Sports
——
Why Las Vegas Should be a Stop on Your World Cup Tour
Got a ticket to the FIFA World Cup? Here’s how to upgrade your World Cup trip with a game and a trip to Vegas.
Your browser is not supported for this experience.
We recommend using Chrome, Firefox, Edge, or Safari.
Las Vegas isn’t hosting the 2026 World Cup, the first ever to be co-hosted by three countries—the United States, Canada and Mexico — but outside of the sure-to-be-packed stadiums in California and other top destinations where matches will be held next June and July, there’s one contest Las Vegas has already won: When it comes to watching sports, Vegas is basically unbeatable.
Got tickets to see the action at SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles, or Levi’s Stadium near San Francisco? Either way, you're barely an hour’s flight from the high-energy, 24/7 action in Vegas, where sports fans have a front row seat to all the matches at venues no other city can offer, like Stadium Swim at the Circa Resort—a six-pool complex with a theater-style, 40-foot-high HD screen, complete sports betting facilities and swim up bars, all open well into the night.
There’s Westgate Las Vegas, where the house sports book venue, SuperBook, features a giant 220-foot-by-18-foot 4K video wall and 350 seats. At the heart of the Las Vegas Strip, you’re never far from a larger-than-life screen, from the upscale setting at Wynn Las Vegas to multitasker-friendly Caesars Palace, where you could even play poker while you watch.
Stay a weekend, stay a week — you’ll never run out of viewing venues to try, each one all but guaranteed to be filled with your fellow excited fans. You game? Here’s how to make this once-in-a-lifetime experience happen.
With advance round-trip airfares from Los Angeles area airports like the SoFi Stadium-adjacent Los Angeles International (LAX), Burbank (BUR) and Long Beach (LGB) to Vegas starting at just $48 on airlines like Frontier and Spirit and flight times running around 45-50 minutes in the air, getting to Las Vegas from Southern California couldn’t be easier or cheaper. Want to arrive in style? Not-quite-private services like JSX, which leave from dedicated terminals and feature plush leather seating and personalized service on small jets, currently start as low as $149 to Las Vegas from Santa Monica Airport, also very near SoFi Stadium. Rental cars are also widely available in LA —often at attractive prices for one-way rentals to Las Vegas, with a drive that takes between 4-5 hours depending on where you leave from and the time of day or night.
Located in the San Francisco Bay Area, Levi’s Stadium is just ten minutes from San Jose International Airport, which offers nonstop service to Las Vegas in about an hour, starting at around $70 round-trip. Other major area airports with even more frequent service include San Francisco International and Oakland International, with similar starting rates. If you’re opting to drive, the trip from the Bay Area to Las Vegas takes between 8 and 9 hours. (Drive through the Yosemite Valley over the high-country crossing of Tioga Road and you’ll be rewarded with some of the country’s most amazing alpine views.)
Located at the foot of historic Fremont Street in Downtown Las Vegas, Circa Resort & Casino is a top choice for fans who want a one-of-a-kind front row seat to the matches, thanks to the year-round rooftop Stadium Swim club, with its multiple heated pools and 40-foot-high viewing screen. The action continues indoors with a three-story sports book complete with overhanging bar — the perfect spot for a group of friends who don’t want to miss a minute of the heart-pounding action.
On the Strip, Beer Park at Paris Las Vegas overperforms with not only multiple screens and 100 beers on offer, but also a full view of the world-famous Fountains of Bellagio across Las Vegas Boulevard, from the bar’s rooftop perch underneath our own Eiffel Tower. For more viewing venue inspiration, see Where to Watch the World Cup in Las Vegas.
Between matches, there’s a whole world to explore in one city. Racing fans can hit some of the greatest courses on the globe (including, of course, the Las Vegas Strip) at the F1 Arcade at The Forum Shops at Caesars Palace, the world’s largest of its kind, a two-story immersion experience with nearly 100 simulators, a champagne bar and an outdoor terrace.
Cozy up at Cosmopolitan’s hidden Japanese-style Ski Lodge, ride a roller coaster with a view of one of the world’s most famous skylines at New York, New York, whizz across our very own Lake Como at Bellagio on a 33-foot Riva yacht to dine on Italian-style seafood at Carbone Riviera, or disappear into a world of another kind at the Sphere, where crowds delight to the 4D Wizard of Oz experience, which splashes the beloved 1939 classic across a 160,000-square-foot interior screen.