Every Way From LAS to the Strip, Ranked by What It Actually Costs You

The Strip is a mile from the runway, which is why getting there badly is so annoying. Every option, and the one nobody tells you about.

You can see the Luxor's beam from the aircraft window on approach. Mandalay Bay is roughly a mile from the terminal.

And yet a bad choice at the kerb can turn that mile into fifty minutes.

In 60 seconds

Harry Reid sits about a mile from the south end of the Strip and four from the centre — closer than nearly any major US airport is to its own downtown. The taxi rank is the fastest and most expensive; rideshare is cheaper but the pickup area is a genuine walk plus a garage; the RTC bus is by far the cheapest and slow enough to matter with luggage. The thing nobody mentions: your hotel's shuttle situation varies enormously, and a few properties run one free.

01

The options, honestly

Taxi from the rankFastest door to door, highest cost, no app needed
RideshareCheaper, but pickup is in a parking structure — allow the walk
RTC public busCheapest by a wide margin, slowest, awkward with bags
Shared shuttleCheap per head, but stops at several hotels before yours
Rental carOnly worth it if you are leaving the Strip

The rideshare walk is the one that catches people. At Harry Reid, rideshare pickup is not at the kerb outside baggage claim — it is on an upper level of a parking structure, reached by a walkway. With bags and a queue, the price advantage over a taxi narrows considerably once you count the time.

02

The tunnel, and why your taxi fare varies

There is a long-running local complaint about the airport tunnel route. A driver taking the tunnel toward the interstate can add meaningful distance and cost versus surface streets for a south-Strip destination.

You do not need to police the route. You do need to know your destination's rough position — south Strip properties are genuinely close, north Strip and downtown genuinely are not — so that a fare feels wrong at the time rather than in hindsight.

The distance from LAS to Mandalay Bay is about a mile. If the meter suggests otherwise, geography has not changed.
03

The rental car question

Almost nobody staying on the Strip should rent a car. The rental centre is a shuttle ride from the terminal, parking at most resorts carries a daily charge, and the Strip is walkable in the sections you actually want.

The exception is real though: if you are going to Hoover Dam, Red Rock, a locals casino, or out to Laughlin or Wendover, a car changes the trip completely. Half the interesting gambling in Nevada is not on the Strip, and none of it is reachable without one.

04

Where the standard advice is wrong

The advice is always "take the bus, it's $X." True, and it ignores who is arriving.

The RTC bus is genuinely excellent value and genuinely poor with two suitcases, at midnight, after a five-hour flight, in August. The right answer depends on your bags, your arrival time and how many of you there are — a taxi split three ways is frequently cheaper per person than three bus fares, which is exactly the calculation the blanket advice skips.

The one thing worth doing before you fly: check whether your property runs an airport shuttle. A few do, several used to and quietly stopped, and the information is rarely prominent. It is a two-minute check that occasionally saves the whole problem.

Note. Fares, pickup locations and shuttle availability change; treat the categories above as the durable comparison rather than a price list. Distances are approximate straight-line from the terminal — see our LAS proximity page for measured distances to individual properties.

Last updated August 23, 2026

Topics

  • vegas
  • airports
  • transport
  • budget

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