Things to do in Reno, Nevada: The Biggest Little City
Things to do in Reno, Nevada: The Biggest Little City was originally published in 2026
I’ll be honest, I didn’t know what to expect in Reno. About a year after my parents decided to pick up their lives from southern Nevada, I made the initial trip over from Salt Lake City, where I had been based (ish) for a couple of years.
My assumption was that it would feel like the smaller, slightly less chaotic cousin of Las Vegas. But standing under that glowing arch for the first time, with the Sierra Nevada rising quietly in the background, you realize Reno isn’t trying to compete. It’s doing its own thing up here in northern Nevada.
Reno is a place shaped by silver rush dreams, railroad expansion, and a long-standing love affair with neon and casinos. Lately, Reno has been rewriting its identity. It’s artsy, outdoorsy, a little gritty, and unexpectedly cool. Think desert energy meets mountain escape, with a side of espresso-fueled creativity.
If you’re here for more than just slot machines, you’re about to have a really good time.
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Biggest Little City First Impressions
The heart of Reno beats around the Reno Arch and the nearby Truckee Riverwalk. This was the area I started my exploration of Reno from.
The cool part about Reno is that it’s quite compact, with most destinations around downtown being easily walkable for the reasonably fit. By the end of the self-guided walking tour I created for myself, I’d clocked about 4 miles round trip— and that was not being well-planned and having to cross-cross over my path a few times.
Where to Stay in Reno
Casino Resorts
- Silver Legacy Resort Casino
Right in the heart of Downtown Reno, with everything in one place. - Eldorado Resort Casino
Also in the middle of Reno, with all amenities here: nightlife, dining, and zero effort planning.
Boutique + Local Feel
- Whitney Peak Hotel
Sleek, modern, not focused on gambling, and right downtown. Also has a literal climbing wall on the outside of the building (the largest climbing wall in the world, actually).
Budget-Friendly
- Circus Circus Reno Hotel & Casino
Slightly chaotic energy, but affordable and central.
The Best Things to Do in Reno
Reno Arch
The Reno Arch is the gateway to Reno, and your warm welcome to the ‘world’s biggest little city’. It’s bold, unapologetically retro, and still iconic. At night, it glows in full neon glory, and there’s always someone snapping a photo beneath it.
The city has threatened to ‘modernize’ the Reno Arch, but luckily, the possibility was shot down in early 2026.
Take a Reno Ghost Tour
Discover the darker side of the “Biggest Little City” on a one‑hour, one‑mile nighttime walking ghost tour through downtown Reno. Departing nightly from the historic Lake Mansion, the tour cuts beneath the neon to explore Reno’s past of gunfights, murders, unsolved mysteries, and lingering spirits.
Along the route, you’ll visit some of Reno’s most notoriously haunted sites, including:
- Lake Mansion — a 19th‑century home with a “bloodstained past” that remains restless no matter how many times it’s been moved.
- Levy Mansion — long considered one of Reno’s most haunted houses, where several people have died within its walls.
- Washoe County Courthouse — site of Reno’s first and only public execution, still associated with the ghost of the condemned J.W. Rover.
Our guide, Paul, wove together the city’s Silver Rush origins, mob history, tragic crimes, and unexplained deaths, revealing the shadows behind Reno’s glittering façade.
Tours run nightly.
Truckee River Walk
The Truckee River cuts right through downtown Reno, and the River Walk turns it into a space that feels almost peaceful (despite all the haunted things mentioned above on the things to do in Reno list). In the summertime, kayakers navigating the rapids, tubers on leisurely floats, and people lounging along the banks are a common sight.
The Old Reno Main Post Office & the Basement Reno Shops
The Reno Main Post Office is a 1933 Art Deco landmark designed by Nevada architect Frederic J. DeLongchamps. Clad in beautiful aluminum detailing on the interior with the old post office boxes still on display, it blends Art Deco and “Starved Classical” design in one of downtown Reno’s most distinctive historic buildings.
Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990, the former federal post office was converted into a mixed‑use space after 2012 and now houses offices, retail, and The Basement marketplace, preserving its architectural character while giving the building a new life along the Truckee River. Don’t miss the highly-rated soul food restaurant in the basement, Papa What You Cooking?
Washoe County Courthouse
The Washoe County Courthouse became one of Reno’s most iconic landmarks because of its central role in the city’s early‑20th‑century divorce boom. Nevada’s uniquely liberal laws, especially its short residency requirement, made Reno the “Divorce Capital of the World,” and most of those cases were processed right here inside the Washoe County Courthouse. In 1931 alone, more than 4,800 divorces were granted in northern Nevada, with divorcing spouses spending an estimated $5 million a year in the city.
Completed in 1911 and designed by architect Frederic J. DeLongchamps, the courthouse quickly became a symbol of the world’s biggest little town. Writers of the era called its front steps “the great divide,” where couples arrived united and left legally separated. Owing to its divorce fame, in 1937, Life magazine’s cover even showed a woman kissing one of its columns in gratitude for her newfound freedom . Still functioning and in use today, the courthouse is a reminder of the era when Reno’s fastest‑moving industry was ending marriages.
Virginia Street Bridge
The Virginia Street Bridge is one of Reno’s most storied landmarks, best known for its role in the city’s divorce‑era ritual of tossing wedding rings into the Truckee River.
Built in 1905 and designed by San Francisco engineer John B. Leonard, the reinforced concrete double‑arch bridge became the symbolic heart of Reno’s identity as the “Divorce Capital of the World.” Newly divorced women exiting the nearby Washoe County Courthouse were said to walk straight to the bridge and throw their wedding rings into the river, a tradition so well‑known that it appeared in films like Reno (1939) and The Misfits (1961). Salvage divers have even recovered real rings from the riverbed, reinforcing the legend’s truth.
The bridge also has a darker chapter in its past. In 1891, on an earlier iron span at the same site, a vigilante mob seized Luis Ortiz, who had been jailed for shooting a police officer, dragged him to the bridge, and hanged him from its superstructure in one of Reno’s most infamous acts of frontier justice. Rumor has it that the ghost of Luis Ortiz is sometimes seen on the bridge late at night.
The 1905 bridge stood for more than a century and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, but structural and flood‑control concerns led to its demolition in 2015 and replacement in 2016.
Neon Line District Art Walk & Reno Murals + Art Installations
The Neon Line Art Walk is a stretch of downtown Reno that blends two of the city’s defining identities— Burning Man creativity and classic Nevada neon. Spanning part of West 4th Street, this evolving outdoor installation features rotating large‑scale Burning Man sculptures, restored historic neon signs, and interactive light displays, including the permanent Wind Wall, which shifts color with changing weather. It’s an easy, self‑guided walk, best experienced in the early evening when the neon glows and the art installations come alive.
Reno, in general, is an artsy town with heaps of colorful murals adorning buildings around town— old and new. Another not-to-miss sculpture is the Reno Space Whale, a beautiful piece created for Burning Man, now located along the Truckee River Walk at the former site of the Mapes Hotel.
Nevada Museum of Art
The building itself is striking, an all-sharp-lines, funky design. Inside, the exhibits lean heavily into themes of landscape, environment, and the American West.
“Engagement,” a sculpture by the late Dennis Oppenheim, stands at the street‑side entrance of the museum. Formed from two towering steel rings topped with house‑shaped ‘jewels,’ the piece is Oppenheim’s wry monument to marriage. It also nods to Reno’s own history as a place famous for quick weddings—and even quicker divorces.
Have a Haunted Beer at the Brewer’s Cabinet
The Brewer’s Cabinet is one of downtown Reno’s most talked‑about haunted spots, with staff stories and paranormal claims that have become part of local lore.
Staff at the brewery report dark figures, objects moving on their own, and an overall feeling that something is “off” in the building. Several employees say they refuse to go into the basement alone, citing footsteps, voices, and the sense of someone standing just behind them.
