How to Get Around Las Vegas: Airport, Strip and Everything Between
Where each airport pickup actually is, what the Vegas Loop costs, why the monorail will not help you from the airport, and the point at which a private car costs less than the trips it replaces.
For one or two people travelling light, a rideshare from the airport garage is the cheapest sensible way to the Strip. The Vegas Loop now runs from both terminals and reaches the Convention Center in about five minutes for $14. The monorail does not go to the airport, which catches people out every week. And once you are four or more, carrying luggage, landing late, or moving between more than a couple of places in a night, a private car usually costs less than the trips it replaces.
That is the short answer. The detail is below, including where each pickup actually is, because the airport is large and the signage assumes you already know. Last updated October 2026.
Getting out of the airport
Harry Reid has two terminals and the pickup points are not next to each other, so it is worth knowing which one you want before you follow the crowd.
Rideshare is picked up in the parking garage, not at the curb. From Terminal 1 that is Level 2 of the parking garage, reached by escalator or elevator from baggage claim. From Terminal 3 it is the valet level. Drop-offs on the way out are at the departures curbs, where there is no separate rideshare area. Allow a few minutes for the walk, and expect prices to move with demand, which in Las Vegas means conventions, fight nights and Sunday afternoons.
Taxis are the simplest option and need no app. They queue outside baggage claim at both terminals, they are metered, and there is an airport surcharge. For a short run to the south end of the Strip the difference between a taxi and a rideshare is usually small enough that whichever queue is shorter wins.
The Vegas Loop is the option most guides have not caught up with. It now has stations at both Airport T1 and Airport T3. The published fare from the airport to the Las Vegas Convention Center is $14 for 4.9 miles, about a five minute ride, and the Convention Center to the Strip connection is $5. The wider system runs thirteen stations including Resorts World, Encore, Westgate, Fontainebleau and Sahara, with transit times between two and eight minutes. If you are staying at one of the connected properties or heading to a convention, this is faster than the road.
The public bus run by the RTC serves the airport and is the cheapest way into town by a wide margin. It is also the slowest, and it is a difficult trip with luggage or a group. Current fares are published on the RTC site.
A private car is the one you book rather than queue for. Bell, who we work with in Las Vegas, publish airport transfers from $132 and hourly hire from $66. A quote confirms the exact figure before anything is charged. The case for it is below, because it is not always the right call and we would rather say so.
Between terminals, the shuttle is free. It runs from Level 0 of the Terminal 1 parking garage and from Level 0 at the west end of Terminal 3, roughly every twenty to thirty minutes, and the ride takes about ten minutes.
Moving around once you are here
Walking is the thing visitors most often misjudge. The Strip looks compact on a map and is not. Properties are set far back from the road, the pedestrian bridges add distance, and a walk that looks like ten minutes is frequently thirty in heat. It is genuinely pleasant between neighbors. It is not a plan for a dinner reservation.
The monorail runs seven stations along the east side of the Strip: MGM Grand, Horseshoe and Paris, Flamingo and Caesars Palace, Harrah's and The LINQ, Boingo at the Convention Center, Westgate, and SAHARA. It runs daily from 7am, closing at midnight on Mondays, 2am Tuesday through Thursday, and 3am Friday through Sunday. Two things to know: it does not serve the airport, and it does not go downtown. If your hotel is on the west side of the Strip you will still be walking at both ends.
The Vegas Loop covers properties the monorail does not, including Resorts World, Encore and Fontainebleau, and it is quick. Coverage is still growing, so it depends entirely on whether your start and end points are both on it.
Rideshare and taxis work everywhere, with one caveat worth planning around. At closing time, and when a show or a fight lets out, the queues at the big properties get long and prices rise at exactly the moment everyone wants to leave. That is the hour when people who booked a car are glad they did.
When a private car is actually worth it
We arrange cars, so treat this section with appropriate suspicion. Here is the honest version.
A rideshare is the better call if there are one to three of you, you are travelling light, it is the middle of the day, and you are making a single trip. Paying several times that for a sedan to do the same journey is not a better experience.
A private car earns its money in these situations, and they are more common than people expect:
- Four or more people with luggage. Once a group needs two rideshares, the gap closes fast, and two cars arriving at different times is its own problem.
- Landing late. Queues are longest and prices highest exactly when you are most tired.
- More than two stops in a night. Dinner, then a club, then back. Three separate pickups at peak pricing, with a wait each time, usually costs more than hourly hire and always costs more patience.
- A reservation you cannot be late for. A confirmed car with a confirmed time removes the variable.
