The Ultimate Winter Guide To Lake Tahoe South

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Hofit Kim Cohen - The Ultimate Winter Guide To Lake Tahoe South -solo trip - Vanilla Sky Dreaming

As a girl who’s lived in Los Angeles most of her life, a girl who loves the snow, snowboarding and being a travel blogger, I’m almost embarrassed and shocked to say that I had never been to Lake Tahoe South. However, I just got back from an amazing trip to Lake Tahoe South on a solo trip + puppy and it was literally the perfect trip! It was a dream! I was so freakin impressed, I gotta tell you guys! It was simply, perfection. If you live in Los Angeles, Nevada or anywhere in the US and looking for the perfect winter vacay, Lake Tahoe South is the place to go!

The Ultimate Winter Guide To Lake Tahoe South - Hofit Kim Cohen - Vanilla Sky Dreaming

If you haven’t traveled to Lake Tahoe yet, let me be the first to introduce you to this amazing, beautiful and scenic destination! With this ultimate winter guide to Lake Tahoe South!

To start, I do want to state that Lake Tahoe is a big scenic destination, perfect for winter and summer fun and is located right on the border of California and Nevada, so basically there are two sides to travel to…the better side, in my opinion, is the South side on the Nevada side.

How To Get To Lake Tahoe South: 

There are 2 ways to get to Lake Tahoe South, by driving or by flying in.

I know many who do a road trip there which is definitely a possibility but from Los Angeles its a long and far drive, approximately 7hrs (without traffic).

I think your best bet is to fly into Lake Tahoe which is only an hour flight. If you’re traveling to Lake Tahoe by plane, you’re gonna want to land in Reno-Tahoe International Airport.

Hofit Kim Cohen + Peanut - Vanilla Sky Dreaming
Peanut’s first snow! How exciting! (no filter needed) <3

Transportation To Tahoe South: 

Once you land, there is a super easy and convenient transportation to Lake Tahoe South, the South Tahoe Airporter Bus will take you straight there and drop you off at your hotel, saving you the stress of renting a car. I had a really great expierence with this company and highly recommend it.

Where To Stay: 

Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Lake Tahoe

I had the honor of staying at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Lake Tahoe and LOVED IT! This hotel has such a cool and unique concept that it’s built around — Rock’n’Roll! In this hotel, you can find many famous memorabilia of some of the world’s most famous rockstars and musicians. There are famous guitars, outfits and signed memorabilia from Christina Aqulira, Woodstock, Green Day, Nervana and so much more! Super cool! Also, my favorite part is the artwork on each door on every floor. Each door has a black and white photo of a different musician, you can find photos of Michael Jackson, Freddie Mercury, Red Zepplin and more! It’s seriously so beautiful and such a unique concept!

The Ultimate Winter Guide To Lake Tahoe South - Vanilla Sky Dreaming

Besides all the artwork, the hotel is located in the perfect location, in the heart of Lake Tahoe South, it’s literally walking distance to so many tourist areas and the Heavenly Gondola & Ski Lifts. On top of all of that, it has an amazing, seriously, incredible view of the actual Lake! I woke up every morning at an awe of what a blessing it was to stay in this hotel and get such a beautiful scenic view! I can see the mountains and the lake so clearly! I even got to witness such beautiful sunrises that took my breath away!

I also really enjoyed the food the hotel had to offer, my first night I dined at the Park Prime Steakhouse (I am a vegetarian and found many amazing sides that are pretty big and serve about 2 people or more) and the food was so next level and the servers were so incredibly kind. For Breakfast, I loved the Alpine Union Bar & Kitchen. 

I highly recommend it!

To book Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Lake Tahoe click here!

