Bus or Monorail

Hello, my husband and I will be going to Vegas in early October. The first two nights we are staying at Mandalay Bay, and the second two nights will probably be the Mirage. Would I be better off getting a bus pass or a monorail pass (does the $20 4 day bus pass include the deuce, SDX, and all other local routes). I know the bus can take a long time getting to the middle of the strip, but if the weather is really hot, we have a little over a mile walk to the monorail station from Mandalay Bay. And, from what I hear, the other stations can be quite a distance from other hotels. (I have never been to Vegas before, so I am not sure what to expect. The walking over a mile is a non-issue as long as the weather isn't extremely hot, which it shouldn't be in October). Thanks for any info.

 

The monorail is less than useless from MB or Mirage. I can't comment on buses, since I usually rent a car or taxi.

 

The $20 bus pass is 3 days, but yes, all routes.

There are tradeoffs either way here. The bus will give you way more destinations and flexibility and you can avoid more walking ... but it can be slow and you have to wait in the sun.

The monorail is air conditioned, but there is still a lot of walking, and the destinations are limited.

One thing to bear in mind, Mandalay Bay has a free tram to excalibur, basically right at the corner near the pedestrian bridge. So not actually a huge walk to monorail ... most of the walk is through MGM itself, and is air conditioned. Of course, you have to walk back through at the other end.


Maybe start with this: Where are you wanting to go (other than the mirage to switch hotels, which I am assuming you will cab/uber)?

 

In regards to switching hotels I guess the bus could work. I would not consider the Monorail, it is too far from the path you need to take. Mandalay Bay and the Mirage are on the opposite side of Las Vegas Blvd from the Monorail.

"Just a mile" in Vegas is a long, long walk if you're pulling luggage.

Have you considered Uber/Lyft/taxi?

 

Forget the monorail for any regular travel. It might be good for one day...walk through and see MGM, then take Monorail up the strip and work your way back by walking or taxi.

We stay at MB often and will walk up the strip going from hotel to hotel. You can get from MB to NY with only a short outside walk. And from there, a little walk to Monte Carlo and then inside to Aria, little outside to the back of Bellagio, etc.

Again, forget the monorail pass. Bus - maybe. We would not bother. Between walking and cabs, that is just a pain.

 

I looked up fare estimates from Mandalay Bay to the Mirage.
Taxi -$18.37(includes $2.40 tip)
Uber - $8-10

 

We will use Uber or Lyft to switch hotels. I was thinking more about getting down to the north end of the strip from Mandalay Bay. Also, how far is downtown from the north most station on the monorail?

 

According to Google Map, 2.1miles, 42 minute walk. I mapped it from SLS which is one block from the monorail station.

Maybe this link will work,
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/36.1425493,-115.159307/Heart+Attack+Grill,+Fremont+Street,+Las+Vegas,+NV/@36.1558635,-115.1671007,14z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m9!4m8!1m0!1m5!1m1!1s0x80c8c3755b686f5d:0x3fefeeb2f20591b9!2m2!1d-115.1407514!2d36.169458!3e2

 

If you want downtown, do the bus pass (or other options). You won't be walking from SLS.

Bear in mind where the monorail would take you. They have stations for Bally's/Paris and Flamingo (which are more or less mid strip), then Harrah's, then nothing until the convention centre, then SLS. Point being they will only get you so close to Venetian/Wynn/TI. This is why I asked if you had specific places you planned on going. Monorail is fine for beating the heat, but it is so limited that whether its worth it greatly depends on where you are going.

If you don't mind a walk but are afraid of heat, and wanted to see, say, the Bellagio fountains, from MB you could take a free tram to Excalibur (air conditioned), walk outside over the bridge to NYNY, down escalator, and over to Monte Carlo, walk through Monte Carlo to the next tram, and take it to Bellagio. All for free. And that is probably as little walking as tram to NYNY, walk across two bridges and through MGM, monorail to Paris/Bally's, walk though hotels and cross bridge. If on the other hand, you are going for a High Roller ride, Monorail would be more efficient.

 

Basically the monorail is good if you are travelling to the hotels/casinos located east of LV Blvd but a long haul if you are on the west side. If you want to go downtown you would definitely take the bus, I wouldn't recommend walking it because there really isn't a lot to see or do (or stop off at). If you are visiting the strip hotels then the bus would be more convenient but may be crowded but if you get on at the MB bus stop you get on before the mass of crowds so hopefully you should have a seat.

The 3 day pass seems to be your best deal. Also, make sure you check the weather forecast, one year I was there in the middle of October and the temp was still in the 100's, another year I was there at the same time and it was in the 80 - 90's.

If you are the really frugal type (and have time on your hands) you can take the free monorail from MB to the Excalibur, then walk to Monte Carlo and take the free tram to the Bellagio and walk to the north hotels from there.

 

If going downtown make sure you get on the Express, it takes approximately 30 mins from the south end of the strip to Freemont St.

 

One of the things I warn people every time about the MB to Excalibur tram is that their are two trams side-by-side, one is the express between MB and the pedestrian bridge at the corner of LV Blvd. and Tropicana Ave., and the other tram also stops at Luxor between MB and Excalibur. The one that stops at Luxor goes on to a station at Excalibur which requires you to go into Excalibur where you have to walk through it and out to a walkway that goes to the corner of Las Vegas Blvd. and Tropicana Ave. Although the tram track goes all the way to the corner of the pedestrian bridge, I haven't seen the tram go there for years. Maybe they changed it, but it was that way last year, and many years before it.

 

Based on personal experience, if you are at Mandalay Bay and want to go somewhere at the center of The Strip (or are there and heading back to Mandalay Bay) I would just take a taxi.

This doesn't take in to account the use of bus passes, but on a per ride basis consider:

By Bus: You have to exit Mandalay Bay, walk to the intersection, cross the street, go to the bus stop and then wait for a bus. The cost is going to be $6 for two people and the bus is very slow -> you should factor in how much your vacation time is worth to you here as well, because a trip from Mandalay Bay to The Venetian or Harrah's could take an hour.

By Monorail: You have to exit Mandalay Bay and either take the tram to Excalibur or walk there. Then you need to cross the street and cross the street again to get to MGM Grand where you have to go all the way to the back and work your way to the monorail station. The monorail is going to cost you $10 for two people and has the disadvantage that it only runs down one side of The Strip and doesn't stop at all hotels.

By taxi: you have to exit Mandalay Bay and get in a cab, 10-15 minutes later you are at your destination. To most places on the center strip you can figure the cab ride is going to average about $15.
This is the most expensive option of the three, but you end up at your destination, you don't have a potentially long walk involved and you aren't wasting vacation time.
And again, that time issue: I'm on vacation, I'd rather be gambling or drinking or sightseeing than losing an hour of my time, an hour of my wife's time and sitting on a hot bus just to save $9... or going to walk a couple of blocks to MGM Grand to save $5.



I don't want to sound totally against taking the bus, my wife and I still take the bus and the monorail when in Las Vegas, but it has to be convenient to make it worth it: if you get up and go across the street for breakfast at McDonalds or are grabbing something to eat/drink from the convenience store there and then are thinking "Hey, lets go to Paris today" then thats great because the bus is right there and you could be at Paris in 15 minutes... or you leave Mandalay Bay and spend an hour gambling at Luxor, then walk next door to Excalibur and gamble for an hour, then cross the street and gamble at Tropicana for an hour and then finally at MGM Grand where you stop and gamble for an hour... if you decide you want to go to Harrah's for some more gambling then thats great because the monorail is right there so its definitely going to be a convenience.