Lake Tahoe....?

18,638 Views | 78 Replies | Last: 8 mo ago by farmer95
BenFiasco14
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Planning a week long vacation beginning of August. The ball and chain and I have been floating places back and forth and she seems pretty sold on Lake Tahoe for some reason. I don't know anything about it.

Anyone have any thoughts? Cool place to go during the summer? Based on pics ive seen, doesn't look to be much too different than what we have around here in the Hill Country as far as water and hiking goes (notwithstanding actual mountains).

Anyway, cool place to spend a week? Worth it? I always thought of it as more of a ski spot but open to hear anyones experience and/or advice on it.
Matsui
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Casinos

They should have snow in August this year
BenFiasco14
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Matsui said:

Casinos

They should have snow in August this year
South side?
SW AG80
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On the south side, eat at Fiore's. Our favorite place in the US. Owned by an Aggie. Nice guy. Must get reservations as it is very small. We usually eat there twice when we are there for a week. There are some really good concerts at the Harvey's outdoor concert venue. Several places in South Lake Tahoe have live music. Where are you staying?
Texas Ag Mom
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I would also like more info on Tahoe. Hubby & I are going to a meeting on 8/10 so we will be staying 3 nts at the Hyatt in Incline Village. We will have 2 addl days & nts to spend in the area. The Hyatt is 500+ per nt so we will go elsewhere. Just wondering if we should move to the southside or somewhere else? We will have a car. We love being outside, easy hiking, good restaurants, live music. We can skip the casinos & we don't like real "touristy" places w/large crowds. For instance I was looking at a riverboat cruise & it holds 500 peeps so not for us.
Garrelli 5000
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We went to Tahoe over Memorial Day weekend. It was our first trip. We stayed at the MontBleu casino per our traveling companion's request. They'd spent the first few days of the honeymoon there and wanted to recreate part of that trip.

That being our only lodging experience, I can say that you should avoid staying in the casinos. They very old and and it shows. The HardRock was renovated and the casino floor looks great, so I assume the rooms look equally as new, but I'd still avoid staying in the casinos.

There are beautiful options at Heavenly, which is only a 3 minute walk to the casinos. There are also a lot of nice options on VRBO/AirBNB.

The next time we go if we don't rent a home, we'll stay at The Landing or Heavenly Village Condos.

I second the Cafe Fiore recommendation. We ate dinner there and it was great. I met the owner when I noticed an Aggie ring reaching across me to grab a plate. I believe he said his name was Lake and he's class of '93?

Prices are generally pretty high, even though we weren't there during ski season. The best value meal we found was at The Lucky Beaver. They have fantastic burgers. It's easy to miss if you aren't looking for it. We ate there twice, once for dinner and once for breakfast. It is open 24 hours/day. My wife ate at the Oyster bar in the Hard Rock. She's from NOLA and was shocked at how good their jambalaya looked and tasted.

Lastly for food, Base Camp Pizza in Heavenly Village was really good.

We really enjoyed a 2 hour lake tour with Tahoe Lake Tours. He drove us over to Emerald Bay, then up the west side to the home from the Godfather 2. The guide was very knowledgeable of the area.
coop-aero-06
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BenFiasco14 said:

Anyone have any thoughts? Cool place to go during the summer? Based on pics ive seen, doesn't look to be much too different than what we have around here in the Hill Country as far as water and hiking goes (notwithstanding actual mountains).
Yep. Just like Lake Travis.


I guess it's similar to the hill country in that it's a lake that's surrounded by hills where you can go hiking. IMHO, Tahoe is one of the gems of this country. I highly recommend hiking the Flume Trail up to Marlette Lake if you can. You will be treated with views like this:



You could spend weeks exploring the myriad of trails in the area. Pick out a section of the Tahoe Rim Trail to hike, there's some shorter hikes in and around Emerald Bay with some absolutely stunning views.

If you like to fish, then you can fly fish the Truckee River or head over to Spooner Lake, Marlette Lake, or Hobart Reservoir.

If you want to just lay on the beach all day, then get up early and head to Sand Harbor State Beach. If you get there after it fills up, then head a little further south and pull off on the side of the road, and hike down to Secret Cove, Creek Beach, or Skunk Harbor. The eastern shore is very undeveloped and you can have lots of space to yourself on the beaches. If you prefer a more developed area then hang out around South Lake, Tahoe City, or Kings Beach. Most of the beaches in Incline Village are reserved for the residents of the community.

If you're interested, a lot of the ski resorts will rent mountain bikes during the summer. You can take the ski lifts up and ride a mountain bike down the slopes.

