Hoover Dam

Hoover Dam remains the Southwest's most staggering piece of concrete: 726 feet of Depression-era engineering holding back Lake Mead, 45 minutes southeast of the Strip. The fact most visitors miss is that walking and driving across the dam crest and the Memorial Bridge is free, daily 5 AM to 9 PM. The paid ladder starts inside. A self-guided Visitor Center ticket is $15, and the guided Powerplant Tour, which drops you by elevator to the generator floor, is $25 for adults and $15 for ages 4 to 16, free for ages 3 and under. Parking in the Nevada garage is $10; some Arizona-side lots are free with a longer walk.

The $40 Guided Dam Tour is suspended. A Bureau of Reclamation notice dated August 19, 2026 states that unplanned elevator repairs have made Dam Tours unavailable until further notice, with no reopening date announced. The Powerplant Tour and the Visitor Center run normally, so the interior is still open, just shorter: an hour or two covers the exhibits and the generator floor. That also removes the old reason to be at the gate at 9 AM sharp, though an early start still beats the heat and the coach buses. Summer on the shadeless crest hits 110°F, airport-style security screens every visitor, wheelchair rentals cost $5, and the drive back rewards a lunch stop in Boulder City. The time-zone line runs mid-dam, so you cross into Arizona on foot. When Dam Tours return they sell on site only, first-come first-served, with a minimum age of 8 and no wheelchair access.