Weekend in Lake Tahoe.

 

Expectations vs reality.

If you have been keeping up with my travels lately you probably saw we recently went to explore Joshua Tree National Park which has made me want to explore more local areas around where we live. After browsing through Pinterest to see where we should go to next I came across Lake Tahoe. It wasn't our first time there, we have gone to the South side of the lake a few years back and I wasn't impressed so when I came across the pictures of turquoise waters on the South side I knew we had to go back to check it out.

If you aren't familiar with Lake Tahoe area, everything is extremely spread out and each landmark is about half hour to over an hour away from one another which means renting a car is an absolute must if you want to see anything. We rented a car in Reno at the airport once we landed which made it easy and convenient since we didn't have to get one uber/taxi throughout the entire trip. Lake Tahoe was about an hour drive from the airport. The hotel we stayed at we weren't impressed with and for that reason I cannot recommend any places to stay at since our stay wasn't that enjoyable. However, we did stay on King's Beach which is a great area that is surrounded by restaurants, bars and some activities.

You're probably wondering how many days you should go to Lake Tahoe for but unfortunately I cannot answer that question either because we went Thursday-Sunday eve and we only got to see 2 landmarks. One we saw on Friday which was over an hour away which took up an entire day, Saturday it was raining and cloudy so we ended up driving back up to Reno to see a movie and Sunday before our flight we got to see another landmark that was just half hour away. The length of your stay will depend on how much do you want to see while out there. Once you figure that out add 1-2 additional days to your trip in case weather is bad and you're not able to see anything. 

MUST DO: 

• EMERALD POOLS. The drive from Reno or King's Beach is about the same (an hour), you'll see beautiful water features. Make sure to bring bug spray, sunscreen and pack a swimsuit. There is not much parking so make sure to get there early, we got there at 10 AM and were able to park in the parking lot. By the time we left around 1-2pm parking lot of 12 or so spots was completely full and cars were circling around not knowing where to park. Once you park it's just a short 5 min walk to the pools, there is no hiking involved. The address you will find online and directions on how to get there are very accurate, however make sure to keep an eye out on how you get there because there is no service and once you will want to go back you will not be able to load any maps -- only thing you can use is your memory on how you got there. 
• SECRET COVE BEACH. Hands down my favorite part of Lake Tahoe. The water and rock structures reminded me of Seychelles, Africa. Keep in mind this is a nude beach and most likely you will see someone naked so just heads up in case you didn't know! This is another very popular area with an extremely small parking lot. When I searched online on directions how to get there I saw a lot of blog posts talking about how you should park on the main road and then walk down straight to the beach. While we saw a lot of cars parked on the main road we weren't sure where exactly the beach itself was so we ended up coming back the next day early morning around 10 AM and getting a spot in the parking lot. If you do decide to park on the main road, park close to the area where you see the. most cars (there is a reason they're all there, the beach is most likely directly down). By parking there you will avoid a 15 min walk because that is how long it takes to get there from the parking lot.

EXPECTATIONS VS REALITY:

• WEATHER. You may think Lake Tahoe is warm AF by looking at photos online of turquoise waters and blue skies. Well let me tell you when we booked the flights in May it said it's going to be 80s, when we got there it was cloudy, raining and 50s during the day and 30s at night. I had no sweaters, pants and was not ready for it whatsoever. Water is absolutely freezing no matter what time of the year you go lol so brace yourself. 
• BUGS. They're everywhere..duh..it's a lake...standing water brings all kinds of bugs. Even though we brought the spray we forgot to bring it along on the drive to landmarks which led to bug bites all over body. 
• THINGS TO DO. We checked out around 4 bars and a few restaurants in the area, going as far as an hour back to Reno and let me tell you we were the only people at some bars and even restaurants. I am not sure if May is not a popular time of the year or there is no one that goes/lives in those areas. If you are not a blogger going out there to shoot, bring friends and make a fun trip out of it because there is no people out there. 
• RENT A CAR. In case you skipped through beginning of the blog, I mentioned renting a car is an absolute must because everything is extremely spread out. Without a car you will not be able to get anywhere.