Las Vegas - Side street primer

Is there a primer on using side streets to get to the various hotels on the strip? I am staying at the Stratosphere (not my first choice, trust me) and will need to get to Caesars and Mandalay Bay on separate nights.

Whats a primer?

The way i'd go from the strat is onto the strip, right onto Sahara, then left on the freeway. Straight up to whichever place you want. Nice and easy and no traffic

Whats a primer?

The way i'd go from the strat is onto the strip, right onto Sahara, then left on the freeway. Straight up to whichever place you want. Nice and easy and no traffic

By "primer" I meant a website or something that tells you all the side street ways to reach Strip properties so you avoid driving on the Strip.

Thanks for the tip!

www.mapquest.com and use Paradise as another N/S artery. But it's under alot of construction 'til Dec.-ish, from other posters on this forum!

Whats a primer?

The way i'd go from the strat is onto the strip, right onto Sahara, then left on the freeway. Straight up to whichever place you want. Nice and easy and no traffic

This sounds like excellent advice!

Whats a primer?

The way i'd go from the strat is onto the strip, right onto Sahara, then left on the freeway. Straight up to whichever place you want. Nice and easy and no traffic

Just to clarify, are you suggesting using the freeway for the N-S travel?

Also, the Mapopolis map I have for my PDA/GPS shows a street called Industrial that seems to run fairly parallel to the freeway. Does anyone know if that's a decent road to take also?

Also, the Mapopolis map I have for my PDA/GPS shows a street called Industrial that seems to run fairly parallel to the freeway. Does anyone know if that's a decent road to take also?

Industrial, which I guess splits and turns into both Dean Martin Dr. and Frank Sinatra Dr., is recommended here:

http://www.fodors.com/miniguides/mgresults.cfm?destination=las_vegas@87&cur_section=tra&pg=2

Because the capacity of the streets of Las Vegas has not kept pace with the city's incredible growth, traffic can be slow in the late afternoon, in the evening, and on the weekend. At those times drive the streets that parallel Las Vegas Boulevard: Paradise Road, to the east, and Industrial Road, to the west. The Industrial Road shortcut (from Tropicana Avenue almost all the way to downtown) will save you an enormous amount of time. You can enter the parking lots at Caesars Palace, the Mirage, Treasure Island, Fashion Show Mall, the Stardust, the New Frontier, and Circus Circus from Industrial Road. Exit Frank Sinatra Drive off I-15 North, and you can access the hotels from Mandalay Bay to Bellagio.

Just to clarify, are you suggesting using the freeway for the N-S travel?

Also, the Mapopolis map I have for my PDA/GPS shows a street called Industrial that seems to run fairly parallel to the freeway. Does anyone know if that's a decent road to take also?

Yeah, I've taken Industrial from Charleston to Tropicana and it's definately an alternate N/S route.

To be honest, even as a local I get lost on those streets behind the casinos! Especially from Stratosphere (please don't walk around that neighborhood, in particular, behind the casino!)

From the Stratosphere, the easiest way would be to turn left on Sahara for just about half a block, and then turn right onto Paradise. Construction of the monorail has finished and you should be able to zip down to Flamingo (turn right) and get to Caesars, or keep going on Paradise and turn right on Tropicana to get to the Strip, then turn left to go to Mandalay Bay.

Then again, it depends on the day of the week and time of day. If it is not a weekend, and it is during the day, it will probably be just as easy to drive down the Strip and forget about shortcuts. Caesars isn't all that far, and even the long drive to Mandalay Bay isn't horrible - they have the stop lights set and sometimes you can zip all the way down the Strip with only a stop or two.

Plus, now with so many overpasses for pedestrians, the drive down the Strip is nowhere near as bad as it used to be. However, all bets are off on Friday and Saturday, so you might as well just plan to leave your hotel early to get where you are going on time.

Oh, I forgot to add that one of the newest shortcuts, Frank Sinatra Drive, behind Treasure Island, Caesars and Luxor and Mandalay Bay, is barely finished yet they have ripped it all up again! In part it is only single lanes each way, with a huge bottleneck of casino employees all trying to sneak out the back way!

Wow! Great local info! A belated welcome to FlyerTalk, DMark, and I look forward to your future posts!

Wow! Great local info! A belated welcome to FlyerTalk, DMark, and I look forward to your future posts!

Thanks! I see you are from Hawaii...so, maybe you can explain a Las Vegas mystery to a local.

