Amazing Las Vegas bachelor party ideas that will rock your world

If you’ve ever harbored a Top Gun fantasy, well, grab your aviators, Maverick. Sky Combat Ace is the closest most of us will ever come to feeling the rush of a fighter pilot dancing through the skies. Book the Top Gun package, then get behind the controls and, with the aid of an instructor, undertake aerobatic maneuvers like torque rolls, tail spins and the hammerhead stall (that’s the one where the plane points up, stalls and drops backwards toward the earth). But don’t stop there: Sky Combat also offers air combat experiences, where you can ride along or pilot during simulated aerial dogfights and low level bombing runs.

Nightclubs don’t come more epic than those on the Vegas Strip, and the current king of the party landscape is Omnia, a 75,000-square-foot behemoth from Hakkasan Group that hosts top-tier musical talent like Calvin Harris, Nervo and Kaskade. Hit the main room dancefloor to bounce with the masses under a kinetic chandelier or splurge on a table and lay back in the cut while scantily clad servers ply you with Red Bull and vodka. When you need to catch your breath, step outside onto a terrace overlooking the Strip or slip into Heart of Omnia, a sexy lounge where the intimacy is contagious.

Solid ground is for suckers, especially when you have neighbors like the Grand Canyon, which stretches 277 miles long and plummets up to a mile deep in nearby Arizona. Seeing the natural wonder from the air is an unforgettable experience, but landing inside the canyon’s walls for a champagne toast and picnic snack is the icing on the proverbial cake. Hop a bird with Maverick Helicopters and cruise over the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead on your way to the canyon, then be back on the Strip in time for happy hour.

Las Vegas was a bit late to the craft beer revolution, but now that the movement has arrived it’s going gangbusters. Taste what the locals are cooking with a Downtown beer crawl. Your journey kicks off at the Arts District’s Hop Nuts Brewing, where the taproom pours 20 beers at a time, including house creations like Hop Hellion and Saizon de Lemondrop. Then mosey over to Banger Brewing for a free tour, taste signature brews like the El Heffe jalapeño hefeweizen or Perfect 10 American Pale Ale with a side of fully loaded Mexican fries. Finally, stumble over to local staple Tenaya Creek, where the taps pull year-round favorites, seasonals and guest pints from regional friends like Uinta and Crafthaus.

After years of aspiring to major league status, Las Vegas has finally joined the club this year with NHL expansion team Vegas Golden Knights. For those who clucked over how a hockey squad would draw with all the other entertainment options in close proximity, the answer is now apparent: really damn well. Seeing a Golden Knights game at the T-Mobile Arena isn’t just another hour of skating and sticking. It’s hockey a la Las Vegas, complete with celebs on the Jumbotron, “Viva Las Vegas” and a little extra glitz thrown in the mix. And when the puck stops spinning, you’re still on the Strip. Which might make a Golden Knights match the best pregame in town.

Cirque du Soleil’s enchanting spectacles have long been the dominant entertainment force on the Strip, but they’ve helped give birth to something a bit more… naughty. Absinthe is one part circus, one part pelvic-thrusting comedy show, performed inside an intimate spiegeltent, where the acrobats are often teetering above your head. The ring-leader Gazillionaire’s explicit jokes set the tone, but the performers steal the show with killer dance moves, high-wire daring and other acts that are equal parts astounding, arousing and just plain strange. You’ll laugh, you’ll gasp, you’ll uncontrollably blush. This ain’t your mama’s Vegas show.

The Strip takes its beef very seriously. It’s one of the only places in the country where you’ll find actual Japanese A-5 Kobe, and many steakhouses dry age their carefully sourced cuts to enhance tenderness and bring out the most robust flavor possible. At Carnevino inside the Palazzo, chef Mario Batali takes this practice to the extreme with the Riserva, select pieces of prime beef set aside to dry age anywhere from 180-240 days. The result is a supremely succulent hunk of cow that’s beefy and a bit funky, with umami flavors of foie gras and blue cheese. It’s not for everyone, which is good, availability is limited and you can’t reserve one in advance.