Lake Tahoe First-Timer Highlights

It’s now October, and it’s hard to believe that our summer vacation was more than two months ago! Fall is officially upon us and those days of sweltering in California heat are long behind us. So that means it’s the perfect time to relive our amazing vacation and provide you awesome people with some tips and itinerary suggestions. 

This year, our family (there’s 12 of us ranging from 4 to 72) went to California to explore some National Parks that we had never visited before. Most of us were there for 14 days, but part of our crew had to go home about 5 days sooner than the rest of us.

That is Tip #1 for this blog edition. 

 1. It’s ok to do things separately when traveling with a big group

We’ll go into more detail about what that can look like in one of my next two posts, but first I’d like to start with the beginning of our adventure. 

We rented a house in North Lake Tahoe for 4 days. Lake Tahoe is the largest Alpine lake in North America. It is 22 miles long and 12 miles wide and extends to a depth of 1,645 feet. The distinguishing feature of Lake Tahoe is its incredible crystal-clear water that in parts has turquoise hues reminiscent of a Caribbean island rather than a mountain lake. It is divided nearly in half by the border between California and Nevada. We flew in to Reno, NV and drove to our house which was also on the Nevada side. When we were planning for this trip, we wound up choosing the North side of the lake vs the South due to our family’s preference for more seclusion and a quieter family experience. If you prefer nightlife, casinos, and an abundance of shopping, South Lake Tahoe is the way to go. Our house was in Incline Village, which placed us close to the East Shore Trail and plenty of water sport activities to keep us satisfied. 

Our first full day in Lake Tahoe, our four-person family split off from the rest of the group to ride the East Shore Trail on rented bikes. A 2.6-mile trail out and back, it is a well-maintained paved path with unbeatable scenery. Our kids are 6.5 and 9, and they handled it like champs. There are some hills, but it’s very smooth and you can take your time. We really enjoyed parking our bikes and walking down to Sand Harbor Beach. There is a $2 per bike entrance fee, or you pay $10 per car. The only downside here is that parking is nearly impossible to come by unless you come right when the park opens. They close the parking lot usually around 9am and it will remain closed for the remainder of the day, regardless of how empty the lot becomes. So unless you want to get there between 7-9 am, your only other option is to walk or bike the East Shore Trail or come in on a watercraft on the lake. It is uniquely beautiful with rock formations and boulders perfectly located for climbing and jumping off from into the lake. 

On our way back from Sand Harbor, we biked past the Hyatt to the local pump track. If you’ve never been on a pump track before, it’s basically a bike course set up with jumps and ramps and interesting topography for mountain bike “training.” Our boys (and my husband) loved it. The kids obviously aren’t skilled enough to do some of the larger jumps, but they had so much fun just riding up and over some of the hills. 

The following day, our entire family set out for a white water rafting adventure. My parents took our niece, who is only 4, on a float trip with Truckee River Raft Co., while the other 9 of us went on a trip with Tahoe Whitewater Tours down the Truckee River. Both groups had a fantastic time and I highly recommend these trips to families looking for a little adventure. Our larger group got to encounter Class II and III rapids where we witnessed and assisted in rescuing fellow trip members who fell out of their boat. We also had a chance to jump into the river, learn about the surrounding wildlife, plant life, and climate of Lake Tahoe, and generally just have an awesome adventure with a bit of a physical challenge. (Perfect for those teenage nephews of ours.) The float trip my parents went on was also very enjoyable for those looking for a much more peaceful ride down a river. 

On our last full day, we rented a boat from Action Water Sports and a “sea biscuit” (think a large inner tube with a canvas middle covering the hole) and water skis and took our whole crew out to cruise around the Lake. Our entire family, every single one of us, had a fantastic time. All three men took turns driving the boat, all the kids rode the sea biscuit to their hearts’ content, and a few of them even tried the water skis! We also got to cruise up to the shoreline in a few spots and climb up the boulders in the water. My husband, my sister-in-law, and myself all squeezed ourselves onto the sea biscuit at one point to go for a ride, too. Watching the two of them get expelled off the tube and ejected into the air and abandoned into the watery depths was priceless. I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard. I was the last man standing (or woman laying?) because I was lucky enough to have claimed the middle position. 

I will post a disclaimer: the water activities were more expensive than I was anticipating. But if you’re going to Lake Tahoe for your entire trip, it might be worth it to rent some equipment for your entire stay rather than an hour at a time. You will have to decide what your budget will allow.

There are also plentiful hiking opportunities around the lake. Since the rest of our vacation was very hiking-centric, we chose to steer clear of those activities at Lake Tahoe for the most part. My brother and his family did take a short hike up to Monkey Rock (it really does look like a monkey!) and enjoyed it. He did say it was on the steep side, but definitely doable for an active family.

Lake Tahoe was the location of our best meals of this particular vacation. We especially liked Jake’s on the Lake and Lone Eagle Grille. Jake’s has a Hawaiian flare and is “downtown” in Tahoe City, where we did a bit of shopping before popping in for dinner. Our kids got a kick out of trying bison steak and toothfish for dinner and sitting at their own table without (gasp!) any adults. Lone Eagle Grille was our nicest dinner of the trip, and we got a chance to sit outside right on the beach. The food here was also excellent as was the service. We also ate dinner at home one night. That’s Tip #2:

2. If you are able to rent a house/apartment with a kitchen with a large group, it is well worth it. You will save time and money on meals like breakfast and lunch, and it will give you the option to relax a bit more in your own space rather than needing to haul your kids out to a restaurant every night. 

On our way out of the Tahoe area as we were headed to Yosemite, we decided to make a detour to see Emerald Bay in South Lake Tahoe. I will say that was our one disappointment. Trying to find parking was nearly impossible, it was incredibly crowded, and even in order to get down to the beach area you had to walk a mile and a half down a steep trail. It was just not worth it. So unless you're staying in the area or are planning to spend the whole afternoon there, just enjoy the view from above as you drive by. As is evidenced by my children's expressions in this picture, it just wasn't worth the effort we put into it.