Upstairs, the story gets even stranger. The owner’s daughter once claimed she saw dead bodies lying on a couch in the attic, a vision that has become the brewery’s most persistent piece of ghost lore. Rumor has it that someone may be buried in the walls, though no historical evidence supports it, making it a classic Reno ghost‑story detail that refuses to fade.
Ghost stories aside, the Brewer’s Cabinet serves up excellent lunch and dinner, with an inventive cocktail menu, in addition to its famed brews.
Try Your Luck at One of Reno’s Casinos
You can’t come to Reno and not at least step inside a casino, even if you’re not gambling.
The main casinos in Reno are the Silver Legacy Reno, the Club Cal-Neva, Circus Circus, and the Eldorado.
Shops on Dickerson Road
Dickerson Road looks like a run of old warehouses at first glance, but this short stretch west of downtown has evolved into one of Reno’s most eclectic creative pockets. It’s home to Sierra Water Gardens, a cool little plant shop and gift boutique tucked inside an industrial building, and The Wedge, a ceramics studio known for bold, handmade designs.
A few doors down, Gloria’s Café anchors the street with an excellent brunch, while artist studios and small makers’ spaces fill the surrounding buildings. The mix gives Dickerson Road a distinctly DIY, under‑the‑radar feel, an unexpected blend of plants, art, and indie retail hidden in plain sight.
Sparks Marina Park
Sparks Marina, located just outside Reno in the city of Sparks, is a 77‑acre spring‑fed lake ringed by a two‑mile paved walking path, sandy beaches, and shaded picnic areas. It’s an easy, low‑key spot for paddleboarding, kayaking, swimming, or a morning loop with coffee in hand, with Lighthouse Coffee sitting right on the waterfront.
Surrounded by trees, open lawns, and views of the nearby mountains, the marina offers one of the region’s simplest ways to get outdoors without straying far from the metro area, a calm, accessible lakeside retreat minutes from downtown Reno.
Windy Hill Scenic Overlook
The name doesn’t lie. It’s windy much of the time. But the views are worth it. From up here, the landscape opens up in every direction, giving you a sense of just how vast Nevada and the surroundings of Reno really are. It also provides a great bird’s-eye view of why Reno earned its nickname.
Day Trip to Lake Tahoe
If Reno is the base, Lake Tahoe is the escape. Less than an hour away, Lake Tahoe feels like stepping into a completely different world. Crystal-clear water, alpine scenery, and that fresh mountain air that makes you question your life choices back in the city. Whether you go for hiking, swimming, or just to sit by the shore, it’s an easy yes.
Myself, I found the areas around Secret Cove, Sand Harbor, Bonsai Rock, and Chimney Beach to be the most stunning and within a feasible distance for a Lake Tahoe day trip from Reno.
Walking Map of Reno Sights
I’ve created a walking map of Reno. Do note that the outlier locations are pinned on the map but the walking route only focuses on the locations around the core of Reno.
Best Restaurants Bars in Reno
- Wild River Grille
Known for upscale American fare, craft cocktails, and one of the best outdoor patios in downtown Reno. - Papa What You Cooking?
A casual, family‑run spot serving hearty, home‑style comfort food with a rotating menu of crowd‑favorite specials. - Casale’s Halfway Club
Old-school Italian spot that’s been around since the 1930s. Feels like stepping into someone’s family kitchen. - Perenn Bakery
The pastries here are dangerously good. - Death & Taxes
Cocktail bar with a unique menu focusing on whiskeys. - Pangolin Café
Coffee, with a chill atmosphere and popular for their Turkish Delight.
Why You Should Visit Reno
Reno surprised me, and in a good way. It’s a little gritty, and it doesn’t try to be. But that’s kind of the point.
You get this weirdly perfect mix of neon nostalgia, mountain air, and a creative scene that’s still figuring itself out in real time. One minute you’re walking along a river watching kayakers, the next you’re in a casino at 2am questioning your life choices.
If anything, Reno feels like a place in transition. A city rewriting its story, from the once divorce capital of the world to a creative city beaming with funky art installations and laid back vibe.
Have Any Questions About Visiting Reno?
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