South Lake Tahoe is the lake's only real city — miles of motels, restaurants and shops along US-50, culminating at Heavenly Village, where the Heavenly Gondola lifts off from between the ice-cream shops. Step across the Nevada line and the Stateline casino towers take over: 24-hour tables, headline shows and rooftop bars.
We lean North Shore on this site, but honesty requires saying it: the South Shore packs more restaurants, nightlife and organized fun per mile than anywhere else on the lake — and it's the doorstep to Emerald Bay, Eagle Falls and the Rubicon Trail.
The Heavenly Gondola climbs 2.4 miles from the village to a 9,100-ft observation deck with the single most expansive lake view anywhere — worthwhile summer or winter, no skis required.
West of town on CA-89, Camp Richardson keeps the 1920s resort vibe alive (the Beacon's rum runner cocktail is a South Shore institution), and the neighboring Tallac Historic Site preserves the grand summer estates of Tahoe's Gilded Age — free to wander.
The Forest Service's Taylor Creek visitor center has a walk-through stream chamber — and each fall the creek turns crimson with spawning kokanee salmon, one of Tahoe's great small spectacles.
El Dorado Beach / Lakeview Commons in the middle of town, Pope and Baldwin beaches on the CA-89 side, and Zephyr Cove ten minutes up the Nevada shore with its paddlewheeler cruises.
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