Lake Tahoe Newbie
 

Am going for the first time in Sept. What area should we stay in? What hotel? Thanks, I need the help.

Why are you going - what do you plan to do while there? Are you interested in big hotels? (there's only one in North Lake Tahoe -- the Hyatt at Incline Village. Are you interested in gambling? -- there's a little in North Lake Tahoe, but in South Lake many people go there for the gambling and the shows. etc.

"<i>What area should we stay in? What hotel?</i>"

No way to tell you w/o more info. What is your budget? Do you want a large casino hotel or will a lakeside motel do? Do you want to be near nightlife -- or are you going mostly for outdoors activity and veg out at night?

oops - hit post by mistake . . .

What sort of ambiance do you want - just any details we can work w/

How much are you willing to spend?
I knowon VRBO there are lots of people rennng out their places at the Marriott Grand Residence in Sept for a really reasonable rate. It's a great place to stay and near some great dining. It's in SLT.

The Embassy Suites is also advertising some great rates. I saw $119 which includes breakfast and happy hour. Also in SLT.

Suze: Where are you finding $119 at the Embassy suites? I was checking for my own short get away and the best I could find was $198

OOps -- meant Suzie (Suze is a whole different fodorite :) )

Thanks, my husband has business in Reno. I'm going with him because I've always wanted to see Lake Tahoe. We are not interested in casinos. Because this is the beginning of a 2 week trip -- next stop is San Diego (another business trip) and then a drive up the coast--I don't want it to be too pricey. Would those Marriott rentals go for as few as 2 days?

I'd love lakeside, probably nicer than a really cheap motel. I've been undergoing cancer treatment for 2 1/2 years and will resume post vacation. We were supposed to go to Alaska this summer but I was too worn out to plan it or go. So this trip is the dream vacation and I'd love a little ambiance.
I know that I want to drive around the shoreline. Are the tour boats on the lake good? Other suggestions? After 2 days at the lake we will be taking the train to Emeryville which is supposed to be gorgeous and from there flying to SD. I'd appreciate your suggestions.
Thanks

<<<taking the train to Emeryville which is supposed to be gorgeous>>>

I assume you mean the train ride, and not Emeryville :-)

The Marriott that suzie wrote about is in South Lake Tahoe. It and its sister property right next door are beautiful condo/timeshare/fractional ownership resorts. They're in a nice litle center with some shops, restaurants, pool, skating rink (in winter), etc. But they're still in South Lake Tahoe which is more casino-oriented than north lake Tahoe, and the hotels are NOT on the lake. You could probably catch a show, however, in South Lake Tahoe -- there are three or four very large casino-hotels (Harrah's, Harvey's, MontBleu (?)). You can walk from one to the other. There is nothing attractive about this area. There are some condo developments and motels on the lake, but they lack the amenities you may be looking for.

The North Shore also has many condo developments and motels on the lake, what it doesn't have is the big hotel-casinos (except the Hyatt, which is certainly in a lovelier setting than its south lake counterparts).

The drive around the lake is 71 miles.

The Marriott Grand is really nice we stay there all the time. Unlike timeshares, owners actually buy all of or a portion of a specific unit. We typically know who's unit we will be staying in if we reserve directly with Marriott.

Here's the info about the Embassy.
Special AUGUST Weekday Rates of $119 per night (single/double occupancy in a king bedded standard suite, nonrefundable, no changes, must be booked online, 7 day advance purchase required, excludes Friday/Saturday) available: August 25th and 26th. Go to reservations to book online.

I'm sorry if it was misleading, all I meant was that there are some deals out there which may or may not apply to your individual case. Sometimes when we call we can get a lower rate too.

I don't feel the same way as some people do when it comes to the fall in SLT. We usually walk down to the beach with our cocktails and watch the sunset. Then we change our clothes and go to our favorite restaurants. Lots of our favorite hikes and sights are located close to SLT and we don't like to go there in the summer when there are too many people so the fall is perfect for us to get back to some of our fave spots.


I also really do like the Hyatt in Incline as well biut it's pretty spendy.

What I want most is a view of the lake from my room! This will be my first and probably last time there and I want to immerse myself visually (not physically--too cold!). Either side of the lake will do because I don't care about shows or casinos. Thanks.

The Hyatt at Incline, probably the Ritz-Carlton at Northstar, and the higher floors of the big hotels in South Lake all ought to have lake views. As I said, there's very little hotel/motel development ON the lake, mostly private homes and condo developments.

The Ritz Carlton won't have views of the lake.

There is quite a bit of lakeside accommodations on the north end of the lake, in Kings Beach, Tahoe Vista, and at the Hyatt in Incline.

Lakeside accommodations in Kings Beach and Tahoe Vista tend to run be of the "roadside motel" variety.

Yep -- If lakeside is important - there are those options. Or if you want posh -- then you won't be ON the lake.

I'd probably take the Hyatt - get a lake view and a private beach across the road and the Lone Star Grill.

I found a place at Brockaway Springs Resort with a lakeview for $160 per night in Sept.

http://www.brockwaysprings.com/Town1.htm

The Red Wolf is lakeside and affordable. You could checkon lakeview rooms there:

http://www.redwolflakesidelodge.com/photos.asp

You should also look into Sunnyside Lodge just south of Tahoe City. You can get a lake view room there which will include a balcony. Very nice.

http://www.sunnysidetahoe.com/

Also if you go to SLT you can get a great room at the Best Western Timber Cove which is right on the lake. Great sandy beach. Lots of weddings there. Then you can go to our favorite restuarant for dinner.

http://www.timbercovetahoe.com/

Evans American Gourmet. Get reservations.

http://www.evanstahoe.com/

Thanks so much, Suzie, Janisj, and SF. I will che k out all of these lake front web sites tomorrow (or later today as it is nearly 2am). I also ran across Tahoe Lakeshore Lodge and Spa in my web browsing. Anybody familiar with it?

