Where to stay in Las Vegas

Where to stay in Las Vegas comes down to the Strip, Downtown around Fremont Street, Summerlin on the west side or Henderson to the south-east. On the LVCVA's survey, Strip hotels averaged $196.11 a night from January to August 2026, and Downtown hotels $97.67.

No hotel is named or recommended here, and our Las Vegas guide covers the sights and the airport. We read the figures below on 13 November 2026 on the pages of the City of Las Vegas, Clark County, the Nevada Taxicab Authority, the Monorail, the FTC, the LVCVA and the organisers of Formula One, the rodeo and CES. We could not read RTC's bus fares, Henderson's tax and rental pages or the resort groups' parking fees.

Where to stay in Las Vegas: the Strip, Paradise Road, Downtown, Summerlin or Henderson?

The Strip's centre suits a first visit on foot, and each other area suits a narrower case, in our judgement. No official page we read ranks a best area to stay in Las Vegas, so the last column is ours. The miles are our own routing and approximate. Airport figures run from Terminal 3, and our routing runs long there.

Each area's miles run to one landmark in it, such as the Golden Gate on Fremont Street. With a car, the resort groups' own self-parking fees add to the cost of a stay.

Which Formula One, rodeo and CES dates shape a Las Vegas booking this winter?

The Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix runs from 19 to 21 November 2026, Formula One's calendar said on 13 November. The National Finals Rodeo follows from 3 to 12 December, and CES from 6 to 9 January 2027. Each changes a part of the trip: the Monorail's hours, the taxi fares or the way rooms are booked.

The Monorail's page, read on 13 November 2026, gives no reason for the December closures, which fall around the rodeo's dates. CES said its 2027 hotel accommodations were open, booked through its official housing agent rather than a hotel's own site. We found no official word on minimum stays for any of the three events.

Strip vs Downtown Las Vegas: what did the LVCVA's 2026 survey show?

The Strip's average room rate ran at about twice Downtown's in 2026 on the LVCVA's monthly survey. From January to August, Strip hotels averaged $196.11 a night at 83.5% occupancy, and Downtown hotels $97.67 at 63.5%. The LVCVA's sample covers more than 75% of the Las Vegas hotel inventory, a weighted 150,777 rooms in August 2026.

The August figures ran below the year's. The LVCVA put the city-wide 7.4% fall in the August room rate down to Labor Day weekend, most of which had fallen in August in 2025. November 2025 shows the same month a year earlier.

The LVCVA reports only the Strip and Downtown. It does not split the Strip's ends or report Paradise Road, Summerlin or Henderson, and it does not say whether its rates include resort fees. The figures are averages across room types, not a price for any night.

Is every Strip hotel inside the 13.38% Las Vegas hotel tax corridor?

Not every Strip hotel pays 13.38%: the Las Vegas hotel tax is 13.38% inside the Primary Gaming Corridor and 13% outside it, and the corridor is a mapped area, not the length of the Strip. The City of Las Vegas prints both rates in its room tax packet, revised in March 2026.

Clark County's list of licensed properties, dated April 2021, puts the Strip resorts from Mandalay Bay to SAHARA at 13.38%. It puts a hotel on Giles Street, listed as Strip South, and one at 8440 Las Vegas Boulevard South at 13%. Paradise Road properties such as the Westgate are listed at 13.38%, and Red Rock Casino Resort Spa in Summerlin at 13%.

The county's list is five years old and covers only unincorporated land. It has no Fremont Street hotel, which sits on city land, and resorts opened after 2021 are missing. The city's corridor map is an image we did not read, so we do not say which rate a Downtown hotel pays.

The $200 is our invented example, and the gap is 76 cents a night. The LVCVA's August 2026 Strip average of $153.15 comes to $173.64 with 13.38% added, by our arithmetic.

The city's packet says the tax may not be included in the price of the room, so it arrives as its own line. Room tax is due on the first 30 days of a stay. The city counts resort fees, cleaning fees and booking fees as taxable. No county page we read says whether Clark County taxes a resort fee. Our guide to sales tax in the USA covers the tax on meals and shopping.

What must Las Vegas resort fees do under the FTC's rule since 12 May 2025?

Las Vegas resort fees must sit inside a hotel's advertised total price under the FTC's rule, 16 CFR Part 464, which has covered hotels since 12 May 2025. The rule speaks of mandatory charges and never prints the words "resort fee". The FTC's own FAQ says a required resort fee must be included in the total price.

The total must be shown more prominently than any other price. Taxes and other government charges may be left out of it, but the hotel must show them and the final amount before you agree to pay. Misrepresenting a fee, such as its purpose or whether it is refunded, is a separate breach. Short-term and vacation rentals fall under the same rule as hotels.

The FAQ lets a hotel advertise its lowest available total price, as long as guests can book it. We found no Nevada rule on resort fees, though we did not read the state's statutes, and no official page we read prints any hotel's fee.

How long is the Strip on foot, and when does a Monorail pass pay?

