Welcome to our Tahoe information page! This page provides you with information about weather, tourist opportunities, and our accommodation services - all with links to detailed information.

Lake Tahoe (pronounced "TAW-ho") is one of the world's largest and most beautiful mountain lakes. The lake is twenty-two miles long, twelve miles wide (35 km X 20 km) and straddles the California and Nevada borders at an elevation of 6200' (1800 m). The lake is formed by unusual geography: water is trapped in a deep valley by a ring of mountains which prevent melting snow from escaping. The only outlet is the Truckee River at the north-west corner of the lake. This mountain-ring watershed or "Tahoe basin" accumulates lake water 1600' deep and holds a sufficient supply to cover the entire state of California a foot deep! Lake Tahoe is not a salt lake. Its water is cold and fresh, but never freezes over.

Lake Tahoe's reputation as the "crown jewel" of American lakes is well deserved. The azure-blue lake is surrounded by scenic mountains, pristine forested slopes, world-class ski resorts, thirty golf courses, hundreds of miles of hiking & mountain biking trails, horse trails, paved cycling/rollerblading routes, beaches, and more. You can hike or ride into several nature preserves including "Desolation Wilderness", a 63,000 acre (25,000 hectare) roadless expanse of peaks, canyons, and 70 alpine lakes. Camera buffs will be thrilled with the scenic opportunities including a much photographed Tahoe scene: Emerald Bay. Or go fishing in Tahoe's streams or by charter on the lake.

Besides nature's finest, Lake Tahoe has numerous other attractions. The Nevada south shore has the classiest casinos in the country where well-known entertainers play. You will be minutes from Virginia City - a preserved mining town of the Old West. Locations are on our golf map and our ski map. You can even get married on one of the authentic paddle wheel boats or sailing vessels in the middle of the lake! In fact, Tahoe is the honeymoon capital of the American West! Click here for details on weddings at Tahoe.

Tough restrictions on construction and new development ensure that the lake and its surrounding environment maintain their aesthetic qualities. Whether its cycling, championship golf, casinos, beaches, water sports, skiing, hiking, history, or nature at its finest, Tahoe has something for you all year long!

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TAHOE WEATHER
Tahoe enjoys strong contrasts between winter and summer. The area receives 25 feet (7 meters) of snow on average each winter but the summers are dry. While winter temperatures drop to -20F (-25C) on rare occasions, a typical winter day is sunny with the temperature hovering near the freezing point. But when snow comes down, it can accumulate quickly! In recent years, we have seen nine feet (3 m) fall in twenty-four hours (Christmas '96) and sixteen feet in one week! A skier's dream! Tahoe snow is moist, packs well for skiers, and is affectionately known as "Sierra Cement"! With this good snow pack, the ski season sometimes extends into July! Ever wonder where they took those pictures of skiers in bikinis?

By spring, the day temperature is 50 to 60F (10 to 15C). Late spring, summer, and fall offer warm, dry weather with typical day temperatures around 80F (27C). Night temperatures usually drop into the fifties. Combined with very low humidity, its a golfer's dream! Air conditioning isn't needed at Tahoe with the very dry air and cool evenings.

Winter or summer, 80% of the days at Tahoe offer brilliant sunshine. With high altitude and low humidity, the warm seasons at Tahoe are refreshingly comfortable. It's a perfect place to tan! Tahoe seldom experiences the extreme heat and humidity of typical "sun" resorts.

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TAHOE GOLF
There are more than thirty courses around Lake Tahoe. Our GOLFERS' GUIDE directs you to year 'round golfing at the dozen best of the these. There are numerous types of links: championship, executive, desert, alpine, and finesse courses among the trees. Edgewood (clubhouse in photo) ranks in "America's Top 100" and Glenbrook is rated among the top 5 nine-hole courses in the world! Six of our recommended courses are minutes to the east of the lake in the Carson Valley. These six desert courses are open all year (weather permitting) due to their lower altitude (about 4000' - 1200m). "Golf Digest" recently ranked the newest of these desert courses, Genoa Lakes, in the top one percent of American golf courses. At lake level (6200' - 1800m), courses are open from late April to October. Locations of all recommended courses are on our Tahoe golf map. Included in our golfers' guide are mens' distances, ratings, fees, telephone numbers, and professional comments for the selected courses. With our guide, you can select your desired courses and call from home for tee times.

