Las Vegas Layover Near Allegiant Stadium
Part of the full Las Vegas Layover: Walking the Strip From LAS
Allegiant Stadium stands just west of the freeway from the Las Vegas Strip, under a seven-acre translucent roof and over a grass field that rolls in and out of the building, with Omega Mart’s invented supermarket and the Illuminarium’s projected rooms a few miles north of it.
The seven-acre roof and rolling grass field at Allegiant Stadium
The stadium opened in 2020 at Russell Road and Hacienda Avenue, a black shell seating 65,000 and expandable past 71,000 for a Super Bowl. The roof is the part worth understanding: seven acres of ETFE, a translucent plastic film, hung on a hundred stainless steel cables, so the bowl is fully air-conditioned but reads as daylight rather than as an indoor arena.
Under it, the grass is a separate problem the building solves by cheating. The natural turf sits outside in the sun on a tray four feet deep and 9,500 tons heavy, and rolls in through the north end for games, a manoeuvre that takes about 65 minutes each way. Guided tours cover both, along with the field at sideline level, the Raiders’ locker room and the 92-foot Al Davis Memorial Torch at the north end, which the stadium says is the largest 3D-printed structure anywhere: 225 carbon-fibre composite blocks of about 350 pounds each. Tours run on non-event days, weekdays from around 11am to 5pm, take 75 minutes and cost $65.99.
Omega Mart’s invented supermarket inside Area15
Three miles north on Rancho Drive, Area15 is a windowless warehouse that has been filled with paid attractions and free ones in no obvious order, and the largest thing inside it is a fake grocery store. Omega Mart, built by the Meow Wolf art collective and open since February 2021, is about 52,000 square feet: shelves of invented products, and, behind a fridge door and various other things that should not open, the rest of it.
Ninety minutes is the minimum and two hours is realistic, tickets start around $59, and a timed slot is bought in advance. Check the clock before you go in: there is no re-entry, so leaving to look at something else ends the visit.
In the same building, the Illuminarium is a single large room where the walls, the floor and the ceiling are all projection surfaces, with laser projection, three-dimensional sound, scent and vibration through the floor, and it sells its own admission. Everything else in Area15, the bars, the axe throwing, the lobby with its own oddities, is free to wander.
The stadium is the harder of the two on luggage: nothing bigger than a 12 by 6 by 12 inch clear bag or a small clutch comes through its gates, and its own bag check runs to $20 a bag, non-refundable however briefly you leave it.
The freeway has one pedestrian crossing here, on Hacienda Avenue
The only reason this side of Interstate 15 works on foot at all is a bridge on Hacienda Avenue, which runs from Las Vegas Boulevard between the Luxor and Mandalay Bay straight across the freeway to Al Davis Way at the stadium’s north side. From Mandalay Bay’s door it is just under a mile, 15 to 25 minutes, flat and signed, and on event days the overpass shuts to cars entirely and carries only people.
Getting to the airport from here is shorter than getting to the boulevard: Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) is under two miles east along Russell Road, about ten minutes by taxi or rideshare. The bus version means recrossing the bridge, riding the double-decker south to the South Strip Transit Terminal and changing onto the Red Line, which reaches Level Zero at Terminal 1 every 12 minutes through the day, and it will cost you an hour to save twenty dollars. Everything the main Las Vegas guide covers is back over that bridge and north, which is the trade this side of the freeway asks you to make: one large thing done properly, instead of five smaller ones in a row.
Frequently asked questions
Can you tour Allegiant Stadium without a game ticket?
Yes, and on a weekday it is the main reason to come out here at all. The Raiders run guided tours on non-event days, roughly 11am to 5pm Monday to Friday, taking about 75 minutes and covering the field at sideline level, the home locker room, a suite, the broadcast booth and the Al Davis Memorial Torch. The standard tour is $65.99 and a longer version is $84.99. It involves more than a mile of walking indoors, so factor that in if you are already tired of walking.
How do you walk to Allegiant Stadium from the Strip?
Over the Hacienda Avenue bridge, which crosses Interstate 15 between the Luxor and Mandalay Bay and lands at the stadium's north side on Al Davis Way. From Mandalay Bay it is just under a mile door to door, 15 to 25 minutes, and it is flat and signposted the whole way. On event days the whole overpass closes to cars and becomes a pedestrian route, which is usually quicker than any vehicle. There is no shade on it at any point, which matters more than the distance does between June and September.
How long does Omega Mart take?
Ninety minutes is the floor and two hours is more realistic, across roughly 52,000 square feet of it. The thing to know before you buy a time slot is that there is no re-entry: once you leave the building you are out, so it does not work as something to dip into between other stops. Tickets start at about $59. The rest of Area15 around it, the bars, the axe throwing, the lobby, is free to walk into without a ticket for anything.
Can you get from Allegiant Stadium to Area15 without a car?
Not easily, and that is the main flaw in doing both. The two sit three miles apart on the same side of Interstate 15, but no single bus route joins them and the walk is along arterial roads with no reason to be on them, so a rideshare of about ten minutes is the honest answer. Budget for two of those, because you will want one back as well. If you are only doing one, the stadium suits a weekday when the tours run and Area15 suits an evening, when the stadium is either shut or hosting something you would need a ticket for.