The jaw-droppingly impressive Hoover Dam is an easy day-trip from Vegas. Pitch up at the Hoover Dam Visitor Center (+18662918687, +17022943517, www.usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam) for tours.

The second most popular recreation spot in Nevada is Lake Mead: almost ten million visitors, most of them locals, come to its 550 miles of shoreline every year to sail, fish, swim, water-ski, camp, picnic and generally enjoy watery pleasures in the middle of the desert. It was created when the natural flow of the Colorado River was blocked by the Hoover Dam, and is certainly an incongruous sight. Meanwhile, a mere 20 miles west of Vegas are the cool, deep-cut canyons of the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. It’s a popular hiking spot all year round, and offers some of the best rock climbing in the US.

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