Famous neon sign welcoming visitors to 'fabulous Las Vegas'

Las Vegas in October

By <a href="#author-bio">Stuart Bak</a>
By Stuart Bak

Along with spring, fall is a prime time for visiting Sin City. By now, the searing summer temperatures have long since abated, but you’re still some way from needing to pack a winter coat for evenings on the Strip. Read on to find out why you should visit Las Vegas in October.

Visiting Las Vegas in October

Average Temperature: 70°F • Average Rainfall: 3 days/month • Average Sunshine: 10 hours/day

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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, fire-belching volcanoes and spectacular dancing fountains really ramp up the wow factor.

Things to do in October

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.

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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 exploding volcano out front of the Mirage and Paris Las Vegas’s gittering half-size replica Eiffel Tower. Head over to the Venetian, where hopeless romantics can board neon-lit gondolas and cruise the resort’s replica of the Grand Canal, complete with Rialto Bridge and singing gondolier!

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 shows 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!

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But did you know Las Vegas also has some pretty awesome museums? It’s not all about hangovers, helicopter tours and high rolling here you 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 utterly fascinating National Atomic Testing Museum takes you on a journey through Nevada’s explosive past.

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And if you fancy something a little more high octane, Vegas is of course chock-full of frankly terrifying thrill rides. Indeed, no ride is more appropriately named than Insanity. An acrophobic’s worst nightmare, it swings you out into thin air 900 feet above the Strip, from the top of the Strat hotel’s soaring SkyPod observation tower. Admittedly the views from up here – of the Strip, the desert and the mountains beyond – are something else. But do you really think you’ll be able to keep your eyes open?

What’s on in October?

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.

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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 night sky from deep in the Mojave Desert, around 25 minutes outside Las Vegas. A ticket gets you two lanterns, plus a mat for sitting on as you enjoy the spectacular nighttime display. There's live music and oodles of excellent street food to enjoy, too.

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 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.

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Save on admission to Las Vegas attractions with Go City. Check out @GoCity on Instagram and Facebook for the latest top tips and attraction info.

Stuart Bak
Stuart Bak
Freelance travel writer

Stu caught the travel bug at an early age, thanks to childhood road trips to the south of France squeezed into the back of a Ford Cortina with two brothers and a Sony Walkman. Now a freelance writer living on the Norfolk coast, Stu has produced content for travel giants including Frommer’s, British Airways, Expedia, Mr & Mrs Smith, and now Go City. His most memorable travel experiences include drinking kava with the locals in Fiji and pranging a taxi driver’s car in the Honduran capital.

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The Grand Canyon
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Things to do Outside Las Vegas City

