Las Vegas travel guide

Get in

By car

Southern Californians crowd Interstate 15 every weekend going back and forth to Vegas. Expect this drive to be crowded and frustrating, unless you can come and go at off-peak hours. However, many find the 280-mile drive along the I-15 restful and scenic. Attractions along the I-15 include the towns of Barstow, California; Baker, California; the Mojave Desert; and small hotel-casinos at Primm, Nevada (at the California border) and Jean, Nevada. Those who traverse the I-15 should remember that they are crossing a desert, and should carry (and drink) ample amounts of water, especially on hot summer days where temperatures can reach 120 degrees F (48 degrees Celsius).

From east of Las Vegas, travellers typically drive on I-40 through Arizona, and then head north toward Vegas on US-93 in Kingman, AZ, before finally picking up I-15. This route will take you along Lake Mead and directly through the Hoover Dam area. Traffic at the Dam tends to be extremely congested and slow-going; usually the slowest part of an otherwise sparsely populated desert area.

By bus

Greyhound operates buses from Salt Lake City, Utah; Kingman, Arizona; and Los Angeles, California to Las Vegas.

By air

McCarran International Airport (IATA: LAS) [3] is served by many domestic and international air carriers. Discount air carriers serving LAS include US Airways/America West, JetBlue, and Southwest. As at most US airports, you can rent luggage carts for $3. MGM Grand properties (MGM Grand, and New York New York) and Harrah's Entertainment properties (Rio, Harrah's, Bally's, Paris, Caesars Palace, and Flamingo) offer check-in desks and luggage transfers at LAS. Getting from LAS to your hotel is accomplished by airport shuttle (Bell Trans, $3.50-$10); rent-a-car; taxi ($10-20); or limousine ($35). The taxi line is well organized, the city taxi dispatcher will direct you to a numbered space along the curb. You need not tip the taxi dispatcher. As in any city, you can be taken advantage of if the cab driver thinks you are naive or new to the city. Do not allow the cab driver to take you through the I-15 tunnel (an extra $10) or tell you the story about the "big accident" enroute to your hotel, if either of these happens take down the driver's hack license number and call the Nevada Taxi Commission.

By rail

Unfortunately, due to service cuts back in 1997, Amtrak does not have a route through Las Vegas anymore. There is a daily bus route from Needles, California to McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, with a stop in Laughlin, Nevada, is operated in concert with Amtrak's Southwest Chief [4]. Amtrak California's San Joaquins [5] route operates 2 buses daily to Las Vegas from Bakersfield, California as part of its service.

Get around

If travelling around the strip, walking is a reasonable option as hotel-casinos are found close to each other. In fact, in most cases, at least two hotels are connected to each other either by bridge or underground or in the case of Excalibur, Luxor and Malanday Bay, by a complimentary rail shuttle.

By public transit

The Las Vegas Monorail, +1 702 699-8200, runs on the east side of the strip with stops behind several of the hotels and at the Las Vegas Convention Center. It costs $5 one-way, $9 return and $15 for a one-day pass. Do the math before boarding, it could be cheaper for a small group to take a taxi. Because the monorail stops at the back entrance of the hotels, it takes a long time to wind through the maze of casinos, often taking 30 minutes to an hour to get from one point to another on the Strip - if you're in a hurry take a taxi. The monorail's carrying capacity of 4000 people per hour is woefully insufficient to handle the evening exodus from the larger conventions which have as many as 150,000 attendees. If you are visiting with a friend from Nevada and want to ride the monorail, consider asking them to buy your fare. By showing a Nevada State ID or Clark County Sheriffs Card (issued to all hotel employees) they qualify for the locals fare of $1, this can be purchased from the customer service booths located at each station.

