Leave It To Us & Take A Bus – or Micro Transit
With air temperatures in the mid-80s, you just want to get to the beach and explore the Lake Tahoe Water Trail. But, you don’t want to deal with the traffic and don’t have the gear. We’ve made it easy. Rent your gear from a local paddle outfitter. Skip the Tahoe beach access headache by planning ahead with a reservation from a Tahoe paddle outfitter and taking the free bus, on demand shuttle, or even a bike!
The Tahoe region is home to several transportation hubs that give you access to almost anywhere you can imagine including the beaches.
You Get A Ride, I Get A Ride… We ALL Get Free Rides
North Lake Tahoe & Truckee: Tahoe Truckee Transit has you covered!
To access west shore and north shore Water Trail launch/landing sites, take the Main Line of the TART bus. The route provides access to over eight trailheads starting from Sugar Pine Point CA State Park, through Tahoe City, the iconic North Shore beaches and all the way over to Incline Village. If you’re planning on launching from Sand Harbor, you can take the East Shore Express from Incline Village with a connection from a Tahoe Truckee Transit (TART) bus or TART Connect. With multiple pickup points throughout Lake Tahoe, you’ll remove the stress of finding parking and just enjoy the calm cool waters of Tahoe.
South Lake Tahoe: Buses and Microtransit
South Shore’s transit system includes free buses and free on-demand mini vans with routes running between the City of South Lake Tahoe, CA and Kingsbury Grade/Stateline, NV. Plan your route to Water Trail beaches here.
Hotel Shuttles
Many hotels offer guests FREE shuttles to beaches with Water Trail launch sites. Stop by the hotel concierge, or better yet, ask when you book your accommodations!
Bike To The Beach
Another option to consider is riding a bike. If you own your own equipment, get a paddle board storage rack for the bike. Or, if you don’t get a reservation with a paddle outfitter at a beach, there are miles and miles of jaw-dropping trails that give you quick and easy access to our world-class beaches and tons of bike rental shops along the way. On the south shore, access the popular Pope, Baldwin, and Kiva beaches via the Pope-Baldwin Path. On the west and north shores, take the new designated paved bike route that hugs old growth forests and the shoreline to gain access to Lake Tahoe Water Trailheads like Meeks Bay all the way up to Kings Beach. And on the east shore, you have the newest addition and what cyclists are dubbing “America’s most beautiful bike path” – the East Shore Bike Trail giving you easy access to Sand Harbor.
The popularity of Lake Tahoe beaches has never been higher, and as such, parking spaces are tough to get. Unless you feel like arriving at sunrise to enjoy an entire day at the beach, the best solution is to plan another way to get there. You’ll have more fun AND less stress.
The Lake Tahoe Water Trail is a Sierra Business Council sustainable recreation tourism project. Learn more about SBC's innovative social, environmental and economic development projects in the Sierra Nevada at www.sierrabusiness.org.
