How We Enjoyed Lake Tahoe without a Rental Car

A few months ago I realized that Southwestern Airlines credits for flights we didn't use last November was set to expire. I didn't want to spend too much more money trying to go somewhere, nor did we really have a lot of time considering we were in the middle of trying to sell our house, but I absolutely could not let that money go to waste.

Me: Okay, where can we go? Hmmm. How 'bout Lake Tahoe? Reno isn't that far.
Him: Why? 
Me: I don't know. I think I've always wanted to go there. Seems like a cool place to visit.
Him: Okay.

He was like, cool whatever, let's go and left it up to me to plan the entire trip. I had to tinker with days and times a lot to get reasonably priced direct flights so it wouldn't take us four hours to get there. Before everything was finalized I'd made and cancelled two different hotel reservations, and still hadn't decided on what our outings would be, but I got it together the week we went. Even then, I had to re-book our shuttle, and our cruise for different times. Ugh. But it all worked out in the end, and we did it without a rental car.


I settled on the South side of Lake Tahoe, mainly because it's the cheapest place to get to and from the Reno/Tahoe airport, which is about a 1.5 hour drive away. The South Tahoe Airporter caters to the Reno casino hotels and offers transportation to the pedestrian friendly Heavenly Mountain Resort area for $26.50 per person each way. I discovered after our trip that there is also a North Lake Tahoe Express, but it's more expensive than the shuttle to the south.

I wanted to get as close to that cabin in the woods campground vibe as possible, so I didn't want to stay at one of those casino hotels. We stayed at a hotel about 1 mile from one of the South Airporter shuttle stops, Harvey's Hotel. Far enough from the hustle and bustle of the Heavenly Mountain Resort area to still get that campground nature vibe, but close enough for a cheap Uber ride from there to our hotel. We could have technically walked if really didn't want to spend the money, but chose not to with all of our luggage, and it worked out perfectly.

Lake Tahoe Vacation Resort by Diamond Resorts

I'm kind of a hotel snob. There are tons of economy motels in Lake Tahoe, but my obsessive cleanliness disorder, won't allow me to stay just anywhere. Maybe the Super 8 motel would have been okay, but my vacation experience is too important to me to take chances. This means extensive Trip Advisor screening, and sometimes spending a little bit more money than I wish we were, but it's just how it has to be. I was finding that the hotels were either super expensive and I didn't want to pay that much, or super cheap and I'd be nervous to stay there. They also seemed to have a large number of dog friendly hotels, and I wasn't so comfortable about that idea either. Lake Tahoe Vacation Resort, by Diamond Resorts was a good happy medium, between not breaking the bank and getting the type of hotel I feel comfortable staying in. I trust Diamond Resorts because we've stayed with them in three different locations, and they've always been great. We had a one-bedroom standard. It was super clean, spacious, and nice. Double sinks and a giant shower was a bonus. I felt at home and comfortable the minute I walked in. I loved that we had a kitchenette and a fridge. We didn't plan on cooking but, but it's nice to have access to things like plates, knives, wine bottle opener, and refrigeration, on a trip all of which we did end up using.

We spent our first day boating and hiking. We took a two hour sight seeing cruise on MS Dixie II, in Zephyr Cove, which is not walking distance, but they offer free transportation to and from. We had a little bit of trouble finding the pick up spot, but it was just outside our hotel, and they dropped us off in the same place after we were done. Emerald Bay is beautiful. The water reflects the color of the green trees lining the lake, so the name truly fits. We learned a little bit about the lake, and the views of the sparkling lake with huge mountains and tall evergreens looming in the distance were stunning. Our pick up time was 9:30am, the cruise was from 11:00 to 1:00 and we were back at our hotel around 1:45pm. We changed, stopped at Baja Fresh for a quick lunch and then walked over to Van Sickle Bi-State Park. The trail head is in the Heavenly Mountain Resort area right behind the Marriott hotel. It seemed like the trail would zig zag back and forth across the mountain forever. We enjoyed views of the lake, high rise casino buildings, and the trees from up on high, and then turned around when we got tired.