No-one ever said that someone who is tired of Las Vegas is tired of life. And that’s because, quite frankly, Sin City can be *exhausting*: the 24-hour hustle and bustle; that constant neon glare; all those glitzy casinos, shows, restaurants, pools and rooftop bars vying for your attention; the overwhelming chaos of the Strip. It’s no surprise that, after a couple of days of high rolling, frazzled travelers often find themselves ready to recharge. The good news is that there are plenty of great things to do outside Las Vegas city. Hey, just because it’s in the middle of a desert doesn’t mean there aren’t dozens of eye-popping natural (oh ok, and man-made) attractions to discover, many within an hour of the Strip. Indeed, its desert location is what makes it such a fine destination for out-of-town excursions. The best of both worlds, if you will. So saddle up and join us on our rundown of some of the best day trips from Las Vegas, including: The Grand Canyon Hoover Dam and Lake Mead Seven Magic Mountains Red Rock Canyon Mount Charleston The Grand Canyon There are a number of ways to experience the Grand Canyon. Indeed, you may well be able to pap it from your flight into town (assuming you’re sat on the right side of the plane, that is). But can you really say you’ve ‘done’ the Grand Canyon if you haven’t set foot in it? No, dear reader, you cannot. So go on: book yourself a thrilling helicopter ride for spectacular (and close-up) aerial views as you cruise over the south or west rims of this epic natural wonder, before touching down among its iconic rust-red rocks and hardy desert wildflowers. You’ll have plenty of time for a wander and/or to stuff your camera roll full with enough selfies to fill your Insta feed for a year. Many operators also offer bolt-on experiences like champagne picnics and birthday celebrations for those ultimate #humblebrag souvenir snaps. The sunset ride back into Vegas ain’t too shabby either, as you soar over the neon-lit Strip against a backdrop of blazing desert skies. Magical. Seven Magic Mountains You could be forgiven for thinking you’ve been hitting the mescal too hard when you first lay eyes on the Seven Magic Mountains, a trippy Mojave Desert art installation by Swiss sculptor Ugo Rondinone, around 30 minutes south of Las Vegas. The sculpture consists of seven gravity-defying towers of boulders, some teetering as high as 35 feet tall! But that’s not all: these desert totems are painted in a kaleidoscope of colors – sky blue, mint green, flamingo pink – making for quite the eye-popping sight against those big azure desert skies. The installation is visible from Interstate 15, but is far more impressive up close. Take a good pair of walking boots and get there early to beat the crowds. Spring Mountains National Recreation Area You probably didn’t come to Las Vegas expecting snow. But snow is what you can have on a trip out to the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area, or simply Mount Charleston as the locals know it. This is one of the (ahem) coolest things to do outside Las Vegas city limits, and is only about an hour north of the Strip. Temperatures here tend to run around 20-30 degrees lower than the city, making this fine natural wonder and Mount Charleston, its frequently snow-capped star, an excellent choice for escaping the Las Vegas heat. The scenic drive out of town is impressive enough in its own right, as the landscape transforms from those heat-hazed Martian reds to a coole, greener alpine environment. But the park’s lush wilderness, all pine forests and crashing waterfalls, is nothing short of spectacular.  There’s a vast variety of hiking opportunities here, and it’s also where you can spot gnarly bristlecone pines, among the most ancient living trees on the planet, some of them many thousands of years old. Take the relatively unchallenging Bristlecone Loop, or steel yourself for a 16-hour round-trip ramble to Charleston Peak, nearly 12,000 feet up in the clouds, where views, on clear days, of Death Valley, the Sierra Nevada, and Las Vegas, provide quite the stunning reward. Red Rock Canyon There’s a variety of ways you can enjoy the epic natural wonder that is Red Rock Canyon: 200,000 prehistoric acres of rust-colored sandstone stacks and cacti-crammed valleys. The canyon’s location just a few miles west of downtown makes it one of the easiest things to do outside Las Vegas. Rent a pink Cadillac and cruise there in less than half an hour (top down and ‘Viva Las Vegas’ blasting out at maximum volume, natch). There’s a scenic 13-mile driving loop, from which it's possible to access most of the hiking trails, from short casual rambles to steep, glute-straining ascents. You can even book guided half- or full-day horseback hacks through this extraordinary wild landscape, keeping peepers peeled (and camera at the ready) for hidden waterfalls, ancient Native American petroglyphs, and the twitching ears of curious jackrabbits along the way. Check out some of the hiking trails here. Hoover Dam and Lake Mead The Hoover Dam is one of those feats of early 20th-century engineering and ingenuity that will leave your jaw on the floor from the moment you set eyes on it. The dam’s shapely curves aren’t just there to look good either: it’s an arch-gravity dam, which means the pressure of the water against its specific curvature actually makes it stronger. Impressive. As with most out-of-town Vegas attractions, there’s a whole menu of ways to visit the Hoover Dam and its reservoir (the biggest in the United States, fact fans), Lake Mead, where its possible to go boating, swimming, water skiing and more. You could take a helicopter ride for aerial views, or get there by coach and set foot on the thing, taking in panoramic views from the Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge some 905 feet above the Colorado River. The latter is available with the Go City Las Vegas attractions pass, which includes access to dozens more Sin City bucket-listers for one money-saving price. Check it out here. Save on Tours, Attractions and Activities in Las Vegas  Save on admission to Las Vegas attractions with Go City. Check out @GoCity on Instagram for the latest top tips and attraction info.
Stuart Bak
Stuart Bak
Las Vegas
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10+ Things to Do in Las Vegas in Winter

Are you not entertained? Despite being in the desert, Sin City has winter activities galore, from fascinating circus shows to unique museums and side trips to the stunning Hoover Dam.
Casey Makovich
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Things to do in Las Vegas When It's Hot Outside

