3 Best Sights in Las Vegas, Nevada

Those who love hi-tech art served with a Burning Man or Electric Daisy Carnival vibe—and with the addition of air-conditioning—will gravitate to this indoor amusement park inside a giant warehouse next to Interstate 15 (the name is a play on both the highway and the mysterious Area 51). The very fluorescent interior (the black-light averse may feel like they are trapped in a giant Spencer Gifts) even features two big Burning Man art installations: a giant skull covered in video graphics and the fantasy hot rod known as Flux Capacitor.

While admission to the facility is free—though advance reservations get you in faster—most of the attractions require you to pay a separate admission: Omega Mart is an otherworldly convenience store, which leads into a walk-through funhouse full of immersive art from the Santa Fe–based arts collective Meow Wolf; Wink World is full of art and tech surprises courtesy of Chris Wink, a co-founder and original member of the Blue Man Group; Museum Fiasco is an immersive, disorienting clublike bombardment of light and sound. Peripheral attractions include axe-throwing and rides on ski-lift chairs suspended from a ceiling track.

The Lost Spirits Distillery is an immersive tasting room with theme-park and show elements. Or, simply chill out with a cocktail under a canopy in The Sanctuary lounge or beneath a luminescent tree in the Oddwood Bar in the center of it all. Maximize this new era of carnival midway with a Korean Corn Dog from the Todd English restaurant The Beast.

There's also the indoor climes of The Portal, a 7,000-square-foot indoor venue where projection mapping augments everything from a Van Gogh exhibit to name deejays. The instant popularity of AREA15 meant the quick addition of an adjacent building housing The Illuminarium, with immersive simulations of outer space and Africa. An announced 20-acre expansion on the north end includes plans for a Universal Studios haunted house attraction featuring its famous movie monsters. Admission is free, but online reservations let you skip lines out front and may be required on busy nights.

If the sun is blazing, the kids are antsy, and you need a place to while away a few hours, make for the big pink dome behind Circus Circus. The 5-acre amusement park has more than 25 rides and attractions for all age levels and is kept at a constant 72°F. The newest attractions include Twistin Tea Cups, Kiddie Swings, Go Karts, and NebulaZ, in which riders spin through the air. The El Loco roller coaster includes a barrel roll and a number of G-force drops. Also check out the Canyon Blaster, the world's only indoor double-loop, double-corkscrew roller coaster, a huge swinging pirate ship, bumper cars, more kiddie rides, two Bank Heist Laser Challenges, and much more. Catch a presentation of "Ice Age 4D: No Time for Nuts" or the Scooby Doo "Scoob!4D Experience," or computer-generated iterations of the Angry Birds. And Neon Nights on Friday and Saturday give everything a whole new glow.

If you can't win the jackpot at the casino, try winning your sweetheart a teddy bear instead. Here you can play old-time fair and newly popular games like the dime toss, milk can, bushel basket, Skee-Ball, and Pop-A-Shot for the chance to win cuddly prizes. Cash is no longer accepted for the games; load up a Midway Playcard and play away—or turn the kids loose. Beginning at 1:30 pm daily, acrobats, high-wire walkers, jugglers, and trapeze artists perform free shows on the circus stage.