Why and how did the California Hotel in Downtown Las Vegas became so popular with Hawaiians? Seems like 3/4 of all Hawaiian tourists choose to stay there. I mean, seriously, the place is sort of a dump, and other than some nice little places with Hawaiian food there, why the California Hotel/Casino??

Just wondering as nobody I know here has the answer other than, "gee, that is just where they all go."

(BTW, there is a new Hawaiian Marketplace next to the Alladin on the Strip - I haven't been there yet, but have heard it is pretty authentic.)

Ooops! I apologize for hijacking this thread about shortcuts in Las Vegas with my question about Hawaiians! Sorrysorrysorry.

Ignore question above.

Continue discussing short cuts on side streets.

I had heard probably 20 years ago that Hawaiians merely producing a HI driver's license would get free rooms at the California. The rest of their money would be taken downstairs.

Thanks! I see you are from Hawaii...so, maybe you can explain a Las Vegas mystery to a local.

Why and how did the California Hotel in Downtown Las Vegas became so popular with Hawaiians? Seems like 3/4 of all Hawaiian tourists choose to stay there. I mean, seriously, the place is sort of a dump, and other than some nice little places with Hawaiian food there, why the California Hotel/Casino??

Just wondering as nobody I know here has the answer other than, "gee, that is just where they all go."

(BTW, there is a new Hawaiian Marketplace next to the Alladin on the Strip - I haven't been there yet, but have heard it is pretty authentic.)


Easy! About 35 years ago Sam Boyd started developing real estate in Honolulu and started taking influential kama'aina to his California Hotel & Casino in downtown LV on business junkets. This turned into more people wanting to go, requiring more bookings, which led to Sam Boyd starting a travel angency called Boyd's Vacations Hawai'i. Today's typical package: RT airfare HNL-LAS, 5 night's room at the Cal, shuttle bus McCarran - Cal and back, plus vouchers for ALL meals: $485 pp!

Today's typical package: RT airfare HNL-LAS, 5 night's room at the Cal, shuttle bus McCarran - Cal and back, plus vouchers for ALL meals: $485 pp!

Well, that explains it in a nutshell! Thanks for the info kaukau and sobay_terp - and for teaching a local about the backstory!

(Now we really have to stop ruining curbcrusher's very nice thread about shortcuts...)

on the east side of the strip you generally want Kovall. And you can get around Trop/LVBLD intersection on Kovall/Reno/Giles.

During heavy traffic periods, like MAGIC and CES, Paradise backs up horribly. Industrial gets clogged at the back of Ceasar's Palace during rush hour 3pm - 7pm daily. I love Swenson as an alternate when traffic is yucky. Be advised, it goes through a yucky neighborhood, but lock your doors and you will be fine.

BTW, welcome aboard DMark! Keep checking this forum and the CommunityBuzz forum as there are some upcoming and yet-to-be-scheduled FT member meets here.

To be honest, even as a local I get lost on those streets behind the casinos! Especially from Stratosphere (please don't walk around that neighborhood, in particular, behind the casino!)

From the Stratosphere, the easiest way would be to turn left on Sahara for just about half a block, and then turn right onto Paradise. Construction of the monorail has finished and you should be able to zip down to Flamingo (turn right) and get to Caesars, or keep going on Paradise and turn right on Tropicana to get to the Strip, then turn left to go to Mandalay Bay.

Then again, it depends on the day of the week and time of day. If it is not a weekend, and it is during the day, it will probably be just as easy to drive down the Strip and forget about shortcuts. Caesars isn't all that far, and even the long drive to Mandalay Bay isn't horrible - they have the stop lights set and sometimes you can zip all the way down the Strip with only a stop or two.

Plus, now with so many overpasses for pedestrians, the drive down the Strip is nowhere near as bad as it used to be. However, all bets are off on Friday and Saturday, so you might as well just plan to leave your hotel early to get where you are going on time.

Very true, but I would dodge Paradise given the chance! As DMark says there can be a bit of a lottery on weekends and evenings!

I would use Frank Sinatra for returning from Mandalay and Caesars, possibly in preference to the Freeway. From Mandalay you just follow signs to The Hotel and pop out the back straight onto it rather then messing around to get to the freeway. Its pretty easy and you won't get lost. From there I'd turn onto the strip at Fashon Show Drive and go straight to the strat.



Just to clarify, are you suggesting using the freeway for the N-S travel?

Yup, I'll take this route 90% of the time. Lots and lots of turn offs for vegas so you should be fine. I think the turn off is Russel for Mandalay and Flamingo for Caesars. -though it may be worth checking!

