Best Place to Ski/Stay in Tahoe
 

Hey All,

Was wondering, where is the best place to ski/stay in Tahoe? Trying to plan a trip with a big group of friends this winter. All adults. Probably looking for a condo or house. Few of us are expert skiers (backcountry in Utah and Oregon), others are novice and in between. Don't care about gambling, but would like a place close to town/ ski resort so we can go out and no worry about driving. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

If you don't care about gambling, we like the Squaw Valley Lodge--right at the base of the mountain, and there are quite a few restaurants within walking distance. For variety in skiing, Alpine Meadows is only 10 min utes away.

You could stay at Northstar, although expert skiers might find it too tame. Squaw Valley is another possibility. I ski regularly on the north side of Lake Tahoe and would recommend staying either in Tahoe City (there are shuttles to Alpine Meadow and public transportation to Squaw Valley) or in Truckee. From Tahoe City, Alpine Meadows, Squaw, Northstar and Homewood (not for expert skiers) are convenient. From Truckee (I used to stay above Truckee) Alpine Meadows, Squaw and Northstar are within 20 minutes, as is Sugar Bowl. But this assumes a car. Google the resorts to see if they might interest you.

As for the south side of Lake Tahoe, I'll let others more familiar with it chime in.

Not surevwhether you mean that "few" are expert or "a few " are expert - very different meanings!

If you want skiing ranging from novice to expert, you should look at Squaw Valley in the north and Heavenly Valley in the south. If you do not need "real" black diamond skiing, then you might want to look at Northstar.

Both Squaw and Northstar are self-contained ski resorts with the ski mountain. In the case of Northstar, the resort has private homes, older condos, all kinds of newer condos and a Ritz-Carlton hotel, as well as shops, restaurants and a skating rink. Squaw Valley is similar, except that the private homes are on the roads leading to the resort, not within the resort itself. It has a couple of hotels too, although nothing as fancy as the R-C at Northstar. Both Squaw and Northstar are near the towns of Truckee (good for shopping and eating), Tahoe City andKings Beach there are many places to rent condos that are not within the ski resorts (and therefore are less expensive).

Reno and Truckee are both stops on Amtrak's California Zephyr route. Depending on where you stay/ski, you might not need a rental vehicle.