You might not think that Las Vegas is a great place to take teenagers, but you can have so much fun here which doesn’t involve drinking or gambling. I love to take my children to places with a ‘wow factor’ and there’s plenty of this for even the most rolling-their-eyes, embarrassed-to-be-seen-with-my-parents sort of child!
(If you want to read about other things to do with teens with a wow factor then check out my Niagara blogs!)
What’s more, these are all great ideas for adults too, looking to have a brilliant time in this super-fun city.
Here are my top tips for having a brilliant time with teenagers in Las Vegas.
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Segway tour of Downtown Vegas
Riding a Segway is just so much fun, for people of all ages but particularly teenagers. We’d tried it in the UK and everyone loved it straight away, riding through Tilgate Woods and a forest near Reading. But neither of these were as cool as gliding along the Downtown streets of Las Vegas, an area which has been regenerated over the past 12 or 13 years.
We used Segway Las Vegas and booked our tickets via Get Your Guide – which often has discounts and their e-tickets can be downloaded into your phone’s ‘wallet’.
You meet at the Container Park, which is in itself a cool destination for teens, with an interesting history and funky bars and eateries. It comes alive in the evening, with music performances and all sorts of other entertainment.
Anyway, back to the Segway tour… Our guide, Josh, gave us a refresher in riding them and we practised in the alley behind their office. Then we were off! Josh had given us headsets so that he could give us a running commentary and also guide us to stop, start, turn left and right (with hand signals too).
Josh told us all about the history of Downtown Las Vegas, and we stopped at various points of interest. These included the Pawn Stars pawn shop (from the TV show), a wedding chapel, the garden of remembrance for the victims of the 2017 mass shooting, and the famous Fremont Street. The Downtown area is also home to the Art District too, with so much street art (which I love) and other art installations.
I can’t recommend this highly enough for all the family, but especially hard-to-impress teens!
Pinball Hall Of Fame
Sometimes, old school fun is the best fun – and there’s nowhere more ‘old school’ than the Pinball Hall Of Fame. This non-profit location is home to some 400 pinball machines, plus a collection of retro arcade games, all lovingly restored.
There’s no entry fee, you just pay to play. Many of the games only cost 25c, with some at 50c, 75c or $1. They have change machines so you don’t have to stock up on your quarters in advance.
I love pinball machines so was like a kid in a sweet shop, struggling to choose which ones to play from the vast collection. I started with a 60s machine and it was so smooth to use, it’s remarkable how they are still fully-functioning after all these years. Many machines have their history written on a note beside them, which is so interesting to read.
My favourites were slightly more modern (but still 40-odd years old!), the Raiders Of The Lost Ark and Dr Who machines.
What’s great though is that my teenage son loved playing them as much as we did. We all also had a go on some of the old arcade games, particularly Galaxian which took me back to my youth, playing it on Bognor pier!
We spent over an hour there and spent just $20, which wasn’t bad for three people.
You can find the Pinball Hall Of Fame at the southern end of the Strip, just past Mandalay Bay on the other side of the road. If you’re visiting the Las Vegas Sign then it’s a short hop from there.
Tip : if you need to cool down / access WiFi / drool over some cool motorbikes then check out the Harley Davidson showroom next door to the Pinball Hall Of Fame. They have comfy sofas, drinks, helpful/friendly staff and restrooms.
Cowabunga Bay Water Park
Something that was top of my son’s list for our next holiday was a water park, and as the season was just starting in Las Vegas I was keen to visit one.
I’d toyed with the idea of buying at cabana at the Golden Nugget near Fremont Street but by the time I’d made my mind up they’d sold out. The Golden Nugget is one of the few hotels with a water slide, and it actually goes through their shark tank so would impress any teens.
But instead, we chose to spend the day at Cowabunga Bay water park and we all had a blast! We got there early, in the front of the line for the 11am opening. We put our valuables in a locker (payable separately), bagged some sunbeds and headed off for the boomerang slide.
The water at the slides is chilly, to say the least, but the main pools are heated at this time of year. There’s a wave pool, a lazy river and various slides and flumes. We tried most of them and there’s something for everyone; some are gentle and some are hardcore!
You can’t take your own food or drink into Cowabunga Bay but you can exit the park and return at any time if you have a picnic in your car. We bought the refill cups which worked out great value for money, and had pizza, chips and a hummus plate for lunch, all of which were very tasty.
If you go to Cowabunga Bay from Las Vegas then use Uber or Lyft, as normal taxis are extremely expensive. The extremely helpful Bobby, from Guest Services, told us that some people had paid $100 for a one way trip! Our Uber was around $22 each way.
I would highly recommend a day at Cowabunga Bay if you’re in Las Vegas with teens as it’s perfect for the whole family.
New York New York’s Big Apple Rollercoaster
Although my teenage son isn’t a fan of rollercoasters, many teens will be keen to give this one a try, so my husband and I tested it out!
Although the queue moved quite quickly, we were still waiting for around an hour (and if we’d realised this beforehand we maybe wouldn’t have bothered). What’s handy is that the entrance is in an amusement arcade, so we could load up some credits on a card so our son could play on the games while he waited for us.
Each ride has around 30 people on it so that explains why the queue moves quite quickly. First of all you go slowly up, cranking along the track, going higher and higher. My husband isn’t a huge fan of heights (although he loves rollercoasters!) so was getting whiter by the second. Then once you get to the top it’s then a minute of pure adrenaline. I screamed the whole way around, getting flung in every direction including upside down.
