The best things to do in Las Vegas in October

For moderate temperatures and reasonably priced flights and hotel rooms, you could do far worse than to visit Las Vegas in October. Highs in the low 80s during the day mean you’ll still need to slap on the sunscreen if you’re opting for bare arms and legs, while evenings retain just about enough warmth to get away with light jumpers and jackets. Of course, this being Las Vegas, you don’t actually have to go outdoors at all: the Las Vegas Monorail runs the length of the Strip’s east side, connecting major resorts from the MGM Grand to the SAHARA, while a series of skywalks have you covered for crossing the Strip from one side to the other.

That said, there are few things quite so magical as strolling the Strip after dark, when illuminated Eiffel Towers, giant animatronic frogs (yes, really) and spectacular dancing fountains really ramp up the wow factor.

By October, many of the hotel pools are starting to close or reduce their opening hours. Beach bums rejoice though, because there’s still time to hit the 11-acre shoreline at the vast Mandalay Bay resort. Soak up some rays as you wiggle your toes in the warm sand. And yes, it’s the real deal: all 2,700 tons of it! You can also ride the breakers in the wave pool, float gently down the lazy river on an inflatable lounger or sip mojitos in the shade of a cabana. 

Pro-tip: book a Rockstar pool party tour for all the fun with none of the hassle; you even get transported between venues on a VIP limousine bus – with drinks!

Step out in the evening to see some of the Strip’s biggest attractions at their most fabulous. The illuminated dancing fountains at the Bellagio are perhaps the biggest and best free show in town, their skyscraping jets of balletic water soaring and swaying in time with a booming soundtrack of rousing classical music and pop bangers. Also worth a few moments of your time are the giant animatronic frog and his pals at the Wynn’s trippy Lake of Dreams, and Paris Las Vegas’s shimmering half-size replica Eiffel Tower. Head over to the Venetian, where hopeless romantics can board neon-lit gondolas and cruise the resort’s facsimile of the Grand Canal, complete with Rialto Bridge and singing gondolier!

Note that you needn’t do this all on foot: Strip tours bundled with Go City’s Las Vegas pass include the Big Bus hop-on hop-off tour and a thrilling city lights helicopter night flight.

The legendary Caesars Palace is the place to catch some proper old-school vibes as you try your luck on the one-armed bandits or bet a few chips at the blackjack and roulette tables. This supersize stalwart of the Strip has hosted some of the planet’s biggest stars, from Frank Sinatra to Celine Dion, while fans of Hollywood blockbusters will no doubt recognize it from its starring roles in The Hangover, Iron Man and Dream Girls. Catch some of rock and pop’s top names here at the iconic Colosseum theater, or go for high octane thrills courtesy of the Blue Man Group and Cirque du Soleil elsewhere. It’s fair to say that in October, as with every other month of the year, you’re unlikely to go short of live entertainment in Las Vegas!

Did you know Las Vegas also has some pretty awesome museums? It’s not all hangovers, helicopter tours and high rolling here, y’know! Grab handfuls of quarters and mosey on over to the Pinball Hall of Fame, where you can try your luck on over 150 operational machines, from old-school arcade classics to today’s all-singing, all-dancing ultra-modern gadgetry. The Mob Museum charts the history of organized crime in the USA (complete with Prohibition Era underground speakeasy serving real cocktails) while the car’s the star at the eye-popping Hollywood Cars Museum, showcasing movie-star cars from The Love Bug, Back to the Future, the Bond movies and more, plus several flamboyant customized beauts from Liberace’s private car collection.

Sin City ain’t short of a lofty viewing platform or six. Get your kicks on the Las Vegas High Roller, only the second-tallest Ferris Wheel on the entire planet! You’ll feel every single one of the Roller’s 550 feet as your pod crests the apex where, if the views – of the city skyline and the rust-red desert beyond – don’t make you swoon, the dizzying altitude just might.

Then there’s the Tower at the STRAT which, as well as some of the most terror-inducing rooftop thrill rides you’ll ever experience, also offers rather more sedate city views from its observation platform 800 feet up on the 108th and 109th floors.

Make no mistake: world-class entertainment is a 24/7, year-round certainty whenever you visit Las Vegas. And, while metropolises from Chicago to Shanghai have been dubbed ‘the city that never sleeps’, there really is no place quite like Vegas for round-the-clock partying. Suffice it to say then that October is no slouch in this department.

It’s the time of year when, amongst other things, the Golden Knights’ hockey season kicks off, bringing sports fans to Sin City in their droves, eager to see their heroes in action at the Strip’s huge T-Mobile Arena. October is also when the annual Las Vegas Book Festival takes place. Nevada’s biggest literary event, it’s a paradise for bookworms with readings, poetry slams, celebrity book signings, Q&As and workshops.

From the beauty of the written word to the eye-popping visual extravaganza that is the annual RISE festival, where thousands of lanterns are launched into the skies from deep in the Mojave Desert, around 25 minutes south of Las Vegas. A ticket gets you two lanterns, plus a mat for sitting on as you enjoy the spectacular nighttime display, live music and oodles of excellent street food.

And then, of course, there’s Halloween, when you can just bet your bottom dollar Sin City is going to put on one helluva show. Join the fun by donning a spook-tacular costume and mingling with like-minded dresser-uppers on the Strip and in Vegas’s lively clubs. There will be Halloween parties in many of these, as well as creepy themed food in the restaurants. Lady’s finger, anyone? 

You can also expect haunted houses, Halloween pub crawls and even – we kid you not – zombie burlesque shows. Children are well catered for too, with a Haunted Reef at the Mandalay Bay Aquarium, hayrides and pumpkin patches at the Fall Farm Harvest Festival, and scheduled trick-or-treating activities galore across the city. Just out of town in downtown Summerlin, the Parade of Mischief sees fun floats and dancing zombies, witches, monsters and other weird and wonderful creatures hit the streets every Friday and Saturday evening throughout October.

It’s as good a time as any to try out some of Sin City’s creepiest escape rooms, themed around horror movie franchises including IT, the Blair Witch Project and SAW and featuring more headscratching puzzles, authentic movie props and genuine jump scares than you can shake a creepy red balloon at. Don’t have nightmares!