The Best 2 Day Lake Tahoe Summer Itinerary

“As we sun popped over the trees, I gasped and grabbed Dave to make him look. The sun was hitting the water now, turning it into a bright florescent turquoise which you could see straight through!”

Are you dreaming of the crystal clear, bright blue waters of Lake Tahoe? Well let me tell you, Lake Tahoe is everything you have been dreaming of and more! The water is so clear that paddle boarding on a still day makes it look like your paddle board is sitting on top of glass.

Lake Tahoe is both a place and a crystal clear lake located in both California and Nevada. It is the perfect Summer getaway because there are loads of nice restaurants, bars and hotels nearby and the lake is beautiful to swim in!

Apart from the obvious water activities on the lake such as swimming, picnicking, kayaking and paddle boarding, there are loads of other fun things to do in Lake Tahoe. We enjoyed renting electric bikes to explore the lake with and watching the sunset from Monkey Rock.

In this guide, I will be sharing our exact 2 Day Lake Tahoe Summer Itinerary because, not gonna lie.. it is a good one! It includes hiking, biking, swimming, paddle boarding and of course some photography, coffee and restaurants.

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The Best 2 Day Lake Tahoe Itinerary

Quick Tips for visiting Lake Tahoe

📍 Where is Lake Tahoe: California / Nevada USA

✈ Where to Fly into: Reno-Tahoe International Airport – Find FLIGHTS here!

📆 When to Visit: Best time to visit for this itinerary is late Spring / Summer / early Fall

🛌 Top 3 Hotels in Lake Tahoe:
Desolation Hotel ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 9.4 rating
Marriot Grand Residence Club ⭐⭐⭐⭐9.0 rating
Tahoe Lakeshore Lodge and Spa ⭐⭐⭐ 8.7 rating

🚗 Rental Car: DiscoverCars is our go to for the best rental car prices!
🚐 Rental Campervan: Rent a campervan from Outdoorsy!
🛶 Best Lake Tahoe Tour: Clear Kayak Tour

Overview and Map of your Itinerary

Don’t have time to read the entire blog post? That’s okay! Here is a quick summary of everything that I recommend doing while you are in Lake Tahoe. You can use the map below while you are on your trip to make sure you don’t miss any of the spots I mention.

Click here to open the map in Google Maps!

Day 1

• Breakfast and coffee at Tahoe Bagel Company
• Join a clear kayak tour
• Rent electric bikes and ride around Lake Tahoe
• Ride to your lunch spot
• Dinner in town (if you are still hungry)
• Sunset at Cave Rock

Day 2

• Grab a coffee and Breaky from Bare Roots Coffee Tahoe
• Paddle boarding at Secret Cove or Sand Harbour
• Dinner at Sushi Pier Tahoe or in town
• Hike to Monkey Rock for sunset

This itinerary tells you how to spend the best two days in Lake Tahoe in Summer and includes everything that Dave and I did when we visited. This itinerary would also be a great Lake Tahoe itinerary for kids, but there is a lot on it so you may need to cut out an activity or 2.

Whether you have a weekend in Lake Tahoe or a couple of random weekdays, this guide will help you plan the a trip to Lake Tahoe that you will never forget!

Day 1: Clear Kayaks, Electric Bikes and Cave Rock

Make sure you pack lots of snacks with you for day 1. You won’t be stopping for lunch until after kayaking and halfway through your bike ride so make sure you stock up!

Morning – Breakfast and Coffee at Tahoe Bagel Company

Start your Lake Tahoe trip off the right way with a delicious Lake Tahoe breakfast! They have every type of bagel imaginable and you can either make your own or choose from one of their delicious breakfast bagels. Tahoe Bagel Company open at 6am on weekdays and 7am on the weekend.

Join a Clear Kayak Tour

A Clear Kayak Tour is one of the best things to do in Lake Tahoe because the water is so incredibly clear that you can see straight through it! I recommend booking the 8 or 9am tour, depending on how quick you are at getting ready in the morning. The drive to the tour shop is about 1 hour from Tahoe Bagel Company.

The tour itself takes you to some of the best parts of Lake Tahoe including Sand Harbour and Bonsai Rock which is this awesome rock jutting out of the water (popular for jumping off of) with a couple of tiny trees growing out of it, making it look like a cute little Bonsai Tree!

Rent electric bikes and ride around Lake Tahoe

If you can hold on for a bit until lunch time and maybe fill up with a snack before you go riding, you will be able to ride to a lovely beach bar for lunch.

We rented our electric bikes from SUP Tahoe, which is the same place we rented our paddle boards from. You can book your bike rental through their website or give them a call.

Ask the staff at SUP Tahoe when you go to pick up your bike, for a map and details on where to ride to. We did the Fallen Leaf Lake and beaches trail. We also stopped at Pope Beach, Kiva Beach and Baldwin Beach. We were planning to go all of the way to Glen Alpine Falls but the road around the lake was not very well graded and very bumpy and I decided I had had enough. 😅

Ride to your lunch spot at The Grove Beach Bar & Grill

Ride to the Grove Beach Bar & Grill for lunch. The SUP Tahoe staff will show you how to lock your bike up while you are lunching. The bar is right on the beach and you have views of the water.

