You will be picked up from your Las Vegas hotel in a luxury air-conditioned coach for your Mini Hoover Dam Tour.
With your English-speaking driver/guide you will drive along the winding and scenic road to the massive Hoover Dam.
Standing more than 700 feet high, and bridging the towering walls of the Black Canyon, Hoover Dam is a masterpiece of engineering. When it was built in 1935, it was the world’s largest dam and, although it has now been superseded, it is still an extraordinary achievement. Its designers struggled to overcome problems like the searing summer sun of the desert, the unpredictability of the raging Colorado River and the hazards of the great heights involved.
In 1935 the construction costs topped USD $ 49 million – USD $ 676 million in today’s dollars, a huge expense considering America was then in recession. Today, the great dam supplies Nevada, California, Colorado and Arizona with a significant proportion of their energy
At the Dam, you’ll have two hours to explore. You can check out the museum and the exhibit areas and see the power plant 500 feet down. You’ll have the chance to watch a movie on the dam’s construction (during which 114 men died), and see Oskar J.W. Hansen’s renowned sculptures on the Nevada side. These commemorate the building of Hoover Dam, and, in his words, “the building genius of America”.
At the Visitors’ Center you will see fantastic views of Lake Mead, the largest man-made lake in the US, and will have a chance to learn more about the mighty dam, or buy souvenirs at the gift shop.
At the end of your fascinating tour, you will be dropped back to your hotel in Las Vegas in time for lunch.