13 Things to Do in Las Vegas at Christmas

If you think this city is all about casinos, it's time to discover the truth: there is a lot to see in Las Vegas, especially at Christmas time. This time of year is a great time to visit and discover the city with the whole family. You'll never be bored.

Most of the attractions of this season are closely related to the best casinos in town, which are decorated to celebrate Christmas. But Las Vegas at Christmas is a spectacle in itself, even if you go with your partner or friends.

What better way to discover the city and especially at Christmas time than by booking the Las Vegas sightseeing bus. You have the option of purchasing a 1, 2 or 3 day ticket depending on the length of your stay and your preferences.

Throughout the tour, which lasts approximately two hours, you will be accompanied by a guide on board who will show you the most interesting sights of the city such as the Bellagio Fountains, the Mirage Volcano, the Arts District, Circus Circus or the Mafia Museum.

In addition, you have the option to complement your ticket with a non-stop night tour of Fremont Street and Las Vegas to see this dazzling city under the lights.

The most original plan for Christmas is to take a night helicopter flight over Las Vegas. The flight lasts between 10-12 minutes, but it will be enough time to let yourself be dazzled by the illumination of this great city.

It's a very convenient option because it includes a transfer from your hotel to the heliport and back, so you don't have to worry about how to get there.

And if you want to make your experience even more top notch, you can enjoy a delicious dinner at Bonefish Grill, ideal for seafood lovers, or Pampas Brazilian Grill, the weakness of the most carnivorous.

Las Vegas at Christmas time is characterised by temperatures between 3 and 10°C, so if you wake up on a cold day you can save it for the best museums in town. Here are my favourites:

• Las Vegas Mafia Museum, from £29, where you can delve into the history of the mafia and enter a speakeasy and distillery.
• Las Vegas Natural History Museum, from ** £10**, an exciting trip for the little ones in the house, including amazing exhibits of dinosaurs and authentic fossils that will dazzle them, as well as delving into marine ecosystems.
• Las Vegas Madame Tussauds Tickets, from £32, is another great option to see with family or friends, as you'll be able to have your photo taken with all your music and film idols. Plus, it includes the Marvel 4D experience that won't leave you indifferent.

Who doesn't want to talk to Santa before Christmas? In Las Vegas, you'll have many different opportunities for you and your family to ask for presents. But for that, you'll have to choose the best Father Christmas. On almost every ride you'll have his company and the kids will be able to talk to him, but there is one that is particularly amazing: an Underwater Santa.

If you go to the Silverton Hotel in Las Vegas one of the weekends in December, you can meet the Underwater Santa for free. Although you won't be able to talk to him, you will be able to greet him behind the glass and take great photos that will always be unique, or have you seen an underwater Santa before?

But that's not the only different option to meet Santa, because Las Vegas is fixated on shark aquariums. If you wish, you can buy tickets to the Shark Reef Aquarium and there are also options such as the Mandalay Bay Hotel Aquarium, where you can meet Santa at the Shipwreck, with the Santa Sharks. The Shipwreck is the part of the aquarium where different species of sharks from all over the world swim. This Santa is a daring one, are you up for a visit?

One of the best hotels in Las Vegas is the Bellagio, where every year thousands of tourists gamble in its world-renowned casino. But when we talk about this hotel, most of the references are to its botanical and conservatory gardens. Yes, in a hotel. I know it's a bit unbelievable, but it's something worth seeing, because it's also free.

At Christmas time, these internal gardens are further embellished with a 12-metre high silver fir tree. But that's not all, because there's also a bucolic Swiss chalet, as well as a huge sleigh where Father Christmas keeps his presents. Perhaps the highlight of the Bellagio is the installation of an artificial snowy mountain range. All this adds to the admiration for all the plants and species that are preserved in these gardens.

Getting to this hotel is very easy and all the tour buses in Las Vegas usually pass through it, due to its strategic location. If you visit it, it can be very attractive at night, especially because of the lights. Access is free, although if you go by car, there is a parking fee.

