Assuming you've decided to rent a car for your trip to Vegas, one important thing to know about driving on the Strip is that it can be a traffic nightmare. On most nights and weekends, Las Vegas Blvd. between Tropicana and Spring Mountain (roughly the area from MGM Grand to Treasure Island) is jam-packed with cars, limos and tour buses. There are tons of traffic lights and crosswalks are chockful of pedestrians, including a few oblivious tourists that cross during the wrong time, or worse, stray outside of the designated crossing areas.
While cruising down the Strip is a must for tourists at least once for sight-seeing purposes, sitting on Las Vegas Blvd. in a cramped car while not moving an inch as the precious minutes of your trip tick away is no way to experience Vegas. Instead of driving down the Strip yourself, a secret tip that I have is to take a Big Bus Tour. These open-top buses are a great way to see the city without all the pressure of navigating traffic. Kick back, relax, and let someone else drive while you snap pics. There are many different routes, times of day/night and pickup/drop-off locations to choose from, and it's an affordable little excursion at only about $30/person per tour. My husband Matt and I coordinated a night tour for our friends and family in May from Excalibur to Fremont Street for one of our wedding weekend activities. The staff was extremely fun and accommodating, and we highly recommend the Big Bus Tour company!
So, outside of doing the bus tour, you still have to get around town. Here's a good list of "backdoor" routes that can help you zip around town quickly while avoiding the Strip:
The airport (McCarran) is just east of Las Vegas Blvd. and just south of Tropicana Ave. From the airport, you will want to get on Swenson St. heading north no matter which hotel is your destination. It will lead you out of the airport and then if you are staying at or near MGM Grand, you'll want to take a left onto Tropicana. BUT, instead of taking Tropicana down to Las Vegas Blvd., hang a right onto Koval to access MGM Grand from the back side. If you are staying at Mandalay Bay, Luxor or Excalibur, take a left onto Koval from Tropicana and it will wind its way down to Las Vegas Blvd. However, instead of turning onto the Blvd., continue past it and take a right onto Frank Sinatra Dr. in order to access those hotels from the back. You can follow Frank Sinatra down further and you'll have access to Monte Carlo, New York New York and Caesar's Palace (but NOT Bellagio). Frank Sinatra then changes names to Industrial Road, and from there you can access Circus Circus and the Fashion Show Mall.
Another important "backdoor" road is Harmon. From the airport, you take Swenson to Tropicana to a right on Koval like you would go to MGM Grand, but now just follow Koval down a block to get to Harmon Ave. Take a right on Harmon and it'll get you to Hard Rock Hotel, and if you take a left, you'll have access to both the hotel at Planet Hollywood as well as the Miracle Mile shopping center. If you cross over Las Vegas Blvd. via Harmon, you'll have direct access to Aria's back entrance valet as well as the Cosmopolitan's self parking and valet.
Getting to the hotels further north on the Strip is easy as well. Koval will eventually turn into Sands Avenue for direct access to the Palazzo's self part lot, and if you cross over Las Vegas Blvd. Sands Ave becomes Spring Mountain. From there, you can take a left to access both Treasure Island and The Mirage, as well as the Fashion Show Mall if you hang a right instead of a left.
These "backdoor" routes help you hop from casino to casino without sitting in Strip traffic for hours. Hopefully these tips will help you save time during your next Vegas trip. If anyone has any other Vegas traffic suggestions, or secret "backdoor" routes, feel free to comment below!
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