Getting Around

Reno's airport is five miles from downtown and the downtown core is walkable end to end. Everything beyond that — Tahoe, the ski resorts, Virginia City — effectively requires a vehicle.

Reno-Tahoe International is unusually close to the city: about eleven minutes to a downtown hotel. Most of the big casino resorts run their own free shuttles, which makes a car genuinely optional if you are staying downtown and not leaving it.

The moment Tahoe or the mountains enter the plan, that changes. There is no useful public transport up the Mount Rose Highway, and rideshare pricing to the lake is punishing.

In winter this becomes a real decision rather than a convenience one. California chain controls exempt 4WD and all-wheel-drive vehicles only when all four tyres are snow-rated, and rental agreements typically neither supply chains nor permit fitting them. Book the drivetrain you need at the airport, not the cheapest car.