There is no Christmas without a tree, and the Venetian Hotel has one of the best in Las Vegas. The classification is no exaggeration, as the Christmas tree, which is usually silver in colour, is close to 20 metres tall, which would be similar to a four-storey building. This tree is really huge and you could see it from anywhere in the square.

The hotel installs the tree in Doge's Palace square. It is estimated that there are more than 50,000 lights along the entire length of the tree that remain perfectly functional outdoors throughout the season. The theme of this hotel is Venice, so there are canals that are also beautifully decorated for Christmas. The Venetian is one of the most prominent large and iconic hotels and casinos in the entire city, and its Christmas celebration is in style.

If you're staying at this hotel, or if you just decide to check it out and spend some time, you'll be able to sample numerous special recipes for the occasion. What's more, the Venetian, having one of the best views in town, may be the place to be for Christmas dinner.

No natural snowfall while you're visiting Las Vegas? No problem. If you need snow to have a beautiful Christmas, then you can go every night to the Winter PARQ, which is part of the LINQ Promenade, next to the LINQ hotel, one of the most prominent hotels in Las Vegas.

How does it work? It's very simple. The idea is that this whole area, which is outdoors, is infused with Christmas and that includes all the venues in the area. This place has to be part of the night tours of Las Vegas, because every night there is an artificial snowfall that is produced by machines. All of this is made even better by the light show that takes place every night.

The LINQ Promenade is a kind of promenade in that sector but it turns into a winter park when Christmas approaches. So there is a Christmas tree with lights, musical performances and other festive activities. The site is free to visit and you can also go ice skating, although that costs extra.

Practical information

• Price: free of charge.
• Location: 3545 S Las Vegas Blvd, at the LINQ Hotel.
• Hours: Open 24 hours.

The Bellagio hotel is not only renowned for its fantastic botanical garden, but also for its dancing fountains. December changes the whole scene and all these fountains in the artificial lake dance to the rhythm of Christmas music. If you come to the Bellagio Hotel on any night in December you can see how the water comes to compete with the best shows in town to the sound of Christmas carols.

Going to these performances has many advantages, especially if it is close to Christmas. The performances are done with care and to generate feelings of nostalgia. In fact, in the dancing fountains it is possible to listen to sacred songs such as Hallelujah, but also to more transgressive songs such as Madonna's Santa Baby.

If you go as a couple or with your family, it is a simple show that is worthwhile and very easy to access, because it is performed every half hour in the afternoon and every fifteen minutes in the morning. Plus, it's totally free, so what excuse do you have not to go and enjoy it?

In November and December, the Boulevard Pool at the Cosmopolitan Hotel undergoes a major transformation. This pool becomes an ice rink of more than 400 square metres and is an iconic ice skating venue in Las Vegas. In addition, the whole area around the hotel is full of fun activities.

Have you seen in the movies that they roast marshmallows for Christmas too? Well, that's possible too, as is sipping cocktails while artificial snow falls. It's all part of the Cosmopolitan's strategy to attract tourists. In fact, there is no charge to enter all these facilities, although there is a charge for skating.

The ice rink usually closes at 11pm during the months it operates, but many of the hotel's restaurants and bars do not, so if you want to stay out all night, there are certainly options. To skate, you have to pay around 28 €, but that ticket would allow you to skate all day long, until your feet can't take the skates any more. Are you in?

Practical info

• Price: around €28 to skate, but it's free to enter the space.
• Location: 3708 Las Vegas Blvd S, in the Cosmpolitan Hotel.
• Opening hours: Opens around mid-morning and closes at 11pm, although it varies on public holidays.

As you can see there is a lot to see and do in Las Vegas and one of them is to visit Magical Forest, a space offered by Opportunity Village, an organisation that helps people with disabilities and which you are sure to fall in love with, because more than 150,000 people visit it every year.

It is, in fact, a small forest where there are hundreds of decorated Christmas trees. Yes, hundreds of them, which between them add up to more than three million lights. But it doesn't end there, because in this space you can ride a special Christmas train called the Forest Express. It's a real train and you'll get to enjoy a trip just like Santa's elves.

