Free Parking on the Las Vegas Strip January 2023
(Updated January 1st, 2023)
Between resort fees, service charges and “convenience fees,” Las Vegas continues to nickel and dime its visitors. Those looking to save a little bit of money however, should know that there are 12 places to park for free on the Las Vegas Strip.
From Mandalay Bay to the south, all the way up the Strip to the Strat Hotel & Casino, most resorts charge parking fees. In fact, of the 31 casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, all but 12 charge you to park there. These apply to almost everyone, even guests staying at MGM or Caesars Entertainment hotels. (More on that below).
List of Free places to park on the Las Vegas Strip
- The Strat Hotel & Casino
- Sahara Las Vegas
- Circus Circus
- Resorts World
- Fashion Show Mall
- Wynn Las Vegas
- Encore at Wynn Las Vegas
- Treasure Island Hotel & Casino
- Venetian Hotel & Casino
- Palazzo Hotel & Casino
- The Shops at Crystals (Valet parking only)
- Tropicana Hotel & Casino
Going from North to South, above is the list of casinos, (and two shopping areas), where you can self-park for free without any conditions.
A couple of Notes:
- Parking at Resorts World Las Vegas remains free, however it is rumored to be implementing paid parking soon. (We’ll update this accordingly).
- While parking at the Fashion Show Mall is free, it’s only during business hours. In other words, no overnight parking there.
- Also, during concerts or games at T-Mobile Arena, the Tropicana charges a $15 parking fee for non-hotel guests. They also recently, have begun charging $5 for some spaces up front. However garage self-parking remains free.
- Lastly, while not directly on the Strip (it’s a block away), the OYO Hotel & Casino across the street from the MGM Grand offers free parking as well.
Hotels Offering Free Parking on Las Vegas Strip
Of the various free parking options on the Strip, ten are resort/hotels that offer everyone (non guests included), free parking. We’re counting each hotel as a separate entity, even if it is attached, meaning the Wynn counts as one, and the Encore counts as another one.
Thus, the ten hotels on the Las Vegas Strip with free parking are:
- The Tropicana
- The Venetian
- The Palazzo
- T.I. Treasure Island
- Circus Circus
- Wynn
- Encore
- Sahara
- Resorts World
- The Strat.
Free Parking at Las Vegas Strip Shopping Malls
The other two complimentary parking options are shopping malls: Crystals near the Cosmopolitan, and the Fashion Show Mall on the northern end of the Strip. However neither of these malls allow overnight parking.
The Shops at Crystals does not offer any type of self-parking; it’s all valet. At least, however, the valet parking is complimentary.
Further north of the Strip, across from the Wynn, you can self-park for free at the Fashion Show Mall, where there are thousands of spaces.
Caesars Entertainment Parking Policy
Caesars Entertainment operates eight hotels on the Las Vegas Strip:
Caesars Palace
Harrah’s
Linq Hotel
Flamingo
Bally’s
Paris Las Vegas
The Cromwell
Planet Hollywood
Up until very recently, registered hotel guests at any of these eight Caesars Entertainment properties received free self-parking privileges. However that has since changed, and now guests pay the same as non guests. Rates at these Caesars resorts start at $15 for 1-3 hours at less expensive properties (Flamingo) to $23 for daily parking at more expensive resorts (Caesars Palace). These rates shoot up during busy holiday weekends.
Sill, everyone can still park for free at these eight casinos if you fall into one of these two categories:
1) You have a Caesars Rewards card at Platinum, Diamond or Seven Stars
2) You are a Nevada resident with proof of residency, but only for the first 3 hours. Also, Planet Hollywood is excluded.
MGM Resort Casino Hotels Parking Policy
MGM Resorts was the um… “pioneer” in paid parking fees, so it was a little surprising that they kept free parking around during most of the Covid slowdown.
However paid parking has resumed to all MGM-owned resorts. These include the following:
Mandalay Bay
Delano
Luxor
Excalibur
MGM Grand
NY-NY Hotel & Casino
Park MGM
Aria
Vdara
Bellagio
The Mirage.
