We're renting a car at the airport. I have directions to the hotel, which involves driving on the strip for about 1 mile. This will be at around 10PM on a Friday night. Yet I've read you should avoid driving on the strip. Do hotels on the strip have entrances off the strip, or do people normally have to drive down the strip to get to their hotel? The hotel is the Venetian. If we do have to drive on the strip for a mile, will it take a long time to go a mile?

Do NOT drive on the Strip. Most parking garages can be accessed from the back or side entrances. Look at mapquest or similar and get directions using the street (forget the name) that is one block off of the strip.

Normally the entrance is somewhere in an alley or another street. Here is a map of the 1st floor, maybe this will help. Notice, the registration and the front desk are on the right, not sure which street is this.

http://www.venetian.com/corp/map1.cfm

The best thing is to call them, they will know if there is any construction with street closures.

Do you really need a car? It is so hard to get around in a car, we have always taken taxis. We wanted to get "out of town" so we didn't rent a car until the latter part of our stay so we would not have to pay for it/bother with it until we really needed it. Just a thought if you don't need the car the entire time you are there.

Yes, we really need a car. We're going to Utah parks as well, sightseeing, etc. We're not going to be in Vegas all the time.

I agree with bj. We didn't rent a car until we wanted to take a day trip out of town. We rode a bus to get downtown one evening to see Fremont St. and other than that, took taxis everywhere.

We're going out of Vegas every day. We need a car.

Take Swenson St. North, out of the airport. Stay on Swenson as you cross Tropicana, Harmon, and Flamingo. Turn left on Twain. Twain becomes Sands as you cross Paradise. Turn left on Koval. You will now be immediately behind the Venetian's convention center. Take the next right into the Harrah's/Venetian entrance. Stay to your right. Follow the signs to self parking or valet.

For more information, go to mapquest and search for the intersection of Swenson and Twain, then zoom out as needed.

I always advise against driving on the strip especially on weekends...However..

If you or the kids have never been on the strip at night, it is kind of a neat spectacle. So what if it takes 45 minutes from Flamingo?

I did that when I had my teen boys in the rental car the night before we did the Utah thing.

While sitting in traffic, we had 3 bicycle cops wheel up and stop the car directly in front of us and roust the occupants for something, my guess is open alcohol or smoking something illegal. At any rate, it was just like being in a COPS show...good story to tell anyways.

Sorry, what I meant to say was 45 minutes from Tropicana...not Flamingo.

And, if you do drive the strip to see all the lights (in my opinion, better seen from the pedestrian overpasses), look out for drunken and or stupid idiots trying to hoof it across 8 lanes of traffic (sometimes only 1/2 block from the crosswalks!).

Thanks vegaslocal

Dear Vegaslocal,

We've decided to stay at the Bellagio instead of the Venetian. Can you offer similar directions to the Bellagio for me? When I go to mapquest the directions always take me to Las Vegas Blvd. Hope you can help,

Thanks \/

Do they not makes anymore since Mapquest came out? There should be a map with those directions. You could just find alternative routes--like highways. Maps are your friend.

I've tried and tried but I just can;t get it to go a different route. I'm usually very computer literate but this one has me stuck. If all else fails I'll call the hotel but thought I would check with VegasLocal first.

Follow vegaslocals advice except turn left on Flamingo. Bellagio is on the corner of flamingo and the Strip.

Ok, thanks