Lake Tahoe

What we did with Tips & Recommendations:

Active Activities:

♡ Hike Granite Lake and Maggies Peaks – We found this blog helpful with reaching the trail and setting expectations for the hike. It was only supposed to be 4mi RT, but we walked too far along the lake and attempted to take what we thought was a trail up when it wasn’t. After unintentionally detouring, we found the correct trail and made it to the lower of the two peaks.  The trail was a moderate incline and uphill the entire way, although it did level off at Granite Lake which felt like the halfway point. TIP: To continue the trail upward, go back out to where the trail first led to the lake (do not continue alongside the lake which also looks like a trail but is not). Also, apparently once you get to the top, if you stay left you will reach the 2nd (and higher) Maggies Peak. We didn’t find this on our trip. Anyway, the view to the “right” is super cool because you can see Emerald Bay, Granite Lake, Fallen Leaf Lake, and Cascade Lake from way up high. The entire hike provides different vantage points of the lakes from above. Don’t forget to stop at viewpoints along the way. Our favorite view was actually towards the beginning of the hike looking down on Emerald Bay, see below. 

We recommend doing at least 1 hike to see the lake from higher vantage points, and then 1 day on the lake/at the lake itself. 

♡ Rent a Kayak and Paddle to Bonsai Rock – We rented a Tandem Kayak from Sand Harbor Rentals at Sand Harbor beach. TIP: We recommend making a reservation online a few weeks ahead of time. By securing a kayak you avoid the long line for non-reservations. TIP2: You must arrive at Sand Harbor by 7am on weekends to get a spot in the parking lot. It fills up quickly and there’s already a line at this time. Once the parking lot fills up, they close it for the entire day and do not allow anyone else entrance.

From Sand Harbor, you can paddle past the beach, to the iconic Bonsai Rock and other beaches along the shoreline. This area has incredibly clear water, different turquoise shades, and the large boulders often seen in photographs. TIP: By going as early as the first tour (8:30AM), you get to see the calm glass-like water. Later in the morning and afternoon there are water ripples from the boats going by which also makes it a bit more difficult to paddle. On our trip we made it to Bonsai rock (1 mi) and a beach slightly past Bonsai Rock before heading back. We had read that people often continue further on to Chimney Beach or Secret Beach but it seemed too far for us. (We’re not super experienced paddlers, haha!) TIP: Because of the distance, we’d recommend a tandem kayak or a kayak in general over a paddle board. Also, we were happy about not taking a guided tour. We saw a few out there and were glad we went out on our own instead so that we could go at our own pace, take photos, stay as long as we wanted without any restrictions.

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Other Places to go:

♡ Cuppa BookStore – A super cute bookstore with a good new-book selection as well as yummy coffee, smoothies and snacks. We loved the vibe of this place and had we been there longer we would have spent more time there working or reading. 

♡ Shopping on Lake Tahoe Blvd in South Lake Tahoe – These shops are pretty typical touristy souvenir shops, but we found it nice to walk around the ski resort Heavenly Village and browse around the main street. 

♡ California + Nevada State Line – This is a quick stop right off of the main road in the Southlake area. (map address link here). Stand in two States at once ✓.

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Where to eat:

♡ Beers at Beach House – It’s always fun to dine/drink beachside & this spot was exactly that. 

♡ Dinner/Beers @ Ale WorX- There’s live music most nights and a large patio. It’s also pour-your-own beer so you can try the different brews. It was a fun vibe & the band was talented!  

♡ Sage Leaf in Incline Village – We did brunch here and the food was good. The hummus and flatbread appetizer was our favorite part of the meal!

♡ Alibi Ale Works Incline Public House – We stopped here for a post-kayak beer. It has a really cute beer garden outdoor area. The food options were actually better in person than online and the staff was very friendly. We enjoyed our time here & would recommend stopping by. 

