Las Vegas in Pictures: 27 Free Photos of the Strip and the Desert

Las Vegas in 27 free photos: the hotels and casinos of the Strip, neon signs, the desert around the city and the people who come for the show. Click any photo to see it large and download it.

The photos also work as a Las Vegas wallpaper on a tablet or phone, and on a laptop if you don’t mind a slightly soft picture: the originals are about 1200 pixels wide.

Las Vegas at a glance

• Where: in the desert of southern Nevada; Harry Reid International Airport is a few minutes from the Strip.
• Getting around: the Strip is long but walkable between neighbouring hotels; the Monorail, buses and taxis cover the longer distances.
• When to go: spring and autumn; summer days are very hot, and winter nights can be cold.
• Day trips: the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead, Red Rock Canyon and the Valley of Fire are all within about an hour’s drive.
• Photo tips: A photographer's guide to Las Vegas: golden and blue hour, neon at night and the photo rules in casinos.

The 24 hour desert city in southern Nevada, ‘Las Vegas’, (Spanish for “the meadows”), is one of the fastest growing cities in the US. Renowned for its extravagant hotels and casinos, the “Entertainment Capital of the World” hosts 30 million guests per year. Love it or hate it, Las Vegas is one of the most dynamic cities in the world.

Las Vegas started as a stopover on the pioneer trails to the west and became a popular railroad town in the early 1900s. It was a staging point for all the mines in the surrounding area, especially those around the town of Bullfrog, which shipped their goods out to the rest of the country. With the growth of the railroads, Las Vegas became less important, but the completion of the nearby Hoover Dam resulted in a substantial growth in tourism, which, along with the legalization of gambling, led to the advent of the casino-hotels for which Las Vegas is famous.

Once infamous for its organized crime connections, Las Vegas has reinvented itself since the 1980’s era when Frank Sinatra and “the Rat Pack” singers were top of the bill, and the city now claims to cater for a more family-oriented market. So what else is there to do apart from gamble? There’s shopping, either on The Strip, the traditional city main street, or in one of several Malls, such as Caesar’s Palace or The Grand Canal Shoppes at The Venetian (yes, you can also take a gondola ride on the Grand Canal there). You can get tattooed or married just about anywhere, and lots of people do. At the start of The Strip you can pause in a specially provided car park to take a photo of the famous “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign; and at the Bellagio Fountains you can watch a music and light fountain show every 15 minutes.

Outside the city there’s the Hoover Dam, with its visitor center and guided tours, holding back the huge Lake Mead since 1935. At the lake resort itself you can swim, fish, boat or just hike along the shore. Just an hour’s drive away is the beautiful ‘Valley of Fire’ State Park, where unusual rock formations and colours provide interesting photo opportunities; for example the Elephant rock, which is best photographed on its left side in morning light.

Back in Las Vegas itself, if its nightlife you are after, there is everything imaginable on offer – and more, for excess is the city’s main characteristic. There are nightclubs ranging from hot to relaxed to chic, where you can dance, be seen, or just chill out. There are strip clubs, topless bars and burlesque shows for men and women. Many tourists just play slot machines in the hotels, ignoring all the shows on offer such as variety and circus shows, comedy shows, or concerts by world famous popular singers or their tribute acts.

But then you wouldn’t be able to photograph the endlessly surprising, or even weird sights of this unique fun city…

Photos of Las Vegas

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More of the United States, from New York and San Francisco to Big Sur and Miami Beach: USA pictures.

Questions about these Las Vegas photos

Can I use these Las Vegas pictures for free?

Yes, for personal and commercial projects, including casino and travel websites. All we ask is a link back to BigFoto.com; the box at the top of the page has a credit link you can copy.