jas67

Help please...... I am going to Reno with my mother and need to find out what there is to do in Reno for 4 days besides sitting at a machine. We were not going to rent a car but thought there might be some day trips to other cities by bus as in tours. reno.com not much help for this at all.

jtrandolph

You should really go to Lake Tahoe, but in order to do that you will need to rent a car. I don't know about tours from Reno, but, hopefully someone can help. I cannot imagine 4 days in Reno in front of a machine. But they have a nice River Walk, and perhaps a Reno person can tell you of other wonderful things to do. Our son lives there, but he mostly takes his dog to the dog park and visits a pub or two and does telecommuting for his job whose base is in San Francisco.

I think you are out of luck without a car, unless somebody can tell us differently.

janisj

What are your dates? Hot August Nights run Aug 3-12 and Reno is very crowded/hectic over that period. It is a great place if you are in to 50's 60's cars and culture. Otherwise it will just be crowded.

You can do a day trip to Virginia City. And another to Lake Tahoe. But just navigating around Reno would be tough.

If you are going after Aug 13 - Reno will be downright quite . . . .

FainaAgain

Are you flying into Reno airport? In this case, make reservations at South Lake Tahoe/Stateline. There is a connecting bus from Reno aiport to that area.

At South Tahoe, there is a bus company with different tours every day. We took a tour around the lake, very interesting and informative. Make advance reservations, they do get sold out.

There are also boat tours on the lake, they pick up at major hotels. Different cruises at different times, with or without meals.

If you must stay in Reno, you can look at the Amtrak bus schedule to go for example, to Sacramento on your own. But the bus station in Reno is seedy. And don't even think of Greyhound!

crefloors

There is a lot of construction going on here now, so parts of downtown are pretty torn up. They are rehabing buildings for condos, covering the train trench on Virginia St. so there will be an events plaza, and putting a canopy over the ice rink..but, having said that, there is a lot of new retail, specialty shops and restaurants that have opened up along the river. Also, California St. is about five or six blocks from the main part of downtown, and there are a lot of new boutiques that have opened up along the street. Also a great little restaurant called The Cheese Board and Wine Cellar is there. It's been around a long time and makes wonderful lunches.

Check with your hotel because there should be tours to Tahoe, and Virginia City. Virginia City is what it is. It can be pretty hokey, but....when you get past all the tourist stuff, there is an incredible amount of history there. It used to be a city of over 20,000 people, the silver taken out of there helped finance the Union Army during the Civil War, and helped build San Francisco. A lot of the same names show up in San Francisco history and Virginia City..like Sutro and Stanford for example.

There are shuttles that run between casinos, there is a movie theatre downtown by the river. The Nevada Museum of Art is excellent. Don't know what "special" displays may be there, but I have gone to see works of Rodin, Dale Chihuley, and Picasso. Also, the Riverside Artists Loft is in the old Riverside Hotel, and the resident artists display their works on the ground floor.

I think Hot August Nights is fairly early this year...at any rate it's always at the first part of August. It IS a very fun time, even if you aren't into cars, some of the ones shown are so amazing that you can't help but enjoy it. The hotel should have copies of the Entertainment Guide and the Nevada Magazine and they list what's what for what ever the week is that you are here. Hope this helps.

crefloors

Almost forgot, if you are here on a Thursday and Hot August Nights isn't happening, there is a great farmer's market in Sparks, right on Victorian Ave...the main street..every Thursday. Good food booths, entertainment, etc. It starts at 4:00 and goes til 9:00..gets really crowded by about 7:00. When I do get to go down there I always try to get there no later than 4:30 so I can get a place to park and buy my stuff before the hoards hit the plaza.

jas67

Hi all thanks for the info. We will be in Reno from Aug 27 to end month. Willmiss Hot August Nights. Sounds like it would have been fun... We are staying at the Silver Legacy.