I'm more familiar with the north side since it's closer to where I live, but I'd be happy to answer any more questions you have.
AggieOO
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I laughed out loud at Tahoe being the same as texas hill country.
Skitch05
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When we lived in the Bay Area a family member once visited and said it reminded him of "Lubbock, but with an ocean". This kind of reminded me of that.

Tahoe is one of my favorite places to visit, if I could work out a way to live there I would. Aero can probably give you better recommendations for hiking since they live nearby, but I just wanted to point out that Squaw Valley may still be open for skiing in a limited capacity in August if that interests you. The skiing won't be great of course, but there is something cool about skiing in August. Napa is also only a 3ish hour drive away if you want to do that for a night.
jbeaman88
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Sitting here at Red Hut Cafe on the way out of town heading to Vegas. Loved our stay at Doc's Cottages in the shadow of Harvey's.
ChoppinDs40
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one of the most magical places on this planet, both summer and winter.
BenFiasco14
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Thanks for the replies everyone. Just booked our flights this morning for August. Still not sure where we are staying, but looking at AirBnBs on the south side. I will return to this thread for reference/should I have more questions. Thanks for making yourself available for questions, aero
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ChoppinDs40
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tons of AirBnB or VRBO.

We rafted the american river when we went and it was awesome. Unsure if rafting is viable due to the snowpack this year.

Bring your clubs, bring your swim trunks, bring your good juju for the craps table.

When we went there was a texas BBQ place right down on the water in south lake (had shinerbock too!) - pretty good food.

Cafe Fiore fo' sho. Hit up Himmelhaus if you're looking for a german biergarten.
Garrelli 5000
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jbeaman88 said:

Sitting here at Red Hut Cafe on the way out of town heading to Vegas. Loved our stay at Doc's Cottages in the shadow of Harvey's.
I forgot about this place. Excellent breakfast. There's a couple in the area, and we ate at the older looking location.
Hamburger Dan
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Tahoe could be the most beautiful place in the US. My itenerary in past visits was: trout fishing in the morning, golf in the afternoon, then craps tables at night. Hard to beat that.
Yesterday
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Just got back a couple of weeks ago. We stayed in a timeshare just east of Heavenly. Tahoe is probably one of the more beautiful places I've been to. It's truly magnificent. There is going to be a ton of summer stuff to do in August including zip lining, four wheeling, hiking, swimming, beach going etc.

The Hard Rock hotel is by far the nicest casino but there are plenty of nice places to stay nearby. Base camp pizza is good, Blue Dog pizza is better (in my opinion), we didn't really like Red Hut (thought it was a run of the mill Denny's) Driftwood Cafe in Heavenly village was awesome! Get the chicken fried steak!

We went hiking up to the ridge (we're not big hikers) but the views were awesome! Tahoe is definitely an outdoors place to visit. The mountains, the water, the people are all great.
Yesterday
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Hamburger Dan said:

Tahoe could be the most beautiful place in the US. My itenerary in past visits was: trout fishing in the morning, golf in the afternoon, then craps tables at night. Hard to beat that.
And this.
ColoradoMooseHerd
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BenFiasco14 said:


Anyone have any thoughts? Cool place to go during the summer? Based on pics ive seen, doesn't look to be much too different than what we have around here in the Hill Country as far as water and hiking goes (notwithstanding actual mountains).

Anyway, cool place to spend a week? Worth it? I always thought of it as more of a ski spot but open to hear anyones experience and/or advice on it.
When I read this originally I about dropped. Comparing it to the Hill Country? I am glad other addressed it appropriately but still I was floored by comment.


Emerald Bay - If you interested in renting a boat, go to Camp Richardson and can rent a boat for have the day and go here, not far.

For the casual day on South Lake Tahoe - The Beacon Bar and Grill at Camp Richardson - Live Music & Very Strong Drinks


If on the North Shore - Go to Gar Woods Grill & Pier
BenFiasco14
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Thanks for the reccomendations, saved em along with all else in this thread! Thanks y'all. Got a nice AirBnB lined up, and I accept my well deserved beating for the hill country comparison
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ChoppinDs40
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Not piling on here but to show the magnitude of how glorious and rare that lake is...
If you took all of the water in Tahoe and drained it, it would cover the state of Texas in more than a foot of water.

It's a granite bottom lakes carved by a glacier that has gambling, skiing, hiking, golf, fishing, boating, tubing, rafting, hunting.

Literally, I don't think there are any hobbies in the US you CANT do there.
coop-aero-06
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BenFiasco14 said:

Thanks for the reccomendations, saved em along with all else in this thread! Thanks y'all. Got a nice AirBnB lined up, and I accept my well deserved beating for the hill country comparison

Cool. Are y'all staying south or north?
62strat
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AggieFanatic09 said:

If you took all of the water in Tahoe and drained it, it would cover the state of Texas in more than a foot of water.

