Click the map to go to Google Maps satellite view of this airport

The Las Vegas Harry Reid Int’l Airport has been known to planespotters for a long time as having some great views courtesy of their official observation lot located on Sunset Rd.  This is right next to the most often used runways (8R/26L for landing, 8L/26R for departures) near the touchdown point and during the winter months the light is perfect since you have the sun behind you all day.  The biggest problem for photography is the very high double fence with barbed wire rolls across the top.  There are no photo holes in these fences like at the Miami airport so you have to either get really good and lucky at shooting through a chain link fence or have a high enough ladder to see over it.  A small step stool will not work, and standing in the bed of a pickup truck won’t be high enough either.  You’d need to be near the top of a 6 foot ladder.

That said, there are some parking lots across the street and further down toward the intersection of S. Eastern Ave. where you can easily photograph the planes before they get low enough to be blocked by the fence.  They will be just coming over the runway threshold at this point.  Here is an example of a photo I took from one of these business’ parking lots – click for a larger view.

Another place you could go is the Terminal 1 parking garage (see map).  There are two garages here.  The one closest to the terminal used to be public parking but as of 2023 it became employee only.   From the north side of the employee parking garage you can get good shots of planes departing on runway 1 with good light in the morning, and the buildings of the Las Vegas casino strip in the background.  I did not try this on my last visit as I wasn’t there in the morning.  There is a walkway connecting this one to the 2nd public garage and that’s where you’d park and just walk over.  The only view of aircraft that you can get from the public parking garage at Terminal 1 is on the south side which faces the south runways but its kind of far away for good photography and also a little too far for any ramp shots.  I did try shooting video there and that would work though the lighting isn’t the best.  Also, according to the airport’s website the Terminal 1 parking garage fills up often and will be closed off with a sign saying “lot full” so it can be a toss up.

Click the map to go to Google Maps satellite view of this airport

Another great place to watch planes in Sin City is the North Las Vegas Airport, located about 12 miles and about 30 – 45 minutes in traffic to the northwest of Harry Reid International.  This is a general aviation airport with a couple of flight schools and FBOs so the pace is a lot slower than LAS.  The best thing about this airport is you can get a very close view on the action on their Observation Deck.  It is located on the 2nd floor of the airport’s terminal building and the door is in the airport’s cafe.  You don’t have to eat here to access it, and the cafe is only open through lunch time.  You can still walk through the cafe to the door when they are not open.  Parking is free.  The Observation Deck puts you right above the ramp where the transient traffic parks and right near the mid point of the runways.  You get an unobstructed view of all the runway and taxiway action.  I always favor airports that offer observation decks even if the pace is slower.  I wish there were more of them!

Off of the airport property there is an official viewing area park.  From the airport main entrance just go north on US 95 (Rancho Blvd.) to Decatur Blvd. and make a right, and you will see it on the right.  There’s plenty of parking and some benches, and the airport fence is not high.  You will be just off the north end of the runway so you’ll get an unobstructed view of traffic landing on 12L or 12R and you might get a decent view of traffic on the ground holding short for departure.  See my photo album below for examples of photos taken from the Observation Deck.