It’s easy to forget Vegas’s splendid setting between mountains and desert. In a city of phony horizons and simulated volcanic eruptions, you almost expect animatronic animals and landscapes beyond the city limits. But real wildlife exists past the Strip and, in Vegas, you can actually ski, golf, scuba dive, rock-climb, ride horseback, and/or hike on the same day.
Take a flight to the rim of the Grand Canyon for a champagne and BBQ lunch (3.5 hours round trip) or a twilight city tour showcasing the glittering lights of the Strip (2 hours round trip). Sundance Helicopter Tours will escort you from your hotel to the heliport in a limo for the ride of your life.
Get away from the glitz with a 10-hour journey to Death Valley, checking out historic ghost towns en route to the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere. Other trips explore Hoover Dam and the petroglyphs and petrified sand dunes of the Valley of Fire.