In typical Tahoe fashion, members of your group can ski and golf simultaneously from November to June. And the true addicts among you can ski, golf, hot tub and lose their shirts in a casino all in the same day!

Our condos are to the right of this photo. The beach seen here is Nevada Beach - a short walk from Lake Village.

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TAHOE SKIING
From this page, link to our Tahoe Ski Map and trail maps for the following resorts: Heavenly Valley, Squaw Valley, Kirkwood, Sierra Tahoe, Alpine Meadows, Mt. Rose, Diamond Peak, and Northstar-at-Tahoe. Our condominium clients receive our unique SKIERS' GUIDE giving a further description of skiing at selected Tahoe resorts. Although information can change quickly, we include daily lift ticket prices and tell you where to get discounts on these. Our guide includes safety precautions, road directions, and travel advice as well. We recommend nine of the twenty Tahoe ski resorts: the guide recommends which resorts to ski and when, where to find zero lineups, and what to avoid.

For those of you that recognize the superb value offered by spring skiing, ski season ended on June 1/91, May 10/92, July 4/93, May 15/94, July 23/95, June 10/96, May 15/97, July 4/98, July 4/99, May 24/00, May 10/01, May 14/02, May 12/03 and May 24/04. From early April on, spring skiers, golfers and summer enthusiasts get six to twelve weeks of great condo rates, zero lift lines, and bikini weather.

One of the things that we enjoy about skiing at Tahoe is the absence of crowds. The typical Tahoe ski lineup is less than one minute long. Lineups sometimes appear, but only at certain times and on certain lifts. Our guide tells you how to anticipate and avoid these lineups. For our condo clients who plan to ski, we include trail maps of the ski resorts that we recommend.

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HIKING & RIDING
Our condo clients receive our HIKER/TRAILRIDER GUIDE which provides the information necessary to access the four massive wilderness areas and the 106 Tahoe trails (permits, etc.). The four preserves have no roads or services of any kind. Trails through these and along the Tahoe Rim have spectacular scenery particularly when the fall colors arrive. Trail altitudes range from 4500' to over 10,000' (about 1400m to 3000m). For those that want to escape on horseback, recommended stables and their telephone numbers are listed in the guide as well.

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MOUNTAIN BIKING, IN-LINE SKATING, and MORE!
Tahoe is a Mecca for cyclists and mountain bikers. Roller blade enthusiasts share the dozens of miles of paved routes such as the Truckee River Trail. At higher altitude, the forest service has prepared loose-surface biking trails with a variety of difficulty levels. There are also competitive racing courses such as the 100-mile "California Death Ride" over four local mountain passes. Pictured below are four bikers on the famous "Flume Trail" at the northeast corner of the lake. Personally, I'm much happier as a couch potato!



Rental shops and service locations mean that you don't have to bring your own equipment. We included recommended shops in our confirmation package. The confirmation package even has information, including telephone numbers, about HOT AIR BALLOONS, PADDLE WHEEL BOATING, GLIDERS, WATERFUN, FOUR-WHEELER TRAILS, and much more!

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OUR CONDOS at LAKE VILLAGE
Whether your group consists of two honeymooners, twenty skiers, or sixty golfers, we can look after your accommodation needs in fine style! Our eight condos are spacious townhouse units with ground floor access and rising two or three stories. They are not high-rise apartment-style condominiums.
Location:
The condos are part of Lake Village which is ideally located among the towering scented pines about three quarters of a mile north-east of the casinos near the intersection of Highway 50 and the Kingsbury Grade (Highway 207). See the location on our ski map or on our golf map. Lake Village is on the trail map of Heavenly Valley (largest ski resort in the USA). From the village, you will see both sides of Heavenly and the other mountains forming the rim of the Tahoe basin.

