All this week, I’ve been living it up in Sin City — and by “living it up” I mean attending CES and trying my damndest to avoid those $5 drip coffees. While I’m certainly enjoying my second CES outing, my feet are clearly not fans. Some people might not realize it but the Las Vegas Strip is more than four miles long, not to mention the square footage that goes into some of these goliath resorts. It’s no wonder then that many tourists take to hailing cabs or rideshares in order to get from one destination to another. However, for reasons related to both speed and cost, I’ve always been a fan of the Las Vegas Monorail for getting around town.
If you’re not familiar, the Las Vegas Monorail runs from the MGM Grand on the south side of the Strip all the way up to what is once again known as the Sahara on the north side. Along the way, it makes stops at Paris/Bally’s, Flamingo/Caesars, Harrah’s/The Linq, The Las Vegas Convention Center, and Westgate. As you can probably tell, that means that far from every casino and resort is represented in the station names, but the signs will let you know what other destinations are near each stop.
One minor downside of the monorail is that, feasibly, the only place to put the thing was off Las Vegas Boulevard itself. Therefore, the stations are typically buried deep in the back of the casinos — and some resorts aren’t as good about providing signage to lead the way as others. This is especially true at the moment as the Harrah’s/The Linq station seems to be undergoing some construction, rerouting passengers through the latter hotel. Unfortunately, it would appear that little effort has been put into making this move clear and I’m not sure I even would have found the entrance had I not exited from that station in the first place.
So what does this have to do with personal finance? Well, in my opinion, the Monorail is a far more affordable option than trying to get around town in a cab or Uber/Lyft. While a one-way ride at $5 might not be the best deal (though, again, probably less than just the tip for a rideshare), the single-day and multi-day passes are where the real value comes in. Plus, by doing some Googling, I was able to find a discount code that got me a 5-day pass for $36.99 as opposed to the typical $43. What’s even better is that you can add your monorail pass to your phone or even Apple Watch, making it super simple to scan at the turnstile.
As for speed, with monorails arriving every four to eight minutes, we’ve been able to get around quite quickly. Looking at the traffic on the streets of Vegas at most hours, I can’t imagine taking a car would be much faster. Speaking of hours, the Las Vegas Monorail also operates well into the night — as late (or early?) as 3 a.m. on weekends.
For all of those reasons, if you’re coming to Vegas and want to be able to explore the various resorts without completely killing your feet or spending a fortune on fares, I can’t recommend the Las Vegas Monorail enough. #NotSponsored