Where to stay in Lake Tahoe

[gr8outdoors]

I am hoping some of you may be able to help me out! My family is trying to plan a trip to Tahoe and we know we want to ski at Heavenly and Squaw and most likely some other places on the west side of the lake. I have been scoping out condos, but can’t even figure out the best location for us. Realistically we would probably spend only one (possibly two) days at Heavenly - that is where my son really wants to go - and check out other places the rest of the week. Does anyone have any suggestions on where we should be staying? I have looked at Incline Village and Truckee areas so far...

 

[santacruz skier]

How large is your family? If small, the Stardust Lodge across the street from the Heavenly gondola is quite reasonable. Actually I have a timeshare there and use it every year! So convenient to Heavenly.

 

[DeweySki]

What time of year are you going? If it's a dead of winter there is a solid chance the road that runs down the west side of the lake will be closed, so you will have to go around the east side to go from South Lake (Heavenly) to North Lake (Squaw). In that case, Incline Village would be somewhat between the two, but that means you are still driving 1 hour+ every morning to go skiing. Also, Incline is pretty quiet and doesn't really have much of a "town."

I stay in the same town as @santacruz skier, South Lake Tahoe. Definitely family friendly and something to do for everyone. Kirkwood is my favorite resort and has the harder terrain. Depending on how long your vacation is, I would actually recommending changing hotels/cities in the middle instead of driving so much every day. Half time in South Lake and half time in Truckee would be fun.

 

[marzNC]

Combining north and south Tahoe in the same trip can be tricky if there is a lot of snow on the roads. Often the road on the west side is completely closed. The section near Emerald Bay is very narrow, twisty, and steep.

Would you consider starting in south Tahoe and then moving to the north side?

I stayed in a VRBO condo in Tahoe City for the 2010 Diva Week and that worked out well since we skied at assorted places in north Tahoe. As I remember there was a Diva couple who stayed in Heavenly and made the drive a few days. Had to allow at least an hour I think.

 

[DeweySki]

Haha, looks like me and @marzNC were typing at the exact same time, but great minds think alike!

 

[santacruz skier]

As mentioned above, in a good year Emerald Bay road is usually closed. So would agree to stay in South Lake Tahoe and then go over to North Lake Tahoe if you don't want to stay "in the middle" and drive over an hour each way... lucky me I have access to house at Northstar so we usually try to make it to Squaw every year as well. Kirkwood is really very very good with awesome terrain. Used to go several times a year but we keep our stuff at Northstar and Kirkwood is an hour and a half from there and also at least 45 minutes from South Lake Tahoe....

 

[CarverJill]

I'm also considering a trip to South Lake Tahoe and looking for cheap lodging options. I'd be skiing at Heavenly and Kirkwood.

 

[gr8outdoors]

Our family is just the three of us. More than likely, we would only do one day at Heavenly. So,we could switch lodging or just watch the weather and head around the lake on a not so bad day! We are from the east, so we may be up early most days anyway (except the first one because our flight get in late, so we are staying near the airport that night).

So, Tahoe City is a good area to be in for the Northern resorts? I was thinking about that.

 

[marzNC]

Our family is just the three of us. More than likely, we would only do one day at Heavenly. So,we could switch lodging or just watch the weather and head around the lake on a not so bad day! We are from the east, so we may be up early most days anyway (except the first one because our flight get in late, so we are staying near the airport that night).

So, Tahoe City is a good area to be in for the Northern resorts? I was thinking about that.

Based on my experience skiing Heavenly and Kirkwood as an intermediate during a trip my brother-in-law set up quite a while back and later trips to north Tahoe, I much prefer north Tahoe. From Tahoe City, it's under 30 minutes to all the ski resorts when not in the middle of a big snowstorm. Getting to parking lots early enough for good parking is pretty easy when flying from the east. On weekends, that means arriving an hour before lifts open.

