We are a family of 4, (two teenagers) intermediate to expert skiers looking for the best place to ski and stay over the Christmas holiday. We will have a car, but prefer a nice upscale condo near shops and restaurants and maybe ski in/ski out. We are not interested in gambling. Which area, which mountain would you recommend? Thanks.

I have stayed all around the Heavenly gondola. They are really working to give this area a village feel. We love the MArriott Grand. We stayed in a 2 story unit with 2 full master bedrooms and a loft with a fold oout couch. Living room dining room and kitchen. Lots of places to sleep. It looked out over the gondola and the shops below. It was close to teh pool but not so you'd hear noise from it.

Also have stayed at Marriott Timber Cove - nice and Embassy Suites, nice but besides the room no kitchen etc.

You can also stay at teh new village at Squaw. It was built in the enormous parking lot so I don't think it has gotten away from that feel yet but they are workign on it to give it a villagey feel too. It's right next to teh Tram.

Love the changes at North Star. They are building some really nice condos there. Skiing is good and close to many other ski resorts.

I really don't care for heavenly for intermediate skiiers; there are a lot of really excellent skiiers/snowboarders at heavenly and then there are some that shouldn't be there who think they are really excellent skiiers/snowboarders - they tend to make it a dangerous place to ski.

While Northstar is not close to gambling, I much prefer it for family orientated skiing. They also have condos but I don't believe they are ski in ski out.

There are new condos at northstar that are ski in ski out for sure. I was there nearly every weekend last season and they are making progress on the entire village there. If you can't get a condo right at the lifts there is a good shuttle system going on.

If I wanted to ski Squaw, would it make sense to stay in Tahoe City? What is Tahoe City like? Is it a cute town with shops and restaurants?

While I like Heavenly, it's definitely not my favorite place to stay. I prefer the north end of the lake.

If you stay at either Northstar, Squaw or in Incline Village, you have access to a number of areas with only a short drive + if you want to take a trip to Heavenly, it's only 45 minutes or so.

Tahoe City is a cute town with shops and restaurants but sometimes the traffic going through there makes it such a hassle. Easy trip to Squaw, Alpine and Homewood resort from there.

We like the Squaw Valley Lodge--ski in/ski out, and we've had very well appointed units there. We've stayed there twice, each time for a week. Both times we've skied four days at Squaw and two at Alpine Meadows.

The village has grown, and there are enough shops and restaurants to make poking around in the evening fun. Tahoe City and Alpine Meadows are 15 minute drives away.

In Tahoe City, the Bridgetender has great (and cheap) burgers, and I love the mango margaritas at The Hacienda.

Our family prefers Northstar to Heavenly, and Sqaw is also great. We've stayed at Northstar, but in recent years stay in Incline, and have more of a choice during a week's ski trip for other locations.