111 free things to see & do in Las Vegas

(also see my separate page about cheap thrills)

Last update: December 1, 2023

If this list is overwhelming, see my curated Top 10 Free Things to See in Vegas.

Spectacles & Selfie Opportunities

On the strip

These are listed from South to North for those doing a self-guided walking or public bus tour.

Welcome to Las Vegas sign. Take your picture at an iconic monument, a Vegas landmark since 1959. It's in the median on Las Vegas Blvd. (the Strip), 3/4 of a mile South of Mandalay Bay. In 2008 the county finally opened a parking lot in the median, then in 2015 added a signalized crossing, so tourists no longer have to risk death by running across Las Vegas Blvd. to get to the sign. Here's the Wikipedia article on the sign. 5200 S. Las Vegas Blvd. Take the Deuce bus straight there.
Pinball "Museum". It's both a museum and an arcade, since you can actually play the games. Play is only 25-50¢ per game, and admission is free to just see the games, and you'll want to see the games. It's the largest collection of pinball in the world, with over 400 machines (including a handful of classic video games). Check out the 3D tour on their website. 4925 Las Vegas Blvd. South

Mandalay Bay:

Worst mass shooting site. It's macabre, but a lot of people want to see it: On Oct. 1, 2017, a man busted out the window of his 32nd-floor room at the Mandalay Bay and shot people at a nearby outdoor concert, killing 58 of them, making it the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. You can't tell which room he was in from the ground, but you can still look at the building and contemplate the gravity of the event. (more)

Rooftop bar, Skyfall Lounge at Delano (one of the hotel towers at Mandalay Bay). See the Vegas skyline from above, spectacular at night. Admission is free, though I imagine you'll be expected to order drinks if you want to stay for a while.

Walk of Stars. This is Vegas' version of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The sidewalk on the entire west side of the strip has stars placed in it, honoring various people (mostly entertainers) important to Vegas history.

Luxor Hotel & Casino:

Pyramid. The building itself is a big black pyramid (sadly adorned with advertising these days). At night it shoots a light beam into the sky. Before they lowered the intensity circa 2021 (cost-cutting?), MGM Resorts claimed that it was "arguably the brightest light beam on earth on and on a clear night is said to be visible all the way from L.A.!"

Sphinx. In the front there's a huge replica of the Sphinx from Egypt. It's 101 feet high and two stories taller than the original.

Atrium. Inside, the rooms are all on the perimeter of the pyramid, with the center being a huge open-air atrium, and looking down from the aisle on any upper floor is quite a sight.

Diagonal Elevators. To get there, the hotel elevators travel diagonally along the inside edge of the pyramid.

Medieval Castle. The Excalibur's architecture is a throwback to the time of King Arthur.
Motel 6 sign. Because this is Vegas, it's got the most elaborate Motel 6 sign anywhere, huge and sparkly. But it's worth seeing only at night. From the Tropicana, walk east about five minutes. (It's about 9 minutes to the sign, but it's visible way before then.)
MGM Lion. The bronze lion outside the MGM Grand is 45 feet tall, weighs 50 tons, and is the largest bronze sculpture in the country.

New York New York:

Manhattan Skyline. The exterior of the New York New York casino features a NYC skyline, including an impressively large replica of the Statue of Liberty. You can also walk a replica Brooklyn Bridge. Incidentally, "Manhattan Skyline" is the best song on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack.

Naughty Sushi. NYNY has a combination Chinese + Sushi restaurant inexplicably called "Chin Chin", because that's the child's word for "penis" in Japanese (similar to the English "peepee"). The more you know.

The Park (the area between NY NY and Park MGM):

Hello Kitty mural. At the Hello Kitty Café in "The Park", between NY NY and Park MGM.

Bliss Dance sculpture. Towering 40 feet high, the sculpture, which debuted at Burning Man, "celebrates the strength of a woman". At "The Park", between NY NY and Park MGM.

Showcase Mall

Giant Coke Bottle. Towering four stories high, it adorns the outside of the shopping center. Across the street from Park MGM.

