MUSEUMS, GALLERIES & CULTURE
BELLAGIO GALLERY OF FINE ART
In partnership with museums (including Boston’s MFA and the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego) and foundations around the globe, the BGFA is the city’s foremost destination for marquee shows. Bellagio, 702693-7871; bellagio.com
DISCOVERY CHILDREN’S MUSEUM
Even the local children’s museum has flash to spare in Las Vegas. Here, visiting young ones can create computer art, play the laser harp, enter into the virtual eye of a hurricane, and even earn a paycheck working in the ecofriendly Green Village. 360 Promenade Place, Downtown; 702-382-3445; discoverykidslv.org
MARJORIE BARRICK MUSEUM OF ART
The Marjorie Barrick Museum, part of the University of Las Vegas’s College of Fine Arts, houses pre-columbian art and cultural objects from the American Southwest and Mesoamerica, as well as contemporary art from artists associated with the Las Vegas valley. 4505 S. Maryland Pkwy, 702-895-3381; unlv.edu/barrickmuseum
NATIONAL ATOMIC TESTING MUSEUM
This surprising and engaging institution—a Smithsonian affiliate—tracks the development of the US nuclear program from the Manhattan Project through today. Don’t miss the simulator that allows you to experience bomb testing as Vegas residents used to—from an “outdoor” seat looking out onto the action. 755 E. Flamingo Road, 702794-5151; nationalatomictesting museum.org
THE NEON MUSEUM
The so-called “neon boneyard” has housed more than 80 relics of Vegas’s neon sign history since it opened in 1996. Fronting it all is the beautifully restored La Concha, an iconic midcentury hotel moved here to serve as the quirky cultural site’s visitors center. INSIDER TIP: For extra drama, reserve a night tour, when the neon signs are all lit up from below for show. 770 Las Vegas Blvd. N., 702-387-6366; neonmuseum.org
THE SMITH CENTER
Downtown’s performing arts center is home to the Las Vegas Philharmonic, Nevada Ballet Theatre, and dedicated Broadway and Cabaret Jazz programs. The Art Deco-style masterpiece also hosts a fantastic lineup of traveling Broadway shows, visiting orchestras, and more. 361 Symphony Park Ave., 702-749-2000; thesmithcenter.com
SPRINGS PRESERVE
This 180-acre, $250 million Mojave Desert preserve, three miles west of the Strip, takes visitors through galleries, botanical gardens, and a living collection of Gila monsters, foxes, and that other kind of Vegas nightlife—nocturnal critters like recluse spiders, sidewinders, and black widows. The best biological resource in southern Nevada, it’s also one of the state’s oldest archaeological treasures: Nomadic Native American tribes lived at the Springs 12,000 years ago. 333 S. Valley View Blvd., 702-822-7700; springspreserve.org