Top 5 Las Vegas Museums to Try for Your Next Visit

For travelers looking for fun, sun, music, tasty food, gambling, and entertainment, Las Vegas is a popular U.S. destination. While it is not back yet to pre-pandemic levels of tourism, the City that Never Sleeps welcomed over a whopping 32 million visitors last year.

While the Las Vegas Strip has many exciting shows and casinos to visit, the Vegas museums are also a must-see. Museums in Vegas are unlike anything else you will find across the globe. Many are unique in their subject, which makes witnessing their experiences something that you can only enjoy while visiting Sin City.

While there are many Las Vegas museums to enjoy, here are the top five you need to visit on your next trip.

1. The Mob Museum

When you visit Las Vegas, you must make a stop at this infamous Las Vegas Museum. Visitors love it because they get lost in it. An impressive collection, it showcases everything from Al Capone’s Tommy gun to the Valentine’s Day massacre.

The Mob Museum offers an unforgettable experience that includes original footage videos, artifacts, and narrative banners to provide guidance through their four floors of exhibits. Each floor gives tourists the most comprehensive history you can find to explain the history in America of organized crime and its impact.

This Las Vegas museum even tells the story of how organized crime created the city of Las Vegas into what it is today. You can see how Las Vegas could thrive with it while law enforcement shut other cities’ gambling halls down.

There is even a firearms training simulator and crime lab. To see it all, expect to visit this Las Vegas museum for at least three hours.

2. Shelby American Inc.

Several American cars have Las Vegas museums dedicated to them. However, Shelby American is the best! If you are not a car enthusiast, still do not skip this one.

The heritage showroom and stunning, shining cars will make anyone stop and stare. Plus, it pays homage to the legendary Carroll Shelby.

Any question you can think of about Shelby, an employee at the museum, can answer with a guided tour. It is a perfect opportunity to hear the exciting tales of the Le Mans races with Shelby vs. Ferrari. Afterward, the merchandise shop is almost as big as the showroom and worth checking out.

3. BODIES | The Exhibition

If you are a science buff, this is the Las Vegas Museum for you. The human body is complex, and BODIES captures it all, with thirteen human bodies preserved and shaped to show every piece of the human body. They even show the nervous and circulatory systems.

You do not have to be a scientist to enjoy it, and if you are not a science expert, you will learn plenty while visiting this Las Vegas Museum. Since it is for educational purposes and shows such detail, including how a disease can affect your body, it is best for teens and older. It may be too real for children.

4. Pinball Hall of Fame

Can you guess what this Las Vegas Museum has? Did you say, “Pinball machines?” Ding, ding, ding!

You are correct.

Consistently maintaining its ranking as one of the top Las Vegas Museums to visit, it boasts the largest pinball machine collection. Some pinball machines are popular, and some are extremely rare, while others date back as far as the 1950s.

The Pinball Hall of Fame is a 25,000-square-foot building next-door neighbor to the historic sign, “Welcome to Las Vegas.” There is no admission fee, and you can play one of the hundreds of their pinball games on a pay-per-play basis.

5. The Atomic Museum

This historic science and education institution also referred to as the National Atomic Testing Museum tells visitors the story of the nuclear weapons testing program in America at the Nevada Test Site.

Lessons from both past and present are revealed here so that attendees can better understand the impact. Nuclear testing affects the world, which is why nuclear deterrence is important. The Atomic Museum delves into the geo-political history of atomic testing.

The goal of visiting this Las Vegas Museum is to understand and appreciate the world you live in. You will see some of the rarest artifacts on the planet as it relates to America’s atomic testing program.

Atomic Museum Artifacts

This is the only museum where you can actually see a big nuclear reactor that took part in the development of a nuclear rocket, besides Genie, the first air-to-air missile. This 8,000-square-foot Las Vegas Museum includes exhibits where you can see personal atomic weapons. The idea was to replace traditional weapons like the Davy Crockett Weapon System and the Backpack Nuke.

From the technological advances back through the Atomic Age culture, the Atomic Museum displays 70 years’ worth of nuclear testing for attendees. A piece of the Berlin Wall depicts the end of the Cold War.

Visit Vegas Museums

The City That Never Sleeps has something for everyone. However, no matter how many live shows and casinos there are, you don’t want to miss Vegas museums because you cannot see anything like them anywhere else.

History teaches us a lesson. Understanding our past helps people to realize previous mistakes, learn from them, and to prevent them from happening again. You learn from history to help build a brighter future.

The Atomic Museum is a tremendous display of history and facts to help people learn how to build a better path forward. Plan your visit to the Atomic Museum now.