178: Visiting Lake Tahoe

Vacation Mavens

Lake Tahoe is a great outdoors destination with plentiful vacation rental homes perfect for social distancing. This week we chat with Leslie Harvey from Trips with Tykes about her family's experience visiting the Lake Tahoe area in the winter and the summer. Find out her favorite ski resorts for families, the differences between North Lake and South Lake and California side and Nevada side.

ON THE PODCAST

00:30 - Talking with Kim and Tamara

07:55 - Talking with Leslie Harvey

09:05 - Where to go in Lake Tahoe

12:58 - Winter destinations

14:00 - Ski Resorts

17:55 - When to go

19:50 - Where to stay

22:05 - Outdoor/Water Activities

23:30 - FInal tips

27:35 - Ski clothing tip

30:10 - Giveaways!

ABOUT LESLIE HARVEY

Leslie Harvey is a family travel writer who publishes the blog Trips With Tykes. She co-hosts both the Disney Deciphered and Disneyland with Kids podcasts and is based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Follow Leslie on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

TIPS FOR VISITING LAKE TAHOE

• Lake Tahoe covers a huge area between California and Nevada. If you were to drive all the way around the lake it would take a solid two hours. There are so many different towns and scenes around the lake.
• The Nevada side of the lake has more of your party scene with the casinos and big resorts. While the California side and part of the North side of the lake on the Nevada side are the more family-friendly areas.
• If you have never been to Lake Tahoe before the towns of Truckee, Kings Beach and Tahoe City are great spots to find reasonably-priced lodging. Especially if you are going with kids.
• The town of Kings Beach is located right along the water at the north end of the lake and is a great destination for a winter vacation. There are a lot of great vacation rentals and it is in a great location to be able to easily get to a lot of different ski resorts.
• Northstar Ski Resort is a great place to take kids skiing. The resort has a great ski school as well as tubing, an ice rink and even a daycare for non-skiing kids.
• Diamond Peak Ski Resort is also a great resort to take kids skiing. It’s not as well known but one big plus about this resort for families is that the kids ski free!
• Summer is the most popular time for vacationers to visit Lake Tahoe. If you want to go in the warm months, the lake will be warmest from late July to early August. Though the lake is most crowded in the summer months there are ways to avoid major crowded areas.
• If you are looking to really avoid crowds and maybe get better deals on lodging, the month of September will be your best bet. It will not be as crowded as the summer months but it is usually still decently warm and prices will go down being that it is out of peak season.
• Though the water is mostly too cold to really swim in, you can rent a boat and explore, go kayaking, fishing, take cruise tours, etc.
• Off the lake there are some great hiking areas and the ski resort trails actually turn into mountain biking trails if you are like to do that.
• Driving times can be a little tricky both in the summer with the crowds and the winter with the weather. You really need to be prepared to rearrange your plans in the winter if you are relying on driving places. Depending on the weather, roads do close quite often and it is not just smaller roads that will close but highways too. You will really want to keep that in mind when you are planning a winter vacation to Lake Tahoe.
• If you are planning to go this winter you really want to do your research for Covid restrictions. Make sure that things will work for you and you will be comfortable going. Some ski resorts you will require reservations.

FAVORITE TRAVEL GEAR

Leslie recommends that if you have younger kids you should really think about buying gender neutral clothing, especially if you have boys and girls. Ski gear is so expensive and buying neutral colors will make it easier to pass them down to your younger kids or even to cousins. Getting the most out of the gear seeing as kids grow out of clothing so fast.

MENTIONED ON THE PODCAST

First Timer’s Guide to Lake Tahoe

Northstar Ski Resort

Diamond Peak Ski Resort

The Ritz-Carlton Lake Tahoe