Loud, gaudy and exciting, Las Vegas looms out of the Nevada desert with its thousands of lights twinkling and flashing.

Millions of people are drawn to the city on holiday each year for its gambling, shows and general excess. Las Vegas sprang up during the 20th century, with an economy based purely on tourism and Nevada’s lax gambling laws. Founded in the 1940s and since dubbed Sin City, Las Vegas has little history or culture to speak of, with it fascination lying largely in the kitsch main strip populated with .

Constantly changing as more ambitious projects are attempted, Las Vegas Boulevard is several miles long and a whirlwind of sights and sounds. The hotels and casinos along it have been built to be bigger and better than their rivals. Once inside, they can prove tricky to escape from, with no clocks or windows, giving the whole city an air of timeless other worldiness.

A number of the casinos take their themes from major cities and there are replica models of New York, Paris, Monte Carlo and Venice along the strip. Built in the 1960s, the ancient Rome-themed Caesars Palace remains a firm favourite, while the circus acts and musicians at the Excalibur appeal to families.

Several hotels offer outdoor spectacles and the vast Bellagio has a lake in front, which puts on a huge fountain display every 15 minutes, while a fake volcano erupts regularly at the Mirage and the Treasure Island Buccaneer Bay Show re-enacts a pirate battle.

Indoors, Las Vegas attracts some of the biggest names to its stages, with magic shows and concerts on year round. However, most visitors come to Las Vegas to try their hand at the tables and slot machines, with the average tourist losing $665 during their stay.

Las Vegas is also home to a number of museums, the best of which are dedicated to Elvis Presley and Liberace. The Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art and the Guggenheim Hermitage offer a little bit of culture and the city also has an overwhelming number of shops, with extravagant designer labels on sale in most of the hotels.

Thousands of people each year flock to Las Vegas to get married and there is a dizzying array of possibilities. From drive-thru chapels to Elvis impersonators to conduct the ceremony, a wedding is Las Vegas is guaranteed to be kitsch and just a little bit tacky.

Hotels in Las Vegas cater to around 37 million tourists a year and the choice is endless. If possible, stay at one of the large casino hotels, which provide a whole world indoors to guests, including luxury rooms, swimming pools, rides, restaurants, bars and casinos. Las Vegas also has numerous small motels where accomodation is considerably cheaper and more basic.

Food in Las Vegas tends to be cheap, fast and plentiful, in keeping with the ethos of the city, though there are some excellent restaurants at the other end of the scale. Car hire is easy and there are some attractive day trips nearby, including the staggering Grand Canyon. Flights in and out of Las Vegas are easy to book and coming down in price each year and many companies offer package deals to the city.