My wife and I have received an offer from Harrah's for a free 5 night trip to Lake Tahoe in early September. We'd like to check out the best choices for sightseeing and tours, as we're not into outdoor/sports activities (senior citizens). We figure, that it would be a good idea to rent a car.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
mrace

Where are you coming from? Flying into Reno?
See Carson City while you are in the area.

we're flying in from Boston.

Rent a car. Drive around the lake. So beautiful and a nice time of hear. Take a paddle boat cruise out of Zephyr Cove to Emerald Bay. Go to North shore one day. VirginiaCity is fun.

What is Harrah's offering? Do not buy a timeshare and just enjoy your vacation.

Harrah's is offering free flights and hotel, with the hope (of course), that we'll do some gambling.

MichelleY:

Your suggestions sound great!

mrace - I've gone on the same junket a number of times. We always rent a car but be warned that the roads are a little scary if you are not used to mountain driving. If you are coming in on a Harrah's free trip offer, Harrah's will provide transportation from Reno to Lake Tahoe so you won't need to rent a car for that. But it is nice to have a car while in Lake Tahoe.

Definitely take advantage of Harrah's Lake Tahoe Star boat tour. It's great. A van will pick you up at the hotel and bring you down to the boat. Here is a description:

http://www.laketahoestar.com/


Friday's Station Steak and Seafood Grill in Harrah's is very good. Also, the Harrah's buffet is very decent by buffet standards and it's on the top floor so you have really nice views.

Right down the street from Harrah's is Heavenly Village, with shops and restaurants. Also, you can take the gondola ski lift up the mountain (even though it's not ski season).

Can't remember the name of it but pretty close to Harrahs is a lakefront restaurant that was great for lunch. As you leave Harrahs, you'd turn left and drive a couple of miles. I think it's a fairly well known restaurant so your concierge should be able to help with the name.

forgot to say - enjoy! Lake Tahoe is beautiful.

Thanks everyone, for the great suggestions!

You might like the drive over to Truckee. It's a cute town, good eats. Virginia City is very historic so if you think you want to go there, and I highly recommend it, do some research at their website to pick out the good stuff from the really touristy crap, although the touristy crap is fun now and then. Much of San Francisco was built with the money from the silver mined in Virginia City and the Union Army was also funded with that silver.

September is really a great time to be at the lake as especially nice if a good indian summer is happening.

Other than the Paddle wheel boat ride, Truckee and Virginia City -- a couple of other places to be sure and go . . . Sand Harbor on the NE corner of the lake just before you get to Incline Village (the absolute prettiest bit of the whole basin).

https://www.google.com/search?q=sand...2&ved=0CD0QsAQ

And a drive around the west shore to see Emerald Bay and continue on and maybe eat lunch at Sunnyside just before Tahoe City.

https://www.google.com/search?q=sand...bay+lake+tahoe

http://www.sunnysideresort.com/reservations-directions

As you can see -- you can fill your 5 days really easily . . .

Thanks...great suggestions!

Our two best meals on our last trip were at Scuma's and (believe it or not) Base Camp Pizza Co. Best salad I've ever had in a restaurant at the latter.

That restaurant might be at Edgewood, a large golf course. We ate in the sport bar one night and had a very good meal, but there's also a fine-dining restaurant there as well. We couldn't even get near Base Camp Pizza Co. for the crowds.

Note that the drive up to Emerald Bay can be a little scary.

fdecarlo, do you mean Scuma, or do you mean Scusa?

Give me a break, I'm still working on Scoma and scuba.