Getting Around in Lake Tahoe
Once you arrive in Lake Tahoe, you’ll no doubt want to explore the area away from your resort or vacation rental. If you’re arriving by plane to either Reno/Tahoe International or Sacramento International Airport, you may choose to rent a car and drive to the lake area. That’s fine. Most of the hotels and rentals offer ample parking and you’ll then have the car at your disposal should you decide to take the beautiful drive around the lake or to other nearby towns.
If, however, you choose not to have a car, you’ll find that there are plenty of other options for getting around. While Tahoe isn’t the kind of destination where you’ll travel a lot of foot, you will find that other forms of transportation are ample and should be able to get you where you need to go.
First of all, if you’re visiting during the winter and aren’t in a ski-in/ski-out facility, you’ll notice that most accommodations offer shuttle services to the various ski areas from just outside your door. Usually, these are free of charge, though you can offer a tip to the driver for his/her services. These run frequently – usually several times a day – and quite late into the night, but be sure to check the schedule before you depart in the morning.
Public
Transportation
If you are visiting during other times of the year or wish to go to other destinations besides the ski resorts, here are a few other options for getting there:
- BlueGo – BlueGo is a service of the South Tahoe Area Transit Authority. It offers fixed route and demand response transportation – i.e. you can catch the bus on a pre-determined route that runs daily or summon BlueGo when you need to get somewhere. This novel on-call service operates 7 days a week/24 hours a day and reservations for this service can be made from 60 minutes to a week in advance. Paratransit services are available as well. BlueGo also offers a ski shuttle from most major lodging properties in the region to Heavenly Ski Area. The same company operates the Nifty 50 Trolley during the summertime, with stops including many of the U.S. Forest Service campgrounds.
- TART (Tahoe Area Regional Transit) – TART offers
public transportation on Lake Tahoe’s North Shore and to Truckee with
connections to the Amtrak and Greyhound stations. The year-round
Mainline Route takes riders along 30 miles of Lake Tahoe shoreline and
includes stops at the communities of Tahoma, Homewood, Tahoe City, Kings
Beach and Incline Village. The Hwy. 89 Route provides service between
Tahoe City and Truckee, including stops in Squaw Valley. TART also
operates seasonal routes including Highway 267 route, which operates
between Truckee and Crystal Bay during the winter months.
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