Stupid Question

I have been a member of this board for many years and back when I first started reading the boards I was always warned when taking a cab from the airport to the strip tell the driver no tunnel. Well, I've actually never taken a cab in Vegas. I always rent a car and have become pretty good at navigating the area. But, it just occurred to me that I have never come across the tunnel. Where is it? Is it still in use? Is there ever a good time to use it?

The tunnel is the easiest route when leaving the airport, yet in a taxi it's often not the cheapest route. Since taxis charge by a combination of the mile driven and the time driven, the tunnel is most often more expensive. If you're in rental, it's not much of an issue and I wouldn't concern yourself. This is especially the case since the rental location is about 2 miles SW of the terminal. Use your GPS, and have fun.

The tunnel takes you south from the airport (opposite of the strip and downtown).

The tunnel is great for going to M, SouthPoint and Silverton because they are south of McCarren Airport.

If you ever get "tunneled" you will be shocked at how far away Mandalay Bay looks on the horizon. That's how far south the tunnel takes you. The tunnel is never good for a strip hotel, especially one on the East side of Las Vegas Blvd.

There are times where the tunnel makes sense for downtown (terrible road conditions, especially on Paradise) but this takes a leap of faith in the taxi driver.

I wasn't planning on getting a car for my next trip as I hadn't really planned for it in my budget this year. But, an opportunity came up and I'm going. A few minutes ago I decided to browse the rental sites and found an 8 day rental at Budget for $209 all in. I'm hoping I can do better but if not that's still an acceptable price. Once again, I won't need to worry about being tunneled. Now I just have to worry about entertaining myself for 8 days. When I was there in March, the slots were terrible.

Taxi driver taking me to Wynn took the tunnel after I told him twice to not go that way. I was shocked as to how far from Mandalay Bay we were. It didn't make any sense to me to take the tunnel to the Wynn which is on the east side of Las Vegas Blvd.

You need binoculars to see Mandalay Bay. That's how far south you are.

I was tunneled to Bally's once. Fare was $22. I pitched a fit. Driver settled for $15, no tip.

You actually go through the tunnel when riding the rental car shuttle buses. It goes underneath a couple airport runways.

If you follow the signs out of the airport for "las vegas blvd" it takes you the long way through the tunnel. If you follow the signs for Tropicana Ave then you can get to the strip much more quickly. So the cabs are dicks for taking the lo g way....but they are enabled by the road signs. Makes you wonder if the city did that on purpose to get more money into the edonomy from tourists.

I think that's a different tunnel. When you exit the car rental tunnel, you're still near the Strip. When you exit the tunnel tunnel you need binoculars to see the Mandalay Bay off in the distance.

If you have a car, the tunnel is actually a very good way to get from Paradise to the casinos south of the strip and visa versa. I've used it to go to Hard Rock from South Point I think, I just know it CAN be a short cut depending on where you really want to go and where you start from. It's not just for the airport.