Visiting the Neon Museum in Las Vegas is one of our favorite activities in Sin City. It’s a museum located in the oldest part of the city (Downtown) where they have a massive outdoor exhibition of some of the city’s most iconic neon signs. This museum salvages and restores many of the neon signs that are replaced by the large hotels and casinos.
As we’re telling you, visiting the Neon Museum is one of the best things to see and do in Las Vegas. In this post, we’ll share how our visit went and all the information you need to plan and make the most of your visit!
The true essence of Las Vegas isn’t found on the famous Strip with all the modern hotels we’re familiar with but in Las Vegas Downtown. It’s the oldest part of the city, where Hoover Dam workers spent their nights and spent what little money they had.
That’s why it’s no coincidence that the Neon Museum (also known as the Neon Boneyard) is located in this area. Hotels often change their neon signs (nowadays, LED lights) quite frequently, many of them every two years. Therefore, this museum collects many of them to add to its exhibition.
In this open-air museum, apart from learning more about how neon signs work and the history of Las Vegas, you can see many signs that were once part of the most famous hotels in Las Vegas, such as the Stardust or the Riviera.
The Neon Museum, affectionately known as the “Neon Cemetery”, is located approximately 15 kilometers from the center of Fremont Street Experience, far away from the hustle and bustle of the Strip and the tourist area of Las Vegas.
To visit the Neon Museum, we recommend going by private car or Uber since the museum is quite far from the more urbanized area, and security is not guaranteed…
The museum’s collection of neon signs began in 1996 when a non-profit organization decided to collect various old neon sign donations to preserve them and save a piece of Las Vegas history.
Since these signs that end up in the Neon Boneyard belong to businesses that have closed over the years, not all of them are in the best condition, so the association is dedicated to restoring them…
Currently, if you visit the Neon Museum, you can see 200 signs, and only 11 of them have been restored and are ready to function. The Neon Museum’s exhibition is set up like a U-shaped foreign trip, with various old signs stacked up. Among the signs you can see if you visit the Neon Museum are the famous neon Stardust or the Big Skull of Treasure Island, which is so large that you can even see it by looking at the museum through Google Maps satellite view.
One of the neon signs that tour guides like the most is the sign of the Hotel La Concha since the entrance for visitors in the form of several arches belonged to this hotel complex before its demolition.
When you visit the neon museum, you’ll notice that there’s no roof or ceiling on the neon signs. All the information on the sign. The neon lights of the museum are designed in such a way that they look like a collection of different types of neon lights from old hotels, restaurants, and pubs that have become part of Las Vegas history.
These neon lamps are not in the best condition after many years of use, and they’re all broken. That’s why the museum slowly restored them to preserve the city’s history.
We recommend taking a guided tour of the Neon Museum. as the self-guided tour offers only a view of many old metal signs without any explanations. The museum offers guided tours, and they are all in English.
If you’re a Spanish speaker, you’ll receive a small document with different explanations about the tour. We recommend that after the guide explains the neon sign, you stay at the end of the group to take a photo so that you can capture the neon sign perfectly.
Keep in mind that if you do this, you won’t have much time for taking pictures, as the group doesn’t allow for much time to go too far.
A visit to the neon museum is recommended if you are nostalgic for the essence of the beginning of Las Vegas, like vintage style, or you are an artist…
The museum is open every day from 9:00 AM to 11:00 PM.
The best time to visit the Neon Museum is in the morning or at night. Mornings are more recommended than afternoons since it’s always hot in Las Vegas, and mornings are cooler.
If you prefer to see the magic of the light pointers, it’s best to take the tour after sunset. Tours outside the museum may sometimes be canceled due to inclement weather, such as strong winds or thunderstorms.
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