I just happened to be near the Stratosphere today, and let me tell ya - even for a Thursday at 2:30, it was no treat. And forget about sliding down Sahara to get on the I15 to get to Caesars or Mandalay Bay...from Sahara/LV Blvd., it took about 10 minutes just to get to the freeway, and once on the freeway, about 20 minutes just to go the few exits.

In those 30 minutes, I could have just driven down the Strip and at least had something interesting to look at while stuck in traffic.

So I guess unless you have a personal helicopter, you are pretty much stuck with simply leaving Stratosphere early to get where you are going.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but there simply ain't no easy way to get from the Stratosphere to Mandalay Bay...but as I said earlier, Caesars should be less of a problem.

I just happened to be near the Stratosphere today, and let me tell ya - even for a Thursday at 2:30, it was no treat. And forget about sliding down Sahara to get on the I15 to get to Caesars or Mandalay Bay...from Sahara/LV Blvd., it took about 10 minutes just to get to the freeway, and once on the freeway, about 20 minutes just to go the few exits.
...
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but there simply ain't no easy way to get from the Stratosphere to Mandalay Bay...but as I said earlier, Caesars should be less of a problem.

Well actually, if you take the North exit out of the Stratosphere, you can turn left from Las Vegas Blvd. at the stoplight in front on the Stratosphere ending up on Paradise heading south.

Another alternate is to exit the South Entrance than drive East (away from the strip) on the local streets zig-zaging until you hit Highland. Then take Highland north (left) to East Desert Inn Road where you can cut over (left then right) to Industrial aka Dean Martin Drive.

These are funky, but they work!

BY FAR the quickest way from Stratosphere to Caesars is via Industrial/Sinatra. You can reach Industrial by heading west on Baltimore out of the driveway and jogging left or right at the T.

To get to Mandalay I would shoot out of the driveway south on Fairfield, right on Sahara, freeway south to Tropicana east, then into Excalibur, bear right, left on Luxor Dr., and enjoy the speed bumps to Mandalay. You can take Industrial/Sinatra too, but as was mentioned there is construction.

QL

Thanks to everyone for the traffic tips. The worst traffic we experienced was trying to get from LAS to the Stratosphere on Friday evening. Going south on Industrial/Sinatra worked perfectly every time we did it.

Lesson learned from this trip: Avoid the Stratosphere. Holy crap, that place is a friggin' dump.

Lesson learned from this trip: Avoid the Stratosphere. Holy crap, that place is a friggin' dump.
LOL. it is a real dump. the area is pretty bad too, unless you need to score some ice.

Is there a primer on using side streets to get to the various hotels on the strip? I am staying at the Stratosphere (not my first choice, trust me) and will need to get to Caesars and Mandalay Bay on separate nights.


If Paradise Rd & Industrial Dr. are all cramped with traffic.
Another alternative is just going west of I-15 and take Valley View as your
N-S travels. Yes its 1/2 mile west of strip but you pass up all those
clogged up n-s side streets along the Strip and save some time.

LOL. it is a real dump. the area is pretty bad too, unless you need to score some ice.

Or ice cream. Luv-It Frozen Custard on Oakey, 3 blocks from the Stratosphere, right in the heart of the Naked City, turns out some of the best made-from-scratch frozen custard in the nation.

Or ice cream. Luv-It Frozen Custard on Oakey, 3 blocks from the Stratosphere, right in the heart of the Naked City, turns out some of the best made-from-scratch frozen custard in the nation.

one of the few decent places near the strat. of course if you have kids you'll have to explain to them what the big building to the north of luv-it with all the cops is...

Sorry I found this thread too late.
I love using Industrial/Dean Martin.
Using Paradise for Hotels on the west side of the strip, I feel, is generally a bad idea.
Flamingo Ave westbound can get pretty backed up.
To go from Stratosphere to Mandalay Bay I would have taken IndustrialDean Martin south to Ali Baba Ln
turn west about 1 block
turn south on Polaris for about1 block
turn east on Hacidena Ave which takes you right to the back door of Manadaly Bay.
From there you can easily get to Luxor and Excalibur.
It's a great way to get to the south strip without all of the traffic.

My taxi meter readings, LAS - Ogden & Main:

Via tunnel/freeway: $32
Via Swenson/Main : $18
Via Russel road/Maryland Pkwy (When they were replacing the sewer pipes and Tropicana & Swenson was closed) : $27

I refuse to be tunneled to Downtown!