More like about 8.5" of water.. but who's counting?!
Texas is 170 million acres, tahoe is 122 million acre-ft.

BenFiasco14
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coop-aero-06 said:

BenFiasco14 said:

Thanks for the reccomendations, saved em along with all else in this thread! Thanks y'all. Got a nice AirBnB lined up, and I accept my well deserved beating for the hill country comparison

Cool. Are y'all staying south or north?


South side!
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maroon10
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We have SW credit and thought about flying into Reno to do Tahoe but know nothing about it. We'd like to stay near the water and walking distance to food and easy access to hikes. Any recommendations for a newbie?
Yesterday
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maroon10 said:

We have SW credit and thought about flying into Reno to do Tahoe but know nothing about it. We'd like to stay near the water and walking distance to food and easy access to hikes. Any recommendations for a newbie?
Heavenly. There are shuttles from Reno to Heavenly, but I'd highly recommend renting a car as you'll want to drive to some of the trails and beaches that are not right next to Heavenly.
Throwout
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Surprised no one has mentioned The Brewery at Lake Tahoe or Naked Fish. The Brewery has great homemade beers and pizzas and Naked Fish has some of the best sushi I've had--and it's extremely affordable. I highly recommend both.
country
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Anyone that does Tahoe in the summer months needs to do the easy hike to Eagle Lake. It is one of the more crowded hikes but even at that it's worth it. Once you get to the lake 99% of the people will take a peak and turn around. Keep walking around the lake and you will become secluded. Take a dip in the water and enjoy yourself. Cold as hell but well worth it.

Another favorite of ours is to do the short hike up to the Angora Lakes. That is an awesome place as well. Again, expect a good number of people but do it anyway.

If you want a little more adventure drive south toward Kirkwood. About 15 miles past Kirkwood you can park near an RV park and hike west to the American River potholes. Pretty awesome and you'll be completely alone most times.

We've also hiked up to East Peak in Heavenly but we accessed it via Tahoe Village rather than buying a gondola pass and riding lift chairs to make it easy. Picnicking on East Peak by yourself with that view of the lake is pretty surreal.

Unlimited things to do in Tahoe. It is my absolute favorite place to visit no matter what season.
Austin Ag 04
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My wife and I are going to Lake Tahoe the first week of October and staying at the new Edgewood Lodge. Any recommendations for that time of year?
aeroag14
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piggy backing off of this. I am heading up this Thursday for a bachelor party.

Any night life suggestions?

What about stuff to do during the day? Any specific hikes that are must dos?

Also, we are trying to figure out about buying food/booze. Would it be better to buy everything in Reno/Sacramento (half our group is flying into reno, the other half sacramento)? Or are the grocery stores in South Lake pretty decent?
ColoradoMooseHerd
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They have plenty of major Grocery Stores in Tahoe and he prices are not that bad. Safeway and Raley's are the two bigget and will have everything you need right there.
aeroag14
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ColoradoMooseHerd said:

They have plenty of major Grocery Stores in Tahoe and he prices are not that bad. Safeway and Raley's are the two bigget and will have everything you need right there.
Gracias! That makes our lives easier! Thanks!

We are planning on doing steaks one night so this will make doing that easier!
TxAgLaw03RW
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Just got back with some friends. Don't do the steak place at Mont Bleu, complete rip off. Amazing trip though. We had great food everywhere else and the casinos were all great, but we had the most luck at Harvey's.

If you have time and assuming you're flying out of Reno, take the scenic route back through Incline Village on the north side and then through the mountains back to Reno. The drive back to the airport through the mountains was a great way to close out the trip.
coop-aero-06
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Well Ben, was your vacation as crappy as you though it would be?
Texas Ag Mom
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Care to share any more details of specific places to eat & not to miss things to do? Don't care about casinos. We leave Thurs & we fly in/out if Reno. Staying at the Hyatt in Incline the first 3 nts & then move for 2 nts to the Marriott Timber Lodge on the south side.
BenFiasco14
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coop-aero-06 said:

Well Ben, was your vacation as crappy as you though it would be?


Been here a few days. Have three more. In bed after a long day of hiking around Emerald Bay, and also hit the eagle lake trail.

We've gambled, took a boat cruise, been lazy on the beach... and more to come. Haha! Funny you posted. I was just about to come in here and bump the thread. It's been fantastic. Also eaten at quite a few places mentioned ITT
CNN is an enemy of the state and should be treated as such.
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