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Sam Morris / Las Vegas Sun
People enjoy the Flightlinez zip line at Fremont Street Experience on Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012.
Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013 | 2 a.m.
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When it comes to date night in Las Vegas, leave the five-star dinners and Venetian canal rides to tourists: According to a new study from the dating website HowAboutWe.com, locals prefer to ditch the Strip when it comes to first dates here.
HowAboutWe, which helps singles plan dates and activities with potential matches, recently conducted a survey of 1 million dates across the country planned through the website. Questions examined where first-date couples go and what they do, eat, drink, share and listen to and where the date continues.
According to the study, the top first-date destination for Las Vegas residents is the Calico Tanks Trail hike at Red Rock Canyon, followed closely by zip-lining and drinks at Fremont Street Experience.
Other popular date spots include Yard House for Belgian beer and truffle fries; the Bellagio for its art exhibits and live music in its South Garden; and the Ethel M Chocolate Factory for tours of its facilities and gardens.
Though Las Vegas may boast some of the world’s best steakhouses, the most popular date food for locals is vegetarian -- enjoyed at close to 30 percent of first dates -- making Las Vegas the only city in the country where meat-free meals took the top spot for food.
The survey found that most singles prefer to break the ice the old-fashioned way, with about 62 percent of first dates involving alcohol; in Las Vegas, beer won out for drink of choice (43 percent), followed by wine (34 percent) and liquor (23 percent).
Painting and drawing are the most popular first-date activities in Las Vegas (21 percent), followed by photography (12 percent), dancing (10 percent), bowling (8.5 percent) and board games (7.8 percent). Service-oriented dates also are favored by locals, who particularly enjoy spending time with furry friends at animal shelters.
For more information and to see how other cities across the country compare, check out an interactive “One Million Dates” infographic on HowAboutWe.com.
Follow Andrea Domanick on Twitter at @AndreaDomanick and fan her on Facebook at Facebook.com/AndreaDomanick.
Bagel Cafe is a great local place for food and atmosphere. Oscar Goodman has been here. They have great bagels too.
Author, I think you got caught up in some HowAboutWe self PR. Do you really think the survey was conducted? Board games? Animal shelters? -- on first dates? My god, use some common sense.
This looks like an advertisement for a dating site that is masquerading itself as a legitimate news article. Which it is not.
"Painting and drawing are the most popular first-date activities in Las Vegas (21 percent), followed by photography (12 percent), dancing (10 percent), bowling (8.5 percent) and board games (7.8 percent)."
What is this grade school?
It sound like a pitch to a horrible "dating site."
The reality is that who wants to spend a lot of money at some fancy strip restaurant for a first date. The person you take on the date may be a zero and who wants to waste a lot of money on some bozo.
I'm sorry but who in the heck is taking these surveys. I have never heard of anyone drawing or painting on a first date. Not to mention some of the other ridiculous stuff listed.
Alcohol-induced panting and drawing? This must be a joke of some kind.