Lake Tahoe is undoubtedly a popular scenic destination in California. Being in the bay area, going to Lake Tahoe is more like a weekend getaway for us. We recently visited Lake Tahoe for a weekend just to get out of the bustling city life. So far we have visited Lake Tahoe twice and for the most recent visit, we stayed just for a weekend.
What can you do in Lake Tahoe for two days?
There are plenty of hiking places and scenic locations in Lake Tahoe and you can easily spend more than a week exploring Lake Tahoe. You can still have a good time if you are short on time and if you are looking for just relaxing and having a good time. If that’s the case, then this post is for you!! You can cover the below attractions in two days and which is exactly what we did.
- Visit Emerald Bay State Park & Vikingsholm Castle
- Hike Eagle Falls
- Have Lunch at Rosie’s Cafe
- Stay in a Cabin (Cedar Glen Lodge – Best Accommodation for a Cabin Stay. For the rest of the first day and till checkout time we stayed here since we didn’t want to do much hiking this time.)
- Have ice cream at Tahoe time coffee
- Hike Monkey Rock
- Buy Souvenirs at Robins Nest Gift Shop in lake Tahoe
- Hike Cave Rock
If you have more time then we recommend you visit:
- Kings Beach
- Incline Village
- Sugar Pine State Park (We couldn’t do this thoroughly in our visit)
- Visit DL Bliss State Park
- Do Kayaking or a boat ride in Lake Tahoe Or even Paddle Board
- Visit Reno
- During Winter you can ski at Palisades Ski Resort
- Pope Beach
- Sand Harbor
- Zephyr Cove
- Visit Heavenly Ski Resort during winter
- Take a Lake Tahoe Cruise
- Visit Historic Downtown Of Truckee
Tahoe Area Map
Area Map Of Lake Tahoe (Source: Google Maps)
Emerald Bay State Park & Vikingsholm Castle
Where?
Emerald Bay is a short drive from South Lake Tahoe and can be accessed via Highway 89. It is the only inlet on the lake and is home to Lake Tahoe’s only island, Fannette Island.
How To Visit?
The park is located 22 miles south of Tahoe City. Although you cannot drive down all the way to the park, you have multiple vista points along the way and you can hike to get to the Vikingsholm castle to get a closer view of the Emerald Bay. We will give more detailed guide on how to visit the castle later. So Keep reading…
How much time needed?
You can spend anywhere from couple of hours to an entire day here depending on your interests. We spent about three hours here including the hiking all the way to the castle.
Emerald Bay State Park – Gift Shop (It was closed when we went)
Emerald Bay
Inspiration Point View: If you drive along the Emerald Bay Rd on Highway 89, you will see a viewpoint called the Inspiration Point from which you get a different perspective of Emerald Bay.
Vikingsholm Castle
Vikingsholm is a 38-room mansion on the shore of Emerald Bay at Lake Tahoe, in El Dorado County, California, U.S., and on the National Register of Historic Places. It has been called “one of the finest examples of Scandinavian architecture in North America.”
There is gift shop near by the castle and it is also the place where you can get some souvenirs and also where the tour for the castle starts from. The tours are open during summer. For more information visit, https://sierrastateparks.org/vikingsholm.
Eagle Falls
Eagle Lake trail is about 1.8 miles out and back from the Eagle Falls Picnic Area.
Image Source: Alltrails
How to hike Lower Eagle Falls?
We only did lower Eagle falls which was about 0.6 miles from Emerald Bay and additional 2 miles round trip to the parking lot. We did this hike because it is easily accessible from the lower eagle falls trailhead if you are coming from the Emerald Bay area.
There is a parking fee of 5$ per vehicle and parking lot fills up really fast in the summer and its a small parking lot. So plan accordingly.
If you plan on doing upper eagle falls, you can park your car at the Eagle Falls picnic area parking lot and again do remember that this lot fills in quickly as well and requires 5$ for the parking permit. If you are hiking all the way up to Eagle Lake, make sure to fill out free Wilderness permit which will be available at the parking lot.
For more information, visit https://californiathroughmylens.com/eagle-fall-eagle-lake/. Explained in detail by one of our favorite blogger and youtuber.
Lower Eagle Falls
Have Breakfast at Rosie’s Cafe
Rosie’s Cafe is very unique and great breakfast location especially if you are interested to have French Toast and Scrambled eggs in the morning for breakfast. We definitely recommend this place.
