A weekend in Vegas

Part 2: The Monorail

Photo by Grant Cai on Unsplash

Before I get to the monorail, I must share this comment from Julian as seen on his FB page that references back to the U2 visuals at the Sphere. (I saw his comment too late for that post...  as you will see, his opinion of the U2 show is very different from my opinion of “Postcard from Earth.”)

“I will hold off critiquing the set list and other aspects of the show by U2 at the Sphere, but suffice it to say the star of the show here is this brand new arena, and the jaw dropping visual stimuli that is provided here, which starts even before the band comes on and gets better and better as the night goes on a seemingly endless array of stunning effects. 

And probably my favorite moment of the night is the one provided here where the walls and the ceiling of this venue seem to disappear and 18,000 people and the Band are outside on the streets of Vegas, the moment so real that it is beyond belief complete with a helicopter flying by!!”

This link is not to the video he refers to, but a quite comprehensive and impressive video that U2 posted.

Now, another topic. My guess is if you have gone, you know a lot about Vegas already. Probably more than I do. 

Maybe you know how to get to the Sphere. Or how to find the monorail. I did not. Nor did Julian. 

Why did it matter? Because the U2 show was Friday night at 8 p.m., and Julian wanted to take the monorail to the Sphere.

Putting this in context, this was all in the same day: Our flight from Newark was at 7:30 a.m., meaning up at 3 a.m. and leaving the Brewster house at 4:15 or so to get to New Jersey by 6. It’s a 5 ½ hour flight (non-stop), so with Vegas on West Coast time, we arrived about 10 a.m. You know you’re in Vegas when slot machines are the first sight you see in the airport when you land.

We took a quick cab ride to our hotel, the Tropicana, dropped our bags and hit the Strip. While the scale of the hotels is immense, the Vegas Strip is quite consolidated and only a little more than 4 miles long, even though it covers several jurisdictions. (Along with much of the Strip, the famous “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign is in Paradise, Nevada, outside of Las Vegas city limits.)

The Tropicana is one of the oldest hotels on the Strip, built in 1957, and now managed as a Hilton Doubletree. While it could use a serious renovation, it was still impressive. Sadly, it is coming down this spring to make way for a professional ballpark. Here’s more about that.

It does have a great location, a straight run from the airport and sits right at the largest intersection of the Strip (Tropicana Boulevard and Las Vegas Strip South, across from Excalibur, MGM Grand and New York, New York).

I enjoyed my stay and the casino, which was less frenetic than the bigger places, and Lavazza coffee shop in the lobby. No surprise, there was not a Tropicana souvenir to be found anywhere. 

Dazed from the long flight and time change, we were ready for a walk, and since we could see the Sphere from the hotel room (at least partially), how far could it be, right? And it was time for some food.

One would think the Sphere, at 366 feet tall and 516 feet wide, would be easy to spot from the street. Not so. We were told by guest services that we could take a cab or the monorail to get there, and, for a reason I cannot explain, we thought the monorail would be fun. We also expected to find it easily. Not so. But we tried.

People watching, both on the Strip and in the casinos, is truly an experience in Vegas. So we took our time, stopping here and there to observe the crowds and gambling, and enjoy drinks and snacks. In the late afternoon, we headed back to the hotel, without ever getting to the Sphere or monorail.

Take a look at the map below:

from https://www.lvmonorail.com/route-map/?gad_source=1.

Here's the secret: the monorail basically runs along a 3.9-mile route to the east of the Strip, and because it is behind the huge hotels, it’s somewhat concealed. From the east side of the strip, you need to walk through the entire hotel and casino, and then some, to get to the monorail. At the MGM, for example, to find it, you go to the back of the casino and look for a sign that says Underground. That path eventually leads outdoors to the monorail. I was not expecting to go underground to go above ground, but that’s the truth. Of course, it’s an even longer walk from the hotels on the west side.

The best way to get to the Sphere, I now know, is a cab to the Venetian Hotel, which has a direct entrance to the Sphere.

After we had a good dinner (pasta for him; fish & chips for me) at Robert Irvine’s Public House right in the Trop lobby, he was off to the U2 show, and I was ready for a long nap. How Julian made it to the show at 8 p.m., not knowing the way and with so little sleep, I don’t know.

Seriously, I would suggest if you want to ride the monorail for fun and a look around, it’s fine. It does offer some good views. On average, it’s 30 feet above ground, with four cars in each train, and they run every 10 minutes or so. The fare is $6 one way, $15 for a 24-hour pass (with a small discount if you buy online).

For getting to a specific destination, take cabs or uber. Cabs are easy to find at designated stops in front of the hotels, and I think reasonably priced by New York standards. Also, the monorail makes only seven stops, starting at the MGM and ending at the Sahara; the closest stop to the Sphere is Harrah’s. No matter where you are headed, the monorail makes for a long walk to get there.

The Strip, just so you know, is a wide street, five to six lanes of traffic in each direction. Fortunately, there are plenty of overhead pedestrian walkways, but if you are walking, be warned: The walkways do not always leave you directly at the next corner, so there’s more walking than you would think, especially if you need to cross the street for your next destination!

I was able to manage with good sneakers and plantar fasciitis exercises morning and night (and one pedicure). And a few cabs, too. But still I logged an average 5 miles each day. (Half of that time was spent looking for entrances to the monorail, which had become some kind of mission, and crisscrossing the Strip.)

What would happen if walking was a problem? I want to leave that part of the story to my friend Irene who was there with her husband about a week before. 

Here’s how it starts: 

“To set the stage, we had tickets to see U2 at the Sphere, reservations at the Bellagio, and our United airline tickets in hand. Woohoo, a bucket list trip that we had been looking forward to for months – then sciatica strikes!”

The rest of her story, with a lot of good tips if you find yourself in her shoes, coming to this blog next time.