Las Vegas is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nevada. Las Vegas is the Entertainment Capital of the World. It is located in the Mojave Desert of Southern Nevada. The city features many mega-hotel/casino complexes decorated with lavish care and attention to detail creating a fantasy-like environment. The casinos often have names and themes that evoke romance, mystery, and exotic destinations.Compared with other cities in the western U.S., Las Vegas (literally, “the meadows” in Spanish) is a relatively recent arrival. It was founded in 1905, and for many years it was merely a small settlement in the middle of the desert. However, several pivotal events would come together in less than twenty years that would help Las Vegas grow into what it is today:Las Vegas has an arid climate with sunny, dry, and extremely hot summers. The July average high is 40C (104 F), but with low humidity. This low humidity does help keep the temperature from feeling as hot as it would otherwise at these levels, but nevertheless, it is still hot. Nighttime lows are usually in the high 20s Celsius (80s Fahrenheit). Winter is much cooler with daytime highs averaging around 15C (60 F), and nighttime lows averaging about 4C (40 F). During winter, a cold spell may set in for several days. Snowfall is quite rare in the metropolitan area itself, but the mountains surrounding the valley are topped with snow during the winter. This allows for skiing and snowboarding. These activities are available in winter with a short drive to the northwest at Mount Charleston.Spring and fall are very enjoyable months with daytime highs ranging from 15C-25C (60 F-80 F). Some of the best months to visit Las Vegas are March, April, May, October, and November. Temperatures are not too hot nor too chilly at those times, although a good time can be had in Las Vegas at any time.Summer monsoons occur from late July to early September. There could be increases in rainfall during this time, however, taken as a whole, Las Vegas receives little rainfall annually. Take caution during heavy rainfalls as flash flooding can occur in certain parts of the valley. The Strip and Downtown are mostly fine. However, The Linq and Harrah’s parking garages do have a tendency to flood. Rainfall is rare, but when it shows up, be aware that it may show up with a vengeance.The city is laid out as follows: Main Street as well as the numbered streets run north-south, starting with Main Street in the west. The bus station is on Main Street. Downtown has several hotel-casinos, as well as the “Fremont Street Experience”, a pedestrian mall lined with casinos, near the western end of Fremont Street. A couple miles south of downtown starts the “Strip” (Las Vegas Boulevard South), a north-south street lined with large casino-hotels, shopping malls, and other attractions. (There are also numerous hotels and resorts located to the east and west of the strip – many within walking distance of the Strip, others not – and they are referred to as “off-Strip.”The northern end of the Strip is marked by the tall Stratosphere tower. The Regional Transportation Commission runs buses up and down the Strip that connect the Strip resorts to downtown. The Las Vegas monorail and the convention center sit just east of the Strip, and the University of Nevada at Las Vegas (UNLV) is located slightly more east of the Strip on Maryland Parkway. The airport is at the southern end of the Strip.Importantly, the City of Las Vegas only controls the Strip as far south as Sahara Avenue. All of the Strip south of Sahara, is located in the unincorporated townships of Winchester, Paradise, and Enterprise, which are all governed directly by Clark County. These unincorporated townships, however, use the name “Las Vegas” for postal purposes. Technically, the Stratosphere is the only Strip resort actually located within Las Vegas proper. Both the city and the unincorporated county areas share a single law enforcement agency, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Incorporated cities such as Henderson and North Las Vegas have their own police departments.Southern Californians crowd Interstate 15 every weekend going back and forth to Vegas. Expect this drive to be congested with frustrating stop-and-go traffic going northbound (towards Las Vegas) on Friday evenings and southbound (towards Southern California) on Sunday afternoons. Note that the drive can be extremely dangerous. The long straight stretches which encourage speeding, the frequency of sudden emergency braking, and the massive volume of vehicles together result in wild multi-car pileups, and that issue, combined with the sheer remoteness of the area, means that the stretch of I-15 between Barstow and the California/Nevada state border at Primm was the single most deadly stretch of highway in the United States from 1994 to 2008. If you are involved in a vehicle accident in that area and are badly injured, you should be prepared to wait at least 30 minutes before first responders arrive and one hour before reaching a hospital emergency room (as paramedics will have to evaluate you and then summon a helicopter if it appears you will live long enough to make it to an ER). Therefore, the journey should not be attempted by road unless you are well-rested and in excellent health

Airport: HSH Henderson Executive Airport Cities in United States

Country: United States