If you don’t fancy drinking in Sin City or bar-hopping along Glitter Gulch, then you’d better stick to the mini-bar. Las Vegas is mayhem – where else can you gamble, party and get married in one night?

The city revolves around on Las Vegas Boulevard South – the Strip. To the north, is downtown Vegas, the pedestrianized part of Fremont Street and Stratosphere Tower.

Casinos are a major part of Les Vegan life and you’ll find that cocktails are mainstay of Las Vegas bars. Every gambler gets ‘comps’ – complimentary drinks –even if they’re hanging around the slot machines, but don’t forget to tip if you want the drinks to flow.

Las Vegas is known for being over the top – so look out for kitsch bars. One of Vegas’s big novelties is the floating bar, Cleopatra’s Barge, at Caesar’s Palace. It literally rocks! Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville at the Flamingo serves frozen cocktails under the shadow of parrot decoys and a prop sea plane. And urther out of town on West Charleston, Frankie’s Tiki Bar rivals the casinos for kooky cool.

he clubs take themselves a little more seriously, trading themes for style. Two hot tips are the MGM Grand – now home to Studio 54, and the Venetian Hotel.The Venetian is arguably Vegas’s most stylish hang-out. V Bar is a sleek upscale lounge, and Tao is luxe in extremis – see the koi carp pool for details. Maybe it’s the LA influence, maybe it’s the celebrity sightings, or maybe it’s the fact Tao has also launched in New York that bring out-of-town glamour to town.

To meet real Las Vegans, hold out for the after-hours – and even after-after-hours – when the hard-working night shift comes out to play. Drai’s at Billy’s is a well-known spot for late clubbing, and it’s a lot less sleazy than the strip clubs.

You might want to swap nightlife for daylife at a pool party after a heavy night out. Choose from MGM Grand’s eight pools and international DJ sets, the renovated Roman baths at Caesar’s Palace, Sunday sunset at Tao Beach, an almost-mile of flowing water at the Hard Rock Hotel or two acres of pool at the Palms. It would be a shame to waste the intense Mojave sunshine…