Other Great Hotel Option: 

The Lodge at Edgewood Tahoe Resort

Zalanta Resort at the Village

Marriott’s Timber Lodge

Tahoe Lakeshore Lodge & Spa

Lake Tahoe Resort Hotel

What To Do: 

The Ultimate Winter Guide To Lake Tahoe South - Vanilla Sky Dreaming

Lake Tahoe South is filled with amazing activities and excursions. Here are a few things to do:

Snowboarding & Skiing:

Let’s just state the obvious first, Lake Tahoe South is well known worldly for their skiing and snowboarding mountains and having amazing fresh snow all winter long, for skiing & snowboarding check out Ski Heavenly! Winter Lift tickets cost $145 for 1 day. There are 97 trails ranging from wide-open cruisers to plunging and 9 trails for high-speed.

Tahoe South gets 360 inches of snowfall per year (fun fact) so don’t worry, you’ll have a lot of snow to play with!

Heavenly Gondola Ride: 

The Ultimate Winter Guide To Lake Tahoe South - Vanilla Sky Dreaming
Heavenly Gondola Observatory Deck – View Point

Even if you’re not into skiing or snowboarding and just want to catch a glimpse of the beautiful Lake in Tahoe or get some bird-eye view and some fresh air, you should definitely go up the Heavenly Gondola ride to the viewpoint, it’s unbelievable — so gorgeous!

These are the same gondola you would be taking to ski/snowboard but the gondola makes a short stop for anyone wanting to stop at the observatory deck and then continues up the mountain for anyone looking to ski and snowboard.

Snowmobile:

Hofit Kim Cohen - The Ultimate Winter Guide To Lake Tahoe South - Vanilla Sky Dreaming

I had the time of my life snowmobile with Zephyr Cove Resort. This excursion does come with a pick up from hotel and takes you on an 45min drive to the base location where you would sign in and can rent out gear here too, like a bodysuit (what I’m wearing above) for the snow, snow boots, gloves and goggles. The company does provide helmets for all riders. Seriously the staff at Zephyr Cove Resort were incredible, they were so helpful and kind.

The Ultimate Winter Guide To Lake Tahoe South - Vanilla Sky Dreaming - SnowmobileThe Ultimate Winter Guide To Lake Tahoe South - Vanilla Sky Dreaming - Snowmobile

Then you would take another bus to the location where the snowmobile are — Hope Valley (love that name). The snowmobile ride is a 2hr ride and you would be split into smaller groups.

The route is just so magical and scenic, it seriously took my breath away! I was literally perfection! I definitely got lucky, it was snowing and then the sun came out to play! We also made a quick stop for hot cocoa which was also so on point! OMG and my favorite part were their hand warmers for the snowmobile, so you didn’t have to worry about freezing your hands — so genius! Loved this idea! It was 28’F and I wasn’t cold for a second because of the hand warmers and the bodysuit. The entire excursion went so smoothly and I had such an amazing time! I would definitely do it again! Seriously this company was a 10 out of 10!

Definitely check out Zephyr Cove Resort

Ice Skating:

There is a cute ice skating rank located in the center of Heavenly Gondola square which is pretty easy to find/spot. Perfect for all ages and located in the center of many restaurants. Make sure to check out Base Camp Pizza Co. which is located right outside of the ice skating rank, I loved it! It was delicious! Everything I ordered was amazing.

Shopping:

If you’re looking for a fun shopping spree, Lake Tahoe is filled with an endless store all along the Lake Tahoe Blvd. which is the main street most of the big hotels are located on. It’s definitely a fun walk there are many snow wear and gear stores to buy winter wear, ski and snowboarding attire and accessories, you can also find places to rent gear and besides that, there are many cool and unique stores with crystals, handmade soups and home decor.

I hope this was helpful!

Lake Tahoe South seriously stole my heart and I’ll definitely be coming back! I hope you enjoy your travels there just as much as I did because this place is a gem!

If you have any questions, leave them below in the comments and I’ll get back to you! <3 Safe Travels

LOVE IT? PIN IT!

The Ultimate Winter Guide To Lake Tahoe South - Solo Trip - Hofit Kim Cohen - Vanilla Sky Dreaming

*This post was created in paid partnership with the Tahoe South Tourism. As always, my opinions are of my own. Thank you Tahoe South it was amazing! 

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