I had some free time this evening, so I decided to go check out Arte Museum Las Vegas at CityCenter on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada.

My ticket was US$45.00, which included admission to the museum and a drink at the Arte Café experience. That was after a US$10.00 locals’ discount for being a Las Vegas resident; those without a Nevada identification would need to pay US$55.00 for the same access.

To put it simply, the Arte Museum was a light show experience with a combination of visuals, sounds, and scents. There were a bunch of different rooms, and although not many of them were literally interactive per se, it was interactive in the sense that you could immerse yourself into the exhibits and feel fully surrounded by the varying kinds of stimulation.

The first room was called “Waterfall Infinite.”

The second area was called “Flower.” This had a few subsections: “Rose,” “Roses – Vincent van Gogh,” and “Camellia Underwater.”

Next was “Whale,” a dancing whale surrounded by the waves of the sea. I’m not sure if this was an intentional part of this room or if it was just a coincidence, but I believe even the walls were shaking and vibrating in this room in synchronization with the crashing waves.

Down the hall and through an aisle in the corner was “Star: Raindrops,” a collection of color-changing paper lanterns of different sizes hung at different heights.

Outside of “Star” was “Giant Camellia,” another flower display, but all my photos of it somehow unfortunately came out blurry, so that is unpictured here. Next to “Giant Camellia” was “Live Sketchbook: Light Safari,” an interactive exhibit where you could draw and scan animals to make them appear on the screen.

The path led up to the upper floor where I entered “Starry Beach.”

The room I spent the most time in was “Garden,” a large space with screens or mirrors on all the walls, floors, and central structures. “Garden” had three different displays on rotation: “Threads of Connection,” “Beach Aurora,” and “Light of Las Vegas.”

As the series of museum exhibits neared the end, it was time to take a short break at the café. As part of my extended access ticket, I was able to order a free drink, so I selected the seasonal lavender milk tea. I enjoyed my drink at a special table with a projector overhead that detected and followed my drink cup around with a label containing my name.

The final display was “Jungle: Glow.”

They turned the exit of the museum into an exhibit as well—it was called “Sunset” and showed the transition of colors throughout sundown as you descended the stairs.

Each of the major rooms had a special scent tied to it to make patrons’ experience more immersive. Not many museums take advantage of all your senses like Arte Museum does, and that was one of my favorite aspects of this museum. After descending “Sunset” and making it into the gift shop, I was pleased to find that the scents used in the rooms were actually for sale, so that if there was one you particularly liked, you could bring it home with you.

I think US$55.00 for a non-locals ticket for the full experience is very pricey. I obviously don’t know what their finances look like, so maybe there are enough visitors that the steep pricepoint is justifiable, but compared to other museums I’ve been to, US$55.00 seems pretty high. I went on a weekday two hours before closing time and spent an hour and a half going through everything, and it was relatively empty and peaceful.

If you want this kind of experience, then a show at the Sphere may be something to also consider and research—even though it won’t have the scents and the movement-based interactivity and immersion, the light show aspect will be comparable.

With that being said, I had a good time at Arte Museum. I think the photographs I shared here don’t really do it justice, because they’re all zoomed out as far as my camera would let me go; in-person, the displays tower over you and truly make you feel surrounded.

As a side note, if you end up visiting, make sure to actually experience the exhibits in full. The animations and light shows are on a cycle and they have a beginning and end; I saw a lot of people casually walking through the exhibits without seeing the whole thing, so if you want maximum value out of your ticket, make sure you stick around until you’ve watched the full loop for each room.