Klemio
Hoover Dam
Up close the scale does the talking. The dam plugs the Colorado River where it cuts through Black Canyon on the Nevada-Arizona line, about 45 minutes southeast of the Strip near Boulder City. It was finished in the 1930s, it still makes power, and it still holds back Lake Mead. You can walk across the top, drop inside on a tour, or take it in from the bypass bridge above.
Photos: Martin D. Adamiker (CC BY-SA 4.0), Mickey Løgitmark (CC BY 3.0), Doc Searls from Santa Barbara, USA (CC BY 2.0), via Wikimedia Commons
An easy half-day from Vegas, and the engineering really does land in person. The visitor center and the views are enough for most people; pay for a tour only if you want to get inside the structure.
Worth it for
- Anyone who has ever wondered how a thing this size gets built and keeps running
- Breaking up the drive to or from the Grand Canyon area
- Going down into the tunnels and the powerplant rather than just looking from above
You can skip if
- You have two hours and would rather spend them on the Strip
- Your timing is tight, since the in-depth Dam Tour cannot be reserved and often sells out by midday
Tickets & tours for Hoover Dam
Which ticket should you buy?
What you see
The dam is a wall of concrete curving across a deep canyon, with the green water of Lake Mead on one side and the river running out below on the other. It stands more than 700 feet tall from the canyon floor to its crest, thick at the base and narrowing toward the top, so the scale only registers once you look down either face. You can drive or walk across the crest, peer over both sides, and read the displays at the visitor center about how it was built and how it works.
Above the dam, the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge carries the highway across the canyon. A pedestrian walkway on the bridge gives the classic overhead view of the whole dam, and it is free to walk out onto. Many visitors pair the bridge walk with the dam crossing.
Why it was built
Hoover Dam was built to tame the Colorado River, which used to swing between destructive floods and low flows that left downstream farms and cities short of water. Construction ran through the early to mid 1930s, carried out by a consortium of firms under a federal contract, and the project finished ahead of schedule. The result controlled the river, created Lake Mead as a vast water store, and added hydroelectric power for the wider region.
It was a defining public-works effort of its era, employing thousands of workers during the Depression and pushing concrete construction to a scale not attempted before. The crews placed concrete in interlocking blocks cooled by embedded pipes, because a single pour that large would have taken decades to set. The visitor center exhibits walk through that engineering story, which is much of what makes the stop more than just a viewpoint.
Tours
There are three ways in. The self-guided visitor center covers the exhibits and overlooks. The guided power plant tour takes you down by elevator to the generator room, where the turbines still turn out power, and includes a short look at the dam's history and workings. The longer guided dam tour adds tunnels and passageways inside the structure, including a vent that opens onto the downstream face, and it is sold on-site only, not in advance, so it can run out.
Interior tour slots are limited and the dam tour is first come, so arriving early in the day matters if you want to go inside. Bags are restricted on the tours, so travel light. The visitor center and tours run daily on a fixed schedule, with the last tour well before closing, and they close on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Even without a tour, the free crossing, the overlooks, and the bridge walkway fill an hour or two on their own.
Getting there and parking
Hoover Dam is about a 45-minute drive from the Strip, southeast on US 93 past Boulder City. There is no public transit, so you need a car or a guided tour. A parking garage on the Nevada side and some free lots farther out sit near the dam, with a fee for the garage, and parking fills on busy mornings.
Security checks apply on the approach, and large vehicles face restrictions. The dam straddles the state line, so the two ends sit in different time zones, worth noting when you check tour times. Many visitors combine the dam with a wider tour that also takes in Lake Mead or continues toward the Grand Canyon, since it lies on the route southeast, and a stop at the bridge parking area lets you walk out for the overhead view without paying the garage fee.
Hoover Dam: FAQs
About 45 minutes by car, southeast on US 93 past Boulder City, near the Nevada-Arizona border.
Yes. You can walk or drive across the crest of the dam, and a separate pedestrian walkway on the bypass bridge above gives an overhead view. Both are free.
The visitor center and power plant tour can be booked ahead, with limited slots. The longer guided dam tour is sold on-site only and can run out, so arrive early.
The visitor center and tours run daily, roughly 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with the last tour mid-afternoon. They close on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Confirm current times before you go.
Not by public transit. You need a car or a guided tour from Las Vegas, many of which also include Lake Mead or the Grand Canyon.
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