Viva Las Vegas to see world in one city

Think Las Vegas. Think gambling, glamour and the Mob. Think fastest-growing 24-hour city on the planet, writes Daniel Bentley.

And then think of the 10-hour flight to get there from Britain, arriving there bedraggled and ready for bed rather than the roulette table.

The East Anglia countryside might seem an unlikely starting point for a rock 'n' roll trip to Las Vegas, although the Elvis impersonator helps set the scene.

But it is now possible to catch an all-business class service from Stansted to the ultimate party city of excess, and I jumped at the chance to sample it.

When your destination is Las Vegas, this is surely the only way to travel.

MAXjet, which has been transporting business travellers between Stansted and New York JFK since November 2005, is now flying direct to the entertainment capital of the US.

This is remarkable not because there is any shortage of business travel into Las Vegas, but because MAXjet's service comes for the not-so-princely sum of £999 return.

The biggest difference is the seating. Take a normal passenger jet, strip out all the seats and put in half as many as it was designed for and that is what you get with MAXjet.

Their Boeing 767s would normally carry about 200 passengers, but because MAXjet is all business class, they have converted their fleet so that they seat just 102.

There are unlimited drinks and snacks until you get there and the four-course gourmet meal is a dream compared to standard in-flight fare - you're even treated to china and proper cutlery.

All this is no bad thing when you're touching down in Vegas, serenaded through arrivals by yet another Elvis impersonator.

But even Elvis Mark One, the King himself, would be hard pressed to prepare you for the contrast from humdrum airport terminal to the Strip.

Las Vegas Boulevard - with its cacophony of sights and sounds, its concentration of neon lighting and vertiginous hotels - is as much of a culture shock as I can imagine in an English-speaking country.

Truthfully, there is no escaping that Las Vegas is a bit of a fraud. Nothing is real. Wandering down the Strip you can take in the Eiffel Tower, the Sphinx and the Colosseum, all within about 20 action-packed minutes.

It all looks highly impressive, especially at night when the Strip is like a beacon set against the barren Nevada desert. Purists might point out that none of this is as quite as impressive as the originals and that in the light of day, parts appear a teeny bit plastic.

But simple fact is that, taken together, it's an awesome assault on the senses and merely walking around can feel like a high-octane adventure.

A hundred years ago, Las Vegas didn't exist. Now its population is racing upwards of two million as it expands into the desert. This growth has resulted from the city's single-minded pursuit of entertainment heaven.

Every new development along the Strip is designed to put the last in the shade, so that it is constantly outdoing itself in ensuring that millions of visitors continue to pile in.

The result is big and brash. London looks thoroughly quaint by comparison.

Everything revolves around the hotels, which hold thousands of people at a time and accommodate casinos where in any other town there would be a reception. Only in Las Vegas do the restaurants and rooms in a hotel feel incidental to the main focus: gambling. All are designed so that you have to walk through the casino areas to get to your room. The one, newest hotel which has broken this rule is now, apparently, paying the price in turnover.

Nipping out to fetch a morning coffee means negotiating the slot machines and blackjack tables, busy even at 9am.

Even if gambling is the heartbeat of the hotels, however, many remain incredible for their detailed themes.

Wandering around the Venetian, for example, the painted ceilings are hardly Caravaggio. But the sheer size and attention to detail more than justify the project.

The skyscrapers of the faux Manhattan area must be half the height of the originals, but when they are a short crowded walk from a Sphinx in front of a pyramid they assault the senses just the same.

Newer developments are shying away from the themed hotels, but Venice, New York and Egypt are here to stay.

If you're going for the slot machines, remember that the lower end of the market is probably as much fun on Brighton Pier. The difference here is that the casinos never close and a tiny minority can walk away with million-dollar jackpots.

But it's what goes with the gambling that's most exciting - while the one-cent slot machines exude little glamour, there is a more sophisticated side to Las Vegas that requires exploration. Superb restaurants, designer shopping and luxury spa treatments abound.

And then, of course, there are the shows.

I saw Cirque du Soleil's Love, the famous troupe's 21st Century tribute to The Beatles, which alone is worth a trip. And what Las Vegas offers in millennial commercialism, the Grand Canyon - over the state border in Arizona - matches it in natural wonder.