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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