Along with all that, there's also a carousel to visit Santa that you can use, so if you're looking for things to do with kids in Las Vegas, it's something you shouldn't miss. And almost every night there will be performances and shows for you to enjoy the best of Christmas at this place, which looks like a North Pole theme park. Are you really going to miss it?

Practical information

• Price: around €20. Children under 12 get in free.
• Location: 6300 W Oakey Blvd in Opportunity Village.
• Hours: From 5.30pm. Closed for Christmas, while on New Year's Day they are open until 8:30pm.

Every year in Las Vegas there is a circuit of several NASCAR motor races, which is one of the most recognized sports in the USA. But at Christmas, the Las Vegas Motor Speedway circuit undergoes a radical change: it becomes an attraction with thousands of lights along the entire route. It's really beautiful.

The process is that you take your car and drive it around the track, where you can see the lights that decorate the entire route. If you don't have a car, then you have the option of taking a small open-top train, with which you can also see the decorations, although you won't be able to stop wherever you want.

This is an ideal option if you go with your family, as you can go in the same car you use to visit many tourist attractions, without getting out of it, while you admire the decorations. Tunnels of lights and even artists' scenes are improvised in the decorations. If you go by car, there is only one entrance fee per vehicle.

Remember Willy Wonka from the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? Well, there may be a branch of that factory in Las Vegas. It's Ethel M's Chocolate Factory, which at Christmas time changes completely, as hundreds of cacti are clustered together in an area of just over an acre, all lit up with a bunch of Christmas lights.

It doesn't make any sense and that's why it's so cool - had it ever occurred to you that it was possible to decorate so many cacti for Christmas? It's a unique garden, which blends in with the desert atmosphere of Las Vegas and is decorated with half a million Christmas lights so you can enjoy it in style this season.

But this chocolate factory is not just about cacti, you'll also find chocolate houses and various shows that take place on different nights in November and December, which are the months when this attraction operates. It opens between 8.30am and 6pm, although you can arrive much earlier to see the factory.

Practical information

• Price: free admission, although the chocolates are paid for.
• Location: 2 Cactus Garden Dr. in Henderson, just outside Las Vegas.
• Hours: 8:30 am to 6 pm.

There are so many things that seem unreal in Las Vegas that you don't believe much when you hear about them, but that's just the way they are. The Mystic Falls park, which is part of the Sam's Town hotel, is one of those attractions. It's a totally indoor park that even has real trees and some sort of bridges and cabins. But at Christmas, a beautiful tradition happens, as the decorations change.

In December there are many things that change in Las Vegas, like the Mystic Falls park, which is decorated with big stuffed polar bears, Christmas huts, lots of artificial snow and all the trees will be decorated with lots of Christmas lights.

The small waterfall also gets a special decoration, so it gradually turns into a theme park. However, the highlight of the season is the Christmas tree, usually decorated in gold and red, with which many tourists take pictures. Moreover, although it is inside a hotel, this small indoor park is open 24 hours a day and you don't have to pay a single euro to get in. So how can you miss it?

At Christmas, the temperature in Las Vegas drops considerably. Although this city is in the south of the United States, where winters are not so harsh, you should remember that it is also in the middle of a desert, which is a climate where temperatures tend to be extreme. If you decide to go to Las Vegas for Christmas, there's plenty to do in Las Vegas in winter, but don't forget to pack enough warm coats to keep you warm.

Temperatures around Christmas time in the second half of December generally range from 0°C to 15°C, but it's best to check the weather forecast before you head out:

• During the day, although it can be quite chilly, you will probably only need to wear a jumper or jacket.
• At night, although there is plenty to do in Las Vegas when the sun goes down, you should be aware that the temperature can drop to 0°C or even lower, making a good coat or equivalent essential.

In the same vein, there is another element to consider: humidity and winds. The desert environment itself makes it too windy and sometimes, in the daytime, the humidity is so low that everything feels too dry. None of that will stop you from doing all your tours and excursions around the city- with a bottle of water and a good coat, you'll be able to enjoy the weather without any setbacks when you visit Las Vegas for Christmas.