taking the time to see the natural wonders nearby. Take a guided bus tour out to the Grand Canyon, where you'll see many of the South Rim's signature spots. Visit the historic (but still operational) Grand Canyon Railway, Mather Point, Yavapai Point, and many sites in Grand Canyon Village, where you can pick up souvenirs.

You'll pass by the Hoover Dam on the way, a nice included extra where you can get great photos, and pass over the Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, located adjacent to the Dam itself.

This tour will take the entire day (from approximately 5am to 7.30pm), so sit back and relax on your ride out to the Canyon aboard a luxury motorcoach. You have three hours to explore the National Park itself, so make the most of your chance to see this natural wonder. The Bright Angel Trail is a good choice for active folks, and provides excellent photo opportunities.

Getting In: Grand Canyon South Rim Tour tickets are available as a premium attraction option with the 3, 4, and 5 day Las Vegas All-Inclusive passes.

 

Grand Canyon South Rim

Let’s Recap

This 3 days in Las Vegas itinerary features a variety of activities and attractions that cover all the best Las Vegas highlights. The itinerary is jam-packed with fun but features a schedule that’s easy to do in three days. 

🗓️ Spending less time in Las Vegas? We’ve also put together a sample 1 day itinerary and a weekend in Vegas itinerary.

Las Vegas

Save up to 50% on Orlando attractions

Discover our full line-up of Las Vegas attractions from Bellagio Fountains to the High Roller Observation Wheel.

🤩 >> If you want to see and do as much as you can, our All-Inclusive Pass is for you.

😎 >> If you want to pick just a few attractions and visit at your own pace, our Explorer Pass is the perfect option.

Katie Sagal
Go City Travel Expert

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Best things to do in Las Vegas in February

Rising like an oasis out of the Nevada desert, Las Vegas is an all-year-round destination, with plenty to do when it's scorching hot and just as much in the cooler months. February is a great time to see Las Vegas. You’ll still be guaranteed warmth and sunshine, with the benefit of fewer crowds. However, believe it or not, it can actually get chilly out in the desert, especially once the sun goes down, so don’t forget your layers! Here are some ideas of the best things to do in Las Vegas in February. Iconic sights You can't come to Sin City without ticking off the most iconic sights. Make sure to do the poker-player pilgrimage to the Strip, the home of all the world-famous casinos where you’ll also see the Bellagio fountains, the Luxor Pyramid and the Eiffel Tower! Vegas isn’t short of sky-high thrills and sights. Why not also head over to SkyPod at The STRAT – the tallest freestanding observation tower in the US – where you’ll get a whole other perspective over the city and the desert beyond. If you’re daring enough, then you’ve got to try out the hair-raising SkyJump at The STRAT. This heart-pumping open-air leap will see you hurtle at speeds of up to 40mph from a height of 855 feet! Shows Get outside Museums If that doesn’t tickle your desires, then give yourself a giggle at the Erotic Heritage Museum which explores human sexuality through art, multimedia displays, and powerful exhibitions. You’ll see how erotic art has influenced today’s culture and get a look at all sorts of cheeky artefacts from the world over. Where better than Sin City for a little naughtiness? Save on Attraction Admission Pick up a Go City® pass for Las Vegas and save on combined admission vs paying at the gate. Remember, this February itinerary is just one of many ways to experience Las Vegas. Go City® gives you the flexibility to create your own itinerary, so grab your Las Vegas pass, and choose from dozens of top attractions and create a vacation tailored to your interests.
Samuel Ford
Las Vegas
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The Las Vegas Strip vs. Fremont Street

Our guide to The Las Vegas Strip vs. Fremont Street
Go City Expert
Tourist taking photo of the replica Eiffel Tower in Las Vegas
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Popular Places in Las Vegas for Tourists