Then, on the way back to SUP Tahoe, if you are still hungry, you can get ice cream from Camp Richardson.

Pick up your paddle board if you plan on paddling at sunrise tomorrow

If you are planning on paddle boarding for sunrise, SUP Tahoe have an option to add on a late after pick up the day before for an additional $15 per board. This is what we did because we wanted to get some sunrise photos and beat the crowds at Secret Cove.

We opted for 2 inflatable paddle boards that were deflated in their bags so that we could hike down to Secret Cove with the paddle boards in the backpacks and pump them up ourselves. There is also the option to have your paddle boards pumped up ready to go and the team at SUP Tahoe will attach it to the roof of your car.

Dinner in Town

Walk or drive into town to grab something to eat. There are loads of options such as the California Burger Company, Applebees, Base Camp Pizza Co and so much more!

We did find the food options in this area to be a little pricey but I guess that comes with the location. Base Camp Pizza Co is one of the more affordable options unless you want to grab a quick Subway or similar.

Sunset at Cave Rock

Cave Rock is one of the best sunset spots in Lake Tahoe. In a nutshell, it is a tunnel cave made out of rock which has become a popular and short hike in Lake Tahoe. Dave and I actually did not get to do Cave Rock because we got a little heat stroked and sunburnt on the day that we had planned to do it.

Instead, we decided to stay in the hotel room and watch Aquaman with some takeout pizza. Honestly, we were so exhausted from our road trip so far that I think we definitely needed the rest!

Day 2: Paddle boarding & Monkey Rock

For day 2, I recommend packing lunch and snacks so that you don’t have to leave your paddle boarding spot as soon as you get hungry. We realised we wanted to stay much longer than we had thought because the water was such a nice temperature to swim in and it was so so beautiful!

Morning – Breakfast and Coffee at Bare Roots Coffee Tahoe

If you are paddle boarding for sunrise, you will need to skip coffee on morning 2. I recommend packing a breakfast to go so that you can eat it when you arrive at your paddle boarding spot.

Paddle boarding at Secret Cove or Sand Harbour

There are lots of places to paddle board in Lake Tahoe. We paddle boarded at Secret Cove which, for full disclosure is a nudist beach, however, it is more popular with non-nudists due to it’s incredible beauty (and probably social media fame). When we were there there were LOADS of families with kids.

The other option is Sand Harbour which is also a really beauty spot. For whichever spot you choose, make sure you get there nice and early. If you don’t want to arrive for sunrise, I recommend arriving before 8am so that you can get a spot.

For Secret Cove, you can park in the parking lot or on either side of the main road closer to the beach where there aren’t any “NO PARKING” signs. Seriously don’t park in the “NO PARKING” zones! On our way out, we saw about 5 or 6 cars which all had marker written on their back windows which said “GOOD TO TOW.”

From the parking lot, it is about 3/4 mile hike along a forest road and then down a trail to the Cove.

Sand Harbour on the other hand, does not involve any hiking to get to the beach.

Dinner at Sushi Pier Tahoe or in Town

Sushi Pier Tahoe had some delicious Sushi and it was great on such a hot Summer’s day! I got the San Francisco Long Roll and it was so so YUMMY! If you don’t like or feel like sushi, there are loads of other restaurant and fast food options around.

Hike to Monkey Rock for Sunset

Monkey Rock is another amazing viewpoint in Lake Tahoe for sunset and this hike we were actually able to fit into our schedule!

The hike is not too long and there is a fairly large parking lot that you can park your car in which is located right next to the trailhead. The hike is a steady incline the entire way, until the end where it gets a bit steeper.

Monkey Rock is exactly how it sounds! It is a rock in the shape of a monkey with an awesome view overlooking Lake Tahoe! There are also a lot of other cool rock formations up at the viewpoint and we had fun lounging in one that looked like a lounge chair.

Things to Know About Lake Tahoe Before You Go

Our Experience

Lake Tahoe is one of those places which we didn’t really know what to expect. It did, however, blow any expectations we did have away! We visited South Lake Tahoe, which is where this itinerary is based. We spent 3 nights at a Bally’s Lake Tahoe Casino Resort and then 1 night on our way out of Lake Tahoe at a dispersed camping site.

The rest of our California Road Trip, we spent car camping, so our time in Lake Tahoe felt extremely luxurious. It was super nice to have AC for a few days, especially because we were travelling during a classis July heatwave where the temperatures were getting up to 109 degrees f / 42 degrees c!

We spent a lot of time on and by the water and got sunburnt twice so I highly recommend using sunscreen AND reapplying every 2 hours. We ran out at some point which was our downfall.

Our favourite part of Lake Tahoe was the stand up paddle boarding, however I think if we had had the chance to also do the Clear Kayak Tour, that would have won!

Where is Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe is a huge freshwater lake located in Nevada and California. About 2/3 of the Lake Tahoe’s shoreline is located in California with the rest residing in Nevada.