On our last full day there we rented bikes from Tahoe Bike & Ski Company which was a little over a mile from our hotel. The whole walk took us about 25-30 minutes, but I had to go to the bathroom three times before we could start biking. I wished I was joking when I told MJ I already had to go to the bathroom a block away from our hotel. Anyone else have this problem? It's quite the travel conundrum. With all the travel, wine drinking, and salty food consumption, I need to stay hydrated, but then, I have to worry about where and when I'll be able to go to the bathroom when we're out and about. Luckily, there was always a bathroom nearby, but it's so annoying! My husband does not have this problem.

We had plenty of bikes to choose from, at Tahoe Bike & Ski Company and the South Lake Tahoe Bikeway is right outside their door. My husband can bike mountains, and rugged terrain, but my bike turns sideways the minute it hits sand. Mountain biking is not in the cards for me, but I felt like I got to experience a little bit of what that might be like because the paved trail led us right through the forest. We were surrounded by trees on both sides, and it was so much fun. We also got to roll through Lake Tahoe neighborhoods and I really loved checking out the gorgeous homes. Lots of A frame homes, tall windows, and wood. We even went past a tiny home community. We made a stops at Pope Beach and Baldwin Beach along the way. The waters of Lake Tahoe are clean and clear, so everywhere you see water, you also see gorgeous shades of blues and greens. A lot of people commented on Instagram that they had no idea Lake Tahoe was so beautiful, and really neither did I.

We spent the last day roaming the shops of Heavenly Village and drinking beer outside at a bar beneath the ski gondolas. We were sitting there next to the fire pit working on our second beer when all of a sudden we were out of time and had to hightail it back to our hotel so we could get an Uber back to Harvey's Hotel and catch our shuttle.

The no rental car plan worked out great. Lake Tahoe over a holiday weekend is full of traffic on the main drag. Driving anywhere would have been a pain in the butt, and we probably would have wanted to leave the car in a parking lot the whole time anyway. Quite often a rental car is just airport transport and an outing or two, and then it doesn't get used the rest of the time, so I'm glad we could save that money, especially after finding out how expensive dining out in Lake Tahoe is. Most of the restaurants were pretty pricey. I ended up with 21,629 steps that day we hiked, but I enjoyed walking everywhere we wanted to go and to dinner at night. We didn't have to pay for parking, sit in traffic, or pay for gas. Yes, you might have to do a bit of waiting around for transport, or arrive a bit early since you can't just jump in the car and go, but it was fine. I prefer pedestrian friendly vacations if we can make it work.

This trip was truly perfection, from start to finish. It was like camping super glamping (let's get real), but being in that setting brought back so many memories of camping as a girl scout. I still don't know how I went so many days sleeping on the ground, and without a proper shower. The weather was chilly by the lake, and chilly at night, but a warmish mid 70's during the day. It wasn't quite warm enough for me to want to go to do a beach day or a pool day, but there were plenty of people partaking in both activities. At one point instead of hopping on our bikes to continue along the trail MJ just laid down in the middle of a grass field beneath the trees. I laid next to him and it was so peaceful there looking up at the trees, feeling the sun and cool breeze on our faces.

Last summer we swanned around Europe together for weeks, but we haven't taken a real vacation since. It's hard to believe, but MJ hasn't been home for all that long because so much has happened in such a short space of time. He blew into town and we sold our house in less than three months! The man always did move fast. I mean, he got me to fall in love with him in less than a month after all. He came home the last weekend in May, I had my shoulder surgery in June and then with all the house stuff, things just really haven't settled down. This trip was ill timed. We had two weekends to pack and we spent one of them frolicking in Lake Tahoe! I was so stressed out about how we would get everything done, but I put it out of my head, and we thoroughly enjoyed our time away from the madness.

Sometimes you just have to say screw it and deal with the fallout later.