How Far is It From the Las Vegas Convention Center to the Strip? And Can you Walk It?

By Steve Beauregard

It depends on where you want to end up, but overall, you can technically walk from the Las Vegas Convention Center to a part of the Las Vegas Strip, as it’s only 7/10th of a mile away from the main, concourse plaza entrance to the closest part of the Strip.

Those of you not wanting to walk can easily hop on the Las Vegas Monorail, which will take you to the back of several strip hotels. More on that in a second.

Las Vegas Boulevard, (or the Strip), is just .7 miles away (or 1.12 kilometers), when walking on the sidewalk on Convention Center Drive to the Strip. It should only take you about 15 minutes to walk it.

The Las Vegas Convention Center is fairly close to the Las Vegas Strip
The Las Vegas Convention Center is fairly close to the Las Vegas Strip

This shortest route is walking all the way along Convention Center Drive. It will take you to corner of the Strip that is home to a Walgreens and strip malls. The Wynn/Encore complex will still be 700 feet away to the south, while Circus Circus is a 1/4 mile more to the north.

So why it’s only .7 miles to the Strip, it’s longer to most of the major resorts along the Strip.

Walking Route from Las Vegas Convention Center to the Las Vegas Strip

(The map below shows you the walking route from the front of the Las Vegas Convention Center to the Las Vegas Strip)

To get there, you’ll want to cross over Paradise Road on the pedestrian bridge. Once on ground level, just head west (away from the Convention Center) on Convention Center Drive. Try to walk on the south side of Convention Center Drive, as it’s a little more pleasant.

The walk has sidewalks the entire way, and is safe and quick. Disclaimer so I don’t get sued: I consider it safe and would walk it at any time during the day. At night, I’d would take the Las Vegas Monorail to the Strip.

However during the day, Convention Center Drive usually has a lot of traffic and pedestrians, also making it safe if my view. I wouldn’t flash around the hundred dollar bills I just won on the slots during my walk. But then again, I wouldn’t do that anywhere in Las Vegas.

On your quick walk, you’ll pass by Piero’s Italian Cuisine, the Las Vegas Marriot, and a vacant lot.

Closer to the Strip, you’ll pass by (again on the south side of Convention Center Drive), some nice high rise office buildings, a 60’s style hotel called the “Royal Resort”, then a strip mall. (Walgreens will be across the street to your right).

It’s here where you’ll look left and see the giant, gleaming bronze Encore Las Vegas tower. Just a hundred feet or so in front of you will be the Las Vegas Strip.

If you’re tired of walking by now, you can easily catch the Las Vegas Strip bus system, called “The Deuce,” by hopping on the nearest stop, which will be about 200 feet south of Convention Center Drive, on the west side of the Strip, before you get to Encore. (The low bus far for the Deuce is certainly worth it after what by now has been a nearly 3/4 of a mile walk).

Walking to the Strip from the south end of the LV Convention Center

Those of you who find yourself on the southern end of the convention center, rather than at the plaza concourse entrance, will see the giant Wynn and Encore towers, which will lead you to think you’re pretty close.

However the walk is almost exactly a mile.

This route, on Desert Inn Road, has you walking almost exactly 1 mile, as the sidewalks are only on the north side of the street (not the Wynn side).

Furthermore, the sidewalks do not follow Desert Inn Road all the way, meaning you’d have to zig-zag north by the Guardian Angel Catholic Church then follow the sidewalk as it meanders left towards the Wynn.

(Related: Distance from the Bellagio to the Las Vegas Convention Center)

Las Vegas Convention Center Monorail Station

Although it will cost you $5 for a one-way trip, or $12 for an all day pass, the Las Vegas Monorail is the easiest way to get from the Las Vegas Convention Center to the Strip.

Conveniently, there is a station at the Convention Center.

It’s situated above the street, towering above the intersection of Desert Inn Road and Paradise Road. By my calculation using satellite imagery, it’s only about 400 feet from the Convention Center entrance to the Monorail station.

Once there, you’ll have the option of going north, which will take you to the Westgate, and then on to the Sahara Las Vegas Hotel and Casino.

Going south on monorail will take you first to the Linq/Harrah’s Station. The next stop is the Flamingo Station, followed by the Bally’s/Paris Station.

The last stop is the MGM Grand Station. Even going all the way from the Convention Center Station to the MGM Grand Station, you’ll only spend about ten minutes on the tram.

This makes the Las Vegas monorail extremely convenient to Strip hotel guests. Having attended conventions there twice a year for years, I highly recommend that you stay at a hotel on the east side of the Strip (which is the Convention Center side).

Staying at places like the Flamingo, or Harrah’s or Paris, Bally’s or the MGM will enable you to have a very short walk and short tram ride to the Convention Center for your meetings or business.

Compare that to places like Mandalay Bay, where you’ll have to call an Uber/Lyft or cab, or get to the MGM and THEN take the monorail to the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Staying at the Aria, Bellagio, or Caesars Palace is almost as bad. While it’s a shorter distance to the nearest monorail station, you will be walking the length of your resort, then crossing the Strip, then crossing the length of another resort to get to the monorail station, which are always tucked in the far most eastern part of the east side hotel/casinos.

More on the Las Vegas Convention Center

Originally a silver domed rotunda, the original Las Vegas Convention Center opened in April, 1959. Funded by a 5% lodging tax on all hotel rooms in Clark County, the convention center was built as a way to bring in visitors to Sin City during the city’s slow times.

The busy, modern, tech-savvy facility now has over 3.2 million square feet of space and is the second busiest convention center in the United States, (behind McCormick Place in Chicago).

(Photo courtesy of Las Vegas Blog via Flickr).