Many tourists make really dumb decisions in terms of their transportation ideas for getting from hotel to hotel. That said, getting around Vegas, especially during weekend/peak periods can be difficult. With so many visitors all having a place to go, one needs to have plenty of patience for crowds and traffic. But, there are a few things that a tourist can keep in mind which should help save a bit of time – and more importantly, sanity.
The first thing to remember is walking may be your best option, but beware of the high heat in the summer; always carry a bottle of water with you (and use a handkerchief/facecloth to apply water to the skin in addition to drinking lots). If the heat gets too much walk through one of the air conditioned casinos to keep cool. Assuming you are staying on the Strip, going from one Strip hotel to another really is never that far. In fact, the furthest trip you can make, from Stratosphere to Mandalay Bay, will at most take you a leisurely hour and one-half to walk – and can go a lot faster if you take the free monorail from Excalibur to Mandalay Bay .
The Las Vegas Monorail (air conditioned!) running from the MGM to the Sahara also makes getting around and getting to the farther end of the Strip a breeze. It makes stops at various hotels on the Strip which gives you the added benefit of seeing the various hotels from back to front and, since the Monorail runs behind these hotels, you get a view of the Vegas beyond the strip. Monorail passes sell for $5 for a single ride or a one day pass for $13. Three-day passes are also available for $28 and can get you back and forth in a hurry - 15 minutes from MGM to Sahara, with trains departing every 6 minutes! It is more expensive then the Deuce, but when the Deuce (see below) is crowded in the late afternoon/evenings you could hop the Monorail and get to a location on the Strip and then get on the bus at a point where it is less full. This is handy to know if you are taking the bus to Fremont Street (aka Downtown) and it is standing-room and standing-on-top-of-others-room only on the Deuce. Example: get off Monorail at the Sahara and get on the Deuce to continue to Fremont or vice versa. Once you figure out which hotel/casino is across the Strip from each Monorail stop you, can disembark at that stop, walk through the hotel/casino in air-conditioned comfort, and traverse or cross the Strip and to your next air-conditioned destination.
In addition to the great exercise, the Strip is relatively safe at all times since it is well lit and full of people, and it is beautiful at night when cabs are the hardest to come by. If you are staying Downtown in the Fremont Street area, everything is within walking distance (approximately a 4-6 block area).
Although cabs are sometimes hard to get, renting a car is NOT recommended. There are a few reasons for this. First, if you are not familiar with Vegas traffic patterns, you are going to spend a lot of time behind the wheel. The Strip is constantly packed, and in order to avoid the traffic you are going to have to understand back routes like Frank Sinatra Blvd/Industrial Hwy on one side and Koval/Paradise on the other. Second, most casinos are not that far from one another, so a cab ride or two will probably cost you less than a rental car bill for the day (not to mention being more convenient since parking is not always easy and Valets can take a long time), and you can easily walk or jump on and off The Deuce bus. At $7 for a 24-hour pass (as of March, 2009; this could change again), the Deuce will NOT break the bank, and the wait is much less than that for a cab.
Finally, the prohibition of drinking and driving in Vegas is enforced very strictly, and you do no want to have a' Driving Under Influence' on your record with all that free alcohol you are going to want to take advantage of.
So you are probably now asking, “Ok, if I do not want to walk, and do not have a rental car, how do I deal with those insane cab lines I see on almost every Saturday night?”
Well, here are a few tips:
1) Avoid at all costs the following three cab lines (in order from worst to slightly less bad) – Caesar’s Palace, Venetian, and Bellagio. If you are at one of these hotels and need a cab, walk to another hotel – near all of them are Harrah’s and the Imperial Palace, which tend to be decent places to catch a cab. Despite the 5-10 minute walk you may have to endure to get to these other lines, you will easily save an hour plus in waiting around.
2) If you are in a major rush and do not want to walk to another hotel, take a town car or limo. In general, a town car (seats 4) will cost you a minimum of $46 and a limo (seats 6+) will cost a minimum of $60 – all not including gratuity. That said, you can ask any doorman, at any hotel, for either of these options and have no wait at all, but you will have to tip the doorman.
3) Tips. Vegas is built on people shaking hands with $20’s – so if you want to cut a cab line, find a bellman and do the same. But at this point, you are going to be venturing into the price of a town car, so think twice before you do this.
And, once again, really think about whether you need that cab or not. For example, why wait in long lines to take a cab from Paris to Caesar’s. For this trip, we are literally talking about not even a 5 minute walk. Frankly, just that cab ride alone will take longer than walking – not even including the line to get the cab.
So be smart, walk a lot, and if you really need a ride, get it from a hotel with less of a line.