- Hourly standby for a group. This is the one most people have not considered. Groups run late. Someone is still getting ready, someone needs food, the plan moves by forty minutes. Hourly hire absorbs that; separate bookings do not.
Bell's published hourly rate starts at $66. Once a night involves three or more movements, hourly is usually both cheaper and calmer than booking each leg.
Frequently asked questions
Is it cheaper to take a taxi or an Uber from the airport?
It depends on the hour. Rideshare is usually cheaper off-peak and can be more expensive than a taxi during surge, which in Las Vegas means convention mornings, weekend evenings and after big events. Taxis are metered with an airport surcharge, so the price is predictable rather than cheap. If the taxi queue is short and the rideshare estimate has surged, take the taxi.
How do I get from the airport to my hotel?
Rideshare from the garage, a taxi from baggage claim, the Vegas Loop if your hotel is one of the connected properties, or a private car booked in advance. There is no single right answer, which is the honest version of this question.
Are there free shuttles from the airport?
The inter-terminal shuttle is free. The rental car center shuttle is free. Free hotel shuttles from the airport to Strip properties are much rarer than visitors expect, and the ones that exist are usually off-Strip properties, so do not build an arrival plan around finding one without confirming it with your hotel first.
What is the cheapest way to the Strip?
The RTC public bus, by a clear margin. It is the slowest and the least comfortable with bags, and for most visitors arriving for a short trip the time is worth more than the saving.
Groups change the arithmetic entirely
Everything above assumes one or two people making a trip. A group is a different problem, and it is the one we spend most of our time on.
A party of sixteen does not take four rideshares to a club, because four cars do not arrive together and the night starts with everyone standing outside waiting for the last one. A convention group arriving across a day needs pickups spread across that day. A bachelor or bachelorette weekend is pools on Saturday, dinner at eight, a club after, then the same again on Sunday, and the plan moves all weekend.
Those are booked as one schedule rather than as trips. We arrange that alongside the reservations, so pickup times match the bookings rather than being guessed at.
Where you are actually going
Worth planning the transport around the bookings rather than the other way round. Dinner at Carbone at Aria, COTE at the Venetian or Komodo at Fontainebleau tends to run long, so a car on standby beats a pickup booked for an optimistic time.
Clubs are the opposite problem. Omnia at Caesars, Zouk at Resorts World, LIV at Fontainebleau and Marquee at the Cosmopolitan all empty at the same time, into the same queues. Leaving is the hard part, not arriving.
Dayclubs are a daylight version of the same thing. Encore Beach Club, Tao Beach and Ayu run from late morning, and the walk back across a property in afternoon heat is the part nobody plans for.
Browse the full Las Vegas roster if you are still deciding, or see what our Las Vegas team can arrange for groups and multi-day schedules.
Build a custom itinerary with our concierge team. Pair the venues mentioned above into a single concierge-confirmed evening. See the full Las Vegas events calendar for every upcoming DJ and pool party across the city.
Las Vegas nightlife and pool guides
Bottle-service pricing and minimums
Exact table minimums and what is included, by venue:
Keep reading
- Private Dining and Large Group Restaurants in Las Vegas · How many people, seated or standing: the two answers that decide which Las Vegas restaurant can take your group. Room-by-room capacity for 45 restaurants.
- Vancouver International Film Festival 2026 · VIFF returns for its 45th edition, October 1 to 11, 2026. Where to eat around a screening schedule, the rooms inside the downtown walking radius, and why the 5pm table is the one to book.
- What's Hot in Dubai for the 2026-27 Season · Dubai's season runs October to April. The rooms that opened since last season, what returns from a summer closure, and the tables that get hard to book once the calendar fills.
- Las Vegas Nightclub Dress Code: What Each Room Actually Enforces · Upscale nightlife dress at the nightclubs, swimwear at the pools - the policy each of 17 Las Vegas rooms actually publishes, and the items that get people turned away.
- Best Brunch in Las Vegas 2026-27: Party Brunch and Sit-Down Tables · Las Vegas brunch is two products: the Saturday party brunch at LAVO, which runs October through March, and the dining rooms that open a proper daytime table at the weekend. Days, hours and formats for the 2026-27 season.
- Michelin Star Restaurants Bangkok (2026): The 12 We Recommend · The MICHELIN Guide lists 209 Bangkok restaurants across five tiers. These are the twelve starred rooms we would plan a week around, with every tier checked against the current selection.
Plan a night in another city
Browse all MyRSVP editorials · Back to home