It was for a long time all about the gaming – the lights, and the thrills to be found at Caesars and Harrah’s. In the winter for many it was the ski slopes. When it came to thinking about South Lake Tahoe, those were foremost in the minds of visitors. But demographics change and so have the perceptions of what the region is known for. The dice and the blackjack are still there, but many more visit for the “natural wonder.”
In terms of the public’s perception, it’s an understandable evolution. Few places, if any in the world, match South Lake Tahoe and Stateline, Nevada for access to unparalleled mountain views, vast vistas with snow-covered Sierra mountaintops posing in the distance anchored by the deepest alpine lake in the world. Laden within is access to outdoor activities ranging from golf to mountain biking, boating, kayaking and just about anything else one can imagine.
What has become clear is not what people do when visiting the region as much as what the region does for them. Scientific studies have shown that natural wonder does indeed do wonderful things to us. This phenomenon can happen in a dense growth of evergreens, or when the gondola at the Heavenly ski resort crests and the entire region is revealed below.
The Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority promotes the region’s rejuvenating effect on people. In a three-part docuseries Beyond Awestruck: The Scientific Search for Connection, Lake Tahoe’s beauty is framed as a living laboratory where people experience moments of awe and the resulting effects. At a time when people are searching for ways to feel more connected and less overwhelmed, it reflects how brief encounters with vastness can reshape how we relate to ourselves and each other.
How to experience awe is what makes Lake Tahoe unique. It could happen on the Pope-Baldwin Bike Path, a scenic, 3.5-mile paved, multi-use path running alongside Highway 89 that includes stops on Pope Beach, Kiva Beach, and the Taylor Creek Visitor Center. Prefer to use your feet? The Lam Watah Nature Trail to Nevada Beach is a gentle 3-mile round-trip that winds through peaceful Rabe Meadows and ends directly on the sand at Nevada Beach.
My favorite place is the lawn in front of the stately and modern Edgewood Lodge. It leads to the lakeshore and a view of translucent Lake Tahoe all the way to the Sierra peaks in the distance. In my experience there is no other luxurious accommodation matched by a high-quality golf course, which is, of course, Edgewood GC, site of the American Century Championship.
A room at the Lodge can come close to $1,000 a night. A summertime round on the course is $350. Pricey, to be sure, but also worthy of the setting and its standing as the site of America’s best celebrity golf tournament. Plenty of other accommodations are available locally, to be sure, as are more choices for golf.
Five miles away the Lake Tahoe Golf Course is a championship par-71 layout golf course that plays through towering pines as well as brings you near the Truckee River, lakes and streams.
Tahoe Paradise, which opened in 1960, is an 18-hole short course not much longer than 4,000 yards with a par of 66. But the Bijou course, also nearby, has that course beat by 40 years. Opened in 1920, has a scenic landscape that includes five par-4s and four par-3s and a yardage just over 2,000 yards.
Want some history of the area? Tallac, once known as the "Grandest Resort in the World," features the Pope, Baldwin, and Valhalla estates built more than 100 years ago. You can tour the grounds and visit the historic Valhalla Boathouse Theatre.
A little further away near Fallen Leaf Lake, Vikingsholm Castle is a breathtaking 38-room replica of a Viking castle considered one of the finest examples of Scandinavian architecture in the U.S. After any or all of that, of course, there’s the culinary choices.
Where to start? The braised ribs at Maggies in the Desolation Hotel? There’s the Snoopy Salad at Friday’s Station Steak & Seafood at Harrah’s. Can you resist trying the 20-layer lasagna at Bruschetta? And if you’re finishing at round of golf at Edgewood, there’s the recently remodeled eatery in the clubhouse, The Edge.
South Lake Tahoe has long been the go-to vacation spot for families. The options for activities, eating, celebrating and even regaining a sense of peace are myriad, plentiful and memorable. For those who visit often enough it can be taken for granted. But many of the most powerful comments from out-of-state visitors. They focus on the lake itself. Due to its clarity and color, it connotes purity. Therein comes a deeper, more profound perspective. This is a region of immense marvel and beauty that has been here for millennia and will continue for more generations, if we take care of it.
