What good spots surrounding and hopefully above Las Vegas for snapping night time photos of the strip and the stars in the sky?

You have to travel to Henderson.

From the resort corridor, go south on LV Blvd past the Town Sq. Mall. Left lane and turn left on the I-215 east. Go to Henderson and exit is Green Valley Parkway. Stay in the right lane. Travel up the hill 2.5 miles.

First place is the Target mall parking lot with some great vistas of the Strip for photos.

Next get back on Green Valley Pkwy and continue the road become Sun Ridge Heights. Got two lights to S. Eastern Ave. Turn left at the light stay in the right lane and go up the hill. You will come to a light by a Nevada State Bank . Turn left and to the Bank lot. Again you will see some amazing views of the Resort Corridor.

Also any of the places where I indicated you will see stars and on some days shooting stars.

Las Vegas is flat. There isn't really anyplace "above" it. Once you are up in the mountains you won't be able to see the strip, but it's good to take pictures of the stars in the sky. On the strip try the Eifel Tower Experience, the High Roller, the top of the Stratosphere, or a helicopter tour for taking pictures of the strip. Off strip you would have to find a tall building. There are also some distance vantage points at Desert Inn and Durango in the Summerlin area and along the 215 in North Las Vegas.

There is so much light beaming from Vegas, you will unlikely get a pic of the Strip and the stars together.

But if you want good night pics of the strip go to:

215 Beltway and North Hualapai

Cheyenne and Simmons

Cheyenne and Clayton

Drive along East Lake Mead Parkway towards Lake Las Vegas, east of Henderson

There aren't any places close enough the see the strip that are high, but I watched the fireworks from my transmitter site on North Martin Luther King Blvd on the 4th. It was a great view of the city. That is up by Cheyenne Blvd. While my site is closed off there are a couple of places nearby that have good views. The stars are not easily seen due to all the lights from the strip and city.

You can't really see many stars in the sky in Vegas because of light pollution from the city. And, as you have been told, there are no mountains or hills close enough to see the city from nearby.

If you want to see stars you need to drive out to Death Valley. On clear nights when the moon is not up you can see the Milky Way and billions of stars all across the sky.

I would go to the top of Stratosphere or to Desert Breeze Park at Spring Mountain and Durango.