Within 24 hours of arriving in Las Vegas, my travel companion, Doug, and I lost a combined $600 on the blackjack tables. Though Doug was prepared to inflict more damage on himself, I was not. I’ve been to Sin City several times since I reached the legal gambling age, but have never done much more than bounce between the casinos and endless buffet lines and occasionally sleep. Inevitably, I lost money.

This time around, I was determined not only to empty my wallet on the tables, but also to appreciate some of the other attractions that only Las Vegas can offer. So when I met Sam, a balding guy from Monterrey, Calif., who happened to be standing outside my hotel (The Luxor, 3900 Las Vegas Boulevard South, 800-288-1000, www.luxor.com; room rates $69-$400), I decided it was the perfect opportunity to find out what tourists did in Vegas when they weren’t gambling – and maybe even get some tips. “Girls,” was Sam’s response. “Are you free right now?” he added. I hurried off, opting instead for the “Dueling Pianos.”

When I walked into the Piano Bar (Harrah’s, 3475 Las Vegas Boulevard South, 702-369-5000, www.harrahs.com), I found two men sitting facing each other, each with a set of keyboards encased in the shell of a grand piano. Catching the Dueling Pianos may sound like a corny diversion from the highs and lows of doubling down, but it’s certainly cheaper, and proved to be entertaining, too.

The show was something like MTV’s “Total Request Live” – Vegas lounge style. Audience members requested songs with bids starting at $5. Every so often, a new request scrawled on a piece of paper and attached to a higher bid would be dropped into a bowl and instantly change the tune.

The pianists, who also sang, showed off an impressive range – moving from Guns ‘n Roses’ “Live and Let Die” to Elvis Presley’s “Don’t be Cruel” to Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven.” The audience member who requested that last song with a $20 bill got more than expected – the classic was sung with the lyrics to “Gilligan’s Island.” Many audience members, who, I suspected, were mostly from the Midwest, chimed in.

The next morning, rather than visit our hotel’s predictable breakfast buffet, we went to the Omelet House (2160 West Charleston, 702-384-6868), a few minutes drive from the Strip. The restaurant is a favorite hangout of the comedian Rip Taylor, I was told by our waitress. “He’s not a nice person,” she whispered after taking our order. A fixture of the Las Vegas community since the late 1970s, the wood-paneled diner serves up huge offerings of comfort food – as comforting as food can be, that is, when you’ve just gambled away a thick wad of bills.

The fried zucchini ($6.29) was nicely crisp on the outside and juicy on the inside. We wolfed down huge omelets ($6.99) with kitschy names like “The Loch-Ness Monster” and “The Spartacus,” with a wide variety of fillings ranging from guacamole to Polish sausage. Our stomachs filled, we were ready for more punishment at the blackjack tables.

Off the Strip and unbeknownst to many out-of-towners are a bunch of local casinos that lack tacky themes and instead focus on good service and a homey atmosphere. On the recommendation of a cousin who’s a Vegas regular, we went to the Green Valley Ranch Casino (2300 Paseo Verde, Henderson, 800-6STATIONS, www.greenvalleyranchresort.com), a behemoth that’s been open for a few years, and is only a 20-minute drive from the Strip. It was as if we’d entered the “Cheers” bar – that is, if Ted Danson and his buddies had gathered in a casino rather than a bar. On the $25 blackjack tables, locals threw down bets of $500 or more a hand and knew the waitresses by their first names.

Starting at around midnight on the weekends, the hipster set gathers at the Whiskey (2300 Paseo Verde, 702-617-7560, www.mocbars.com), just downstairs from the Green Valley Ranch. The bar is the property of the Midnight Oil chain that also owns the Whiskey in New York; the candlelit minimalist interior made me feel like I was back in the Big Apple.

The best dinner we had was a few blocks off the Strip, at Simon Kitchen and Bar (Hard Rock Cafe Casino, 4455 Paradise Rd., 702-693-5000). Chef Kerry Simon, a protege of Jean-Georges Vongerichten, walked from table to table greeting guests as if he’d been expecting them all evening. He was charming and unpretentious. The fresh grilled tuna with wasabi mashed potatoes ($32) was excellent. Dessert ($8) was a whimsical combination of Rice Krispy treats and a chocolate cake resembling a Ding-Dong – an amusing finale to a very elegant dinner.

On my last day, I decided to visit Las Vegas’s newest attraction. The monorail had been shut down for several months because of a faulty door on one of the cars, but reopened in late December. The bumpy $3 ride was reminiscent of a trip to Queens on the 7 train – but at half the speed. A platform attendant at the MGM Grand Station told me she’d met tourists that had come from as far as Germany just to experience the Las Vegas monorail. I found this hard to believe, but then I was told that tens of thousands come here just to see Celine Dion perform. Vegas, I realized then, is a curious place, on or off the Strip.