Where to stay in Las Vegas

The areas from south to north

The South, Center and North Strip have no official boundaries, so the lines below follow cross streets. Walking times are sidewalk routes from each hotel building to the Bellagio fountains and to the Fremont Street Experience canopy. At the bigger resorts, part of that time is getting out of the building.

South Strip

The South Strip is the big-box end: Mandalay Bay, Luxor, Excalibur and MGM Grand, with Park MGM at the northern edge. It has the lowest resort fees found on the Strip, $45 a night at Luxor and Excalibur, and the cheapest airport taxi zone, $22.25 flat. A free tram usually runs between Mandalay Bay, Luxor and Excalibur.

For events at T-Mobile Arena it's the obvious base. MGM's own walking times put Park MGM under 5 minutes from the arena, MGM Grand about 10 and Mandalay Bay 20 to 25. The drawback is distance from everything else: from Mandalay Bay the Bellagio fountains are a 37-minute walk, and Fremont Street is over two hours on foot.

Center Strip

This is the stretch most people picture: Bellagio and its fountains, the Cosmopolitan, ARIA, Paris, Planet Hollywood, Caesars Palace, Horseshoe, Flamingo and the Venetian. Horseshoe (0.53 miles, 10 minutes) and Flamingo (0.59 miles, 11 minutes) are the closest of the hotels measured to the fountains. An indoor walkway connects Bellagio, the Cosmopolitan and Vdara, which matters in July. The Monorail runs along the east side with stations at Horseshoe/Paris, Flamingo/Caesars Palace and Harrah's/The LINQ.

You pay for the location in fees. Most center-Strip hotels charge $54.95 or $55 a night before tax, and Flamingo, at $49.95, is the lowest of the ones checked here. MGM itself suggests a taxi or rideshare rather than walking to T-Mobile Arena from anywhere north of Flamingo Road.

North Strip

North of Spring Mountain Road are Wynn, Resorts World, Fontainebleau and SAHARA, with The STRAT just past Sahara Avenue. This is where most of the Strip's free guest parking is. Wynn parks registered guests free, Fontainebleau puts self-parking inside its resort fee, and SAHARA includes both self-parking and valet. SAHARA also has the northern Monorail terminus.

The trade is walking. From Fontainebleau the fountains are 48 minutes on foot and from SAHARA 55, so the center Strip becomes a Monorail, bus or cab ride. Downtown is closer from here than from anywhere else on the Strip: 44 minutes on foot from SAHARA, 39 from The STRAT. Resorts World is three hotels (Las Vegas Hilton, Conrad and Crockfords) sold separately on Expedia, so check which one a rate is for.

Downtown and Fremont Street

Downtown is the casino district around the Fremont Street Experience canopy. Golden Nugget is a 7-minute walk from the canopy and Circa 5. The case for it is price. LVCVA's 2025 average room rate Downtown was $97.98, half the Strip's $196.54, and Golden Nugget's resort fee is $46 with free parking for registered guests.

The Strip is not walkable from here. Golden Nugget to the Bellagio fountains is 4.75 miles, about an hour and a half. The Monorail doesn't reach Downtown, so the link is the 24-hour Deuce bus ($8 for 24 hours, $20 for 3 days). Circa admits no one under 21, hotel guests included.

Off-Strip

Hotels off Las Vegas Boulevard sit outside the Primary Gaming Corridor, where the room tax is 13% instead of 13.38%, a small saving. Two Monorail stations, Boingo Station at the Convention Center and Westgate, are east of the Strip. Beyond those, assume a cab, rideshare or your own car for every trip to the Strip, and add that to the room rate before comparing.

Resort fees and parking at each hotel

Every hotel below charges a daily resort fee, usually covering Wi-Fi, the gym and local calls. The fee is taxed like the room, so compare the with-tax column.