Three of the condos have views of the lake. An "America's Top 100" golf course, Edgewood (photo above - host of the Celebrity Golf Classic each July), is a half-mile away. There are six casinos less than a mile to the west. And you can hike from your condo up through the shaded forest to the vistas along the Tahoe Rim Trail! Or down to Nevada Beach.

Our Lake Village location is central to your needs and particularly convenient to the evening activities: restaurants and casinos.

Condo Description:
Despite the proximity to the casinos, skiing, and golfing, Lake Village is very quiet. The condos are spread out in a beautifully-landscaped, tall-pine, scented forest giving you both privacy and serenity. All of our eight condos have top-of-the-line outdoor private hot tubs (including ozonators, jets, massagers, covers, timers, and under-water lights). All have excellent beds, fully equipped kitchens, six appliances (fridge, stove, dishwasher, microwave, washer & dryer), coffee percolators, fireplaces, cable TV, VCRs, free private telephones, and private parking. They differ in size, number of bedrooms, and decor. All have been selected and set up to ensure your privacy and to provide you with the expected amenities for top-quality accommodation. You also have free access to the outdoor pool, clubhouse, tennis courts, hot tub, and barbecues in the village.

On the description pages in this web site, our eight condos are listed by the number of bedrooms and their street addresses in Lake Village. Floorplans are shown as well.

We use an all-inclusive price system so that you have no concerns about extra billing for taxes, cleaning fees, or other hidden surcharges when you rent one of our condos. Rental rates and availability are on the rate page and rental procedures are on the booking page.

Larger Groups:
Some advice for groups: when selecting a unit(s), there is a point of diminishing return if the group attempts to squeeze as many persons as possible into a condo. To make your vacation as enjoyable as possible, your group members would likely prefer to end up with space and privacy instead of tripping over each other. On the rate page, we show the maximum number of occupants for each condo. Please do not plan to exceed that limit!

For groups that exceed the capacity of one condo, adjacent condos #46 & #47 are connected by their exterior decks to give a 7-bedroom, 5-bathroom, 2-kitchen, 2-hot-tub combination. Adjacent condos #57 & #58 also connect by their decks and can be rented together for a 7-bedroom, 5-bathroom combination. And condos #227 & #228 connect through a double-lock interior passage door enabling your group to enjoy a 6-bedroom, 8-bathroom unit.

Condo Services:
Besides top quality accommodation, we also offer top quality service. We start with our comprehensive arrival/confirmation package which is sent to you after booking. It contains:

1) key pick-up and check-in information,
2) a Tahoe road map including details on tourist hot spots,
3) travel routes from various airports,
4) a Lake Village map and guide,
5) telephone numbers for your condo(s), the casinos, the management service & the security service,
6) our golfers' guide, our skiers' guide, and our hiker/trailrider guide,
7) for ski groups, full color trail maps for the ski resorts that we recommend,
8) a dining guide and car rental tips,
9) information for non-gamblers about how to use the casinos to get great entertainment (including childrens' entertainment!) and dining at low prices!
10) a seasonal guide for Tahoe visitors including numerous discounts, and
11) a host of other useful bits of information about Tahoe, local services, and attractions.
With this package, you can better plan your trip and even call from home for information. The package enables bookings on items of particular interest such as golf tee-off times or show reservations. We know that your time and money are finite and this package is designed to help you get the best experiences possible with the time and money you have available.

The service continues when you arrive in Lake Village. Our Lake Village Homeowners Association has a 24-hour security staff at the Lake village clubhouse in case you have unanticipated needs. We all endeavour to make your holiday in Lake Village a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

We even have a car rental discount programme and airport shuttle information available for you.

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FOR VISITORS from OUTSIDE NORTH AMERICA
For our long-distance clients, the following may be useful.
Increasingly, The USA requires Tourist Visas. Passports are a must! Get a Visa at your nearest US consulate. It would be a good idea to telephone the Tourism department of your nearest US Consulate office well before departure to check the entry requirements. You will need acceptable credit cards to rent (hire) a vehicle. Please confirm with your local bank that your credit cards will be honored once in the USA! If you plan to get married at Tahoe, contact the local municipal office (as per our weddings page), to ensure that you bring appropriate documentation for a marriage license.

