Nevada - Travel Deals

One of the rites of passage for many travelers is going to the famous Burning Man party in the Nevada desert at least once in their lives. The event is one part community building, one part performance art, and one part off-the-grid living – and although there are often musical or other artistic performances, the only scheduled event is the burning of the giant wooden statue that gives the annual party its name.

For the uninitiated, however, the first problem of planning a trip to Burning Man is how to actually plan your trip. It takes place in the middle of the Nevada desert, there’s no official transportation organized from any nearby airports, and since one of the themes of Burning Man tends to be “self-reliance” it’s not always easy to figure out how to travel to Burning Man.

In this series of articles, you’ll find some information to help you plan your Burning Man trip – from how to find cheap airfare to Burning Man, what airports are close by, and how to get to the Burning Man site from where you are.

>> When is Burning Man? In 2010 it runs from August 30-September 6.

Any event that takes place in the middle of a desert is going to bring up the same question for people who haven’t been before – how do I get there? – and Burning Man is no different. To make matters a little more complicated, unlike other similar summer festivals that aren’t right in the middle of an urban area, Burning Man doesn’t have an official shuttle of any kind running out to the festival site from area airports. To be fair, the nearest commercial airport is almost 130 miles away – so to have a regular shuttle would be a major endeavor. Still, it means that the question of how to get to Burning Man is a big one for many attendees.

The Burning Man website states in no uncertain terms that it’s your responsibility to get yourself out to the festival site (otherwise known as the playa), and since there’s no train or bus that runs out there that means you’ll need to travel at least the last part via car or some other kind of motorized vehicle. Carpooling is encouraged, and once you’re parked at your campsite you’re asked not to use your car to get around the festival site.

But even if you’re carpooling with friends from your rendez-vous point, how you get to that meeting place can vary. Here are your options for how to get to Burning Man.

>> When is Burning Man? In 2010 it’s from August 30-September 6.

Flying to Burning Man

If you’re coming from far enough away, even if you’ll be getting out to the Burning Man site by car you’ll need to fly to a nearby airport to start out with. Finding cheap airfare to Burning Man can be tricky, given that it’s over Labor Day weekend and still part of the peak summer travel season, but the good news is that there are several airports that you can choose from for your trip.

The closest airport to the Burning Man site is in Reno, and that’s about 130 miles away. The Bay Area airports are about 350 miles away, and there are couple other airports you might consider as well. In Reno, you might luck out by just showing up and looking around to see if anyone else looks like they’re Burning Man-bound so you can get a ride with them – but otherwise, you might want to organize a carpool in advance. The Burning Man site has a bulletin board where you can arrange for car sharing.

>> Read more about how to find cheap airfare to Burning Man, and what airports are near Burning Man

Driving to Burning Man

The Burning Man site is accessible only by car (or other motorized vehicle), so at some point you’ll need to consult this section. The festival site is called Black Rock City (the desert it’s in is the Black Rock Desert), which is roughly 120 miles north of Reno. The closest towns are Empire and Gerlach, neither of which is actually very close to the festival site at all.

There are pretty detailed driving directions on the Burning Man website’s “preparation” section, so do yourself a favor and read through them. And don’t forget to read the survival guide, too, so you know what to bring with you.

Taking the Train to Burning Man

If you’d like to take the train to the nearest station and then arrange for a carpool to Burning Man, then you need to know that the closest stations to the festival site are in Winnemucca and Reno. Reno has by far the better train situation, as Winnemucca to the east doesn’t even have a station (just a platform with a shelter), but if you’re coming from the east it’s at least worth checking on both options.

The Amtrak station in Reno is at 280 North Center Street, and the shelter in Winnemucca is at 209 Railroad Street. Remember that neither of these stops has shuttles running out to the playa, so make sure you’ve got transport arranged from the train station.

Taking the Bus to Burning Man

Both Winnemucca to the east of Burning Man and Reno to the southwest have Greyhound stations in addition to train stations, so you can also look at getting to Burning Man by bus. The Winnemucca stop is actually a station (unlike the lack of a train station in the same town), and you’ll find the station at 240 West Winnemucca Blvd.