It was insane, and not for the faint-hearted, but perfect for thrill-seeking teens!
Zipline down Fremont Street or Linq Promenade
If your teens are thrill seekers then they could try one of the Las Vegas ziplines.
The one at Fremont Street is great at night, but be warned that there’s a lot of hanging around, even if you book in advance. To be honest, that put me off and this is something I’d really wanted to do. However, it’ll be top of my list the next time we come!
There are also ziplines at the Linq Promenade, the only zipline on the Strip. It’s not cheap though, at around $40 for one ride. There are group discounts if there are a few of you, but still $30. But it looks like great fun and especially for teenagers who are looking for something with a wow factor.
Eiffel Tower Experience
My teenage son was keen to see the Strip from above, so we booked tickets for the Eiffel Tower Experience at the Paris Hotel.
I was torn whether to go during the day or at night, and we ended up going around 6pm as the sun was getting low.
We got to the top just as the fountain show started at the Bellagio. We were too high to hear the music but it was exciting to see the water jets, and incredible to see how high they went – almost to the top of the Bellagio itself.
Booking.comWe then spent half an hour looking at the views from every direction. It wasn’t busy at the top, but apparently gets quite crowded after dark.
The tower is half the size of the real one in Paris, and couldn’t be any higher due to its proximity to the airport. It’s pretty high though, and my stomach was doing somersaults as we looked down!
One tip is to take a photo from the small holes in the floor – they give you some perspective on how high about street level you are!
We bought our tickets at a discount with Get Your Guide too.
Mob Museum
The Mob Museum is in downtown Las Vegas not far from Fremont Street. It’s very interactive and is great for teenagers to learn about the history of the mob, including how they were influential in the rise in popularity of Las Vegas. It covers prohibition and all the different ways they earned money. There were some great exhibits, videos and helpful staff who are keen to answer any questions.
You can walk up and buy admission but do check online for discounts. You can also buy tickets from Get Your Guide and it’s often included in City Tour tickets which bundle different attractions, often saving money compared with paying individually. Check out your options here.
Neon Museum
Vegas is synonymous with neon signs and where better to learn more about their history than the Neon Museum. A short hop from the Downtown district, we used an Uber to get there from Fremont Street as we’d been advised it’s not an area you’d want to wander around, and also is the other side of the freeway.
The museum’s tour guides are brilliant at explaining the history of each type of sign, and give you plenty of time to take photos. You can’t retrace your steps so make sure you get the photos you need as you pass each sign. The biggest, and most impressive sign, is the Hard Rock Cafe guitar, which can be seen for miles around.
What was really interesting is that one of the vintage Vegas exhibits is a massive skull, which has to be laid down because it would otherwise break. But you can actually see the front of the skull from a satellite view on Google Maps! Check it out here : Link to Google Maps – switch to satellite view and zoom in.
Most people say it’s best to go in the evening when you experience the full effect of the neon lights. We went at twilight, and it’s true that the signs look better as it gets darker.
Count’s Kustoms and Welder Up
If your teens are into cars or you just fancy doing something away from the strip which is super-cheap then check out WelderUp or Count’s Kustoms.
Both have been featured in TV series and are custom car places which have their work on display and they are great places to spend an hour or so. Both are located on roads set back from the strip, behind the Circus Circus / Fashion Mill areas. What we did was get an Uber from our hotel to Welderup and then walked from there to Count’s Kustoms.
Welderup is $5 per person and features rat-rod cards and other vehicles including Evel Kneivel’s car and racing motorbike as well as a Batman car.
Count’s Kustoms is free to enter and there are cars, vans and custom motorbikes to look around. You can’t get too close but it’s great to see some top custom vehicles all under one roof.
If you have a teenager who’s interested in cars or vehicles then I’d highly recommend Welderup and Count’s Kustoms to spend a couple of hours and they’re both great value for money.
Where to stay in Las Vegas with teenagers
Many hotel rooms in the big hotels have two big double beds, so you could share a room with your teen. However, we wanted to be able to have privacy from our son, and him have privacy from us, so chose to stay at the Jockey Club Resort Suites where a suite has a separate bedroom and living room with sofa bed.
This is a view of the Jockey Club from the Bellagio walkway, and you can see the two towers of the Cosmopolitan Hotel behind it.
The Jockey Club is an absolutely perfect place to stay in Las Vegas with a teenager, for these reasons:
- It’s great value for money
- It’s in the middle of the strip next to Bellagio, so very convenient
- If you’re lucky (like we were) you’ll get a strip view – we could watch the Bellagio fountain show from our beds!
- You get a big double bedroom plus sofabed in the lounge area
- There’s a kitchen with everything you need including cooker, dishwasher, microwave and fridge freezer
- There are laundry facilities on each floor
- It has a small pool and you also have free access to the Cosmopolitan’s pool
- It has a small shop for essentials like milk, juice, cereal and bread which means you can have breakfast in your suite to save some money
I really can’t praise it enough – it’s really quiet and such great value for money. Here’s a link to the Jockey Club Resort Suites to see if it would suit you too,
Check availability for Las Vegas
You can check out other places to stay here, to compare whether it’s better to get a shared room, separate rooms or a suite like ours.
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Best thing ive done in vegas
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