Getting Around Little Rock
Little Rock sits on the south bank of the Arkansas River, with the separate city of North Little Rock directly across the water. For a visitor, the practical picture is simple: downtown is compact and easy to cover on foot or by streetcar, but if you want to see anything beyond the center, a car or a bus is the realistic option.
Streetcars and Rail
The METRO Streetcar is the most visitor-friendly piece of public transport in the city. It links Little Rock and North Little Rock, crossing the Arkansas River and connecting the main downtown destinations: the Clinton Presidential Center, the River Market and Creative Corridor in Little Rock, and North Little Rock's historic Argenta district, along with the restaurants, hotels, brewpubs, shops, and cultural attractions clustered along the route.
It's a fun, easy way to get around downtown, and it runs frequently enough that you don't need to plan around it carefully. You can pick up a schedule from hotels and downtown attractions. Riding is free.
For longer-distance rail travel, Amtrak's Texas Eagle serves downtown Little Rock at Union Station on West Markham Street, west of the city center, connecting from Chicago, St. Louis, Dallas/Fort Worth, and other cities. Be aware that the schedule is not optimal or reliable, with trains arriving in the middle of the night. The station itself is an impressive 1921 building, but it has a waiting room and no other services.
Buses
Rock Region METRO (often just called METRO) runs the public bus system across Little Rock and North Little Rock and throughout Pulaski County. Unlike the streetcar, the buses travel city-wide, so they're the way to reach parts of town beyond downtown if you don't have a car.
METRO Local operates fixed routes seven days a week, with no service on major holidays such as New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. The network has been through multiple changes since the pandemic, and some planned route changes have not been implemented because of a national shortage of bus operators. In practice this means Saturday service starts later and ends earlier than it once did, and occasional pop-up cancellations happen. Current service alerts are posted in a red bar at the top of the METRO website, so it's worth checking before you rely on a particular trip.
METRO also runs microtransit zones in parts of Little Rock and North Little Rock; in some zones these run earlier and later than the fixed routes on Saturdays. For planning, use the Google Transit trip planner, and for real-time tracking use the Transit mobile app or METRO's "Find My Ride" live map. In bad weather, snow route alerts are announced through the website, social media, and the Transit app. Fares and passes are listed separately on the METRO site; note that pre-pandemic printed maps and schedules are outdated, so look for current brochures.
Taxis and Ride-Hailing
Taxis are available in Little Rock but aren't as common a sight as in larger cities like Dallas or Atlanta. You'll reliably find one at the airport, and you may see one pass through downtown if you're patient, but the better plan is to call ahead. Capitol Cab is one option if you want to arrange a pickup in advance.
Driving and Parking
If you want to see more than downtown, a car is your best bet. Little Rock sits at the intersection of Interstates 40 and 30, and I-630 runs east–west from downtown out to the edge of west Little Rock; for most attractions you won't need to go far north or south of I-630. Interstates 430 and 440 nearly encircle the metro area.
One thing to know behind the wheel: east Little Rock is pretty much flat, while west Little Rock can get extremely hilly.
Parking is generally not difficult. The main caution is to stay well clear of the streetcar tracks if you park where the METRO Streetcar runs. Check this specifically on Markham, Second, and Third Streets near the River Market and the Clinton Library in downtown Little Rock, and around Main and Maple Streets in North Little Rock. In those areas it's often wiser to walk or ride the streetcar instead.
Walking and Biking
Downtown Little Rock is walkable, and the streetcar makes it easy to string together the River Market, the Clinton Presidential Center, and Argenta without a car. For cyclists, the city has a large population of riders and a large mixed-use pedestrian and bike loop connecting the downtown corridors of both Little Rock and North Little Rock. Bike rentals are available along the Arkansas River Trail, including near the Junction Bridge and the Big Dam Bridge.
Do be careful riding downtown in the River Market area. Outside the Arkansas River Trail there are no dedicated bike paths, and the streetcar tracks have deep ruts that can knock a cyclist off balance if you're not paying attention.
Getting In from the Airport
Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport (LIT) is Arkansas's largest commercial service airport and lies just east of downtown Little Rock, only about ten minutes from the Clinton Presidential Library. It has a single terminal building and is served by all major U.S. airlines, with nonstop destinations including Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Dallas Fort Worth, Denver, Houston, Las Vegas, Miami, Nashville, New York, Orlando, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C.
Because the airport is so close to the center, the transfer into town is short. Taxis are readily available at the airport, and ride-hailing is a straightforward option; if you'd rather book ahead, calling a cab company in advance works too. If you're picking up a rental car, you'll be on I-630 or I-30 within minutes and can reach most in-town attractions without straying far from the I-630 corridor.
Arriving by Bus
Greyhound serves the area from a station on East Washington Avenue in North Little Rock. Megabus stops in a parking lot on the southwest corner of Cumberland Street and East 6th Street, with service from Dallas and Memphis.