The Strip is about 4.5 miles on foot from Mandalay Bay to SAHARA, on OpenStreetMap's walking routes. From Mandalay Bay to Bellagio is about 1.7 miles, from MGM Grand to Bellagio about 1.3 and from Bellagio to SAHARA about 3.1. A base at one end puts the other end out of easy walking range.

The Las Vegas Monorail covers 3.9 miles of elevated track from MGM Grand to SAHARA, behind the resorts on the east side. Its seven stations are named in our Las Vegas guide. Paradise Road has two of them, the Convention Center and the Westgate, about 0.9 miles apart on foot.

A 1-Day eTicket pays from the third ride, by our arithmetic. At the machine the same comparison runs $6.25 a ride against $15.50 for the day. For a longer stay, the 3-Day eTicket costs $30.85 and the 7-Day $59.95, against $41.85 for three separate 1-Day eTickets. The fares are those on the Monorail's ticket page on 13 November 2026.

What does a Downtown bed near Fremont Street trade for the lower rate?

A Downtown bed near Fremont Street trades the Monorail for an average rate about half the Strip's. Downtown is city land, so the City of Las Vegas's rules on room tax and rentals apply there. Our Las Vegas itinerary gives Downtown its own day.

The Monorail does not go Downtown, its operator says. From SAHARA, the line's north end, the Golden Gate on Fremont Street is about 2.2 miles by car and about 2.3 on foot. From Bellagio it is about 5.5 miles by car.

The operator suggests the Deuce bus from just north of SAHARA's main entrance, and says the Deuce runs 24/7. The claim is the Monorail's, not RTC's, and we print no Deuce fare.

The city's free Downtown Loop runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. from Sunday to Thursday, and from 3 to 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. On 13 November 2026 its Fremont Street stop had moved to Main Street, just north of Ogden Avenue, for construction.

How far is a Summerlin base from the Strip and Red Rock Canyon?

A Summerlin base lies about 11.7 miles from Bellagio and about 18.2 miles from the airport's Terminal 3, by our own routing. From Bellagio, the Red Rock Canyon Visitor Center is about 18.0 miles by the same routing, against 17 miles on the Bureau of Land Management's figure.

Red Rock Casino Resort Spa in Summerlin appears on the county's 2021 list at 13%. Which parts of Summerlin are in the city and which in the county was not settled by any official page we read. That matters for rentals, since the city and the county license them under different rules.

The LVCVA publishes no rate for Summerlin. Our guide to day trips from Las Vegas covers Red Rock Canyon's timed entry, and our guide to renting a car in the USA covers the car.

What do we know about a base in Henderson's Water Street District?

Henderson is a separate city, and its Water Street District lies about 14.8 miles from Bellagio and about 11.3 miles from Terminal 3, by our own routing. The LVCVA reports no rate for Henderson.

No Henderson room-tax rate or rental rule appears here, and the county's 2021 list holds no Henderson hotel either. Henderson's own pages are the ones to read before booking a rental there.

What does a taxi from Harry Reid cost to a Strip zone or to Downtown?

A taxi from Harry Reid to the Strip costs one of three flat zone fares set by the Nevada Taxicab Authority, on its page last updated on 4 September 2026. Zone 1, Sunset North to Tropicana, costs $22.25, zone 2, Tropicana North to Flamingo, $26.25, and zone 3, Flamingo North to the Stratosphere, $30.25. The Authority calls them approximations.

A $3.00 card fee comes on top, and the Authority adds a 3% excise tax to all rates and fees. A zone 2 ride by card comes to about $30.13 by our arithmetic. The page also highlights a $1.00 fuel surcharge on a zone ride, and a tip is extra.

Downtown lies outside the three zones, which end at the Stratosphere, so a Downtown ride runs on the meter. The meter charges $8.21 for the first mile and $2.96 for each mile after, plus a $2.40 airport fee per pick-up.

Our estimate for the 7.5 miles to the Golden Gate is about $31 with the airport fee and the excise tax, or about $34 paid by card. Waiting time, the fuel surcharge and the tip come on top. No official page prints a Downtown fare.

Can you rent a whole house on Las Vegas city or Clark County land?

A whole house on City of Las Vegas land cannot be a licensed short-term rental, because the city licenses only owner-occupied homes. The owner must live on site during the guests' entire stay, and the home may have at most three bedrooms. It must also sit at least 660 feet from any other short-term rental and 2,500 feet from a resort hotel.

The city's one-page guide, from July 2024 by its form number, covers stays under 31 days. A city proposal of 2025 keeps owner occupancy, and its packet does not say whether it was adopted.

Clark County's rules cover only unincorporated land, which includes the Strip's resorts, Paradise and Spring Valley. The county bans apartments as short-term rentals and caps licences at 1% of eligible housing units in each area. Every advert must show a valid county licence number, owner-occupied homes included. Condos qualify only where the building's rules expressly allow it, and then for at most 10% of its units.

Operating without a county licence costs the nightly rental value or $500, whichever is greater, and $1,000 for a repeat. A county ordinance introduced on 20 October 2026 says a licensee must not accept bookings of fewer than two nights. We could not confirm that it was adopted, or whether the two-night line is new, so treat it as proposed text.