Viva Las Vegas! A Visitor's Guide

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. If what the popular marketing slogan suggests is true, then how does a visitor find out what really is happening in Las Vegas while they're in town?

Las Vegas lives up to its billing as a playground for grown-ups. Here's a quick sampling of what the city offers to those who set aside just a couple hours from their busy conference schedules:

ARTS & CULTURE: The new Las Vegas Mob Experience at Tropicana Las Vegas boasts the largest collection of authentic artifacts, memorabilia, photos and videos of organized crime ever assembled. BODIES...the Exhibition at Luxor Hotel & Casino showcases 275 real human body specimens. The Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art includes works by Claude Monet, David Hockney and Roy Lichtenstein, among others.

SHOWS & NIGHTLIFE: Vegas lives up to its billing as the Entertainment Capital of the World. The Strip is home to productions by Cirque du Soleil (seven resident productions), Blue Man Group (Venetian) and Phantom - the Las Vegas Spectacular (Venetian). Elsewhere, the recently revamped Tiffany Theatre at Tropicana Las Vegas presents Yesterday: A Tribute to The Beatles. Le Rêve at Wynn Las Vegas features 70 performers who move in and out of a one-million-gallon pool. Catch Penn & Teller at the Rio.

FOOD: Las Vegas' is among the nation's top five restaurant cities, according to Bon Appétit magazine, with a handful of AAA Five Diamond award-winning restaurants, including Alex at Wynn Las Vegas, Guy Savoy at Caesars Palace, Joel Robuchon at MGM Grand, and Picasso and Le Cirque at Bellagio. Celebrity chefs abound, led by Mario Batali (B & B Ristorante, Enoteca San Marco at the Venetian), Bobby Flay (Mesa Grill at Caesars Palace) and Emeril Lagasse (Emeril's New Orleans Fish House at MGM Grand, Delmonico Steakhouse at the Venetian), to name a few.

GOLF: Las Vegas is a paradise for golfers, with more than 60 courses, among them the Badlands Golf Club designed by Johnny Miller and Chi Chi Rodriguez, a public 27-hole facility that was named one of Nevada's Top 10 golf courses. Bear's Best, designed by Jack Nicklaus, features replicas of his finest holes. The Las Vegas National Golf Club is one of the city's most historic courses. Wynn Las Vegas offers 18 holes of world-class golf right on the Strip.

SHOPPING: Crystals at CityCenter showcases an array of exclusive retailers, from Prada to Versace. Anchored by Barneys New York, the Shoppes at The Palazzo offers more than 60 luxury boutiques. Cobblestone walkways line The Grand Canal Shoppes within the Venetian.

And we're only scratching the surface. For more info, check out VisitLasVegas.com.