The runways of Las Vegas's busy McCarran International Airport start barely a mile east of the southern end of the Strip, though the main terminal is a three-mile drive via Tropicana Avenue and Paradise Road.

Car rental is readily available at the airport. There's no public bus service, but both Bell Trans and Las Vegas Limousine run around-the-clock minibuses to the Strip and downtown, leaving from immediately outside the terminal. In addition, certain hotels run free shuttle buses for their guests.

Much the busiest driving route into Las Vegas is the I-15 freeway from southern California. Traffic congestion, especially close to the state line, can mean that the 269-mile drive from LA takes as long as eight hours. Las Vegas Boulevard South, which becomes the Strip, begins to parallel I-15 well before it reaches the city, but the quickest way to reach your final destination will almost certainly be to stay on the interstate as long as possible. I-15 also connects Las Vegas with Salt Lake City, 421 miles northeast.

From the major cities of Arizona, direct access is provided by US-93 , which leaves I-40 at Kingman, a hundred miles southeast. It joins US-95 , running north from Needles, California, outside Boulder City; together, the two become I-515 , which crosses I-15 immediately northwest of downtown Las Vegas.

Four hundred miles northwest of Las Vegas, US-95 meets I-80 thirty miles east of Reno. Using that interstate is the fastest way to get between Las Vegas and San Francisco, but threading cross-country via Yosemite and Death Valley national parks is a much more scenic option.