Expedia shows Las Vegas resort fees with the tax already in: its $62.36 for Bellagio is a $55 fee plus 13.38%, and blogs that copy Expedia's number as "the fee" overstate it by that much. Caesars' own corporate disclaimer page still says its resort fees run "between $45–$50 plus applicable tax", while Caesars Palace, Paris and Planet Hollywood are at $54.95. And at most hotels parking is a separate charge: a $55 fee at Bellagio doesn't park your car.

Guides still quoting Strip resort fees of "$35 to $45 a night" are working from 2020 figures. MGM's most recent Strip increase took effect December 4, 2024, putting Bellagio, ARIA, Vdara and the Cosmopolitan at $55, MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay, Park MGM and the W at $50, and New York-New York, Luxor and Excalibur at $45. Press reports say MGM waives the fee for Gold-tier members and above who book direct, and Caesars for Diamond and Seven Stars members; check that against your own account terms before counting on it.

What three nights really cost

Three nights with a car, add-ons only, on top of the room rate and its tax:

Now add the room. Take LVCVA's 2025 average Strip rate, $196.54, as a stand-in for the room. Three nights is $589.62. Room tax at 13.38% adds $78.89. Bellagio's fee with tax adds $187.08 and parking $60. That's $915.59, or about $305 a night for a room advertised at $196.54. The same three nights at the 2025 average Downtown rate, $97.98, with Golden Nugget's fee and free parking, is $293.94 plus $39.33 tax plus $156.45 in fees, $489.72 in all. The fee hits cheap rooms hardest: Golden Nugget's $46 is close to half of a $97.98 room.

If you're driving, the parking line matters more than the fee. Wynn and Bellagio charge the same $55 fee, and Wynn costs $60 less over three nights because it parks you free. If you're flying in and not renting a car, ignore parking and compare fees alone.

What the law says must be in the price

The FTC's Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees took effect May 12, 2025. It covers hotels, motels and vacation rentals, and it applies to third-party booking sites and travel agents as well as the hotels. Under it, a required resort fee has to be included in the total price you're shown. The rule doesn't ban resort fees, and it doesn't stop hotels from itemizing them.

What it lets hotels leave out is tax. The FTC's total price may exclude taxes and government charges, as long as they're disclosed before you pay. In Las Vegas that's a large number: room tax inside the Primary Gaming Corridor, which covers the Strip resort corridor and a small part of the City of Las Vegas, is 13.38%, and 13% outside it. It applies to the room and all related charges, which is why the resort fee gets taxed too. SAHARA's own booking widget shows how it looks in practice: "Includes Daily $49.95 Resort Fee, Excludes Taxes."

A federal bill, the Hotel Fees Transparency Act, passed the U.S. House in April 2025 with the Nevada Resort Association's support.

What parking costs at the big hotels

MGM runs the same parking rules at all 12 of its Las Vegas resorts, The Reserve at Park MGM and W Las Vegas included. Registered hotel guests pay $20 per 24 hours to self-park, every day of the week, and valet is $40 a day. The 24-hour ticket gives in-and-out privileges at every MGM Las Vegas resort in the same parking type, so a guest at Excalibur can drive to ARIA for dinner and park on the same ticket. Non-guests pay $20 Monday to Thursday and $25 Friday to Sunday. A lost ticket costs $50.

MGM parks MGM Rewards Pearl, Gold, Platinum and NOIR members free, along with MGM Rewards Mastercard holders; the base Sapphire tier pays. Caesars parks Caesars Rewards Platinum members and above free. Nevada residents get the first three hours free at MGM resorts, the Venetian and Caesars properties other than Planet Hollywood, outside special events. Older parking guides still list MGM at $18, the December 2023 rate, and Wynn at $20 with four hours free; Wynn now charges non-guests $25 with the first three hours free.

Which hotel fits which trip

First or short trips

Stay in the center. Caesars Palace and Horseshoe put you about 10 to 12 minutes from the Bellagio fountains, and Monorail stations carry both names (Caesars' is across the Boulevard, on the east side). The Cosmopolitan connects to Bellagio by an indoor walkway. Paris and Planet Hollywood charge $54.95, five cents under their $55 neighbors. The Venetian publishes its fee and parking on its own site, which makes it the easiest center-Strip hotel to price in advance; its fee covers gym access for two at Canyon Ranch.