Physical Address
571 N Lake Blvd, Tahoe City, CA 96145
Just across the street from Rosie’s Cafe you will be able to see a black bear and its cub statue made completely out of coins. Yes, you heard it right. Its made of just cents coins.
Rail Tracks disappearing into the Lake – Popular Instagram Photo spot
There is a popular rail track disappearing into the lake photography location in Ed Z’berg Sugar Pine Point State Park in lake Tahoe.
Sugar Pine Point State Park is a state park in California in the United States. It occupies nearly two miles of the western shore of Lake Tahoe and a total of about 1,000 hectares of forested mountains in El Dorado County.
How to get here? Just search for Railtracks in sugar pine state park in Lake Tahoe in google maps.
Cedar Glen Lodge in Lake Tahoe
We have stayed at many cabins, but this was by far the best and our Favorite. Hands Down!! and we plan on visiting this place again. The other special thing about this cabin is, although its pretty close to the lake (Tahoe Vista, CA), it still felt very private and cozy and another nice thing about this lodging is they have charging station for Tesla.
Everything in the cabin was perfect. Nice amenities, they have a kitchenette if you are interested in preparing lunch or dinner, Fireplace, Free Netflix (Although you will need to ask at the reception to get one account to watch, which is exactly what we did :)). We actually ordered food from a nearest Indian restaurant and to complete it, we also got chilled beer which we carried before we left to Tahoe.
Note: If you go here during Christmas holidays, you will get a chance to witness the Christmas lighting for the Cabins 🙂 But yes it would definitely be expensive around that time.
We were very happy with the Cabin as it was perfect for us to relax and it was very cozy as well. Although we spent entire day here, we still felt it was not sufficient. We left them a 5 star rating for the cabin and the service.
Physical Address
6589 N Lake Blvd Box 188, Tahoe Vista, CA 96148
Have ice cream at Tahoe time coffee
If you are in Tahoe, we recommend you visit Tahoe Time Coffee in the Kings beach area for some local ice cream. Its a cute little ice cream place and you also get waffles as well here. Everything in the store is ice cream themed.
Physical Address:
8636 N Lake Blvd, Kings Beach, CA 96143
Hike Monkey Rock
How to get here? You can park your car for a small parking fee at Tunnel Creek Cafe in Incline Village Area in Nevada. (Incline Village is near California & Nevada border).
Hike Distance
It is a 2.6-mile out-and-back trail near Incline Village-Crystal Bay, Nevada. Generally considered a moderately challenging route, it takes an average of 1 h 16 min to complete.
From the Monkey Rock, you will get an aerial view of Lake Tahoe as well.
Buy Souvenirs at Robins Nest Gift Shop in lake Tahoe
If you are looking for some souvenirs to take home and you are near Kings beach area, you can visit Robins Nest Gift shop. They have good collection of fridge magnets, home decor related and other souvenirs.
Dinner at Thai Place
On the way back home, we had a great dinner at My Thai Restaurant on Lake Tahoe Blvd. We had pineapple fried rice and Thai noodles along with Thai iced tea. We loved the food and we definitely recommend this place.
Physical Address
2108 Lake Tahoe Blvd, South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150
Hike Cave Rock
Get to know this 0.8-mile out-and-back trail near Zephyr Cove, Nevada. Generally considered an easy route, it takes an average of 21 min to complete. The views from Cave Rock are, in fact, wonderful.
Cave Rock has sweeping panoramic views over the striking blue waters of Lake Tahoe, the surrounding shoreline, and the snow-clad Sierra Nevada Mountains. Cave Rock is located on the southeast side of Lake Tahoe. Begin hiking from a sharp bend in Cave Rock Drive, a quarter mile up from Route 50.
Important Note: The trailhead only has room for about six vehicles, so try to time your visit when crowds can be avoided.
Winter Fun In Lake Tahoe
Although we did this during our first time visit to Lake Tahoe we wanted to mention about how beautiful Lake Tahoe can be during winter. If you are here in the winter, you will have a different experience which you will definitely love it.
First time when we visited Lake Tahoe, we went during winter and we did our first ever Skiing here which was so much fun. You can visit Boreal Mountain Ski Resort near Lake Tahoe and we definitely recommend although if you want right in Lake Tahoe, you can check out Palisades Tahoe in Olympic Valley.
Thats it for this post!! Please do let us know your feedback/suggestions in the comments.
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