♡ Dragonfly Bagels South Lake Tahoe – They have fresh-baked bagels and breakfast sandwiches. There are many options to choose from and you can order ahead and pick up since they are busy during breakfast hours.

Where we stayed:

♡ The Coachman Hotel – It was affordable and in a great location in the South-Lake area. This hotel felt like a renovated motel, with an adorable coffee shop and Happy Hour and s’mores in the evening. The rooms were very basic and minimalist. 

♡ Cedar House – This is a newer hotel in the town of  Truckee, right outside of Lake Tahoe to the northwest. We really liked it here! They gave us fresh-baked cookies upon check-in, had bicycles to check out, and a nice patio area with a coffee shop in the morning and happy hour bar in the evenings. The onsite restaurant is also phenomenal – we ordered it and ate in our room for one of the evenings of our stay. It was Mediterranean food & they had a lot of healthy options.

The town of Truckee surprised us! It reminded us of other old mountain towns (which are our favorite). It had an adorable main street with shops, boutiques, and restaurants. We visited an awesome bookstore called Word After Word Books. We would have loved to have spent an entire afternoon here shopping more & dining. 

Other things to do/If we had more time:

• We would have liked to spend an evening and have a beer at the Hangar biergarten in the South-lake area. It looked like a cool spot with outdoor seating and string lights. We read they also have live music here. 
• Ride the Heavenly Mountain Gondola

Q: What area did we like best? Here is a quick breakdown of our thoughts of each part of the lake:

North: We drove through the north-side of the lake but didn’t stop. It felt less crowded than some other parts of the lake and we would like to spend some time here next time we go to Lake Tahoe to stop at Kings Beach and other areas nearby.

East: The famous Sand Harbor Beach is located on the east side of the lake. We mentioned how popular Sand Harbor is because of the beaches, the clear water, Bonsai Rock, and other rock formations that are special to Lake Tahoe. I’d say that Sand Harbor is worth seeing, but next time we will avoid the area just because of traffic and crowds. 

South: We spent two nights here. It is a central location to the Heavenly Gondola, shopping, restaurants, and bars. It definitely felt like a small city with a lot of tourists. That being said, it was really difficult to actually get to the lake as the parking lots were small and overcrowded. 

West: Emerald Bay is located in the Southwest part of the lake. It was a beautiful (but crowded) drive through the Emerald Bay state park area. We drove from Emerald bay all the way up the west side of the lake to get to our hotel in Truckee (Northwest). The west-side of the lake seemed much less crowded, with more of a laid back, camping/wilderness vibe with much easier access to the lake. When we come back, we’d like to avoid the crowds on the east and south shores and spend more time on the north and west sides of the lake. 

If you’ve never been before, and want to see and explore as much as possible, we’d recommend doing what we did – stay half your time on one end of the lake, and the other half on the opposite side so that you can cut down on driving and get the most out of your stay. The drive around the entire lake is ~70miles to provide some context on how big it actually is.

What to Wear/Pack:

For the Lake:

•  A swimsuit, long-sleeve breathable/athleticwear shirt, quick dry pants, and a hat. It’s a good idea to try to stay as covered as you can while paddling because you are in direct sunlight for an extended period of time. The sun may not feel that hot (especially because the water is cool) but believe me, it is direct and reflects off the water. (Some of the items we took are linked at the bottom of this post)
• A dry bag – we kept all of our belongings, sunscreen and our camera gear in this while on the kayak. It kept everything dry and was just the right size for us! (Here’s the one we got.)
• Water shoes – We found these nice to both cover our feet from the sun and sand. These ones we found are more like socks so they’re super lightweight and they dry quickly. They’re not super supportive, but worked for what we needed.

For Hiking and exploring:

• Layers: A sports bra, shorts or leggings and then some type of shacket or flannel overshirt. The temperature varies pretty drastically from day to night where it’s chilly in the mornings and evenings, but can get hot in the mid afternoon if you’re in the sun. 

Shop the suggested items below:

Until next time,

xoxo