Advice from fellow Brits

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Granville45

Nottingham UK

posts: 181

reviews: 8

Advice from fellow Brits

Jan 28, 2013, 4:59 PM

We are looking at visiting Lake Tahoe possibly later this year,in Sept. i would like to visit the north shore, would love to do the tunnel tours at the cal neva lodge. Looking to stay for approx 3 nights before moving further south on a trip where we will end up in Santa Monica or further south.

Question for anyone who has flown from the UK - which airport did you fly to for lake tahoe ? I can see fights to SF and we could drive LT from there i s'pose but I'm wondering if there is a better alternative ?

We'dd be wanting to fly home most likely from LA and the costs seems to be v high to do this compared to flying home from the same airport as we would fly into, not sure why !

Thanks for any advice

Alison

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5 replies to this topic

NorthernCalifGal

San Francisco Bay

posts: 1,593

reviews: 13

1. Re: Advice from fellow Brits

Jan 28, 2013, 5:10 PM

If you were a local, people would answer, fly into Reno, Nevada, airport.

Since you're from the UK, you probably will have to fly into either San Francisco (or San Jose, which is another hour further south from San Francisco).

There won't be any direct flights from the UK to Sacramento, which is about 2 hours from Lake Tahoe over mountain highways.

So if you have to fly to Lake Tahoe, fly first to SFO, then RENO. Rent a car and drive to North Lake Tahoe. After your stay there, I'd definitely take the Highway 395 south and take the Tioga Road pass into Yosemite National Park. On your way, you could also get in on a country road to the ghost town Bodie.

If you don't have to fly, most people would just rent a car in San Francisco, or SFO the airport, take one night to rest, and then travel up Highway 80, over Donner Summit, through Truckee and on to North Lake Tahoe. That will take over 4 hours.

Edited: 5:11 pm, January 28, 2013

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belomiser

San Francisco...

Destination Expert

for San Francisco

posts: 11,948

reviews: 82

2. Re: Advice from fellow Brits

Jan 28, 2013, 5:15 PM

SFO is the closest airport with Non-stops. San Jose does not have flights to the UK. It is a nice drive to Tahoe but I would not drive after a long flight. You could purchase a ticket from LHR to Reno via SFO and it may be cheaper than separate tickets

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CaSwede

Near Yosemite...

posts: 2,573

reviews: 4

3. Re: Advice from fellow Brits

Jan 28, 2013, 5:27 PM

SFO/ rental car and then the drive to Lake Tahoe is going to be your best option. Getting a flight from SFO to Reno and then a rental car is most likely not going to save you any time and probably be much more costly.

Another option you might check is a direct flight to Las Vegas, a Southwest Airline flight (they have many each day) to Reno and then a rental car.

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shaker999

England

posts: 20

reviews: 19

4. Re: Advice from fellow Brits

Feb 04, 2013, 7:10 PM

Hi,

We went on a Californian road trip in July and this route could be considered;

Fly into SF pick up car at the airport, head to LakeTahoe then take the road to Lee Vining and check out Mono Lake. It's a prehistoric lake and fantastic. If you are into Pink Floyd it's featured on the "wish you were here" album. From there you should take the Tioga Pass to Yosemite NP and walk the falls, absolutely stunning scenery. From there take the shortest route to Monterey on the coast were you could start to head south along the famous Big Sur coast road, one of the wonders of the world. Take in Carmel and Pebble Beach if possible. The Big Sur will eventually take you into LA via Santa Barbara (not to be missed) and then Santa Monica. Fly back from LA. Don't know how many nights you have but if you have time you won't be disappointed with the above route, which has many points of interest. If you require B&B recomendations I'll gladly highlight some really good ones we found.

Brian, Bury, England.

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