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How do I get around Las Vegas during race weekend?

The Strip closes to build the circuit — plan around that, not around traffic

The Las Vegas Grand Prix runs through the middle of the Strip, which means the roads you'd normally use to get around are the same roads that close to build the circuit. Soft closures begin at 3pm each day of race weekend — Thursday through Saturday — with full closures following at 5pm, staying in place into the early hours the next morning. Driving is actively discouraged during this window; once full closures are in effect, a car genuinely cannot get you where you need to go on the Strip.

Your three real options

Walking

If you're staying anywhere on the Strip, walking is often the most predictable choice — you already know your route, and it avoids the crowd bottlenecks that build up around monorail platforms and rideshare zones right after sessions end.

Las Vegas Monorail

Runs 24 hours during race weekend. The Flamingo/Caesars Palace and Horseshoe/Paris stations both drop you within a short walk of major circuit entry zones.

Rideshare

Operates from designated pickup and drop-off points only — Virgin Hotels Las Vegas (closest to the start/finish straight and East Harmon Zone) and the Hughes Center (closest to T-Mobile Zone at Sphere). Both get genuinely busy right after a session ends.

Paying for the monorail

Las Vegas Monorail

Single ride from roughly US$6, tap-to-pay at station kiosks — no advance booking or transit card needed. Runs 24 hours during race weekend specifically, well past its normal operating hours.

Rideshare — why it isn't always the faster call

Rideshare fares surge significantly around session start and end times, and both designated pickup points (Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, Hughes Center) see genuine crowd surges the moment a session finishes — curbside pickup elsewhere on the Strip isn't available once closures are active. A 15-20 minute walk to your zone directly is often faster and cheaper than waiting out a rideshare queue at peak times, not just a fallback if the app fails you.

Download the official app before you land

The official Las Vegas Grand Prix app shows real-time road openings and closures and can build a custom walking route from wherever you are to your specific ticketed zone — genuinely useful on a street circuit where the road you walked in on might be closed by the time you head back.

Getting Around Race Weekend — Closures & Monorail

The Strip shuts down to build the circuit — know the closure hours before you plan your route

Most Grand Prix cities ask you to travel to a circuit outside town. Las Vegas closes the town around the circuit instead, and that inversion is what makes transit planning here a real part of the experience rather than a footnote. Get it right and you're stepping out of your hotel lobby onto the same street the cars are racing down an hour later. Get it wrong and you're stuck outside a closure line watching qualifying start without you. I'd tell anyone new to this race that the app and a walking-first mindset matter more here than at almost any other Grand Prix on the calendar — this isn't a circuit you drive to, it's one you're already standing inside the moment you leave your hotel.

Las Vegas Strip

Worth knowing

—Download the official Las Vegas Grand Prix app before you land — its real-time closure map and custom walking routes are the single most useful tool for navigating a circuit that reroutes on the fly, and it's far more current than any third-party map or blog post.
—If you're staying between Virgin Hotels Las Vegas and the Hughes Center, note which one aligns with your ticketed zone before booking a rideshare — picking the wrong pickup point can mean a longer walk than just heading to your zone directly.

The route we'd actually plan

If your hotel sits between Virgin Hotels Las Vegas and the Hughes Center, note which one aligns with your ticketed zone before booking a rideshare — picking the wrong pickup point can mean a longer walk than heading to your zone directly. Don't plan to drive anywhere near the Strip during soft-closure hours (from 3pm) expecting to beat the full 5pm closure — cutting it close risks getting stuck on the wrong side of a barrier with no way through.

Sources: formula1.com official "How to get to and from the Las Vegas Grand Prix" article (closure timing, monorail, rideshare pickup points), f1lasvegasgp.com A-Z Guide.