How to get to Lake Tahoe

We drove to Lake Tahoe from Big Sur, which was around a 5 hour drive. We didn’t stop much except near Sacramento to get gas and eat our lunch which we had pre-made.

From San Francisco International Airport (SFO)

Driving Time: 3.5 hours
Flight Time: 1 hour – check flights here!

It’s a close tie between driving and flying to Lake Tahoe from SFO. If you account for all the fluff surrounding flying, the times are probably pretty close to being the same so it really comes down to personal preference.

From Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)

Driving Time: 8 hours
Flight Time 1.5 hours – check flights here!

If you are not already in the area on a road trip, the best way to get to Lake Tahoe from LA is to fly directly into Reno-Tahoe International Airport.

From elsewhere in the world

If you are visiting other parts of California and doing a road trip like us, I recommend driving to Lake Tahoe. If you are just visiting Lake Tahoe, the best way to get there will be to fly into the Reno-Tahoe International Airport. From the airport, it is a 1 hour drive to South Lake Tahoe, which is where this itinerary is based and where I recommend staying.

Which is the best part of Lake Tahoe to stay in

For this itinerary and to be closest to the best attractions, I recommend staying in South Lake Tahoe. Depending on which hotel you choose, you could be staying in Nevada or California.

Best time of the year to visit Lake Tahoe

Summer

This itinerary is based on visiting Lake Tahoe in the Summer. The weather is beautiful and hot during the Summer. In fact it can get extremely hot. We were there in July and there was a bit of a heatwave, with temperatures getting up to 109 degrees f / 42 degrees c!

Summer is the best time for water activities but make sure you wear lots of sunscreen and reapply. Dave and I both got burnt TWICE while we were in Lake Tahoe.

One of the downsides to visiting Lake Tahoe during Summer is that it will be extremely busy. You will need to make sure that you are super organised and get to any locations around the lake bright and early so that you don’t miss out.

Fall

Although I have not been, I hear that Lake Tahoe in the Fall is really stunning! Plus the temperatures should have cooled down a little, making the midday sun that much more bearable. As the weather is a little more unpredictable in the Fall, make sure you bring a mix of warm clothes with summery clothes.

Fall in Lake Tahoe also brings gorgeous Fall colours. Can you imagine orange leaves against the backdrop of the beautiful turquoise lake?! OMG now I want to go back in Fall!

Winter

Winter is another popular time for people to visit Lake Tahoe because they have great skiing and snowboarding. Lake Tahoe transforms into a Winter Wonderland, which is actually so hard for me to imagine because during Summer it was like a tropical paradise. Maybe Dave and I will have to go back in Winter next time to witness it for ourselves!

Spring

If you visit Lake Tahoe during Spring, you might even get the chance to do some Spring Skiing! The water will most likely be too cold to jump into but that doesn’t mean that you can’t go kayaking or paddle boarding on the lake.

The weather tends to be quite chilly still in the Spring, hovering around the high 40F to mid-60F. If you are looking to escape the crowds, Spring might be the best time for you to visit Lake Tahoe, however if you are dying to go swimming in the lake, I recommend waiting until Summer.

Where to Stay

For this itinerary, the best area to stay in is in South Lake Tahoe or you could also stay in North Lake Tahoe. You will be spending the majority of your time on the East Coast of the lake but my restaurant and hotel recommendations are all on the South side because this is where we based ourselves for our trip.

It is also the more lively area in the way of bars, restaurants and music.

North Lake Tahoe vs South Lake Tahoe

North Lake Tahoe is best suited to people who are after a quiet getaway. It has a less touristy feel and there are more cabins than hotels.

South Lake Tahoe has a much more party-like holiday destination feel to it. There are loads of restaurants, casinos and resorts.

You can access beautiful places around the lake from both areas of Lake Tahoe.

Photography Tips for Lake Tahoe

It’s no secret that Lake Tahoe is incredibly clear and photogenic. But the stunning photos you may have seen aren’t always all that easy to capture. Things that will help you get an amazing photo of Lake Tahoe include:

• Get the photographer to get up as high as they can – this can help cut through reflections.
• Use a polarizer filter to help cut through those pesky reflections.
• Take your photos in the early morning, but after the sun has hit the water for that gorgeous florescent blue look.
• Take your photos in the shallower waters.
• Try to go on a calm day so that the water has less ripples.

You might also enjoy:

• An Incredible 4 Day Yosemite National Park Itinerary
• Dreamy Places to Paddle Board in Lake Tahoe
• How to Hike to Monkey Rock at Sunset
• How to Get to Bonsai Rock in Lake Tahoe
• The Magical Secret Cove Beach in Lake Tahoe
• The Ultimate 15 Day California Road Trip Itinerary
• Yosemite to Sequoia National Park: An EPIC 5 Day Itinerary
• Beautiful Golden Gate Bridge Photo Spots
• The Most Instagrammable Spot Near San Francisco
• How to Spend 24 hours in San Francisco (A Complete 1 Day Itinerary)
• How to Spend an Amazing 2 Days in Sequoia National Park
• Where to go Swimming in Yosemite

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