Las Vegas NV Rentals – How Many Monorail Tickets Should I Buy for a Weekend in Vegas?

The strip is great, unless you have an issue with walking around you shouldn’t really need any. Everything is pretty much connected. I never got any when I went.

DON’T BUY ANY !!! The monorail in Vegas is located at the back of the hotels that have stops and you will spend more time walking from the Strip, casino, or hotel to get to the monorail than you would if you just go out on the strip and walk from hotel to hotel. Most are really closer and a shorter walk than going to the monorail. NO!! you don’t need a car either to get around in Vegas on the Strip. If you did get a car you would spend more time walking from the free hotel/casino parking lots, which are typically behind the hotels and a good ways from the casino and Strip sidewalk.

The Paris and Planet Hollywood are next door to each other but the walk may take you 10 or 15 minutes, depending upon how many people are on the sidewalk.

Many of the hotel are connected by a footbridge, overpass over the street and some like the Paris and Ballys, have an inside connecting hallway. So you don’t even need to go outside. Caesars and the Mirage are next door to each other and after you walk through Caesars Forum shops you exit right at the doorway to the Mirage. Caesars is also connected to Bellagio by an overpass over Flamingo Rd. So you walk from one property right to the next.

If you walk down to the NY, NY Hotel Casino you cross the street on an overpass that leads you right into the Excalibur hotel. Then there you can get a free tram that runs between Excalibur, Luxor and the Mandalay Bay Hotel Casinos.

If you go to the back of Harrahs there is a free shuttle bus to take you to and from the Rio Hotel and right across the street from the Rio is the Palms and Gold Coast hotel casinos.

Now if you are thinking about walking the whole strip from the Stratosphere Hotel casino all the way down to the Mandalay Bay, THAT IS a long walk and you would do better catching the public buses that run on the Strip all of the time. If you find yourself at the Fashon Show Mall or the Wynn Hotel Casino and don’t feel like walking back, just catch the public bus or the trolly back to your hotel.

The monorail was not the smartest idea. It has seven stops and averages less than 18 mph (including the stops). Although that is technically faster than the bus, the monorail stops are so far in the back of the casinos, that you usually get there about the same time.
———————
The monorail has been operating for about 4 years now. About 3 years ago they introduced some double decker buses that go up and down the strip on Las Vegas Blvd. The service is call “The Deuce”. There is no schedule but they try to come at 7 or 8 minute intervals during the day. The buses have several advantages over the monorail (1) they are cheaper, (2) they don’t require a long walk to the stations, (3) they have a better view from up top, (4) they go downtown and all the way to the Mandalay Bay and some shopping below the strip (5) Day tickets are good for a 24 hour day, and not a morning to midnight day. (6) Deuce day tickets are good at all the other buses in the city. In particular you can take a city bus to The Palms or The Rio which are not on the strip but are a long walk or a short expensive cab ride. The Deuce is $5 a day, and you can buy them onboard the bus or at ticket machines that accept Visa cards.
—————–
On the downside the Deuce can be crowded and full of drunken tourists. It’s sort of a crapshoot. I think you will find walking aided by the occasional free tram a better way to get around.
—————–
There is a public bus (route #116) that is almost twice as fast as the Deuce to get you downtown. Going to downtown, you pick it up at Fashion Show Mall right next to the Nieman Marcus. This bus only runs every half hour in the day, every hour in the evening, and not at all in the middle of the night. To return you get on the bus on the street between Golden Nugget and Four Queens on the Golden Nugget side (on the Golden Nugget side). The Deuce is very crowded on this stretch and the lines to board the bus are particularly long on the return. Use the schedule since the frequency is not that good. Your Deuce pass is valid on the bus.

YOu should buy a week past

you can buy a three day monorail pass for $28 each and they are for unlimited rides per day. It sure beats taking cabs (cabbies are crazy drivers!!!) and the double decker bus, while cheap, is ALWAYS packed! i would def. go with the monorail–it was pretty convinent to me, even if it is in the back of hotels and such, people need to stop being so lazy!