TRAVEL | Summerfun in Lake Tahoe Ca and travel tips

Yay! A 4-day-weekend is a mini vacation for me and hubby dear!

We decided to escape the Valley heat and air by going to Lake Tahoe for a day, last July 4th weekend.

Living, working and staying in the city day after day weaken us not just physically but mentally.

So, what's a better way to re-energize ourselves but to spend a nice weather day in nature right?!

Lake Tahoe is a 3hours drive from where we live so we left home early. We initially wanted to leave at 6am but we ended waking up at that time so we left around 7:15am. haha! We grabbed breakfast on the way and enjoyed the mini road trip with no traffic and green scenery as we got closer to our destination.

It was in the low 60s when we left home and when we arrived in Tahoe around 10:40 am, it was in the high 70s. There was a light cool breeze with just enough heat from the sun. We loved it!

Here's my original list of to-hit-spots in Tahoe (after a google search):

1. Kings Beach

2. Sand Harbor Beach / Secret Harbor beach

3. Chimney Beach

4. Downtown Lake Tahoe

5. Emerald Bay

We first stopped at Kings Beach, located on the north shore of Lake Tahoe (California side). It's a beautiful spot for picnics and family fun! Activities like paddle boarding, kayaking and parasailing are some of the fun things to do here. Rental shops are all around the area if you don't have the equipments.

We noticed many hotels, restaurants and shops all over the area making it a perfect little community for travelers and residents as well.

What I really didn't like here is that it was packed with people! So, it was difficult to find parking close to the beach. (Mainly because it was a holiday weekend.) Even though the view, the water, the mountains surrounding the lake were all beautiful and relaxing, being in the middle of a large crowd of people was just not the ideal relaxing-day-at-the-beach that I have imagined and expected. So, after a quick walk around the beach and photos taken, we decided to head to the next destination on our list - Sand harbor Beach.

It's a 20  minutes drive from Kings Beach and it's on HWY 28, 2.5 miles south from Incline Village NV. And again, the beach area was packed with people! There was no available parking either! I was so disappointed because the water on this beach is so clear - light bluish & light greenish, with soft sand  and beautiful white rocks. I really wanted to relax and spend time here, so hubby and I decided to find our own "spot"(still on the Sand harbor area) and ended up in Hidden Beach, just a few mins drive from the entrance of Sand Harbor Beach. We parked on the side of the road and had to walk going downhill to find this perfect spot.

I loved it here! The water was so refreshing the view was stunning, there were trees around us, then mountains on the other side of the lake - just plain beautiful!

(Ahhhh, finally relaxation!)

There were ants and a few other bugs that wanted to bite us but it was ok, they were part of our nature adventure! We stayed here for 2 hours, relaxed, got soaked, and enjoyed the fresh water and fresh air while eating our granola bars and blueberries!

Then we went back to the car and as expected - we got a parking ticket (like everyone else who parked on the side of the road). Oh well, that didn't ruin our day though.
So our TIP: NEVER park on the side of the road around Lake Tahoe area.

We moved on to the next stop - Secret Harbor Beach! This time, we found a free spot in the parking area, thank goodness! It was neat that we had a mini hike going down to the beach area.

The view here was also stunning! Clear blue water, trees all around, mountains by the lake and boats on the lake. My eyes were filled with joy.

There was less crowd here compared with Kings beach and Sand harbor beach. I mostly saw parked boats close to the lake shore and some people relaxing on the side and/or swimming with their pets. Hubby and I enjoyed staring at the view while sitting on a massive rock and then walked around the beach until we tired out and got hungry.

So, off we went to South lake Tahoe downtown to eat (late lunch/early dinner at 5pm). It was a 30+ minutes drive from where we were at. We walked around downtown and ate at Harrah's hotel. We were so tired and burnt out , so we decided to end our day there instead of going to our last  planned stop - Emerald Bay (that is another 40+minutes away from our location). We will get home super late if we still have gone. I didn't think I had the energy to do so! We'll save it for another day trip in Tahoe!

Overall, today's adventure was relaxing……..

We had bug bites, got sun tanned, had sore feet/legs, but they were all worth  the fun!

TIPS:
1. A day is not enough to see all the beautiful beaches around Lake Tahoe, at least 2-4 days stay is needed to fully explore this massive and magnificent lake.
2. Plan ahead of time on the places/areas you want to see and spend time in.
3. Make sure to park only on the allowed parking areas.
4. Try NOT to go here during holidays/weekends (specially in summer) to avoid too many people wanting to do the same thing as you do.
5. Bring light lunch/snack and water because restaurants/eateries may be a bit far from the beach areas.
6. Wear comfortable shoes and clothes.
7. Make sure to use sun screen and mosquito/bug repellents.
8. Don't forget your swimming clothes and towels.
9. A camera is a must have - to capture the beauty of nature around you!
10. Relax - for the time being that you are there, just relax, breath the fresh air and enjoy being connected with nature!

What did you do for fun last weekend?

Or are you planning to do a nature trip soon? Let me know, comment with your blog's info so I can check it out too!

Thanks again for reading and more happy summer fun to all!

Much love, Christie