Media Contacts:
Chris Moran or Bethany Drysdale
775-687-4322 or media@TravelNevada.com
www.TravelNevada.com
Updated July 2011
Overview of Nevada
Venture beyond Las Vegas to experience surprising attractions
Nearly everyone in the world has heard of Las Vegas. Hundreds of millions of people
have visited the Entertainment Capital of the World, enjoying the resort hotels, nightlife,
gourmet dining, designer shopping and scenic wonders. But what’s to be found beyond those
dazzling city lights, in the rest of Nevada?
In a word, plenty. Nevada is vast — America’s seventh largest state among 50 — and
also claims the distinction of being the most mountainous, with at least 314 ranges and peaks. Its
made-for-adventure landscape is part of the great American West, with forests, rivers, lakes and
awesome vistas that enable a traveler to see mountain ranges 50 miles to 100 miles (80
kilometers to 160 kilometers) in the distance.
Nevada is a desert state, and most of the towns north of Las Vegas are at 4,000 feet to
6,000 feet elevation and higher, where climates are cooler and scenery greener than in the
southern part of the state. Charming historic mining towns with Old West ambience await the
curious visitor, guest ranches welcome those who want to step into the boots of a cowboy for a
few days, and resort hotels beckon with bright lights, 24-hour dining, and, of course, Nevada’s
famous casino entertainment that’s always in operation.
Many of Nevada’s towering mountain peaks live up to the state’s name, which is Spanish
for “snow capped.” Between the mountain ranges are picturesque valleys, perhaps with
sprawling ranches and grazing cattle, fields of crops such as alfalfa, or covered with sagebrush,
Nevada’s state flower.
Reno and Lake Tahoe
Nestled against the foothills of the magnificent Sierra Nevada mountain range that
divides Nevada and California lies Reno, the state’s second-largest metropolitan area. Reno is
different in climate, culture and geography from Las Vegas, which is 446 miles (718 kilometers)
to the southeast, but shares the amenities of resort hotel-casinos that offer gourmet dining, spas
and round-the-clock entertainment.
Visitors to Reno and its neighboring city of Sparks can choose from a wide variety of
activities and attractions, such as skiing and snowboarding down the snowy slopes of the Sierra
Nevada, hiking mountain trails through forests of tall pine and meadows of wildflowers, cruising
the cobalt blue waters of nearby Lake Tahoe on a paddle wheel boat or teeing off on a
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Media Contacts:
Chris Moran or Bethany Drysdale
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www.TravelNevada.com
championship golf course. Less vigorous choices include pampering yourself at a spa or
browsing shops and museums before enjoying a gourmet meal, taking in an exciting show or
trying your luck in the casinos.
Reno also is home to Nevada’s first whitewater park, the Truckee River Whitewater Park,
in the downtown area. The popular park offers a half-mile of frothy rapids for kayak fun and is
open free of charge. The river attracts whitewater rafting enthusiasts in spring and early summer
when snowmelt plumps up the rapids. Whitewater tours are available in Reno.
Lake Tahoe, which straddles the Nevada-California state line, is the third deepest lake in
North America and a superb year-round mountain playground only 45 minutes from Reno by car
or motorcoach. It is home to one of America’s prime ski resort areas, with 15 downhill and 10
cross-country resorts. After a day on the slopes, visitors have abundant dining and nightlife
choices at hotel-casinos on the Nevada side of the lake. Shopping and sightseeing opportunities
are plentiful, and there’s a new ski village on the south shore that features stores, cafes, an ice
rink, movie theater and the Heavenly Gondola, which carries passengers up the 10,000-foot
mountain, stopping along the way to let sightseers experience awesome 360-degree views of the
lake and surrounding valleys from a circular platform.
Nevada’s Capital City
Carson City, Nevada’s capital, 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Reno, is a picturesque
town with a stately sandstone capitol building and silver-colored dome, appropriate for the rich
silver mining that helped make Nevada famous a century ago and inspired its nickname, the
Silver State. Visitors can walk along the Kit Carson Trail, a blue line on the sidewalk that guides
pedestrians through the historic district, where they can see Victorian-style homes and mansions
from the 1800s beneath stately cottonwood trees and learn about prominent public figures who
once lived there.
Attractions include the Nevada State Museum, which houses displays of vintage slot
machines, wild animals, American Indian crafts, gold and silver coins from the days when the
building housed the Carson City Mint, a reconstructed ghost town, a mine shaft to walk through
and much more. At the nearby Nevada State Railroad Museum, train enthusiasts can see steam
engines and railroad cars more than a century old and displays of memorabilia. Rides aboard a
steam train are available on certain days round the museum grounds. Visitors also can take a ride
on the historic Virginia & Truckee Railroad, which offers rides from Carson City to the old
mining town of Virginia City, home of the Comstock silver mines. The railroad’s Carson station
is about 6 miles from the Nevada State Railroad Museum, on Flint Drive and U.S. 50.
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Media Contacts:
Chris Moran or Bethany Drysdale
775-687-4322 or media@TravelNevada.com
www.TravelNevada.com
Traveling Nevada
Travel in Nevada is convenient. International airports serving Las Vegas and Reno are
only a few minutes from resort hotels. Smaller communities, such as Elko, have regional or
municipal airports in town.
Two interstate highways, Interstate 80 and Interstate 15, and many U.S. highways,
including U.S. 50, crisscross Nevada. Roads outside major metropolitan areas and mountain
regions usually are not crowded and are nearly always dry, as Nevada receives the least
precipitation of any U.S. state. Even after a snowfall in the cooler northern part of the state, roads
dry quickly in the desert air.
Scenic Byways
Ten of Nevada’s most scenic areas are accessed by highways with such beautiful views
that they have been designated Scenic Byways. Travelers need not wait until they arrive at the
lake, mountain peak or special attraction to enjoy breathtaking scenery: just gaze out the window
of your vehicle as you drive along.
http://travelnevada.com/documents/guides/scenic_byways.pdf
Scenic wonders
Great Basin National Park in eastern Nevada, famous for its deep limestone Lehman
Cave tours and the tallest mountain peak in Nevada (Wheeler Peak, 13,061 feet or 3.98
kilometers), is Nevada’s only national park, and offers cave tours (bring a jacket, even in
summer), camping and panoramic views. It’s accessible from U.S. 50 and U.S. 93, which join
just east of the park, and is close to the border with the state of Utah.
Valley of Fire State Park, an hour’s drive from Las Vegas on Interstate 15, offers wildly
colorful rock formations in shades of red, purple, orange and yellow, paved roads for convenient
sightseeing and a visitor center with displays and gifts. It’s Nevada’s oldest state park.
Hoover Dam, about an hour’s drive from Las Vegas, is among the engineering wonders
of the world and not to be missed. This immense concrete wedge backs up the mighty Colorado
River that separates Nevada and Arizona and provides hydroelectric power. Visitors can learn
about its intriguing history and inner workings at the visitor center and cruise Lake Mead on a
paddle wheeler. On the way, stop at picturesque Boulder City, 23 miles (37 kilometers) east of
Las Vegas, which the U.S. government built during the Great Depression to house those who
worked on the dam. Casino gambling was not permitted there, and Boulder City remains the only
Nevada community that does not allow it.
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Media Contacts:
Chris Moran or Bethany Drysdale
775-687-4322 or media@TravelNevada.com
www.TravelNevada.com
Other things to see, places to go
It’s difficult to choose from Nevada’s amazing lineup of places to go and things to see,
but here is a small sampling.

