Taxis, rideshare, shuttles, buses, and when to leave for the flight back.
Harry Reid International Airport sits close to the action — about two miles from Las Vegas Boulevard — so the ride to most Strip hotels is short. What trips up first-timers is not distance but terminals: which door, which level, and which lot. Get the terminal right once and the whole trip in and out gets easier.
LAS has two terminals, and your airline decides which one you use — and taxi and rideshare pickups differ by terminal. If you land at Terminal 3 assuming Terminal 1, you will walk the wrong way. Check the terminal when you book.
Taxis are regulated by the Nevada Taxicab Authority, which sets flat airport/Strip zone fares for direct trips: Zone 1 (Sunset Road to Tropicana) $22.25, Zone 2 (Tropicana to Flamingo) $26.25, and Zone 3 (Flamingo to the Stratosphere) $30.25. A 3% excise tax is added to rates and fees and a $3 credit-card fee may apply, so the zone number is a starting point, not the final total; the Authority publishes these amounts under its fuel-surcharge order. The flat fare applies only to a direct trip to a destination on the Authority’s official zone map, which includes some off-Strip properties such as The Orleans (Zone 2) and Rio, Gold Coast, Palms, and Palace Station (Zone 3); downtown is not automatically covered. Add a stop or a second destination and the meter applies instead.
Pickup at Terminal 1 is on the east side of baggage claim, outside doors 1–4. At Terminal 3 it is outside baggage claim near Door 52.
Uber and Lyft pickups are inside the parking garages, not at the curb. Terminal 1: take the elevator near Door 2 up to Level 2 and cross the pedestrian bridge. Terminal 3: take the elevator near Doors 52, 54, or 56 up to Level 1, cross to the garage, then go down to the Valet Level. Drop-offs happen at the departures curbs.
Shared shuttles to major Strip hotels make multiple stops and are slower than a taxi for two people. The budget option is the RTC public bus at Terminal 1 on Level Zero: Route 108 and the RED LINE (which replaced Route 109) serve the airport, and Terminal 3 riders take the free inter-terminal shuttle to Terminal 1 first. Neither is the Deuce, the Strip bus, so you transfer to reach most hotels — check the RTC airport transit page for your hotel. Rental cars are consolidated at the Rent-A-Car Center about three miles south, reached by free shuttle.
Baggage claim is a crowd, and the curb is worse. Request your rideshare only after you have your bags and you are walking to the pickup level, and use the app’s named pickup point rather than the terminal address. Have your destination ready for a taxi.
LAS advises arriving two hours before a domestic flight and three hours before an international one, and it says live TSA wait estimates should not be used to plan a later arrival. From a Strip hotel, build in the drive plus the walk to your gate. If you are returning a rental car, add the shuttle ride from the Rent-A-Car Center — that is a separate leg, not part of the terminal walk.
Did you know? The Monorail does not serve the airport at all, and walking between Terminal 1 and Terminal 3 is not possible — they sit in separate parts of the campus, connected only by the free inter-terminal shuttle and, for ticketed passengers, the tram system.
Deciding how to move once you are here? Compare modes in Monorail vs. walking vs. rideshare, weigh a rental in do you need a car, or start at the Getting Around hub.
Return to the overview and find the next detailed guide for your trip.
Explore Getting Around