Viva Las Vegas

From shooting zombies to VIP hangover cures, Jenny Southan unleashes her wild side in the City of Sin If you are among the five million delegates that rock up in Vegas each year for one of its 22,000 annual conventions, you’ll know how important it is to prepare if you want to survive – and we’re not just talking about comfy footwear and a packet of aspirin. Sin City can take its toll, especially when the work is hard and the play is harder, but if you extend your trip you can let loose when the deals are done and discover just how fun Las Vegas can be – without getting into too much trouble. MONSTER TRUCK LIMOS In a city that seems to have more stretch limousines than taxis, the only way to make an impression is to go gangster and book a monster truck limo. Elite Transportation offers a fleet of ridiculously huge vehicles (Big Dog, Insane, Kong F-650) that can seat 24 people and are fitted with disco lights, wet bars, plasma TVs, and even glowing poles for aspiring striptease artists. lvelitelimo.com POOL PARTIES Even if you haven’t seen the recently released Last Vegas, in which Hollywood old-timers Robert De Niro, Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline descend on the city for one last stab at the good times, you may think that pool parties are mainly about bikini competitions and frat boys on Spring Break – which they are. But if you’re brave enough, there are a couple of options on the Strip that manage to temper the hedonism with just enough class to make them glamorous. Wet Republic at MGM Grand throws daytime dance parties at its 4,900 sqm “Ultra Pool” throughout the summer, hosted by DJs such as Calvin Harris and Steve Aoki – a man whose signature move is to throw wedding cakes into the crowd, and then spray them with gallons of champagne. The most civilised way of experiencing the debauchery is to watch from a safe distance – club together with your friends or colleagues and rent a day bed (four to six people), cabana or VIP bungalow. On the roof of the Cosmopolitan hotel, Marquee Dayclub has a tropical theme with palm trees, cocktail bars and cabanas – some with glass-fronted infinity pools. If pumping music and hoards of semi-naked hotties aren’t your thing, then spend an afternoon at the Cosmo’s chic Bamboo pool with a bucket of beer on ice. wetrepublic.com, cosmopolitanlasvegas.com SHOOTING GUNS For Europeans, the belief of many Americans in the right to bear arms can be hard to fathom, and yet the feeling of picking up a semi-automatic M4 machine gun and unloading it on a host of Nazi zombies is undeniably thrilling. Nevada is an “open carry” state, which means anyone can wear a weapon on their belt in full view, but they’ll need a permit to conceal one. There are numerous gun stores and shooting ranges in town, and the Range 702 on Dean Martin Drive, just off the Strip, is one of the largest and newest. As well as offering access to 25 lanes and a full armoury, it has a slew of packages for wannabe gunslingers – choose from “Black Ops” for US$165 (SAW belt-fed machine gun, MP5, Uzi, 9mm handgun), or perhaps “007” for US$500 (P90, AK-47, shotgun and Desert Eagle pistol). You can select your own paper targets (think hostage takers and Al-Qaeda terrorists), and even get your hands on an M203 grenade launcher. There’s a VIP room and free hotel pick-ups for groups; alcohol is not allowed. Open 9am-7pm daily. therange702.com NEON MUSEUM It was 1931 when gambling was legalised across the state of Nevada and, a few years later, Las Vegas became the first recipient of hydroelectric power from the Hoover Dam. In a bid to attract punters, all the new hotels and casinos began wiring their exteriors with fluorescent neon signs and hundreds of incandescent light bulbs – Binion’s Horseshoe had 13km of them – and Downtown (now the oldest part of Vegas) was soon nicknamed the “Glitter Gulch”. Las Vegas has continued to dress itself in lights, but to see how Sin City used to look, back in the day when mobsters and Mormons were running the likes of the Sahara, the Flamingo and the Tropicana, you need to pay a visit to this desert boneyard, where vintage signs go to die. Guided tours of the 8,000 sqm site take place between 10am and 7pm (daytime US$18, night US$25; book ahead). As you walk along the sandy paths, look out for the swirling typography of the Moulin Rouge, which was the first racially integrated hotel and casino in the US. The blue and white smiling shirt was for Steiner Laundry, which once dry-cleaned the clothes of Liberace and Howard Hughes, and the art deco “Wedding Information” arrow was from the 1940s, when marriage laws were so relaxed that if you spent six weeks in Vegas, you could get divorced without your partner even being there. neonmuseum.org DOWNTOWN A 20-minute drive from the Strip, Downtown is home to old-school favourites the Golden Nugget and the El Cortez, the oldest Vegas casino in operation. Compared with the Strip, which raked in more than US$6 billion in gaming revenue in 2012, this district is small fry, cashing just US$500 million annually – but good news for gamblers is that the stakes are much lower, so you can practise your blackjack without instantly blowing your bank roll. Although Downtown is a little seedy, it has its own charm and you are guaranteed to meet some characters – be they Ashley, Ashleigh, Ashlee and Britney, a group of waitresses from the Mirage (true story), or a cowboy in a Stetson who is convinced he has worked out a system to win at roulette. The district is also beginning to attract the in-crowd – beyond the intersection with North Las Vegas Boulevard are trendy dive bars such as Common Wealth, Insert Coins and the Griffin, which make a change from the tackiness of the Strip. Two new hangouts are La Comida, a funky Mexican Cantina at 100 Sixth Street that serves more than 180 tequilas, and Park on Fremont (506 Fremont Street). Not only does it have a buzzing streetside terrace but also a glorious garden out the back – an oasis in a city with barely a blade of grass in sight. No longer satisfied with having the most over-the-top light show on the planet, the covered section of Fremont Street – the roof of which is emblazoned with 12 million LEDs – now has a zipline called Slotzilla that runs its length. And, embracing 21st-century trends, as of January, there are now two hotels – the Golden Gate and the D – that have started accepting digital currency bitcoin. HANGOVER HEAVEN If you’ve overdone it the night before, Las Vegas is probably the only place on Earth where you can take advantage of a medical practice dedicated to the treatment of hangovers. Certified anesthesiologist Jason Burke claims to have cured more than 10,000 people with his rehydration remedy, which involves having up to two litres of vitamin-enriched fluid (known as a Myers Cocktail) fed intravenously into your veins. Depending on how bad you feel, you can choose from three IV packages – Redemption (US$99), Salvation (US$179) and Rapture (US$199). The last of these also includes anti-nausea medication, painkillers, 30 minutes of oxygen and an injection of B complex vitamins. Hangover Heaven has a bricks-and-mortar surgery at 3,281 South Highland Drive, and even a mobile clinic in the form of a bus that drives up and down the Strip, but the best thing about it is the option of receiving a visit from a nurse in your hotel room (US$200 per session). It is worth noting that having liquid fed into your arm through a drip can be time consuming (up to two hours) and even a little traumatic, especially if you don’t get on well with needles. That said, it could be a saviour if you have a long journey ahead. Need help creating a hedonistic itinerary? Go to High Roller Suites hrsvegas.com; Las Vegas Convention and Visitor’s Authority lvcva.com