Las Vegas has to be the easiest city in the world to drive around: Everything lines up along, or in relation to, one big road—The Strip. Recently dubbed an official “All-American Highway,” along with such scenic landmarks as the Blue Ridge Parkway and the stretch of Hwy-1 through California’s Big Sur, this 10-mile-long, traffic-clogged barrage of bright lights and architectural extravagance is also known as South Las Vegas Boulevard, and runs parallel to I-15 between the compact downtown area and the airport. Other roads in Las Vegas are named after the big hotels near their junction with The Strip, hence you have Sahara Avenue, Flamingo Road, and Tropicana Avenue one after another.

  Almost everybody who drives into Las Vegas comes by way of the I-15 freeway, which runs between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City, and which connects with US-93 some 20 miles northwest of The Strip. From the south and Hoover Dam, use the new I-515 freeway, which carries US-93 and US-95 on a snaking S-figure between Henderson and Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas.

  US-93 actually bypasses The Strip, veering southeast along Fremont Street and the Boulder Highway—or along I-515—but it’s all but required that you drive at least a little of The Strip before you can say you’ve been to Las Vegas. Don’t expect to get anywhere very quickly, though; The Strip is like one big, slow cruise, with 10 lanes of traffic moving past all those casino lights at about 10 mph, day or night.