World of Coca-Cola. More store than museum, but they do have a few artifacts, and you can snap a selfie with the polar bear. (more)

Giant guitar. The guitar sign adorning the outside of the Hard Rock Café just north of the Showcase Mall is an impressive three stories tall. That's the only huge guitar sign left in Vegas since the Hard Rock Casino became Virgin Casino.
National Debt Clock. A billboard that constantly ticks up the current amount of the national debt, including the share per person. The original was installed in New York City in 1989, and now a private foundation has installed them in a handful of cities, including Vegas.
Secret art installation, "Akhob". Tell the staff at the Louis Vuitton store in the Crystals shopping center City Center (next to Aria) that you want to see the art, and they'll have you take an elevator to the fourth floor. The light-themed art is supposed to be mind-bending. Note, reportedly reservations are highly recommended. (more)

Cosmopolitan:

Cosmopolitan lobby. In the lobby: "Eight 15-foot digital columns and a panel spanning the length of the front desk continuously display a curated library of digital art, transforming the space into an immersive living narrative that incorporates elegant, fantastical and often poetic interpretations of life's travels."

Cosmopolitan, elsewhere. "Hundreds of contemporary art works by both established and emerging artists from all over the world can be found throughout The Cosmopolitan. Designed to inspire discovery, the collection includes large-scale paintings, photography, mixed media works, sculptures, murals and more. Artists featured include Maya Hayuk, Marilyn Minter, Rosemarie Fiore, Alex Da Corte, Jonathan Borofsky, Nicola Lopez, Siobham Liddell, Sylvia Hommert and many others." There's also an Art-o-Mat vending machine, that vends small pieces of art.

Chandelier lounge. Spanning two stories, there's probably not a more impressive chandelier installation anywhere.

Planet Hollywood

Robots making drinks. A bar called Tipsy Robot (in Planet Hollywood's Miracle Mile mall) has robotic arms preparing drinks. You can watch them go at it without ordering anything.

• ~~Crazy Girls sculpture~~. (Removed 6/15/21.) This 1997 bronze sculpture was cast from molds of seven actual performers in the long-running topless lip-sync show. The sculpture is of their backsides, and amusingly, their butts are shiny from all the tourists rubbing them for, what, good luck? Formerly outside Planet Hollywood. (more)

• ~~Rainstorm in the mall~~. The "rainstorm" (artifical thunder / lightning, with rain sounds) in the Miracle Miles shops is so underwhelming I can't count it as something to see. But it's planning to be revamped in 2023, so if you see it after the revamp and it seems decent, please let me know.

Eiffel Tower. The Paris casino features a 1/3-scale Eiffel Tower. Go up the elevator to the observation deck for $16 or so.
Twilight Zone mini golf at Bally's Surreal, intense, dark indoor mini golf course with a theme of the old Twilight Zone TV show. It's $12 to play but admission is free. (website)

Bellagio Casino & Hotel.

Water Fountains. Amazing choreographed water fountains, set to popular music, right in front of the Bellagio hotel. The Las Vegas Sun says it cost $40 million to build. Shows begin at Noon on the weekends and 3:00pm M-F, running every half hour until 8:00pm, and then every 15 minutes through midnight.

Ceiling Glass Sculpture. See the $10 million, 2100 square foot ceiling glass sculpture, featuring 2000 hand-blown glass blossoms that weigh about 40,000 pounds, supported by a 10,000-pound steel armature, all by renowned artist Dale Chihuly. Every day it takes 27 person-hours to clean.

Conservatory. The 14,000 square foot conservatory garden is a dazzling mix of plants, architecture, and lights, which changes with the season. Readers tell me it's the #1 must-see in Vegas.

Site of Ocean's 11. Much of the Ocean's Eleven movie was filmed here, including the final scene in front of the fountains.

Chocolate Fountain. Certified by Guinness World Records, it circulates two tons of chocolate per minute and is 27 feet tall. (Know that most of the world's chocolate is produced with child labor, and much of that slave child labor. (WaPo) Your editor buys only Fair Trade chocolate.)

Site of Tupak Shakur shooting. The famous rapper was shot to death in 1996 near the Strip, and there's a makeshift memorial in the form of a telephone pole covered in graffiti by fans. From the southeast corner of the Strip and Flamingo Rd. (i.e., Bally's), walk east about 1/3 of a mile (about 7 minutes). The pole is right before Koval Ln. Interestingly, Google Street View shows a fan taking a picture of the memorial pole.

