The cab pulled away from the curb and there was nobody driving it. No driver, no steering wheel, not even a spot where a steering wheel used to be. Just the four of us gliding down the Strip in a little glass box that drove itself, and Emily filming the whole thing because nobody back home was going to believe it. That was the moment Vegas quietly answered the question we had been circling all trip: did we need a rental car here? No. We never rented one, and we never once wished we had.
If you are planning a few days in Las Vegas with your family and you are staring at rental car prices, parking fees, and airport shuttle schedules, here is the short version. The Strip is a walking city with a couple of very good shortcuts, and the only rides worth paying for are the ones that take you off the Strip. Here is exactly what we used over four days, what surprised us, and the one thing we looked at and walked right past.
Staying Half a Block Off the Strip Changed the Whole Math
Before any of the getting-around stuff makes sense, you need to know where we slept, because it set up everything else. We were at the Marriott Grand Chateau, half a block off the Strip behind Planet Hollywood. That location did more for our transportation budget than any app did. Planet Hollywood was a two minute walk, the Cosmopolitan about five, Aria about seven. From a base like that, your own two feet are the main way you get around, and a rental car sitting in a parking garage all day would have been a very expensive paperweight.
The Driverless Cab Was the Most Fun We Had Getting Anywhere
Let me start with the one that the kids will be talking about for a year. Las Vegas now has Zoox, a driverless robotaxi, running public rides on and around the Strip. You request it on an app, it shows up on its own, and when you climb in there is no driver and no steering wheel anywhere in the vehicle. It is built like a little lounge on wheels, with the seats facing each other, so the four of us were just sitting in a glass room watching the Strip slide by.
The part that got me was not the novelty, it was the driving. No driver, no wheel, and somehow smoother than riding with a person. No hard brakes, no jerky lane changes, no flooring it to make a light. It just eased through traffic like it had nothing to prove. Josh kept waiting for it to do something dumb and it never did. I would honestly rather ride in that than in half the cars I have been a passenger in.
One honest caveat. It was free when we rode it, which made it an easy yes, but Zoox has signaled that paid rides are coming, so do not plan your whole trip around a free robotaxi. Treat it the way we did. Ride it once because it is genuinely the most memorable five minutes of transportation your kids will have all year, then get around the rest of the time on the stuff that is reliably cheap or free.
And if you want the short version, here is our whole ride in about seventy seconds, from the empty curb to the drop-off screen.
Walk First, the Strip Is Closer Than It Looks (Until It Isn’t)
Most days, walking was our default, and it mostly worked. The Strip is one long parade of things to look at, so the kids never complained the way they would on a normal hike. The pedestrian bridges over the big intersections keep you up and out of traffic, which matters a lot when you are herding two teenagers across Las Vegas Boulevard.
Here is the thing nobody tells you, though, and it got us more than once. The distances are deceiving. Two hotels that look like neighbors from across the street can be a fifteen minute walk apart once you account for the size of the buildings, the casino floor you have to cut through, and the crowds. A walk that looks like nothing on a map turns into a real trek by the third one of the day, especially when it is hot. Plan for it. Pick your walking stretches, and do not assume the next casino is as close as it looks.
The Free Tram Most People Walk Right Past
This is the tip I would put in bold if I were allowed to. At the south end of the Strip there is a free tram that connects Excalibur, Luxor, and Mandalay Bay. No ticket, no tap, no fare. You just walk on. When your feet are done and you are at that end of the Strip, it is a small gift, and it covers a stretch that is a genuinely long and not very interesting walk otherwise. We used it, it cost us nothing, and it saved the kids a meltdown at exactly the wrong time of day. If you are down by Mandalay Bay, look for it.
When We Actually Paid for a Ride: Off-Strip and the Airport
Ride share earned its place on this trip in exactly two situations, and neither of them was getting up and down the Strip itself. The first was getting off the Strip entirely. Our Area 15 days were the big one, since that is a real distance away and not something you walk to. A Lyft out there ran us about $43 one day and about $37 the next. Worth every penny, because there is no version of that trip on foot.
The second was the airport, on both ends. We took a Desert Cab in from Harry Reid when we landed, which was around $33 with the family and the bags, and grabbed a Lyft back out on departure day for about $20. That is the whole pattern right there. Pay for the airport, pay to get off the Strip, and let your feet and the free tram handle everything in between.
The One Thing We Looked At and Skipped: the Monorail
The Las Vegas Monorail is the option I want to be fair about, because plenty of people like it, but it did not fit how we travel. It runs behind the hotels on the east side of the Strip, away from where we actually wanted to be, and a few single rides for a family of four adds up faster than you would expect for a train that does not quite go where you are going. We looked at it, did the quick math in our heads, and walked.
And to be fair to the idea of a train, the reason the monorail felt like a miss is not that the concept is bad. It is that the free tram down at Mandalay Bay did the exact thing we would have wanted the monorail to do, on the part of the Strip we were actually on, for nothing. When a free option does the job, it is hard to talk yourself into the paid one.
So Do You Need a Car in Vegas? No.
Here is where I land, and I will pick a side cleanly. For a family staying on or near the Strip, you do not need a rental car in Las Vegas, and renting one would have cost us money and parking headaches to solve a problem we did not have. Walk the Strip, ride the free tram at the south end when your feet give out, and save ride share for the two times it is actually worth it, which is the airport and anything off-Strip like Area 15. And if Zoox is still running while you are there, ride it once. Of everything we did to get around this trip, four people in a car with no driver and no steering wheel is the one the kids are still talking about.
Getting Around Las Vegas, Your Questions Answered
Do you need a car in Las Vegas?
No, not if you are staying on or near the Strip. We never rented one and never missed it. Walk the Strip, ride the free tram at the south end when your feet give out, and save ride share for the airport and off-Strip trips like Area 15.
What is the free tram on the Las Vegas Strip?
It is a no-fare tram at the south end of the Strip that connects Excalibur, Luxor, and Mandalay Bay. There is no ticket and no tap, you just walk on. It covers a long, not very interesting stretch that is no fun to walk, especially in the heat.
Is the Las Vegas Monorail worth it for a family?
We looked at it and skipped it. It runs behind the hotels on the east side, away from where we wanted to be, and single rides for four people add up faster than you expect. The free tram did the same job for nothing on the part of the Strip we were on.
Can you ride a Zoox robotaxi in Las Vegas?
Yes. Zoox runs public driverless rides on and around the Strip, and you request one through an app. There is no driver and no steering wheel anywhere in the vehicle. It was free when we rode it, though Zoox has signaled that paid rides are coming, so treat the free part as temporary.
How do you get from Harry Reid airport to the Strip without a car?
Ride share or a taxi is the move. A cab from the airport to our hotel ran about $33 with the family and the bags, and a Lyft back out on departure day was about $20.
