Las Vegas is the epitome of American culture. It's fast, open 24 hours a day, and dedicated to greed and excess. I try to visit this Mecca of the profane as often as possible. Good shows, good food, and gambling, lots of gambling. How could you go wrong?
The city's name is Spanish for 'the meadows'. It gets extrememly hot in the summer, being in the middle of a desert and all. Modern Las Vegas was started by Benjamin 'Bugsy' Siegel, who opened The Flamingo (now The Flamingo Hilton) on New Year's Eve 1946. It wasn't an immediate success, and Bugsy got whacked, but such is life.
Las Vegas is served by McCarran International Airport (airport code: LAS), located southeast of The Strip. The Strip, as Las Vegas Boulevard is known, contains most of the casinos in the city. They are:
I usually stay at The Rio, which is off the Strip, but has bigger rooms at better prices than most of the Strip hotels.
A note for the parents: Though there are a few kid-friendly hotels (Excalibur and Circus Circus spring to mind), Las Vegas is not generally a good place to bring the children, especially the younger ones.
A note for those who don't like children: Avoid Excalibur and Circus Circus like the plague.
List of Strip casinos from www.cheapovegas.com. Everything else from experience.