Places to Explore

• Carnelian Bay to Kings Beach

  The small lakeside commercial districts of Carnelian Bay and Tahoe Vista service the thousand or so locals who live in the area year-round and the thousands more who have summer residences or launch their... (more)

• Crystal Bay

  Right at the Nevada border, Crystal Bay has a cluster of casinos that look essentially the same, but have a few minor differences. These casinos tend toward the tacky, and most of the lodging is pretty... (more)

• D.L. Bliss State Park

• Emerald Bay State Park

• Incline Village

  Incline Village, Nevada's only privately owned town, dates to the early 1960s, when an Oklahoma developer bought 10,000 acres north of Lake Tahoe. His idea was to sketch out a plan for a town without a... (more)

• Olympic Valley

  Olympic Valley got its name in 1960, when Squaw Valley USA, the ski resort here, hosted the Winter Olympics. Snow sports remain the primary activity, but once summer comes, you can hike into the adjacent... (more)

• Pope-Baldwin Recreation Area

  To the west of downtown South Lake Tahoe, U.S. 50 and Highway 89 come together, forming an intersection nicknamed "the Y." If you head northwest on Highway 89, also called Emerald Bay Road, and follow... (more)

• Reno

  Established in 1859 as a trading station at a bridge over the Truckee River, Reno grew along with the silver mines of nearby Virginia City and the transcontinental railroad that chugged through town. Train... (more)

• South Lake Tahoe

  The city of South Lake Tahoe's raison d'être is tourism: the casinos of adjacent Stateline, Nevada; the ski slopes at Heavenly Mountain; the beaches, docks, bike trails, and campgrounds all around... (more)

• Stateline

  Stateline is the archetypal Nevada border town. Its four high-rise casinos are as vertical and contained as the commercial district of South Lake Tahoe, on the California side, is horizontal and sprawling... (more)

• Sugar Pine Point State Park

• Tahoe City

  Tahoe City is the only lakeside town with a compact downtown area good for strolling and window-shopping. Of the larger towns ringing the lake, it has the most bona-fide charm. Stores and restaurants are... (more)

• Tahoma

  Tahoma exemplifies life on the lake in its early days, with rustic waterfront vacation cottages that are far from the blinking lights of South Shore's casinos. In 1960 Tahoma was host of the Olympic Nordic-skiing... (more)

• Truckee

  Formerly a decrepit railroad town in the mountains, Truckee is now the trendy first stop for many Tahoe visitors. Around 1863 the town was officially established; by 1868 it had gone from a stagecoach... (more)

• Zephyr Cove

  The largest settlement between Incline Village and the Stateline area is Zephyr Cove, a tiny resort. It has a beach, marina, campground, picnic area, coffee shop in a log lodge, rustic cabins, and nearby... (more)