Getting from the airport to your hotel

Last update: August 30, 2026

Uber / Lyft

     Uber + Lyft can't pick up right outside the terminal, at least they couldn't the last time I checked.  You have to walk to a parking garage.

     Most hotels have staging areas for Uber/Lyft, but the city doesn't have as many staging areas for them as it does for traditional taxis.

     I avoid both because they're shady.  In my hometown of Austin, Uber & Lyft refused to follow local safety laws, then financed a "grassroots" election to try to overturn the local laws, and then when voters voted down that effort, they whined to the Texas Legislature and got the lege to cancel Austin's law.  None of us should want a world in which corporations bully and bribe the government in order to override the will of the people.

Taxis

     There's flat-rate pricing from the airport to the Strip:  $21 to the South Strip, $25 to the Mid Strip, and $29 to the North strip. (ast checked 8/26; see current rates)  There's no flat pricing to downtown but it'll cost around $35.  The price is the same no matter how many people ride.  I generally avoid the taxis because most drive so dangerously, threatening pedestrians and bicyclists, and because buses and shuttles work fine.  Taxis also aren't as convenient as you might expect, because they can't and won't stop on the street; you have to wait in the line at the hotel, and sometimes those lines are long. Here's more on taxis in Vegas.

City Bus

Finding the bus stop

The bus stops are at Terminal 1.  (There’s a shuttle from Terminal 3 to Terminal 1.)  From the inside of Terminal 1, go to the spot right between the two baggage claim areas, and take the escalator down to Ground Level Zero.  Go outside, and the bus stop is the last stop on the right, right under the little canopy.  (Last I checked, it was just beyond the last numbered slot, #23, where slot #24 would be if there were a #24.  If this has changed, let me know.)  You'll see airport employees waiting for it.

Which bus to take

See my Strip Map to find both your hotel and to see the bus routes.

• South Strip: Take the Red Line southbound toward the SSTT (South Strip Transit Terminal), then transfer to the northbound Deuce, which runs along Las Vegas Boulevard (the Strip) past Mandalay Bay, Luxor, Excalibur, New York-New York, and the MGM Grand.
• Mid-Strip: Take the #108 or Red Line northbound (whichever comes first), then transfer to a westbound bus toward the Strip: the #201 at Tropicana Avenue, #202 at Flamingo Road or #203 at Desert Inn Road.
• North Strip: The #108 northbound directly serves the Las Vegas Convention Center, Westgate, Sahara, and Strat.
• Downtown: Take the #108 northbound or the Red Line (UMC/Medical direction), whichever comes first.  If the both leave at the same time, the #108 takes about 30 minutes to downtown while the Red Line takes about 40.
• Old routes: In Aug. 2026 the Red Line replaced the former #109, and the CX stopped serving the airport. The SDX and WAX were discontinued in 2020.

Fare cost/price

• $4 • Single ride
• $6 • Two-hour pass (all buses)
• $8 • 24-hour pass (all buses)
• $20 • 3-day pass (all buses
  (fares last checked Aug. 2026)

The $20 three-day pass is the clear win here.

Get the official bus app to buy tickets.

More about the buses

See my getting around Vegas page.

Here are the links for the bus system website, and their Android and iOS apps.

By the way, it took the bus agency until 2010 to create a route that goes straight from the airport to the Strip, probably because of lobbying/kickbacks from the taxi industry.

Airport Shuttles

    Shared shuttles will take you to Strip hotels for $8 per person, and downtown hotels for $9 per person. It's a great deal if you're traveling solo, but not so much otherwise, since taxis are the same cost for 1-4 people.  It's also slow: you might wait up to 20 minutes for the shuttle to leave (even if the ticket seller says just 5-10 minutes), and since you share the ride with other passengers, if you're the last to be dropped off, the trip could take an extra 30 minutes over what it would in a taxi.

    To find the shuttles, go to the space between the two big baggage claim areas and face the direction of the escalators that are coming down from the second floor.  Go past the escalators (i.e., don't ride them), walk out the door, and look left or right.

    Your hotel probably doesn't have a free shuttle.  The only Strip & Downtown casinos that have them reserve them for the high rollers.  Some off-strip casinos have free shuttles, like Palace Station, Red Rock, Rampart, and Suncoast.  The pickup area for these is next to the bus stop described in the Bus section above.

You don't need to rent a car

     If you're not venturing beyond the Strip and Downtown, you absolutely do not need a car.   In fact, a car might just slow you down.  Between gridlocked traffic and distant parking (you can't park directly on the strip—you have to go to a parking garage and then walk), taking the bus or just walking is often competitive on time, and a lot less stressful.  Not to mention cheaper, even before we consider that free parking is becoming something of a dinosaur, even if you're a guest of the hotel.

     Even if you're going to Hoover Dam, a tour bus is often a better option.  It's cheaper, safer, less polluting, more relaxing (you can sleep on the bus), and your driver will point out interesting things about the places you pass, which you wouldn't know about if you were driving yourself.  There are places along the strip and downtown that sell the cheap Hoover Dam bus tours.  A friend and I took one of them and it was definitely more fun going with a group.

     Also, you can't even rent a car right at the airport any more.  The car rental place is now three miles from the terminal.

• Getting around the Strip and Downtown