It’s built slap bang in the middle of one of the planet’s hottest deserts, so it should come as no surprise that Las Vegas can get uncomfortably warm from time to time. Indeed, it’s not uncommon to experience triple-digit days between June and September, when the mercury hits a sweltering 100°F on the regular and has even been known to top out at an earth-scorching 115°F.  So yeah, Sin City simply sizzles in summer. But fear not: there are plenty of ways to beat the heat in Las Vegas, from lazy rivers and frozen cocktails to ice rooms and air-conditioned mega malls. Here’s our guide to the best things to do in Las Vegas when it’s hot outside. Ice Ice Baby So you’ve donned your Saturn-sized sun hat, slathered on the sunscreen and kept well hydrated with chilled water, but you’re still overheating like a faulty gasket. Good news: Las Vegas caters for precisely this issue and you never have to walk far before stumbling upon some fine purveyor of frozen drinks, extravagant ice creams, boozy popsicles or other thirst-slaking concoctions. Hit up Sticks and Shakes on the Strip for a quite dizzying selection of gelato and milkshakes (literally hundreds of flavor combos available), or head to the colorful Best Friend bar at Park MGM for some of the best spiked slushies in town. The signature CrazyShakes at Black Tap in the Venetian – spectacular frozen confections topped with candy, cookies and whole slabs of cake – are pure Las Vegas. Dive in! Pool the Other One Huge aquatic playgrounds abound in Sin City, where man made beaches, staggeringly large swimming pools, VIP cabanas, poolside cabanas and servers that could be models are de rigueur. And let’s face it, floating down a lazy river, pina colada in hand, is probably just about all you’re good for in this heat anyway, right? The Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, the MGM Grand… take your pick. The modestly monikered Garden of the Gods at Caesars comes complete with epic Romanesque columns, statues and fountains, as well as a whopping SEVEN pools. Meanwhile over at the Golden Nugget, you can ride a water slide right through the middle of a 200,000-gallon shark tank. Only in Vegas.  Get Wet and Wild More water-based activities await at Cowabunga Canyon Waterpark, a bumper 40-acre attraction that presents dozens of inventive ways to cool off in the hot Las Vegas sun. We’re talking high-octane water slides with names like the Ricochet Racer and Boomer Wrangler, the massive Cadillac Shores wave pool, the Piñata Falls play area (complete with refreshing 1,100-liter tipping bucket), and the thousand-foot-long Cactus Creek lazy river. A fine way to keep the kids entertained (and cool) all at the same time. Get Outta Town! Temperatures on majestic Mount Charleston in Clark County tend to be around 20-30 degrees lower than in the city during summer, making this fine natural wonder a great choice for escaping the Las Vegas heat. The scenic drive northwest out of Sin City is worth the journey in itself, as the otherworldly landscape transforms from the rust reds and arid heat of the desert floor to a cooler alpine environment. This lush wilderness, all pine forests, wildflower meadows and crashing waterfalls, offers a wide range of hiking opportunities, from canyons to high summits. Steel yourself for the 16-hour round-trip ramble to Charleston Peak, 11,916 feet up, where intrepid explorers are rewarded with life-affirming views of Death Valley, the Sierra Nevada, and Las Vegas itself.  Splash the Cash It goes without saying that Las Vegas is no slouch when it comes to indoor entertainment. Casinos, malls, bars, buses: every square inch of Sin City real estate is air-conditioned to within an inch of its life, the welcoming Arctic blast that greets you in every single doorway providing the most straightforward solution available to beating the desert heat. And, here in the world’s entertainment capital, it’s near-impossible to run out of fun ways to occupy yourself. Where, then, to begin? You could try your luck in any one of dozens of Vegas casinos: keep your cool at the Cosmopolitan’s craps tables, go for gold at the old-school Golden Nugget downtown, play hundreds of slots at the STRAT, and recreate your favorite scenes from The Hangover at Caesars Palace. Assuming you haven’t just bankrupted yourself at blackjack, you might also consider taking yourself off to one of the city’s mega malls. These great cavernous cathedrals to capitalism are lovely and cool inside, meaning the only thing at risk of going into meltdown is your credit card. Try window-shopping the Venetian’s upscale Grand Canal Shoppes, where a gondola ride on the replica of Venice’s Grand Canal may be just enough to distract you from that eye-wateringly expensive Dior choker you’ve been coveting. Cool Cultural Highlights Thankfully there are plenty of alternative indoor attractions that are far less likely to break the bank. Ride the (fully air-conditioned) Deuce bus for a cost-effective way of seeing some of the Strip’s highlights, including the Bellagio fountains, the Mirage volcano and the iconic ‘Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas’ sign. Or drop by one or two of Sin City’s rather awesome museums: the Pinball Hall of Fame contains more than 150 fully operational old-school arcade classics, while The Mob Museum charts the history of organized crime in the USA and – bonus alert! – comes with its own with Prohibition-style subterranean speakeasy, serving real cocktails. Then there’s the cooling effects of the lush vegetation in the Bellagio’s eye-popping Conservatory & Botanical Gardens. Or the fantastical, futuristic worlds to be found inside Area15 and the epic Las Vegas Sphere, both, of course, air-conned up to the hilt. Chill Out! Still too hot? You need to get yourself over to the opulent Qua Baths & Spa at Caesars Palace. Inside the Arctic Ice Room, the mercury drops to a teeth-chattering 55°F – not quite cold enough for snow in the real world, but this is the surreal world of Las Vegas, baby, so snow you shall have nevertheless. There’s also ice to rub on your skin should you feel inclined to do so. Believe us when we say it won’t be long before you’re begging for some of that circulation-reviving 100-degree outdoor heat! Save on attractions, tours and activities in Las Vegas Save on admission to Las Vegas attractions with Go City. Check out @GoCity on Instagram for the latest top tips and attraction info.
Stuart Bak
Stuart Bak

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