Self-parking fees at all MGM Resort properties cost $15 for 1 to 4 hours, and $18 for 4 to 24 hours. The first sixty minutes of parking at any of the above MGM properties is free.
PH and Miracle Mile Parking
Up until recently, Parking at Planet Hollywood and the Miracle Mile shops was free. That changed last summer however.
The Shops at Crystals
The Shops at Crystals (the upscale shopping complex in-between the Cosmopolitan and Aria), doesn’t have free self parking, however they do provide free valet parking. Hours for this are 10 AM to 11 PM every day of the week.
Who Pays these Parking Fees?
You would think the increasingly hefty resort fees ($30 plus), casino resorts charge us would cover the use of small slab of dirty concrete, but no. Fees typically apply to both guests staying at Strip hotels, and those just visiting.
Guest staying at Strip hotels will typically have the parking fee charged to their hotel room bill. Visitors to the parking garage will collect a ticket upon driving into the garage, and will pay at either a kiosk, or at the gate (depending on the hotel), when leaving.
Off-Strip hotels, such as the Rio, Palms, Sam’s Town, South Point, Red Rock, The Silverton, etc., however, still offer free parking.
Map of Free Parking at Casinos the Las Vegas Strip
The orange stars on the map below show you the free parking areas on the Las Vegas Strip.
Las Vegas Hotel Parking Rates
(For a list of the parking fee at each individual resort, go to the “Directions” tab at the top of this page. Hotels are listed alphabetically.)
Regardless of the hotel, all resorts on the Strip allow you to at least self-park for up to one hour for free.
The reason for these fees? Well for one, most of the Strip casinos are owned by two corporate behemoths: MGM Resorts, and Caesars Entertainment. In fact, of the 31 casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, 19 of them are owned by one of these two corporations.
The Strip being dominated by this duopoly means there’s less competition and incentive. Less incentive to have zero resort fees, good gaming odds, restaurant deals, and yes, less incentive to offer free parking.
Parking Revenue
Secondly, these parking fees have now become a significant source of revenue for Strip casinos.
According to statistics from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, just over half (52%) of visitors to Sin City arrive by car. Given that Las Vegas receives 42 million visitors a year, it means that 21 million-plus tourists are arriving by vehicle. While that doesn’t mean there are 21 million cars that will need a parking spot (most people drive to Las Vegas with at least one other passenger), it does mean that millions of cars will be parked at Strip casinos.
Picture the Luxor for example, which has 1,600 parking spaces. Whenever I’ve driven there, the Luxor parking garage is pretty full. However even if they are only 2/3rds full, that’s roughly 1,000 parking spaces available for rent, if you will. At the daily $18 parking charge at the Luxor, that’s an extra $18,000 a day in revenue, or an extra $6.57 million dollars in revenue a year!
The popular VitalVegas blog heard reports that owners of the Miracle Mile parking garage estimated their switch from free parking to a paid model would result in $100,000 revenue per month.
So it’s clear, Strip casinos will hang onto these parking fees as long as they can get away with it.
Still, if you don’t mind walking a little, or taking one of the free Las Vegas Strip Trams, you’ll be able to go wherever you want to on the Strip while avoiding those annoying parking charges.
From the Tropicana Casino to the south, all the way north to the Stratosphere, it’s good to know there are several places where you can park for free on the Las Vegas Strip.
One other note: some of the sketchier Las Vegas travel sites direct folks to park at the Shoppes at Mandalay for FREE PARKING! YAY!, however there hasn’t been free parking at the Shoppes for awhile now. Just to be sure, I contacted Elsa Jimenez, a concierge at Mandalay Bay, who informed me that the Shoppes at Mandalay Bay valet is currently closed and self-parking there is not available. Guests are directed to use the regular Mandalay Bay parking areas.
Other Ways to Park for Free
Casinos reward their high rollers with free meals, suites, show tickets, and now, free parking.
At MGM Resort hotels, any gambler who has reached the Pearl, Gold, Platinum, or Noir status on their M-Life player’s card receives complimentary self-parking.