Suzie, that's a great list. Con_brio, we've stayed at Brockway Springs many times and loved it. It is a condo development, though, not a hotel. Look at this picture from the pool:

http://www.brockwaysprings.com/TheResort.htm

Sigh.

Con_brio my DH once made reservations at Lakeshore Lodge & Spa because he thought it looked good. I'm a little picky so I cancelled the reservation & we stayed at the Marriott Grand. I haven't been happy with reviews I've seen over the years. Just not consistent enough for me. You may feel differently.

sf7307 - I clicked on the link you provided while at work and now I feel that it constitutes cruel and unsual punishment - expect to hear from my lawyer..... ;)

I know I know. Evertime I need a "fix", I look at that picture :-)

I clicked on the site as well. That may be where we spend Labor Day. (PIll go to the others as well, but wow. That's awesome!) Thank you so much. Looks great! And the perfect antidore to the frustrating day that I've had today! Many thanks!

con_brio, a few things to note about Brockway Springs:

1) the pool is a walk -- about 1/5 or 1/4 mile down the road (but still within the development) from the condos.

2) the place is not a high-end resort. The condos are pretty plain. They're fine, but not fancy. What's great about it is the location.

3) the development is a walk down the hill to Kings Beach. Kings Beach is a funky little beach town -- motels, restaurants, city/public beach, places to buy beachwear and pool/beach toys, that kind of thing. Not at all upscale! (We love it, though).

4) Don't waste your time at the Brockway Bakery -- what they tried to pass off as a croissant was a joke!!

Well, this is a bit harder than I thought. Brockway looked perfect, but the addition of a booking fee and cleaning fee make more sense for a week than 2 nights. Sunnyside has a minimum of 3 nights and Red Wolfe has no vacancies. We are zeroing in on N LT because we have an 8:36 am train from Reno and a rental car to turn back. Kings Beach seems to have a bunch of hotels so we thought we'd just pick one when we got there. Is that nuts? If so, which one would you recommend? Or should we just stay at the Best Western and plan on waking up at the crack of early to drive to Reno?

Sorry, I don't know the motels very well. BUT, I don't see why there wouldn't be motels in Kings Beach that are just as good as the Best Western in SLT. They're all just motels after all -- check TripAdvisor ratings.

i don't know about that sf7307. the best western in SLT is a really nice property. the motels in kings beach are more of the "no tell motel" variety! i've been to both and that's my take...but i am partial to SLT

I was just looking at TripAdvisor ratings -- which I know are no guarantee (THAT'S an understatement!) but the Best Western only gets 77% "recommend", whereas, for example, Ferrari's Crown Resort in Kings Beach gets 88%. Again, I don't really know because we never stay in motels in the area -- we always stay in condos either on the lake or at Northstar.

I personally think the Best Western in SLT is far superior to the accomodations in Kings Beach. But like everything here and on TA it's just an opinion.

If you are going for Labor Day weekend, it would be best to get a reservation beforehand, not wait until you get there.

I once rented a cottage at Franciscan Lakeside Lodge (near Tahoe Vista, North Shore). These are privately owned but managed and rented by FLL. We had a cottage RIGHT ON THE WATER, had our very own private beach and a little pier for walks out onto the lake and for entering the water with our little blow-up raft. All our windows opened to that big blue of the lake. It was heaven!
Each cottage was different, so it would be essential to ask a lot of questions. Not all are right on the lake. The one we had was not fancy but was very clean and comfortable. It was all about the location!

Try also The Cottage Inn at Lake Tahoe. These are very nice and would be easy access to the road you would take to Truckee to catch the train.
http://www.thecottageinn.com/home

elnap, the train is from Reno -- and they have to go there to return a rental car, apparently.

con_brio, if you can catch the train in Truckee instead, it would be much much more convenient to North Lake Tahoe.

oops. Well, the more info the better, I guess. Good luck with this, con_brio.

Thanks for the info. I will just go ahead and reserve somewhere. Re the train at Truckee, we do have to return the renktal car. But we can just get up early and drive to Reno.

Am looking at shooting star and cottage inn. Any recommendation?

Cottage Inn near Tahoe City? It's not on the lake but it's in a nicely forested area right off the road. Nearby is great dining at Sunnyside. You can catch breakfast or lunch at the Firesign Cafe. We stayed there one night and it was comfortable.

Don't know anything about shooting star B&B. If you want a lake front B&B you can check our Chaney House or Shore House.

http://www.chaneyhouse.com/

http://www.shorehouselaketahoe.com/

I'm booked!!! Thank you so much for all of your help and suggestions. You got me looking in the right area for lakefront and I actually found a lakefront room at Maurelatos Lake Resort. (I think it's near Brockway Springs--but I booked the rest of the trip today too so I'm overloaded and may not be thinking straight. They had two left. It looks perfect (from the website). I really appreciate your suggestions and have already written down the restaurants you suggested.
Also, thank you for being so patient. I will be restarting chemo when I get back so this trip is very important to me and the Lake Tahoe view has been a dream for a long time. Thanks. (and I tried to pay it forward by giving reams of good advice to someone coming to DC). Thanks again, Ellen

Congrats! I just read what you wrote on the DC thread, and it was an excellent post (we were in DC a few weeks ago, but have been many times before, so don't quite feel the need to see every single site in a couple of days!!) And I sure hope the chemo goes well!!

Terrific! Maurelatos is right next door to Franciscan Lakeside Lodge and I think it will be a nice location for you.
Enjoy the Big Blue!