Flamingo

Wildlife Habitat. See colorful Chilean flamingos, Ring Teal ducks, Sacred Ibis, pelicans, swans, ducks, koi fish, and turtles. Open dawn to dusk, pelican feedings at 8:30am & 2pm. (more)

KISS Mini Golf. A wild, colorful, black light miniature golf experience with a theme of the rock band KISS. It's $12 to play but free to walk around. (website)

Caesars Palace

The outside grounds contain replicas of famous Roman sculptures.

Between Caesars and the Mirage is a replica of the Trevi Fountain.

The casino itself was modeled after the Pantheon.

Outside the Forum Shops is a huge video marquee that displays dazzling graphics.

Window shop at the Forum Shops, the largest mall in Vegas (270 shops in 636,000 square feet), including many upscale stores with heart-stopping prices. There's also more affordable stuff too. There are also twelve other malls on the strip.

At the end of the Forum Shops there are large Roman statues that come to life and tell a story, kind of like a mini play. The acoustics are horrible and it's hard to make out the dialogue, and one of the statues looks like Keanu Reeves startled by headlights, but hey, it's free. Every hour on the hour, for a 7-minute show.

The huge ferris wheel at Linq. You have to pay to ride, but it's free to gawk.
Big Elvis show at Harrah's. Popular 40-minute show starring Pete Vallee, who reportedly weighed 960 pounds before slimming down to a mere 450. He's one of the people honored on the Las Vegas Walk of Stars. Shows run three times in the afternoons, in the Harrahs piano bar. (more...)
Fancy McDonald's arch. The massive, lit-up arch at the McDonald's right before Casino Royale is likely the toniest McDonald's marker in the world. It's not really worth seeing during the day, and only barely worth seeing at night. You wouldn't make a trip to see it, but if you're in the area already, there you go.
Mirage Volcano & Rainforest. The volcano is outside and fires up at 8, 9, and 10pm. Inside the hotel's front entrance there's a rainforest with 60-foot tall palm trees under a 100-foot high dome, where, according to the Mirage, "Six full-time gardeners spend over 240 hours each week to maintain the more than 100 different types of plants." (more)

Venetian and Palazzo:

Venetian Canals. The Venetian Casino features canals out front. For a fee you can ride in a gondola and the gondolier will sing to you. (A 10%+ tip is customary.)

Venetian lobby

Venetian Lobby. Some of the most breathtaking architecture on the strip, or anywhere for that matter. See photo.

Palazzo waterfall. A magnificent two-story waterfall, right outside the entrance to the Grand Canal Shoppes.

Robots making drinks. A bar called Tipsy Robot (coming to the Grand Canal Shops in Oct. 2022) has robots making the drinks. It'll be an updated version of the one at the Miracle Mile shops at Planet Hollywood. You can watch them go at it without ordering anything.

Pirate Ship. The Treasure Island casino features a much-photographed replica pirate ship outside in a lake. (The pirate battle shows closed in 2013, though.)
MSG Sphere. This concert arena is shaped like a giant ball and its walls are the world's largest video screen (visible from the outside). Check it out at night. From across the street from Fashion Show Mall, walk East on Sands Ave. 0.4 miles.
Runway fashion shows. In the Fashion Show Mall on weekends, every hour from noon to 5pm, near Saks Fifth Avenue/Nordstrom. You've never seen a fashion show before, have you? Now you can see one, and for free. (more)
Wynn lobby and casino. The marble walkway and dazzling indoor garden is some of the most over-the-top excess you'll see in Vegas. This is the very definition of luxury casino.
Siegel's Bagelmania restrooms. They're wallpapered with vintage Vegas newspapers. (pics; 252 Convention Center Drive, 0.2 miles west of the Strip)
Resorts World. The newest hotel/casino on the Strip is also the most expensive ever constructed: $4.3 billion. At that price, it's no wonder that there's all kinds of amazing art throughout, both paintings and sculptures.
Tesla Tunnel. It's like a subway but with Tesla cars. The tunnel is trippy, it's worth riding for the experience. It's free within the Convention Center (four stations), but it's $5 to or from Resorts World. The other (free) station on the Strip is Riviera Station (near the NE corner of LVB and Elvis Presley Blvd, then walk east towards the CC). It's technically available only to convention attendees, but I don't think they check credentials.

