It’s a bone of contention among Las Vegas locals: Where does the Strip end and Downtown begin on Las Vegas Boulevard? There’s a lock and stock concrete answer, but then again, it may depend on your thoughts about The Strat.
Sahara Avenue
If you want to be technically, legally correct, Sahara Avenue is the border between the Strip (under the jurisdiction of Clark County) and the City of Las Vegas. The most obvious difference: the presence of cannabis dispensaries north of Sahara. Yet there’s a certain spirit to the intersection that caps the north end of the Strip. The Sahara hotel feels new again after recent renovations while the Golden Steer steakhouse provides a sense of history to the area, even as it expands with a new dining room and shows off some renovated signage.
The Strat
For a few of us, The Strat will always be the “Stratosphere” despite the rebranding. Standing 1,149 feet high, it’s the tallest freestanding structure in not just Las Vegas, but the entire state of Nevada. It’s hard to imagine the skyline without it, which is why visitors often assume it’s part of the Strip, while locals argue that it already is — or should be. The property has seen some improvements in recent years to the rooms, casino, pool decks, and dining scene (with CHI Asian Kitchen an underrated, hidden gem) and Top of the World continuing to be a bucket-list experience with a rotating dining room on the 106th floor. In other words, The Strat is a presence you can’t ignore and a worthy anchor to mark the north end of the Strip.
Las Vegas Boulevard Gateway Arches
In an effort to sort all this out, the City of Las Vegas built a pair of illuminated 80-foot-tall arches that cross each other over Las Vegas Boulevard — just south of The Strat tower, but next to the hotel itself. If you’re driving on LVB, you can’t avoid passing underneath them. Does that make the arches the “gate” between the Strip and Downtown? You could make a strong argument for it. The arches replace a “Welcome to Fabulous Downtown Las Vegas” sign (based on the larger, more famous “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign), which was in the center of Las Vegas Boulevard for years before it was destroyed by a car crash in 2016.
So let’s settle this once and for all.
Where do the Strip and Downtown really meet on Las Vegas Boulevard? VOTE NOW!
