Getting around Nevada

In Las Vegas

The Las Vegas Monorail runs behind the east-side casinos from MGM Grand to Sahara, $6 single or $15 for 24 hours. The Deuce bus covers the Strip and downtown 24 hours for $8 a day. Uber and Lyft are everywhere but airport pickup requires you to walk to a specific rideshare zone at Terminal 1 (level 2M) — allow 15 minutes. Taxis have a $3 airport surcharge. The Vegas Loop (Tesla tunnel under the Convention Center) is $5 per person for a novelty ride.

Walking the Strip looks simple on a map but the distance between Bellagio and Mandalay Bay is a genuine 2.3 miles, and Las Vegas heat turns that into an hour-long slog from May to September. Pedestrian bridges at every major intersection — Las Vegas Blvd and Flamingo, Las Vegas Blvd and Tropicana — add stairs and escalators, so factor in extra time if you are moving luggage. The RTC's SDX (Strip and Downtown Express) is a faster alternative to the Deuce, using the same $8 24-hour pass but making fewer stops. Self-parking at Strip resorts such as Wynn Las Vegas, Caesars Palace and The Venetian Resort Las Vegas runs $15 to $45 a night depending on the season, while off-Strip properties like Red Rock Casino Resort and Spa and South Point Hotel Casino and Spa still offer free self-parking.

Between cities

There is no passenger train inside Nevada. Vegas to Reno is a 7-hour drive up US-95, or a 90-minute flight from $80. Vegas to Los Angeles is 4 hours on I-15 — dodge Friday afternoon and Sunday evening. Vegas to Grand Canyon South Rim is 4.5 hours; Vegas to Zion is 2.5 hours. FlixBus runs Vegas-Reno for $50 to $80 but takes 10 to 12 hours.

Lake Mead National Recreation Area is the easiest half-day trip, 45 minutes from the Strip via US-93 and Lakeshore Road, no reservation needed beyond the $25 per-vehicle entrance fee. Ely, in the remote east-central part of the state, is a 4.5-hour drive up US-93 through Pioche, useful if you are continuing on to Great Basin National Park. On the Vegas-to-Reno run, Tonopah is the honest halfway point, about 3.5 hours in on US-95, and the last reliable gas and food stop before another 3.5 hours of open basin-and-range country. Southwest and Spirit both fly Harry Reid to Reno-Tahoe International several times a day; book two to three weeks out to keep fares near $80 rather than the $200-plus walk-up fares that show up the week before a Friday departure.

Renting a car

Rent at Harry Reid Airport or Reno-Tahoe International rather than downtown locations — the Strip surcharges add $20 to $30 a day. Base rates run $45 to $80 a day for a mid-size, plus a $5 daily concession fee and rental tax. Fill up before returning; airport fuel is $6 a gallon. For desert driving, take a full-size sedan or SUV, not the cheapest compact — highway crosswinds are serious on I-15 and US-95.

Nevada has no tolled roads or bridges anywhere in the state, so budget only for gas, parking and the airport concession fee rather than a transponder. One-way rentals between Las Vegas and Reno carry a drop fee of $150 to $300 on top of the daily rate, which usually makes the 90-minute flight cheaper than a one-way car unless you are hauling gear. Standard rental insurance excess in Nevada runs $500 to $1,500 depending on the company, so check whether a credit card's travel benefits already cover it before paying the counter's daily waiver. If you are chasing the Loneliest Road or Highway 50 for more than a week, an RV rental out of Las Vegas can work out cheaper than hotel-plus-car once you add fuel.

Reno, Sparks and Lake Tahoe

Reno and Sparks are compact enough to manage without a car for a short stay: RTC RIDE buses cover both downtown cores for $2 a ride or $4 for a day pass, and the Renaissance Reno Downtown Hotel & Spa sits a few minutes' walk from the main transit hub on 4th Street. Lake Tahoe is a different matter — there is no year-round bus service to the lake, and both routes in require mountain driving. NV-431, the Mount Rose Highway, is the fast way to Incline Village and the north shore, about 45 minutes from downtown Reno on a clear day. US-50 south to Stateline and South Lake Tahoe takes closer to an hour and gets busy with ski traffic on winter weekends.

From November through April, Nevada Highway Patrol and Caltrans post chain-control checkpoints on both roads during storms, and a rental car from Reno-Tahoe International rarely arrives with chains already fitted, so carry your own or ask for snow tires when you book. The North Lake Tahoe Express shuttle runs direct from the airport to Incline Village and Tahoe City for about $54 one-way, a reasonable option if you would rather not drive the passes yourself. Stay at Stateline Ski House Walk to Boulder Lift or Heavenly Haven Near Boulder Lodge on the south shore and you can leave the car at the hotel entirely, walking to the Heavenly lifts instead. Edgewood Tahoe Resort, on the water at Stateline, is worth the extra driving for the golf course and lake views, but it is genuinely 5 to 6 hours from Las Vegas by car, so treat it as a Reno-based trip, not a Strip side trip.

Rural Nevada and the open road

Nevada outside Las Vegas and Reno is genuinely empty, and US-50 across the center of the state has marketed itself as The Loneliest Road in America since a 1986 magazine piece scared readers off it — pick up a free passport at visitor centers in Ely, Eureka, Austin and Fallon and get it stamped at each stop for a certificate at the end. Distances between services run long: it is 77 miles from Ely to the next fuel at Eureka, and another 70 to Austin, so the rule on this road is to fill the tank at every town regardless of the gauge. Speed limits on I-80 and stretches of US-93 climb to 80 mph, but so does the chance of open range cattle wandering onto the tarmac at dusk.

Cell coverage disappears for long stretches on US-50, US-93 and much of the Great Basin Highway, so download offline maps before you leave Ely or Elko rather than relying on a signal. Elko, on I-80 in the northeast, is the practical overnight base for this part of the state and for reaching the Ruby Mountains — TownePlace Suites by Marriott Elko and Ramada by Wyndham Elko Hotel at Stockmen's Casino both sit within walking distance of the interstate exit, while Best Western Elko Inn is a cheaper fallback. Further south, All Aboard Cafe & Inn and Ramada By Wyndham Ely work the same way for anyone splitting a Highway 50 run into two days rather than pushing straight through from Vegas or Reno in one long sitting.

Airports and regional flights

Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) in Las Vegas and Reno-Tahoe International Airport (RNO) handle almost all of the state's air traffic, but Elko Regional Airport (EKO) is worth knowing about if your trip is centered on the rural northeast. SkyWest, operating as United Express, flies EKO to Salt Lake City several times a day, which turns a 4- to 5-hour drive from Reno or an even longer one from Las Vegas into a connection of well under an hour once you are willing to route through Salt Lake rather than driving the whole distance yourself.

Fares on the Elko route bounce around with demand from the mining and ranching traffic that keeps it running, typically $150 to $350 round-trip if booked two or three weeks out. It will rarely beat driving on cost, but it is the difference between a weekend trip to the Ruby Mountains and writing off two full days to the road. Between the two main hubs, LAS and RNO both run non-stop domestic routes to most major West Coast and Mountain time-zone cities, so flying into one and driving out through the other — Vegas in, Reno out, or the reverse — is a workable way to see the state without a 500-mile backtrack.