The short answer: for a first visit, stay on the Center Strip, between Tropicana Avenue and Spring Mountain Road. For price, stay Downtown. For the airport, pick the South Strip, where Mandalay Bay is about 5 miles by road from Terminal 1. For the convention center, the North Strip. With a car and a list of day trips, stay in Summerlin or Henderson.
| Hotel | Area | Daily resort fee, 2026 | What the hotel says |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wynn and Encore | North Strip | $55 plus tax | Covers Wi-Fi, bottled water, the fitness center for two, and phone calls |
| Treasure Island | Center Strip | $49.95 plus tax | Plus Clark County room tax |
| SAHARA | North Strip | $54.95 plus 13.38% tax | About $62.30 a night with tax, by our arithmetic |
| Four Queens | Downtown | None | "Never charges a Resort Fee" |
Resort fees and the FTC rule
Many Strip hotels add a daily resort fee to the room rate, and the four in the table show the range. Since May 12, 2025, the Federal Trade Commission's Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees has covered hotels, motels, inns, short-term rentals and vacation rentals.
The FTC's own guidance says "the required resort fee must be included in the total price" you are shown. Taxes and other government charges, and optional extras, may be left out of that headline total, but they must be disclosed before you pay. The rule does not cap or ban fees of any type or amount.
So the fee has moved into the total, but it has not gone away. Wynn charged $55 a night plus tax in 2026, up from $50 for bookings made before January 15, 2025. Treasure Island charged $49.95 and SAHARA $54.95, and both list Clark County's 13.38% room tax on top.
On a 3-night stay at SAHARA, the fee and its tax add about $187.
Downtown, the Four Queens says it never charges a resort fee, and its garage costs hotel guests $5 a day. For the Downtown blocks themselves, see Downtown Las Vegas and Fremont Street.
The six areas, compared
What closed or changed since 2024
A guidebook from a few years ago will send you to hotels that are gone. The Mirage closed on July 17, 2024, and Hard Rock is building a new resort on the site; reports differ on when in 2027 it opens. The Tropicana closed on April 2, 2024 and was imploded on October 9, 2024, to make room for the Athletics' ballpark.
Two names changed. Bally's is now Horseshoe Las Vegas, and the Monorail station is Horseshoe/Paris. The 188-room hotel at Las Vegas Boulevard and Flamingo Road reopened as The Vanderpump Hotel, with a grand opening on June 11, 2026, FOX5 reported.
Some hotels are newer than the old maps. Fontainebleau, 67 stories on the North Strip, opened on December 13, 2023, and Station Casinos opened Durango in the southwest valley on December 5, 2023. Downtown, Circa opened on October 28, 2020 and is adults only, 21 and over, in every part of the resort.
Who should not stay on the Strip
Anyone whose trip is mostly outside the city. Red Rock Canyon is 17 miles west of the Strip, and Summerlin sits on that side of the valley. Hoover Dam is about 32 miles away, and Henderson is on the road there. A Strip stay with a car usually pays a resort fee every night and, at many resorts, a parking charge on top.
Families with children under 21 should skip Circa. Anyone who will not ride a bus or train should not plan to walk the North Strip, where the resorts are far apart. The ride in from the terminals is on the airport to the Strip. Getting between areas is on Las Vegas without a car, and the rest is on the Las Vegas guide.
The six areas to stay in Las Vegas, with the airport for scale.