Hello, Am looking for some tips to help with driving in Vegas. After picking up our rental car we want to go up to the Sahara hotel/Casino. Looking for a way to drive up there that Avoids the Strip. I don't have that great of a map, but am wondering if Paradise Road is an option? We would like to drive to the Sahara on an alternate route, then when we leave drive all the way down the strip as we make our way to our lodgings, which are the very South end of the strip...I have heard that traffic on the strip is very conjested. Can anyone suggest alternate routes, or short cuts from the Cancun Resort to the hotels on the strip where we could valet park? We don't mind using public transportation and walking either, but know we will want to take the car out some of the time, especially as one member of our party can't walk long distances because of a leg brace. Would also appreciate suggestions on best routes/scenic drives between Las Vegas and Mount Charleston, and also Hoover Dam & Lake Mead. Those are the two out of town places some of us will be visting. Any suggestions regarding the driving will be appreciated. Thanks!

Paradise Road is just the way you get from the airport to the Sahara. It should be a good route. You shouldn't have to be on the Strip. The Strip is more congested on Friday and Saturday nights, but it's also congested during rush hour when Paradise Road, and pretty much everything, also is.
Paradise Road is one-way near the airport though, and you're actually on Swenson which swipes by the UNLV campus. If traffic is really bad, you can stay on Swenson past Harmon (where everyone turns to get back onto Paradise) and follow that all the way up to Sahara and turn left. But I don't see that being necessary.
While in Vegas, there is a monorail system that runs the course of the Strip and the Sahara just happens to be its northernmost point. However, the monorail runs a bit off of the Strip, so it would require a bit of walking to actually get to it. It's also a little pricey.
http://www.lvmonorail.com/

hth

Actually the car rental companies are all located at the new car rental center which is two miles south of the airport. You get the shuttle bus from the arrival area to the center. So you will have to work your way back to Paradise Rd.

get a GPS with the rental car it will tell you how to get there where you are and alternate routes if its busy or accidents there the best thing in a city you don't know I live here and don't know how I lived without it.Most rental company's have them now.