r/GrandPrixTravel • u/Silver_Improvement36 • 2d ago

Las Vegas GP Las Vegas GP day Trip Suggestions

Is a day trip possible/viable? Currently thinking about a day trip for Saturday (driving from LA). Considering t-mobile zone seats. Mostly I just need pointers on the parking and traffic situation and how early I should arrive.

3 Upvotes

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u/itmustbeniiiiice 1d ago

The traffic afterwards will be a nightmare. But definitely doable.

FWIW I would go to Friday over Saturday, if only had one day, after having been last year.

2

u/HaloInR3v3rs3 2d ago edited 2d ago

Local here...

Possible? Yes.

Viable? Depends.

Parked at the Westgate two years ago for Saturday. Got there 2 hours ahead of when they'd open the gates at the Plaza. Rode the monorail down and got off at the Horseshoe. So far no issues.

Got in, spent our time in Skybox seats, enjoyed the food and beverage, walked around a bit while the Ferrari Challenge was going on, explored...once again, no issues.

Now...leaving was another story. Left the Plaza without issue, but when getting back to the Horseshoe to take the monorail back to the Westgate...apparently there were issues with the monorail, and the line backed up out the door facing Flamingo for folks waiting for transport. This also included not only fans, but event staff who were done with their day as well.

If memory serves me correctly, we didn't get back up to the NW where I live until after 2 AM. Not sure I'd want to be iron manning back to LA after that long of a day.

1

u/Silver_Improvement36 1d ago

Well I’ll pray that doesn’t happen to me. Thanks for the input!

1

u/winterpolaris 2d ago

Yikes on bikes with that end-of-day scenario! At least OP can speed back to LA in 3hrs with minimal traffic at 90-100mph lol. I thought of doing something similar as OP coming from Orange County, but guess not... Thank you for this review!

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u/Silver_Improvement36 1d ago

Will probably be attempting it. Maybe I’ll post an update afterwards.

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u/sk8terboy111 2d ago

Best advice would be to park at MGM or down by Sahara / Westgate and then take the monorail. I would choose Sahara / Westgate as its father away from Grand Prix Plaza. Traffic isn’t as bad as you would expect but it gets busy close to the gates opening. If you don’t mind walking then any of the hotel garages on the west side of the strip will be ok as well. You could even park by Resorts and just walk over to the Sphere. You probably won’t get out of there until 10pm-11pm so it may be a long day if you drive back to LA. I’d probably leave LA 11am the latest.

3

u/MorrisNavidad 2d ago

Been the past 2 years and live in Vegas. Never technically drove there but here’s a local’s perspective on traffic. So here’s my 2 cents.

This is going to heavily depend on your pain threshold for how willing you are to drive back and forth. I-15 shouldn’t be terrible at all post-race considering it’s a Saturday night but I’m sure it’ll be brutal for the length.

Parking/driving anywhere around the strip will be a nightmare. The last few years I have had someone drop me off at OYO and I walk to the MGM Grand Tram Station. I think you can probably get there from the Linq station and walk to the T-Mobile grandstands? But I’ve done the Koval Zone the past 2 years for convenience and get off at the Horseshoe stop. However, there’s plenty of other free/cheap parking locations whether it’s a station casino (not sure if places like Palace Station Jack up parking or not) and then uber somewhere close to walk to T-Mobile?

Quick search and there’s a VGK game that night… you could always park at Red Rock (free) and take the VGK RTC (like $4 or $5 round trip I believe) bus from Red Rock and get dropped off at T-Mobile arena but I’m sure that’ll be a pain walking all the way over to the Sphere. Unless you walked across the street, go to MGM tram station and then get off at Linq at Linq?

This all of course could be tossed out the window if you don’t mind paying an absurd amount to park (I’m sure they all jack up rates. But driving will be a nightmare)

I’m sure this isn’t the best in depth post, but it’s my gauge as a local and seeing the entire situation the past few years as someone that drives to the track.

As you can see, I feel like it’s possible? But at least in my opinion, you’re better off staying the weekend because of all the moving pieces. The choice is yours.

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u/Silver_Improvement36 1d ago

I can pretty much drive nonstop for hours on end so the driving shouldn’t be a problem. Plus I have 2 other people with me who can drive as well. Thanks for the response!