The Luxor: A giant black glass pyramid guarded by its own Sphinx, this luxury hotel hosts elaborate shows onsite and is currently housing the arresting “Bodies: The Exhibition” show.New York, New York Hotel & Casino: The facade replicates the Manhattan skyline, albeit with a roller coaster swooping around a Statue of Liberty lookalike.Caesars Palace: This enormous hotel-an ode to Roman excess-houses an indoor shopping center with designer stores and Restaurant Guy Savoy, one of only 28 restaurants in the United States to receive the prestigious 5-Star Award from Forbes.The Bellagio fountain show: Every half hour, the giant fountains outside the Bellagio hotel erupt in a free light and water show synchronized with pop songs, classical music, and Broadway show tunes. It’s the city of showgirls, neon, sky-high hotels, and mile-long buffets, where anything can happen and anything goes and it somehow always feels like 3 a.m. Ever since gambling was legalized in Nevada in the 1930s-and especially following the postwar boom years, when shady characters like Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky were running the show-visitors have been heading to this unlikely desert metropolis to have the kind of fun they can’t find back home.

“What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” It may be a marketing slogan, but once you get here, it feels like holy writ.