Back in 2010 I decided on Tahoe City over Truckee because it's closer to the lake. Easier to do a little sightseeing around the lake in the afternoon/evening. The condo complex was less than 10 min east of the town center. There are enough eating places in Tahoe City for the nights we didn't want to cook. Wasn't that much price difference between Tahoe City and Truckee as I remember.

Driving around the east side of the lake is scenic too. Just takes a while because it's longer. Doing the drive one day and staying in the same place for the entire trip would be my suggestion.

Are you going to ski on weekends at all? Are you flying into Reno?

 

[gr8outdoors]

We are flying into Reno on a Friday night. By the time we may get moving on Saturday we may only be looking to ski part of a day somewhere, so we’ll have to see where that may be. I am not sure just yet who might offer something other than a full day lift ticket. We will be skiing on Sunday that weekend! We have an early flight the following Saturday, so most likely we will go back to Reno on Friday.

I am definitely more of an intermediate skier, as is my husband. My son can ski the harder stuff, but won’t have done too much skiing before this trip (he is away at college with no ski area close by) this season.

Do you remember which condo complex you stayed in? Or any others close by?

Thanks for helping me narrow down a location!

 

[marzNC]

We are flying into Reno on a Friday night. By the time we may get moving on Saturday we may only be looking to ski part of a day somewhere, so we’ll have to see where that may be. I am not sure just yet who might offer something other than a full day lift ticket. We will be skiing on Sunday that weekend! We have an early flight the following Saturday, so most likely we will go back to Reno on Friday.

I am definitely more of an intermediate skier, as is my husband. My son can ski the harder stuff, but won’t have done too much skiing before this trip (he is away at college with no ski area close by) this season.

Do you remember which condo complex you stayed in? Or any others close by?

Thanks for helping me narrow down a location!

You might consider checking out Mt. Rose if you can get there relatively early to beat the weekend crowd. Only 40 min from the airport. If you are bringing your own skis, then could go to the second base and avoid the main base. Good fun for intermediates and advanced/experts. In 2010, my travel/ski buddy Jason (family friend of non-skiing husband who has a non-skiing wife) and I booked red-eye flights back east on Friday and skied at Mt. Rose until 3:30 that afternoon.

For a warm up day on a weekend, Homewood is quite fun. Has great views of the lake. Definitely have to arrive early. We got there on Sat morning an hour before lifts open. 15 min later the small parking lot at the northern base was half full. Was the first time I set up a trip with Jason. He was not used to the idea of having leaving the condo at 7:30am because he usually stayed slope side on ski trips out west. After that trip, he didn't question the advantages of getting up early and more or less staying on Eastern Time.

Diamond Peak is another small mountain in north Tahoe.

Definitely better to plan to go back to Reno on Friday. I did a ski trip to north Tahoe in the 1990s when a big storm rolled over from California. Even though I had a bed at a condo with friends, I opted to get a motel room near the Reno airport the night before my flight. Good thing because driving the next day in the middle of the storm would've been very stressful.

The condo was on Lake Forest Road. I'll send details via PM.

 

[gr8outdoors]

I'm also considering a trip to South Lake Tahoe and looking for cheap lodging options. I'd be skiing at Heavenly and Kirkwood.

We have decided to stay in North Tahoe and drive to South Lake Tahoe for a day. I gphave seen some decent condo prices on VRBO, if you haven’t already checked that out.

 

[DeweySki]

I'm also considering a trip to South Lake Tahoe and looking for cheap lodging options. I'd be skiing at Heavenly and Kirkwood.

The usual suspects like airbnb, VRBO, and hotels.com should be good. My advice for optimizing between Heavenly and Kirkwood would be to stay as far on the edge of South Lake as you can, or even in Meyers, the little town next to South Lake. This will help you cut off 20-30 minutes of driving through town on the days you go to Kirkwood.

 

[DeweySki]

@gr8outdoors I just thought of this--since you are planning so far ahead, and are planning on going to multiple resorts, it might be worth doing Heavenly in South Lake and Northstar in North Lake (an intermediate dream!), because they are both on the Epic Pass, which is still on sale for a few more weeks: epicpass.com.