By air
The runways of Las Vegas's busy
McCarran
International Airport (tel
261-5211, ) start barely a mile east
of the southern end of the Strip,
though the main terminal is a
three-mile drive via Tropicana Avenue
and Paradise Road.
Car rental is readily
available at the airport; we've listed
local rental agencies. There's no
public bus service, but both Bell
Trans (tel 380-7990, ) and Las Vegas
Limousine (tel 736-1419) run
around-the-clock minibuses to
the Strip ($4) and downtown ($5.25),
leaving from immediately outside the
terminal. In addition, certain hotels
run free shuttle buses for their
guests.
A line of taxis is always
waiting outside the arrivals area. In
theory, the ride should cost between
$8.50 and $12 for hotels at the
southern end of the Strip; from $10 to
$15 for the Central Strip area; up to
$18 for the North Strip; and between
$15 and $20 for destinations both
downtown and out on Boulder Highway.
However, traffic delays can easily
force those fares up by another $5 or
so.
If you want to arrive in style,
Bell Trans can also provide limousine
service from around $35.
By car
Much the busiest
driving route
into Las Vegas is the
I-15
freeway from southern California.
Traffic congestion, especially close
to the state line, can mean that the
269-mile drive from LA takes as long
as eight hours. Las Vegas Boulevard
South, which becomes the Strip, begins
to parallel I-15 well before it
reaches the city, but the quickest way
to reach your final destination will
almost certainly be to stay on the
interstate as long as possible. I-15
also connects Las Vegas with Salt Lake
City, 421 miles northeast.
From the major cities of Arizona,
direct access is provided by US-93
, which leaves I-40 at Kingman, a
hundred miles southeast. It joins US-95
, running north from Needles,
California, outside Boulder City;
together, the two become I-515
, which crosses I-15 immediately
northwest of downtown Las Vegas.
Four hundred miles northwest of Las
Vegas, US-95 meets I-80 thirty miles
east of Reno. Using that interstate is
the fastest way to get between Las
Vegas and San Francisco, but threading
cross-country via Yosemite and Death
Valley national parks is a much more
scenic option.
By bus
Greyhound's long-distance
buses
to and from Los Angeles, Phoenix, Salt
Lake City, Denver, Reno, San Diego,
Bakersfield and other cities use a
terminal alongside the
Plaza
hotel at 200 S Main St downtown. For
schedules and fares, call
1-800/231-2222, or access .
In addition, Missing Link
run thrice-weekly shuttle buses
between Los Angeles and Las
Vegas, with free hotel and hostel
pick-ups (tel 1-800/209-8586, ;
departs LA Mon, Thurs & Sat, Las
Vegas Sun, Wed & Fri; $39 one-way,
$75 return).
By rail
Amtrak stopped running passenger
trains to Las Vegas in 1997, and its
downtown terminal was demolished. At
the time of writing, however, it
seemed likely that a new high-speed
Amtrak service between Los Angeles and
Las Vegas would come into operation at
some point during the next few years,
with a projected journey time of 5hr
30min. Some level of subsidy from the
casinos is anticipated; individual
carriages may belong to specific
casinos, and be equipped with slot
machines to be switched on as soon the
train crosses the Nevada state line.
For Amtrak information, call
1-800/USA-RAIL, or access .
