South Lake Tahoe

South Lake Tahoe is a bustling, thriving resort town, and the principal population center at Lake Tahoe. At one end of it, on the Nevada side of the Stateline, are Las Vegas-style casinos, and on the California side, along an 8-mile strip, are condominiums, motels, restaurants, souvenir and specialty shops, shopping malls, and boutiques and galleries. In fact, there are nearly 10,000 hotel rooms and more than a hundred restaurants and eateries here, all within a space of some 10 square miles.

Stateline (Casino District)

South Tahoe’s casino district, pressed hard up against the stateline on the Nevada side, is best described as a mini Las Vegas, with highrise casino resorts, notably Harrah’s, Harvey’s, Caesar’s and the Horizon, all jockeying for position and attention, emblazoned with scintillating lights and marquees announcing big name entertainment. There's nonstop gambling action, similar to Vegas, and hundreds of well-appointed hotel rooms to accommodate guests, together with a good choice of restaurants and cafés on the premises.

Kingsbury Grade

Kingsbury Grade rises and falls just to the southeast of the casino district. It offers in it a spectacular drive along a steep ascent to Daggett Summit (elevation 7,375 feet) and a dramatic plunge of some 3,000 feet in just 6 miles! down Haines Canyon and into Carson Valley. The scenery enroute is stunning, with a lookout point roughly halfway down the mountain. Here, too, on the west face of Kingsbury Grade are Kingsbury Village and Tahoe Village, the latter with lavish homes literally clinging to the side of the mountain, as well as some plush resorts, overlooking Carson Valley thousands of feet below. And just to the back of Tahoe Village is the Nevada portion of Heavenly Valley Ski Resort.

Edgewood and Zephyr Cove

Edgewood lies a little way to the northeast of the Stateline casinos, and is notable mainly for its championship golf course, rated as one of the top 10 public courses in the country. And north of there along the east shore of the lake is the crescent-shaped Zephyr Cove, the center of some lively water activity, from where you can take sunset or dinner cruises on a paddlewheeler or sailing excursions around the lake on a trimaran.

The City

The City of South Lake Tahoe is actually everything west of the California-Nevada stateline, clear across to the southwest corner of the lake and even beyond, where commercial interests finally run out. The city encompasses roughly 26 square miles and is primarily made up of the subdivisions of Tahoe Valley, the westernmost part of the city which includes the South Tahoe Y; Tahoe Keys, located directly north of Tahoe Valley, made up of long, narrow, lateral strips jutting into the lake, with waterfront homes and a marina with a restaurant and boat charters; Al Tahoe, adjoing to the east of Tahoe Keys and Tahoe Valley, with a couple of sandy beach strips and the Lake Tahoe Historical Society Museum; Bijou, east of Al Tahoe and more lively than the others, with a pair of high-activity marinas; and finally the small section of Lakeside, which runs right up to the Stateline, populated with condominiums, motels, restaurants, souvenir and specialty shops, and shopping malls.

Heavenly Valley

Heavenly Valley is a place of superlatives: it is America’s largest alpine ski resort; it has the highest skiable point at the lake, atop Monument Peak, elevation 10,100 feet; and it boasts one of the steepest ski trails in America, the Motts Canyon Trail. The resort is sprawled over nine mountains, taking in roughly 20 square miles, with a third of it lying in California and two-thirds in Nevada. It has nearly 30 chair lifts, more than 100 ski runs, three base lodges and several day lodges, and a tram to whisk you up to its Top of the Tram restaurant, perched some 2,000 feet above lake level, offering superb views all around. On the California side, Heavenly can be accessed from near the Stateline, and on the Nevada side, from Tahoe Village, off Kingsbury Grade.

Emerald Bay Road

Emerald Bay Road heads off north from the South Tahoe Y, along the picturesque southwest shore of the lake, passing by Camp Richardson, a small pocket of rustic cabins and campsites in a wooded setting; Tallac Estate, preserved as an historic park; a detour westward to secluded Fallen Leaf Lake; and finally to the gem of Lake Tahoe, Emerald Bay, in the center of which is Emerald Isle with its solitary “teahouse,” and at the head of the bay an authentic replica of a 1,200-year-old Viking castle, Vikingsholm. You can hike down to Vikingsholm and take a guided tour of it during summer.