Las Vegas is one great big tourist theme park. Here’s where you can experience capitalist excess writ large against a backdrop of flashing neon signs, chiming one-armed bandits and dancing fountains that soar to over 30 stories high. It’s an eye-popping extravaganza of OTT attractions where tourists vie for those perfectly poised Instagram selfies and the hotels that line the Strip seem to scream for attention with their increasingly flamboyant facades and showstopping visual gimmicks. Join us on our whistle-stop tour of the most popular places in Las Vegas for tourists… Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas No trip to Sin City would be complete without nabbing a photo or seven at the iconic ‘Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas’ sign at the Strip’s southern end. Strike a pose for posterity then join a hop-on hop- off bus tour or board the Deuce service for a cheap’n’easy way to see the best of Nevada’s most celebrated thoroughfare in blissful air-conditioned comfort. Fremont Street Downtown is where it’s at for a flavor of vintage Las Vegas. Join a walking tour to follow in the footsteps of the Rat Pack, the Mob, the Golden Nugget gamblers, and the countless couples who’ve been wed by Elvis and Gene Simmons impersonators at the legendary Neonopolis wedding chapel. Right at the heart of the action is the Fremont Street Experience, an ultra-modern shopping, dining and entertainment complex that includes among its many attractions a slot machine-inspired zipwire ride and an utterly bonkers wraparound LED canopy the size of five football pitches, which ramps up the glitz with an epic light show hourly between 6PM and 2AM every night. Casino Crazy Tourists flock to the legendary Las Vegas mega-casinos in search of that elusive slot machine jackpot or big win on the blackjack tables. There are (as you’re probably aware) dozens of casinos to choose from. Play high stakes roulette in the glamorous surroundings of the Wyn, the Bellagio or Mandalay Bay, or put on your best poker face at old-school faves like Golden Nugget and Caesars Palace, stars of Viva Las Vegas and The Hangover movies respectively. New to the gambling game? Hit up Excalibur for free lessons in poker, craps, roulette and more beneath those fairytale red-and-blue spires. Minimum stakes here are also a fair bit lower than some of the more upscale resorts on the Strip, ideal for beginners. Strip Gimmicks Galore Some of the most popular tourist hotspots in Las Vegas are… wait for it…. absolutely gratis! We’re talking the likes of Mirage’s exploding volcano, which comes complete with leaping flames, fireballs and pina colada-scented smoke, and the dancing fountains at the Bellagio, great soaring plumes that seem to dance in time to their spirit-lifting soundtrack. Having to fork out upwards of $60 for a 15-minute experience doesn’t seem to have affected the popularity of gondola rides along the Venetian’s replica Grand Canal. Sure, it’s a bit of a tourist trap, but what price those ‘Venice’ views, a singing gondolier and the opportunity to snag some of the best selfies in Sin City? Grand Canyon Helicopter Tour Las Vegas tourists will find the lure of the Grand Canyon almost as inexorable as the blinking lights of all those thousands of slot machines. A helicopter tour is far and away the finest way to see this awesome natural wonder, with stunning aerial views of its rust-red landscapes and the added bonus of pausing for a wander (or, should you so desire, a champagne picnic) among the wildflowers on the south or west rims. Time your tour to enjoy an evening swoop over the Strip on the return leg; seeing those bright lights and towering skyscrapers against flaming sunset-orange skies is quite the intoxicating Sin City experience. The Mob Museum Unleash your inner Al Capone at the fascinating Mob Museum in Downtown Las Vegas. Interactive exhibits at this comprehensive history of organized crime include a rogues’ gallery of old-school mobsters, a firearms training simulator and an actual working distillery. Vamp it up in pinstripes and a fedora for visits to the museum’s own speakeasy, a secret Prohibition Era-style subterranean drinking den that’s accessed via an unassuming door in the parking lot. Las Vegas High Roller Las Vegas doesn’t do ‘small’, so it should come as little surprise that its 550-foot-high observation wheel is one of the planet’s tallest. Indeed, for several years it was the tallest, until the absolutely ma-hoo-sive Ain Dubai (820 feet!) came along in 2021 to spoil the party. Hop aboard at the LINQ Promenade and steel yourself for a leg-jellifying 30-minute rotation above the city streets. Daytime tickets to the High Roller are included with Las Vegas attraction passes from Go City, which also include many other top tours and activities, like Madame Tussauds, Grand Canyon tours, and Cirque du Soleil shows. Find out more here. Scares at The Strat High above the Strip, some 108 floors up the aptly named Strat (or, officially, the shouty STRAT) Hotel, Casino and Tower, teeter a terrifying selection of thrill rides, the very thought of which would make the blood of most normal people run cold. Up here in the clouds, adrenalin junkies can ride the (also aptly named) X-Scream, a death-defying roller coaster that dangles riders right over the roof’s edge. Then there’s Big Shot, a vertical-drop beast that catapults passengers up to a dizzying 1,081 feet before plunging 160 feet back down to the roof. Something of a rite of passage for first-time visitors to Vegas, these rides are very much not for the faint of heart. Take in a Show One of the most popular tourist activities in Las Vegas is going to see a show. Well, you’re in Vegas, baby, so it would be kind of rude not to. And boy can Sin City put on the ritz! Take your pick from eye-popping Cirque du Soleil extravaganzas at Mandalay Bay, the MGM Grand and elsewhere, catch the Blue Man Group at the Luxor, or seek out some of the best comedians and conjurors on the planet. The Colosseum at Caesars Palace and MGM Grand are where it’s at for the biggest names in rock and pop – between them they’ve hosted, Adele, Britney, Celine, Elton, Mariah and Sinatra, to name-drop just a few… Save on Popular Las Vegas Tours, Activities and Attractions Save on admission to Las Vegas attractions with Go City, and check out @GoCity on Instagram for the latest pics, tips and attraction info.
Stuart Bak
Stuart Bak

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