Elko, known as the last real cowboy town in America, is famous for ranching and cowboys,
the Basque sheepherding culture, gold mining and off-road adventure in the towering Ruby
Mountains. The city is situated on Interstate 80 in Nevada’s northeast corner, 430 miles (692
kilometers) north of Las Vegas or 288 miles (463 kilometers) east of Reno. It offers an array
of lodging, dining, Western-wear shopping and rentals for off-road vehicles to explore the
mountains. Attractions include the Northeastern Nevada Museum, which features a fabulous
wild animal collection, and the Western Folklife Center, home of the National Cowboy
Poetry Gathering and western folklore.

Tonopah, the famed Queen of the Silver Camps, is where silver was discovered in 1900,
triggering a mining boom. Today, the landscape still is dotted with century-old head frames
from the days when miners dug silver fortunes from the ground. At the Tonopah Mining
Park, one can tour an original mine shaft and buildings and see ore samples and artifacts
from this historic era. Tonopah is on U.S. 95 at 6,030 feet elevation, just 209 miles (336
kilometers) northwest of Las Vegas.

Ely (pronounced E-Lee), one of Nevada’s historic copper mining towns on U.S. 50, is
famous for its railroad and museum, where one can ride the Ghost Train, an old steam engine
of the Northern Nevada Railway. More recently, the city has gained international notoriety
for a collection of murals that noted artists painted on downtown buildings to portray Ely’s
history and culture. Lodging and dining are plentiful and include the historic Hotel Nevada
and the Jailhouse Casino, which has a restaurant where patrons dine on steaks and other fare
in jail cells. Ely is at the junction of U.S. 93 and U.S. 50, just 242 miles (389 kilometers)
north of Las Vegas and 288 miles (463 kilometers) east of Reno.

Virginia City, once known as the richest city in the world for the gold and silver mined from
its hills in the later 1800s, is Nevada’s largest and most famous mining town, nestled into the
mountains 24 miles (39 kilometers) from Reno at an altitude of 6,200 feet. Walk the wooden
sidewalks past 1800s-era brick buildings that house Old West-style saloons, gift and souvenir
shops, cafes and museums. Listen to live performances at Piper’s Opera House or watch
costumed performers do a “shoot out” in the street with real pistols but fake ammunition.
For more information, visit www.TravelNevada.com.
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