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  Strip Trolley There are many options regarding transportation in Las Vegas. So, let’s explore some of the areas you need to consider: First, getting to your hotel from the airport. If you are not renting a car, and your hotel doesn't offer free transportation (most don't) then you have a choice of using one of the transportation services at the airport, or a taxi. If there are multiple people, the taxi may be the way to go. The third party transport services run buses to the various hotels and have small booths set up at the airport. Some of those services are Bell Transport 702-739-7990 and Grey Line 702-739-5700. The cost from the airport to a strip hotel is 6.00 per person, downtown 7.50 per person, and off strip hotels 9.00 to 10.00. You can purchase a return trip from the hotel to the airport at the same time for a reduced rate. Easily for an off strip hotel the cost for taking the transport, which can be time consuming depending on the order and number of hotels they are dropping off at, can equal the cost of a cab. It would most likely be cheaper, however, if one is staying on the strip. A cab ride from the Orleans to the airport cost us $25 because of traffic delays but is usually around $20. That was the same cost for us from the airport to the Orleans using Belltrans and we were the last dropped off. Getting around town. Getting around can be easy given the wide variety of free shuttles provided by some of the hotels. For instance, The Orleans (my favorite place to stay) offers a free shuttle that runs every 20 minutes and takes the rider between their properties. It drops off at the Gold Coast (the Rio and the Palms are within walking distance), and at Wild Bill's (formerly the Barbary Coast) which is right in the middle of the strip. Sam's Town operates a free shuttle to the strip, as does the Hardrock Cafe. I don't believe they run as frequently as the Coast shuttles. You can check their website's for up-to-date information. Getting up and down the strip is easy. There are three main options for this. The strip trolley the monorail and the bus system. The bus system has two choices, their regular route buses and the Deuce bus which is specific to the strip. I've never actually taken the bus there, but I've heard good things about the Deuce. The great thing about this is it stops and picks up directly on the strip. I've taken the strip trolley many, many times. The seats aren't terribly comfortable (wooden) and many of the trolleys have advertisments painted over the window which means if you get stuck sitting in one of the obstructed windows (and sometimes most are obstructed) you are stuck staring at various people for the entire trip. Which takes me to the "entire trip" --it can take forever to get anywhere on the strip trolley. They don't stop at every hotel, and where they do stop they stop in the parking areas of those hotels. This means they have to turn in, drop off/pick up and then get back out into strip traffic. Simply driving down the strip without stopping every few casinos or so can take an hour, so imagine if you add in all those stop delays. It's not a bad way to get somewhere if you are in a hurry, but the price is kind of high in my opinion. I'm not going to put the price on here because everytime I go back and check it the price has changed dramatically. The last time I used it was 2 years ago and the price now is more than 50 cents higher per trip, and now they no longer offer a full day pass only half days. It's not a very economical option if you have a lot of people with you. One big plus, however, is that they have expanded their root which now includes the outlet center, and downtown. The downtown loop is wonderful addition and so needed in my opinion. They had a downtown route (I believe) but it had been discontinued before the two trips where I used this as transportation. A way to get downtown without taking a cab is a good thing. That would be worth the transfer time if you ask me. Before it was one countinous loop and now it is in three parts.  Monorail Service Map The rates on the monorail have been rising, the ridership is down so they hike the rates. It doesn't seem to occur to them that it's not used as often as it could be because it's so ourtrageously expensive. The ride is fast and smooth, but for the cost of riding it, if a number of people are going, it would be cheaper to take a cab or to rent a car. Because it is not as financially sound as expected, the projected project to extend it to the downtown area and to the airport has been postponed. There are also many complaints about the location of the monorail because it often requires extra walking to the back of the hotel to catch it (it runs behind the strip) but I didn't find that to be a big deal--it's pretty impossible to avoid walking through the casinos no matter what your destination is, be it an attraction, food or whatever. As far as speed goes, there's no beating the Monorail. It's a shame really, that they have priced it so high. It was also difficult to get to from the Riviera where we were staying. We had to walk to the Las Vegas Hilton--which was a pretty unbearable hike in 120 degree weather. If I was staying at a hotel with a stop, I might be more open to using this as my standard mode of transportation. Renting a car? Use caution, some of the LV rental outlets require PROOF of full coverage if you don't want their daily insurance coverage. Take your entire policy, not just your rental card. We did this and it saved us, a call to my insurance agent couldn't help me when we were picking up the car at 10PM. They want to make you pay the $15 more per day for their own coverage--this is where they make their money. Now, there are other considerations even if your own insurance covers rentals. Usually your own insurance will not pay the extra per day rental fee while the car is being fixed, also you are responsible for whatever your deductible is. What we do, and what I would recommend if you have an American Express card or are qualified to get one is to get their supplemental coverage. You have to apply for it separately, and it takes a few weeks to be approved. The form is found here. For $19.95 I have supplemental coverage for $75,000. There is a $25/100,000 choice also. This is primary coverage that is in addition to your vehicle policy. They will not accept this as proof of coverage, because it does not have a high enough limit. However, it is still yours to use should there be a problem. It pays the per day rental charge fot the car, and it pays the repair up to the limit you chose. Say there was a scratch on the car they are making you responsible for, for only the supplemental fee it will be taken care of 100% and it will in no way affect your own insurance or cost you anything additional. To me, that was worth it. We self parked at some places which was easier, saved us the cost of a tip for the valet, and let me not have to worry about door dings or someone hitting us and taking off. |
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