South Lake Tahoe Travel Answers

at SOUTH Lake Tahoe things are closer together, so a much better place for a short time; but if you have a car, it is easy to drive around the entire lake, say within 3-4 hours. Thanksgiving is kind of the beginning of the snow season, so it will be catch as catch can, and you may well have to go UP to be in it. For a weekend, I would just GOOGLE hotels of South Lake Tahoe and make a choice, as there are many and wide selection$wise, but most within a small area......only you know what you want to look for in a hotel.(there's Embassy Suites, Holiday Inn Express, Harvey's,Best Western, as well as smaller motels, many of which you can find on this link: virtualtahoe.com/Pillows/Mot...

While I agree you can circle the lake in a day, I would not estimate it as short as 3 hours. Its a full day's journey, particularly if you want to get out and see anything along the way. Stops in Incline Village, Truckee, Tahoe City, Emerald Bay, etc. Feel free to have a look at some of my Incline Village pages for ideas in the north shore. If you're planning to go and do something in the snow, that will kill one of your two days basically. There are outfits that rent snowmobiles, cross country skis, etc. But for your age, I would agree that you'd have more fun staying overnight in South Lake Tahoe. Much more bars, restaurants, casinos, etc.

Sounds like from what you are interested in I would skip north shore and just go to SLT and save the travel time. SLT you will find more choices of hotels in what ever price range you want. Much more pubs to visit and take the tram up to the top of Heavenly Valley for the best views ever.

Hey ... thank u all guys for your great piece of information.... And i have few more things to ask... OK here is my plan... I would like to start of on friday 26th november early in the morning like 4.00am from SFO ... and spend that day in either south or north, where ever i enter the tahoe... stay friday night in the same place ST or NT... and then move on to the other part which is left over on saturday (whole day from morning till late night) and i want to return back to SfO ... i have my SUV rented from 4.am on friday till 4.00am sunday.... i,e 2 full days... this is my travel plan and duration.. So i was wondering if someone can help me out with 1) Which one to start off on friday either south or north..that is where i will lodging too on friday night also... 2) And also abviously the other part will be on saturday. Which one U guys recommend ? PLease help me out...so that everything goes fine... Thanks for your previous help...

If you are starting that early, you'll be in good shape to see quite a lot on your first day. I'd come up I-80, stop in Truckee for a walk about and maybe a bite to eat. Continue through Tahoe City and circle the lake clockwise. If you start 4am, you'll arrive SLT in good time to enjoy the evening. Spend the next day as you wish. On your departure, if you leave after dark, I'd head back up to I-80. If you leave while its still light, take the slower and more scenic route of HW-50 back to SFO.

If you are starting that early, you'll be in good shape to see quite a lot on your first day. I'd come up I-80, stop in Truckee for a walk about and maybe a bite to eat. Continue through Tahoe City and circle the lake clockwise. If you start 4am, you'll arrive SLT in good time to enjoy the evening. Spend the next day as you wish. On your departure, if you leave after dark, I'd head back up to I-80. If you leave while its still light, take the slower and more scenic route of HW-50 back to SFO.

If you are starting that early, you'll be in good shape to see quite a lot on your first day. I'd come up I-80, stop in Truckee for a walk about and maybe a bite to eat. Continue through Tahoe City and circle the lake clockwise. If you start 4am, you'll arrive SLT in good time to enjoy the evening. Spend the next day as you wish. On your departure, if you leave after dark, I'd head back up to I-80. If you leave while its still light, take the slower and more scenic route of HW-50 back to SFO.

It really doesn't matter much as you will come through Sacramento where Hwy 80 (north shore) and Hwy 50 (south shore) are only a mile apart. Being it is November and Thanksgving week you will want to keep a good eye on road conditions. Also, keep in mind once you get to Tahoe (either shore) if a snow storm comes in you might not be able to make it from one shore to the other. If you have a Smart phone and can access the internet you can update on www.dot.ca.gov or call 800 427-7623. You will want to keep track of Hwy 80, 50, and 89. Hwy 89 goes around the west shore of the lake. But Hwy 89 runs almost the entire lenght of the state so pay attention to the segments as they give them. The east side of the lake between north shore and south shore is in Nevada so I don't think they will report that on the CA sites. Another great site that gives up to the minute traffic info is the California Highway Patrol site, which is on the internet and is also an app for your Iphone (maybe others). I use it all the time and it is up to date by the second off the CHP dispatch center. Much more current than the CALTRANS site.

Being winter, that's exactly why I commented that if you leave after dark, I'd recommend taking I-80 back down the mountains. As James noted, I-80 and HW-50 converge by Sacramento, but I-80 is more traveled and typically maintained as a priority (safer) in winter conditions. If you leave during the day (before the melting snow re-freezes on the roads) HW-50 is quite scenic.