Neon is one of the first things that people think of when they think of Vegas. Well, it is for me at least. One of the best things about having a full week in the city was the chance to wander a bit further afield and venture off of The Strip. The Las Vegas sign is super famous but is actually a little off the beaten track. From the end of the strip at Mandalay Bay we walked southwards for a good ten minutes before seeing the sign in the distance. There’s a bus if you’re feeling lazy and a parking lot by the sign if you have a car.

The sign was designed by Betty Willis and erected in 1959 but was never copyrighted so versions of it appear all over town – some more tasteful than others! We arrived at 10am and there was already a small crowd of people by the sign taking photos. Starting our days early was such a good decision – understandably everywhere is pretty quiet before midday!

The “leaving town” side.

The sign from the Moulin Rouge has been re-arranged to spell “in love”. The casino was only open for a few years but remains in the Vegas history books for its role in the civil rights movement.

The walk between Downtown Las Vegas and the Strip takes in a stretch of road with old motels and the wedding chapels. This is definitely a slice of “Old Vegas” and it was amazing to see some weddings taking place at the chapels. The Tod Motor Motel looked rather sad and closed but the pink and turquoise colour scheme is so pretty that it is crying out to be renovated. While we were walking along this road there was an earthquake but we didn’t feel a thing – it wasn’t huge on the richter scale but still a bit annoying to not have noticed anything!