The city bus line, Citizens Area Transit (CAT), +1 702 228-7433, operates 49 routes throughout the valley. Most routes operate 5:30AM-1:30AM everyday. Some routes operate 24 hours. The fare is $1.25 for adults and 60¢ for kids and seniors for all residential routes. The Deuce, the London-style double decker bus operating the route along Las Vegas Blvd, costs $2 for adults and $1 dollar for children and seniors, and the fare may be paid directly to the driver. If purcahsing a child or senior fare, be prepared to show some form of picture ID to prove your age to the driver. During the larger connventions (Such as CES, NAB, and MAGIC) the Duece also opperates on a special one way service from the Las Vegas Convention Center. This Service only opperates in the afternoon from the convention center to the Strip, the bus travels southbound and services all regular stops from Circus Circus onward. It is important to note that when using this service, tickets must be purchased in advance from the ticket vending machines (located in front of the north and south halls). In addition, 2 additional ticket vending machines are loacted on the strip, one at the Slots-of-fun/Circus Circus stop and one at the Showcase Mall/MGM Grand stop. It should be nother that when purchasing your fare, the busses do not give change. However, the ticket vending machines do give change, inaddition to accepting credit/debit cards. Also it should be noted that CAT buses no longer offer transfer slips that allow you to change buses without paying the fare again, this has been replaced by a residential day pass ($2.50 for adults and $1.25 for kids and seniors) that covers all routes except The Deuce, and an "all-access pass" for $5 that covers all routes on the system. If you try to use a residential pass on the Deuce it will cost 50¢ per ride. If you will be staying for a long period of time (at least 8 days for adults or 4 for children and seniors) and plan to buy an All access pass, a more economic option is to purchase a 30 day bus pass. These can be purchased from either of the two bus terminals (Both can be reached by riding the Deuce to Downtown terminal, or to the South Strip Terminal), or from any ticket vending machine. It is important to note however, that if you would like to purchase a child or senior fare pass, you will need to do so from the customer service agent at the terminals, inorder to purchase a reduced fare pass from the vending machines one must first insert a reduced Fare ID card before the option will appear. These passes are valid from the first use then for 30 day after and can be used on all routes. If the buses are crowded a good way to avoid waiting for the next bus is to walk one block east from the strip and use route number 108 - Paradise Road or walk one block west to Industrial Road and use route number 105 - Martin L King Blvd / Koval - which mirrors the strip route.

Unfortunately the Monorail and CAT bus are separate and a pass from one won't work on the other.

Taxi

One of the easiest ways to get around is by taxi. It is relatively cheap to go from hotel to hotel. The cab driver is required to turn on the meter and to take the shortest route to your destination. There is a surcharge for rides originating at the airport, but not for extra passengers. Taxi lines (queues) are typically found at the front of hotels. You would be unwise to attempt to hail one on the street, especially on the Strip as it is illegal for a cab to stop traffic to pick up or drop off a passenger. The best way to hail a cab outside of a cabstand is to use the following method: if you are wanting to go north on the strip, stand on the east side about 20 feet before a turn off. The cab you want to wave over will have the yellow lights off. Standing like this allows the cab to turn off the road and pick you up. It is customary to tip the hotel taxi dispatcher $1, and to pay the cab driver $1 for every 3 minutes you ride in the cab (on top of the the cost on the taxi meter), and about a $1 per piece of luggage.

By rental car

Renting a car at McCarran International Airport is fairly cheap and popular. The opening of the new rental car facility has increased the wait time to get your car. All the rental agencies are now located under a single roof and all use the same shuttle from the airport to the facility. There have been reports of an extra 30 min increase in the time it takes to pick up and/or drop off your vehicle, so please add this to any arrival and departure times so you won't be late for anything important. Expect to pay about 50% more for your car rental due to recent tax increases.

If you mostly plan to hang around one casino and your time in Vegas is short, you might want to fore go a rental car altogether and just take taxis. On the other hand, taxi fares add up quickly, and with car rental so cheap, anyone staying a few days or longer would be better suited with the flexibility of a car. Not to mention that some of the best sights are located outside of Las Vegas and virtually require driving to. There are numerous car rental offices on the Strip, and therefore it is very easy to rent a car from your hotel for a day trip. Remember to rent ahead of time as it can be busy during the weekends.

Driving on Las Vegas Boulevard (the "Strip") on Thursday or Friday nights or all day Saturday is an exercise in frustration: gridlock takes over and you can spend an hour or more just going a couple of miles. Do what the locals do and avoid driving long distances on the Strip altogether. Instead take I-15, which parallels the Strip, and get off at the exit nearest your hotel and park there.

Casinos have low cost self-parking (often free for guests) as well as valet parking. On Friday and Saturday nights the self-parking lots fill up fast; consider splurging on the valet to avoid cumbersome delays and endless circling around.