Campground by the Lake

D.L. Bliss and Emerald Bay State Parks don't have many sites that accommodate trailers, even smaller ones. Nevada Shores was full, so I "settled" for Campground by the Lake". I'm glad I did. Most of the sites are quite large and well maintained. No firewood was available, which was strange, but there's a liquor store across the street which sold it and various other sundries. VERY centrally located, which is supremely convenient if you're enjoying what SLT has to offer. If you're looking for more of a nature-based experience, don't camp here.

Look, I love Tahoe and I really love seeing the lake while I camp... But it can't be justified by paying $56 bucks a night for a RV site with water and electric. The price of this joint has obviously gone up, a bunch. These prices should include a free back rub for all those who had to drive a full day to get to the campsite. The showers were in need of updates... Look, this place is nice "kinda" the sites are way too close to each other. They need to drop the price, bogus.

Perfect location across form the lovely lake Tahoe and just blocks away from downtown. The sites are decent for an RV park but gravel/dirt instead of paved, the staff is friendly and the people in the park are good hearted. BUT the facilities are dated. The showers need a major makeover. Also, Verizon signal is awful (this was true all around Tahoe). Nice perk, there are Lime scooters all over the park. This offers an affordable, easy and fun way to tour around town without fighting traffic. I highly recommend these. If I came back, I'd stay again for the great location.

First the good; This is a great location in South Lake Tahoe. Quick access to everything. Nice view of the lake. Lots of families (we have kids). Rates weren’t too bad with our AAA discount.

Now the not so great:

We have a travel trailer and weren’t able to get a site with hookups even though I saw several tent campers occupying full hookup spots. Maybe someone should manage that?

The bathrooms were not up to my standards. Broken faucets, waste on the floor, no soap.

My wife and I work remotely and ran into some trouble getting a usable signal. The camps Wi-Fi was non existent and our Verizon Mifi and AT&T phones were far too slow here. We ended up forfeiting 2 days ($60) just to get to a usable spot (Zephyr Cove RV, which was awesome).

We have stayed here for years and almost always with a group of friends. It never disappoints. Most sites are fairly large and level and the location is great for biking, walking, swimming (at the lake or pool next door), just enjoying all that Tahoe has to offer. This was our first time in D loop and at the beginning of the loop meant less road noise. We have stayed in B loop up near the road and it's very noisy so recommend further back in the campground. Very convenient that we can now reserve online through ReserveAmerica as we can see which sites are available.

Campground has wifi but it's very iffy. Verizon was also difficult at times.

This was our second time staying at this campsite. It's close to the road but is surprisingly quiet. We love the proximity to Heavenly, historic sites and, of course, the lake (right across the street!) our site might be the best in the entire campground. It's huge with hookups, although the hookups are on the other side.
If you're looking for a more rural setting with no hookups we'd recommend Fallen Leaf.
We didn't get a picture of the elusive Chad, but gives us even more reason to come back again...

We had heard rumors of the elusive "Chad", a rare breed of visitor to Lake Tahoe's shores. These tanned, expensive sunglasses wearing 20-somethings apparently arrive on the scene, revving their engines up and down the main drags, mucking up the best powder days and overwhelming the skate parks and bars of the towns in the vicinity with their boisterous attempts at proving their worthiness to occupy nearly every square inch of the place.

The locals consider them an invasive species. I was eager to catch one on film, perhaps in one of their famed mating attempts where they plume up their regalia that their hair may gel higher than even the sugar pines.

Alas, what we discovered was even better.

Misty mountains. The fog fell into the campground on night two like a vampire's shroud. Though a major road was nearby, it was a boon, even with the sound that came along with it.

The road proved to be an immediate conduit to a plethora of things to do, within walking distance. Great restaurants and mediocre ones. Dive bars. A bowling alley. Best of all, a beach, though one without Tahoe's fabled blue water.

A library right next door played host to children's never ending enjoyment. Stellar's Jays fluttered around the park, which was nearly full.

The first night we had what must be the best spot in the entire place, wide, separated from most neighbors, and backed up to the library. That was A-13. When we decided to stay another night, though the spot was still large, I realized that most of the spots had backwards hookups. So you have to run your hose and power cable to the front of your rig. Kind of odd and annoying. Our hose didn't fit so we just filled up the freshwater tank.

Not nearly as natural as the state park offerings nearby, but it was nice to be able to walk to so many great things to do at night, and a quick drive to even more fun daytime activities.