Circus Circus:

Circus Acts. In the Circus Circus Midway, every hour from 11:30am to 10:30pm (M-Th), to 11:30pm (F/Sun), and to 12:30pm (Sat). Way better than you'd expect for a free show. (more)

Flair Bartenders. Bartenders make drinks with showmanship. At Circus Circus' Vince Neil's Party, and also on the Strip at Palazzo's Fusion Mixology, Flamingo's Jimmy Buffet Margaritaville, Harrahs' Carnival Court, Linq's Catalyst, Bally's Fuel Bar, Rio's Voodoo Lounge.

Magic Tricks. The staff at Houdini's Magic Shop are always doing tricks in the store. Besides Circus Circus, also at New York New York, Planet Hollywood, and the Venetian. (more)

Last coin slots on the Strip. Circus Circus has the last coin-operated slots on the Strip. Look for the signage advertising the "$1 • 777 • All slots payback [sic] 97.4%", near the walkway to Slots-A-Fun. Free to see but not to play, of course.

Strat Casino/Hotel

Strat tower. It's the iconic tower of the Las Vegas skyline, and the largest tower west of the Mississippi. For a fee you can take the elevator to the observation deck, where there are also scary rides, but you can view from the ground for free.

Watch the Sky Jumpers. For about $120, you can strap into a harness at the top of the tower and jump off, where the cables will slow you down as you approach the ground. From the sidewalk you can watch the people jumping off and screaming for free.

Sharknado 4 scene location. The taxi area was featured prominently in the movie Sharknado 4 (free on Netflix). So were the rides at the top of the tower, but tower admission isn't free.

City of Las Vegas

City of Las Vegas arches. Most of the Vegas strip technically isn't in Las Vegas, it's in the unincorporated town of Paradise, NV (even though the strip casinos go by Las Vegas, NV for postal addresses). Las Vegas proper starts around the Strat, and in 2020 the City built some colorful neon arches across Las Vegas Blvd. to welcome visitors to the city limits.

Between the Strip and Downtown

Showgirls sign. Twenty-six-foot tall showgirls adorn a sign that lights up. A four-minute walk from the arches (above).
Pawn Stars pawn shop. Visit the real pawn shop from the TV show. Parking is free, admission is free, photos are allowed, and at least one of the stars is usually around. For $100 you can get a guaranteed meet-and-greet with the stars.
Witness an Elvis wedding. There are a number of wedding chapels between the Strip and downtown, and most couples are happy to have an audience. Some couples opt for a traditional wedding, but there are also themed weddings like Elvis, Dracula, 50s/60s, Disco, Gangster, Star Trek, Pirate, and a gazillion others.
Arts District. An 18-block area of galleries, museums, outdoor murals, thrift + vintage shops, antique shops, coffee shops. It's a whole different culture than the Strip. (more...)

Downtown (west to east)

Container Park:

Quirky shops and a rotating array of large outdoor art pieces, including the fire-spewing mantis, which merits its own entry (below).

Fire-spewing praying mantis sculpture. Straight outta Burning Man, this huge metallic sculpture menaces the Downtown Container Park, shooting flames from its antennae six stories high. Dude. Oh, and it wouldn't be complete without the 4000-watt sound system. Operates Thursday through Saturday nights. While you're at the Container Park, check out the big treehouse with the 33' tall slide (more)

