Using the Free Las Vegas Tram System to Get Around

How to travel around the Las Vegas Tram system

The monorail system in Las Vegas is expensive and really inconvenient.  It connects through the back of the hotels on the East side of the strip.  Some of those hotels, like MGM, are huge and you have to walk through the entire hotel to get out.  Other stations like Harrah’s are a little more conveniently placed, but overall I don’t feel like I’m saving walking–though you definitely save some heat.

But on the West side of the strip, there are a few trams that can help you get where you need to go.

The Mirage-Treasure Island

Convenient for: Encore-Wynn-Venetian-Harrah’s

This tram picks up right in front of the check-in area of the Mirage and goes to the back of the Treasure Island hotel.  TI, as they want you to call it, isn’t that deep so the back of the hotel isn’t that far from the front door.

Hours: Vegas.com lists them as  7 a.m. – 2 a.m., but the last two times I was there, it didn’t open until 9am.

It runs every few minutes.

This tram has a cool view of the Mirage’s vegetation.

The Mandalay Bay-Luxor-Excalibur

Also convenient to: Tropicana and MGM

This one is strange in that the rides in each direction are different.  From the Mandalay Bay, your tram will stop at Luxor and Excalibur.  But on the way back, you’ll go straight from the Excalibur to the Mandalay Bay.

The walk from Mandalay Bay to the Luxor is nice (indoors and shopping!) so you may want to just walk it from then.  But if you turn around, you can get right back on the tram to the Luxor.

Hours: According to Vegas.com it is 11 a.m. – 10:30 p.m..  This sounds about right for what I saw while there.

There’s a great view of some of the Luxor’s decorations from this tram.  You get to see them in a way not possible from the ground, so I recommend checking it out once.

Bellagio (Vdara)-City Center( Aria/Cosmopolitan)-Monte Carlo

Also convenient to:  Paris, Bally’s and the new casino they are building where Bill’s Gambling Saloon was (The Cromwell).

This one doesn’t have any fancy views, but it feels the fanciest of the trams.  It’s also really fast and relatively not-crowded.

The City Center stop goes to Crystals, but it is so quick to get to the Aria and Cosmopolitan by cutting through different places that I think they count as a stop there too.  For the Vdara, you just make a quick turn in the other direction out of the Bellagio stop.

Hours: 8am-4am, confirmed by a sign I just saw at the tram.  It’s apparently just closed for a quick tune up each night.

No fancy views, but a great way to avoid some walking if your feet are hurting post clubbing.  The other trams don’t stay up this late.

Las Vegas Tram Map

Vegas.com has a Las Vegas tram map that is out of date, but it is shocking how much the East side of the strip has changed in the last year as compared to the West side of the strip (which went through a huge change a few years ago).

The West side of this map is mostly up to date:

Las Vegas Tram Map

But for the best updated strip map, just check out Google Maps.  So many online, including official ones are out of date.

 

About Jeanne Marie Hoffman

Former bartender, still a geek. One equal part each cookies, liberty, football, music, travel, libations. Stir vigorously. +Jeanne Marie Hoffman Jeanne on Twitter

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One comment

  1. For the Monte Carlo-Aria-Crystals-Bellagio tram, it’s sometimes better to just walk, depending on where you’re at.

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