Need help getting to South Lake Tahoe with the least stress!
 

Hi - We are traveling to South Lake Tahoe on Sept. 2 which happens to be the Friday of Labor Day weekend. We leave the following Friday. Have been trying to figure out traffic vs connection and flight time and need opinions.

Reno: from Providence- only with connections - flights will end up taking about 9 hours plus the drive.

Sacramento: all still with connections - I might as well use Reno.

San Francisco or Oakland: Can get non-stops. I know traffic will be bad during certain hours. How about mid day? Is it still bad all day getting to Tahoe because of the Labor Day weekend? Which would be easier to drive from - SF or Oakland? For those of you familiar with the area - should I bite the bullet and do the connections or go for the drive? We don't mind driving, but bad traffic is not on the list of things to do!\
Thanks, sue

From a Sacto perspective, if you are driving from SF bay area thru Sacto, you will have traffic, especially that weekend. You would have to leave pretty early. SF to Sacto is usually about 1.5-2 hrs depending on traffic. Oakland would be a little closer and faster. Hwy 50 is four lane, than two lane and sometimes four lane again, but will be crowded and slower, but not undoable or a parking lot. I-80 to Truckee and north , west Tahoe turnoff will be okay if done earlier, after getting thru Sacto and Roseville. Do they have any flts the day before with shorter connection?

i'd fly to reno and then take the shuttle bus from the airport to the tahoe hotels. no driving stress. then you can pick up your rental car the next day.

i know these are different cities but to give you an example of how bad traffic can get sometimes, i hit northern la at 1:00 p.m. on the friday of the long weekend. it took me 5 1/2 hours to get through the city and only got into 3rd gear twice. i just about lost my mind.

The traffic will probably be horrible until you get out of the city...either Oakland or SF. I think perhaps that once you hit HW 50 going east it won't be too awfully bad because there will be more people heading west from the Lake than going east toward the lake. I don't go to shout lake that much and mostly use 80 going back and fourth to the Bay Area, but I have seen that highway look like a parking lot on quite a few occasions. You might consider flying into Reno and taking the shuttle as suggested or get your car there and drive up. It's about an hour and a half...again depending on traffic. From Reno you have to head south on HW 395 and go through Carson City. Just as you start to get to the south end of Carson City you will see a right turn...HW 50 Spooner Summit-I forget if it says Lake Tahoe or Stateline, I don't pay attention to it anymore.. and that takes you up to the lake. It's a good road..4 lane..so see what logistics will seem to work best for you.

I would DEFINITELY fly into Reno. Traffic won't be bad "during certain hours" - it will be bad all day long. I live near Sacramento and drive all along the I-80 and hwy 50 corridor between the Bay area and Tahoe a lot.

Any summer friday you could face bumber to bumber traffic along several stretches of the route. And that weekend will be much worse. The drive from SF could easily take 5 or even 6 hours, and even longer would not surprise me. Especially if you take the direct route to southshore up hwy 50. Much of that is still two lane or 2 lane w/ passing lanes.

The drive from Sacramento could take 3 to 4 hours or more any time after noon that friday.

Thanks so much!!! You have convinced me - Reno it is. sue

Tahoe is not so corwded on Labor Day Weekend as it is during other parts of the summer unless you are going to south shore. Reno is a good choice for flying in. You'll be happy you chose that, despite transfers.

Hi sueoz, I am sure glad to see you are flying into Reno. You could not pay me to drive to Lake Tahoe on the Friday of LaborDay weekend. I live in the southern end of the Sacramento Valley and I have seen I-80 looking like a parking lot on the Friday before a long weekend.

Have a beautiful time at Lake Tahoe.

No non-stops from PVD to SFO/OAK anyways...

Southwest has a one-stop PVD-MDW-OAK, and that's about it.

I'd opt for Reno as well and avoid the headache of traffic and accidents and $3.00 a gal. gas. I often drive SF to Sac on Friday and have to leave well before noon or traffic is a nightmare. On a holiday weekend it will be even worse. Can't figure out what people do to be on the road at 2pm on Friday for weekend get away. I'm retired but all these people in these cars can't retired can they? Actually when I think of it, it is crowded most days from SF to Sac and beyond by 3pm. Doesn't anyone work til 5 anymore?

Hi Shar, I have had the same thoughts as you just stated. What IS going on? It is getting ridiculous. I avoid I-80 completely on Friday. Take care.

Shar,
Tell me about it. I have been driving from Sacto to Roseville area for 32yrs!! I have short day on Friday and still take an hour vacation to avoid being out there after about 3pm or so. That means the SF crowd is leaving work before noon or driving very fast and leaving from work. Gas is only $2,45-2.50 here this week for cheapest. Reno airport is easy to fly in and out of.