Heart Attack Grill. See the infamous restaurant that's proud of killing its own customers. Employing a hospital theme, patients don hospital gowns and a wristband before ordering from waitstaff dressed like doctors and nurses. Menu items include the Quadruple Bypass Burger (in the Guinness Book of Records for being 9982 calories), the 1/2 lb. Coronary Dog, Flatliner Fries (cooked in lard), butterfat milkshakes (served with a pat of butter), wine served in an IV drip bag, and jello shots served from a giant syringe. There are candy cigarettes for children. Anyone who finishes the Quadruple Bypass Burger gets wheeled to the exit in a wheelchair. At least one customer has died while eating there, another collapsed into unconsciousness and had to be hospitalized, their first spokesman (575 lbs.) died at age 29, and their second spokesman (and daily eater at the establishment) died of a heart attack at the bus stop outside. Customers over 350 lbs. eat free. There's a screed on the door railing against the fact that local law requires them to be non-smoking. (more from Mashed, Vegas Food & Fun) (At the corner of Fremont and Las Vegas Blvd.; map)
Witness a wedding at Denny's. This one seems downright depressing, but the downtown Denny's actually has a wedding chapel, and most couples are happy to have an audience. (Side note, the $199 wedding package includes two Grand Slam breakfasts, redeemable on the couple's next visit.)
Viva Vision. Sadly, I have to recommend that you skip this because they've been blasting the music at dangerously high volumes. It's as high as 110db, at which hearing loss is possible in less than 2 minutes. A massive overhead canopy is the world's largest video screen, over four football fields long, and filled with nearly 50 million LED lights. At night it comes to life, showing amazing animations choreographed to popular music. In the early 90s the megaresorts that had been appearing on the strip were sucking up tourist attention and nearly put the downtown casinos out of business, so the downtown casinos banded together to finance a spectacle to lure visitors to the downtown area. Before settling on the video screen, ideas such as a system of canals were floated (no pun intended) (okay, maybe a little). An upgrade to the resolution in 2004 (which I witnessed) took the video quality from cheesy to damn impressive, and it was upgraded again in 2019, quadrupling the resolution and making it seven times brighter. It's easy to find: just go to Fremont Street and look up. If you're on the Strip just hop on the Deuce bus which goes straight to Fremont. Note, the screen is often mistakenly called the "Fremont Street Experience"; technically, the FSE is the big pedestrian mall where the screen is located, and the screen itself is called Viva Vision. Shows are every hour on the hour, from 6:00 pm until 2:00 am. (Visit the official website.)
Music concerts. Music is dangerously loud. See above. On three different stages nightly. (more)
Blarney Stone at The D. This is not the Blarney Stone, but rather a Blarney stone, from Blarney Castle in Cork, Ireland.
Real One Million Dollars. Take your picture with a display of one million dollars in cash. At Binion's, downtown. They'd removed the display in 2021 but brought it back in 2023. (more)
Vegas Vic sign. This iconic neon sign was installed in 1951, and is one of the most-photographed things downtown. (Across from Circa.)

Circa:

Vegas Vickie. The iconic neon sign which first appeared on Fremont Street in 1980, now graces the lobby at the Circa casino/hotel.

Largest indoor bar in Nevada. The Mega Bar at Circa spans 165 feet.

World's Largest indoor TV screen. Circa casino has the largest sportsbook in the world, which features an incredible three-story, 78 million pixel TV screen.

Studio 71 at Plaza. A room next to the casino with an over-the-top, sparkly+neon disco theme. See Vital Vegas' video if you don't mind spoiling the surprise.

Flair bartenders. Nightly at 9pm + 11pm. The sign says "Free Shots", I don't know what the catch is.

Main Street Station:

Antiques. See a number of antiques and curiosities. (more)

Berlin Wall. A 10-foot chunk of the infamous Berlin Wall is inexplicably installed in the men's bathroom.

Melting building. A medical building (the Cleveland Clinic) has outrageous architecture: the building facade is all twisted and looks like it's melting. At 888 Bonneville, about a 17-minute walk from the Plaza Hotel.

Various locations

Movie scene locations. Lots of movies have been shot all over Vegas, mostly on the Strip. Las Vegas Jaunt has a nice list of which movies scenes were filmed where (item #43).
Pool. The resort fee your hotel forced you to pay probably gives you access to the pool.
Fitness center. Ditto.

Elsewhere

Area 15. Massive, freaky, indoor entertainment and art complex. Hard to describe. Admission is free, but most of the interesting bits cost money. See my Things to Do in Vegas page for sample offerings and prices.
Mermaids at Silverton. The 117,000-gallon aquarium features thousands of tropical fish, along with mermaids swimming among them. These aren't actors dressed as mermaids, these are real mermaids, since mermaids are a totally real thing. [Editor's note: No, they're not.]
UNLV museums. The University of Nevada has a number of free museums and art galleries.
80s memorabilia ice cream shop. Up in Scoops is a throwback to the 80s, with 80s arcade games; posters, newspapers, and records on the walls; and magazines epoxied onto the tables. (pics • 2.7 miles W. of the Strip at 4624 W. Sahara)
Aviation Museum. At the airport.
Hiking. There are a gazillion trails in and around Vegas.

