Golden Gate Hotel & Casino - Las Vegas, NV

Golden Gate Hotel & Casino

The Golden Gate has been welcoming guests to Las Vegas since 1906, long before the city was known for glitzy casinos and shows. Guests can view artifacts from the hotel’s history in the lobby, part of a modern expansion that also added a luxury tower and more space to the gaming floor.

• Place your bets at roulette and blackjack tables with dancing dealers, or play the slots.
• Where you’ll stay: Recently renovated guest rooms and suites feature flat-screen high-definition TVs, plush Serta pillow-top mattresses, and Bath & Body Works toiletries.
• Grab a drink at Bar Prohibition or OneBar, where dancing bartenders keep the party going.
• Take in history in the hotel lobby, where historical artifacts including old hotel ledgers and a 1907 Kellogg telephone—Las Vegas’s first—are on display.

Beyond the Las Vegas Strip: Old Vegas and Red Rock Canyon

It can feel like the entire city of Las Vegas revolves around the Strip if you never venture beyond that neon-lit corridor. But there’s plenty to see and do once you step off Las Vegas Boulevard. You can find a taste of Old Vegas on Fremont Street, where vintage signs and showgirls crowned with headdresses recall the days of Sinatra and Martin. Beginning at dusk, a canopy of more than 12 million LED lights erupts in a psychedelic light-and-music show every hour. For an aerial view, zoom down the center of Fremont Street on a zipline.

Nature puts on its own show at Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, a landscape of fiery-red sandstone formations and limestone cliffs just 17 miles outside the city. Motor down the 13-mile scenic drive or ditch the car and strike out on any of more than 20 hiking trails that course through the region’s otherworldly topography.