Similarly, at Caesars Entertainment properties, any gambler who reaches Platinum, Diamond, or Seven Stars on their Caesars Rewards card gets complimentary self-parking and valet parking.
Free Parking via Credit Cards
If you’re like me, and NOT a high roller, you can still get free parking by getting a casino credit card, which will bump up your status.
Caesars Rewards Credit Card Parking Perk
For example, Caesars Entertainment has a branded credit card. Anyone who applies for, and receives, the Caesars Rewards Visa card will be bumped up to Platinum, so long as they make at least one purchase within 90 days of approval. There’s no annual fee.
As we mentioned above, anyone at Platinum level (or higher) receives free valet and self-parking.
Therefore, getting this card, (and making the required purchase within 90 days), will get you free parking at the following Las Vegas resorts: Caesars Palace, Nobu inside Caesars, the Flamingo, the Linq, Harrah’s Las Vegas, The Cromwell, Bally’s Las Vegas, Paris Las Vegas and Planet Hollywood.
MGM Resorts Credit Card Parking Perk
MGM Resorts offers a similar free parking program when you get their credit card.
MGM Resort’s official credit card is called the M-Life Rewards MasterCard. Once you’re approved, you are automatically at “Pearl” status, (no minimum spend required). Everyone at Pearl status receives free self-parking at any of the MGM Resorts on the Strip, which are as follows: Mandalay Bay, Delano, Luxor, Excalibur, NY-NY, MGM Grand, Park MGM, NoMad Las Vegas, Aria, Vdara, Bellagio and the Mirage.
There is no annual fee on this card either.
Of course, keep in mind that charging a lot on these casino-branded credit cards and paying interest to a credit card company will wipe out (and then some), any savings you’d receive from getting free parking with these credit cards.
Free Parking on the Strip for Nevada Residents
Caesars Entertainment’s on-again, off-again, free parking for Nevada resident promotion is back on again as of the time of this update. Self-parking at any Caesars Entertainment property (other than Planet Hollywood) is free for the first 3 hours when you show legal Nevada identification.
A Positive Sign of Things to Come?
It’s encouraging to see that one resort that previously charged guests to park, has completely reversed course.
Wynn and Encore were a late comer in the charge-your-guest-for-parking game, instituting paid parking fees for both self-parking and valet services back in August of 2017 – well after MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment casinos began fleecing their customers.
In May 2019 however, self-parking at the Wynn Las Vegas and Encore became completely free, without a minimum spend or anything.
In September of 2019, Wynn Resorts took another positive step by eliminating fees for valet parking at both Wynn and the Encore. (Previously, you had to spend at least $50 at the resort drinking, eating, shopping or gambling).
The fact that Wynn/Encore had self parking and valet fees, but eliminated them is a positive development for us Las Vegas visitors that, hopefully, will catch on with other resorts up and down Las Vegas Boulevard.
Las Vegas Parking FAQ
Fremont Street Parking
Hotels on Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas also charge for parking, however unlike their cousins on the Strip, downtown parking is typically free to hotel guests. On the Strip, this isn’t always the case. You’re often charged a parking fee whether you’re staying at the hotel, or just stopping by to shop, eat, or play the slots.
Another difference between Fremont Street and Las Vegas Strip resorts is that on Fremont Street, you can often get your parking fee waived by having your ticket validated after gambling, and/or eating.
Lastly, downtown Las Vegas has several privately-owned, and city-owned parking lots and garages. Rates to park in and around Fremont Street are generally cheaper than at the Strip hotels.
(Steve Beauregard is a Las Vegas fanatic and recovering journalist who has previously written for PokerNews.com and who has won four first-place writing awards from the Colorado Press Association. Photos courtesy of Bernard Spragg Wolfgang Staudt, James White, Tomas Del Coro (Encore), Yuri Levchenko (Circus Circus) Andreas Wulff (Strat), and Daniel Ramirez (Crystals) via Flickr. Resorts World copyright gamboool.com)