Sam's Town:

Mystic Falls Park. Stroll through the large indoor park featuring real trees ten stories high, and animatronic animals.

Sunset Stampede. Chronicles the Western pioneer experience with music, dancing water, and a laser light show. Shows at 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10pm daily, 5111 Boulder Highway. (more)

Outside Vegas

Henderson, NV

Cactus garden. The largest botanical cactus garden in Nevada, featuring over 300 species of plants and spanning three acres. (website)

Chocolate factory self-guided tour. See the chocolate being made. (website) Note, most chocolate is produced with child labor, much of that slave labor. Alternative: fair trade chocolate. (WaPo)

Replica of the Simpsons' house. In Henderson. (article)

Seven Magic Mountains. Art installation in the desert, featuring several columns of brightly-colored rocks stacked on top of each other. About half an hour drive south of the Strip. (more)
Wheel of Misfortune. Another larger-than-life desert art installation, about a 30-minute drive from the strip.
Ryolite Ghost Town. Do a self-guided tour.

Free things to DO (not just see)

Free gambling lessons. Many casinos offer them, and despite their conflict of interest, they're generally pretty accurate, not steering you towards the worst bets and strategies. See the list at Las Vegas Jaunt (item #44).
CBS Television City. See and rate TV pilots before they hit television. There's often compensation and prizes. Inside the MGM Grand. (more...)
Collect the "Girls to Your Room" cards. Poorly-paid workers ("porn slappers") hand out advertising cards on the Strip for "Girls to Your Room", featuring scantily-clad models (who are not the ones who show up if you call). Lots of people collect these cards for fun, trying to see how many different cards they can amass. The porn slappers move around, but generally work south- to mid-strip, on the east side.

Free goodies

Free show tickets for timeshare presentation. You can get free tickets to selected shows if you attend a sales presentation where they try to sell you a timeshare (a condo that you own for a week or two per year, with other people owning it for the rest of the time). You probably don't want to spend two hours of your limited time in Vegas listening to a sales pitch, but if you're on a budget and free tickets are important to you, then go for it. If you don't get accosted, head to the booth inside the Showcase Mall and ask how to get hooked up. And definitely see my tips for dealing with the sales pitch.
Free schwag at casino players clubs. Sign up at the player's club at any casino (always free), and they'll give you something valuable. Depending on the casino, it'll be a deck of cards, a hat, $5 in free-play, coupons that are actually valuable, or some combination. Also, once you're in the system, you might get mailers offering free or deeply discounted rooms.

• ~~Free slot pulls~~. (Removed 6/15/21.) After decades, Four Queens and Binions discontinued the free slot pull on the novelty machines out front, with the top payout of $2500. Before it closed, I won a hat! (more)

Free Transportation

• Convention Center Loop, aka Elon Musk's Tesla Tunnel. It's like a subway but with Tesla cars. The tunnel is trippy, it's worth riding for the experience. It's free going from Riviera Station to the convention center (CC) stations, or from one CC station to another, but it's $4.50 between Resorts World and Riviera Station, so get on at Riviera Station (near the NE corner of LVB and Elvis Presley Blvd) and head east towards the CC. It's technically available only to convention attendees, but I don't think they check credentials. I'm not counting this as a numbered item here, because I already counted it above as a Strip item. (more...)

Downtown Loop bus. It runs between the Strat (north Strip) and Circa (downtown casino area), stopping at the Pawn Stars pawn shop along the way, as well as some other places. Who knows why the City is so generous with this bus. Runs 11am-6pm Sun-Thu, and 3-10pm Fri/Sat. (see route map)
Mandalay Bay Tram. This free tram starts at Mandalay Bay, with stops at Luxor and Excalibur.
Aria Express Tram. Three stations: Park MGM, Aria/Cosmo, and Bellagio.
Mirage/TI Tram. Runs every 5 minutes between Mirage and Treasure Island, with the trip taking 90 seconds.