Reno technically has three stops, although only one is considered the main stop in the city. The main Reno Greyhound station is at 155 Stevenson Street. Again, there’s no organized transportation from these cities to Burning Man, so make sure your transportation is settled before you arrive at the Greyhound station.

photo by muddmonkey

Usually, the first order of business whenever you travel is to find out what airport is closest to your destination, and then book your flight there. But when your destination is in the middle of the Nevada desert nowhere near an airport, things get a little more complicated.

So if you’re traveling to Burning Man, your first order of business may be figuring out which airport you’re going to be flying into.

The Burning Man organizers list the Reno airport on their website as being the closest large airport to the Burning Man site, but since there’s no official shuttle back and forth from any airport to the festival site and you’ll need to carpool anyway, there are a few other (and bigger) airports you might want to consider flying into. Just having more than one airport to choose from can help you find a better deal on airfare, and chances are pretty good you’ll be able to find people flying into any of these airports who are headed toward Burning Man and you can carpool with.

Here, then, are some of the airports near Burning Man that you might consider using for your trip.

>> Burning Man 2010 is August 30-September 6

Let’s just say you’ve heard tales of a week-long festival in the desert where people enjoy an anything-goes attitude, release their inner performance artist, and cap the week off by burning a giant sculpture of a man. This event appeals to your bohemian side, but you don’t live anywhere near the Nevada desert – so that means you’ll need to book a flight. But just how do you find cheap airfare to Burning Man, anyway?

Burning Man may take place in what can accurately be called “the middle of nowhere” – the deserts of northern Nevada – but it’s actually reasonably close to the Reno-Tahoe airport. If you’re close enough to hop into a carpool with other Burning Man attendees, that’s great – but if you’re not, having an airport nearby means you can at least get closer before you have to seek out a carpool.

Because Burning Man takes place over a popular holiday weekend each year, and because the airport that’s nearest is also close to a popular weekend travel destination, finding cheap airfare to Burning Man might take a bit more work than you would otherwise anticipate. The tips listed below will help you find cheap flights to Burning Man – and they’re also useful for finding cheap airfare almost no matter when or where you’re traveling.

>> Burning Man 2010 is from August 30 through September 6

There are certain things you should never do in life. You should never accept your friend’s challenge to stick your tongue to a stop sign when it is minus 20 outside. You should never marry Kevin Federline. You should never think that it is funny or ironic to have a mullet. You should never speak in Klingon. And most of all, you should never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever pay full price for a Las Vegas vacation.

Just to make things clear, you’d rather slide down a razor blade slide into a pool of alcohol than pay full price for anything related to Las Vegas.

The reason why is obvious. The fine folks who bring you the sin in the sand want you to visit and they want you to leave behind your money while at the gambling tables. They know that the cheaper they make it for you to fly to Las Vegas and the cheaper they make it for you to stay in Las Vegas, the more likely it is that your will actually go to Las Vegas.

The trick isn’t finding a great deal. The trick is walking away from the tables before you lose too much. Once you figure out that trick, let me know and we can go get a mullet cut while practicing our Klingon together.

Cheap Flights to Nevada

Most visitors go to Las Vegas to gamble and experience luxury hotels and an uninhibited nightlife. Vegas also draws conventions and trade shows to the state, Reno brings in more gamblers, and snowbirds and gamblers flock to Laughlin and Bullhead City.

How legalized gambling came to Nevada goes back to the Comstock Lode. Discovered in 1857, this was the largest silver deposit ever mined. As it was mined out, the population declined, and then the Depression closed the mines. In 1900, in what Lawrence Friedman dubbed “a burst of ingenuity,” Nevada started to legalize things that were illegal in California, and in 1931 legalized gambling as a revenue source and tourist attraction. And it worked.

Nevada does have other attractions. The state is largely untouched wilderness. Most of the wilderness is federally owned, so there’s lots of rugged terrain and desert valleys to explore. Outdoor activities include hiking, climbing, biking, geocaching, and exploring ghost towns. Nevada is also a popular retirement area, with retirement communities that are more like mini-resorts.

Cheap Flights to Nevada