On a budget

On the Strip, Excalibur and Luxor have the lowest resort fees found, $45 a night ($51.02 with tax), and sit in the cheapest taxi zone from the airport. The catch is a half-hour walk to the fountains. The bigger saving is Downtown, where the average room rate in 2025 was half the Strip's.

For the pool

In a typical year the first resort pools open the first weekend of March and many stay open into October; the big resorts' pool pages post current hours, not season dates. Downtown, Circa's Stadium Swim is open all year, 8am to 11pm by Circa's own page, but Circa is 21+ for every guest. On the Strip, Expedia lists pool access in Caesars Palace's resort fee, and SAHARA's and The STRAT's own pages say their fees cover the seasonal pool.

Downtown

Golden Nugget is the simplest Downtown pick: a $46 resort fee, free parking for registered guests, and a 7-minute walk to the Fremont Street canopy. Non-guests pay $25 Monday to Thursday and $50 Friday to Sunday to park there. Circa is closer to the canopy, but its guest information page lists no resort fee, and it adds $25 a day to the room bill for self-parking. To compare more Downtown hotels, Expedia has a Downtown Las Vegas filter.

Without a car

The center Strip again: it has the most within walking distance and three Monorail stations. The Monorail never reaches the airport or Downtown; the Deuce bus covers the whole Boulevard and Downtown, 24 hours a day, for $8 per 24 hours. Airport taxis are flat zone fares, $22.25 to $30.25. The plan your trip guide has the zone map, Monorail fares and walking times.

Hotels with free parking

Five hotels checked park their guests free. Wynn self-parking is free for registered guests, though valet is $40 per 24 hours unless you're in a Tower Suite. Fontainebleau puts self-parking inside its $55 resort fee, and any Fontainebleau Rewards member parks free by scanning the card. SAHARA includes free valet as well as free self-parking, and Treasure Island says both are always free for its registered guests. Downtown, Golden Nugget parks guests free. Elsewhere on the Strip, budget about $20 a day.

Hotels that closed or changed names

The Mirage closed in July 2024. Hard Rock is rebuilding the site with a guitar-shaped tower. Its opening target moved from early 2027 to the fourth quarter of 2027, per a letter to Clark County regulators reported in April 2025. The Tropicana was imploded on October 9, 2024; its site is for the A's ballpark and a planned Bally's resort, and the A's are playing in Sacramento from 2025 to 2027.

Three hotels changed names. Delano became W Las Vegas on December 18, 2024, though its Expedia listing still carried the old name in October 2026. NoMad is now The Reserve at Park MGM, a switch announced in late 2025. The Cromwell, the 188-room Caesars hotel at Flamingo and the Boulevard, is now The Vanderpump Hotel; it went offline in spring 2026 and reopened in May 2026.

When to book

On LVCVA's monthly averages, October was the most expensive month in both 2024 ($216.99) and 2025 ($203.88), and July or August was the cheapest every year from 2024 to 2026, down to $150.32 in August 2026. December and January are not the bargain months older guides claim: $183.87 in December 2025, about the year's average, and $199.73 in January 2026. Weekends fill more: 2025 occupancy was 88.8% on weekends against 76.6% midweek. The best time to visit Las Vegas guide has every month's rate side by side.

Fees change too. On a booking for next year, recheck the fee before you pay.

After you check in

For two popular excursions, where you stay barely matters. The Strip helicopter night flight leaves from Maverick's terminal at the airport with no hotel transfer, so you get there yourself from wherever you stay. The small-group Grand Canyon West tour picks up from a list of 113 hotel options. The helicopter tours guide and the Grand Canyon tours guide compare the rest, and day trips from Las Vegas covers Hoover Dam, Red Rock and beyond.