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The Southwest

Lonely Planet's Best in Travel 2025

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Overview

Rugged. Beautiful. And fun. The Southwest is the ultimate playground, luring adventurers with red-rock canyons, Wild West legends and the kicky delights of green chile stew.

Attractions

Must-see attractions

  • LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - AUGUST 28: An exterior view shows the marquee at MGM Grand Hotel & Casino left of the Leo the Lion statue on the Las Vegas Strip amid the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) on August 28, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. MGM Resorts International will lay off 18,000 furloughed employees in the United States on Monday as the resort industry struggles to recover from the pandemic. The move was necessary since federal law requires companies to lay off furloughed workers after six months. Before hotel-casinos shut down in March, the company had 68,000 employees nationwide, including 52,000 in Las Vegas. MGM Resorts said laid-off employees could be brought back as business demand returns. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

    MGM Grand

    Las Vegas

    Owned by the eponymous Hollywood studio, the MGM Grand casino and hotel liberally borrows Tinsel Town's themes. Flashing LED screens and computerized…

  • USA, Arizona, Yavapai county. Sedona, View of Chapel of Holy Cross

    Chapel of the Holy Cross

    Sedona

    If you glance east when driving Sedona’s Red Rock Scenic Byway, a slender structure seemingly welded into the sandstone might catch your eye. Towering…

  • LAS VEGAS, USA AUGUST 14; Enormous Mandalay Bay Hotel Resort and Casino with beautifully landscaped entrance to modern architectural gold glass facade of building August 14, 2008, Las Vegas, USA

    Mandalay Bay

    Las Vegas

    Angular and glittering gold, massive Mandalay Bay flanks the far south end of the Strip. It's the first resort many visitors lay eyes on as they roll into…

  • LAS VEGAS - MARCH 15 : The Linq, a dining and shopping district and High Roller at the center of the Las Vegas Strip on March 15 2014 , The High Roller is the world's largest observation wheel

    LINQ Promenade

    Las Vegas

    Running between The LINQ Hotel & Casino and the Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel & Casino, the LINQ Promenade is a partially-covered outdoor pedestrian walkway…

  • LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - DECEMBER 21: Jupiter (L) and Saturn appear about one-tenth of a degree apart during an astronomical event known as a Great Conjunction to the left of The STRAT Hotel, Casino & SkyPod on December 21, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The planets, which remain about 450 million miles apart in space, have not appeared this close together from Earth's vantage point since 1623, and it's been nearly 800 years since the alignment occurred at night. The conjunction, which occurs on the night of the winter solstice by coincidence, has become known popularly as the "Christmas Star." The gas giants will not appear this close together again until 2080. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

    The STRAT Hotel, Casino and SkyPod

    Las Vegas

    Vegas has many buildings more than 20 storeys tall, but only Stratosphere (now officially The STRAT Hotel, Casino and SkyPod, but still 'the Strat' to…

  • Mob Museum

    Mob Museum

    Las Vegas

    The myth and mystique of mobsters from Bugsy Siegel to Al Capone get the museum treatment inside a hulking Downtown courthouse where real gangsters sat…

  • Red sandstone found in Sedona radiates in setting sun.

    Red Rock State Park

    Sedona

    Long before Sedona became a destination, only a handful of enterprising people had settled in this geological wonderland. The desert city sits at 4350ft…

  • A trail at the Palatki ruins in Sedona, Arizona

    Palatki Heritage Site

    Sedona

    When you wander beyond the urban edges of Sedona, the landscape reveals clues to the area’s evolution. Discover secret swimming holes, bridges shaped from…

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