Our clients from Europe, New Zealand, and Australia have always found excellent values for their money at Lake Tahoe. Car rental (hire) rates are far below those at home. The price of fuel (petrol) is approximately US $.60 per litre! Toll roads don't exist here! Quality entertainment and dining are bargains largely due to the influence of the casinos. In fact, I don't prepare evening meals when I'm at Tahoe: I cannot buy the ingredients for the same cost!

I get requests for information about independent tours of the US South West. Besides Tahoe, requested highlights include San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Alcatraz, Pebble Beach, wine country, Death Valley, the Grand Canyon, the Painted Desert, Disneyland, Yosemite, Big Sur, and numerous other points of interest. We are happy to provide maps, guides and some itinerary assistance for customised lengthier trips. When you contact me, let us know what you prefer: the natural environment or the man-made; safe tourist opportunities or adventures involving some personal risk.

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AIRLINE INFORMATION

For those of you living more than a few hours drive from Tahoe, the following information may be useful.
The jet airport in South Lake Tahoe (TVL) is only ten miles from Lake Village but it is small, poorly serviced by the major carriers, and subject to snow closures during ski season. The next closest jet airport is Reno/Tahoe International (RNO) in Reno, Nevada (57 miles - 75 minutes by road). It is a full-service airport and very reliable with few weather closures. Both of these airports are on our ski map and our golf map pages in this web site. In order of increasing driving distance are the jetports at Sacramento (SMF - 2 hours), Oakland (OAK - 3.5 hours), San Francisco (SFO - 200 miles - 4 hours), San Jose (SJC - 4.5 hours), and Los Angeles (LAX - 9 hours). All the US domestic carriers each service some or all of these airports. Virtually all international carriers service San Francisco and you can drive or take a commuter flight to Reno. In other words, you have lots of choices for airline service. Personally, I normally fly to Tahoe via Reno, Sacramento, or San Francisco and then drive.

Some tips about airline prices: currently, the major carriers have repeating "air-wars" producing low-priced seats in and out of cities along the west coast. If you cannot get the airfare that you want today, be patient. These pricing skirmishes have been hitting regularly! These discount periods sometimes last only a few days or weeks so watch the papers and call the airlines regularly. With patience, you will get reasonable prices. Some airlines now provide an incentive (discounts or frequent flyer points) to book through their web site on line.

If you are not yet a "frequent flyer", become one now! Its free! Most airlines also offer an "affinity credit card" that earns frequent flyer points with each purchase. You will be amazed at how fast those points pile up even if you fly infrequently! Most of the airlines have now moved to "permanent point" system - i.e. your points do not expire if unused in a given time period! You can also donate your points to selected charities with some airlines. Just ask your airline about joining: they will sign you up fast! Some airlines even give out points just for booking a seat through their web site! Naturally, we expect you to use ALL of your points to come back to Tahoe!

After you make your airline reservation, book a car or van with unlimited mileage for your arrival. In ski season, we recommend front-wheel or four-wheel drive. If you wish, try our car rental discount programme. You can earn frequent flyer points with your car rental as well - add your frequent flyer number to the file when booking your vehicle.

LINKS & CONTACTS: OUR CONDOS CONDO RATES & SPECIALS CONDO BOOKING PROCEDURE TAHOE SKI MAP & TRAIL MAPS GOLF MAP & COURSES KAYAKING & PARASAILING FISHING TAHOE BEACHES TAHOE WEDDING SERVICES Tahoe Adventure Company TAHOE ACTIVITY GUIDE Discounted Car Rental FOR CONDO RESERVATIONS: Rob at 905 634 9859 Email Rob by sending to: rh (at) accommodationtahoe.com NOTE: before sending the Email, replace the ' (at) ' with @ and remove the spaces. This is an anti-spam technique designed to prevent automated web crawlers from harvesting my Email address from this web site.