# Driving from San Jose to South Lake Tahoe, best day/time to leave home?



## Denise L (Jun 29, 2006)

Hi,

Does anyone have any experience driving from the Bay Area to South Lake Tahoe in the summer? Is there a better day/time to leave? Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, we could probably leave as early as 10 or 11am. Check-in isn't until 4pm.  We may stop for lunch along the way.

I have not driven to Tahoe in the summer for 8 or 9 years. Any recent experiences that you can share would be greatly appreciated, thanks!


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## smsavage (Jun 29, 2006)

Hi Denise,

We were just up there last weekend. The weather was perfect.

I'd recommend leaving as early as possible on Friday. The kicker is that they've had to build a commuter lane on 50 from Sacramento to El Dorado Hills. When you see how built up it's become, you'll know why. You'll want to miss the commute hours out of Sacramento.

We left at 9:30 and got there in about four hours from SJ.

Watch your return time also. If you're coming back on a Sunday morning, you'll want to leave at around 8AM. If you're taking 5 South from Sacramento and coming through Tracy, 205 and 580 can get really backed up if you hit that area  in the afternoon hours.


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## Blues (Jun 29, 2006)

Yep, on the way there, the time you want to miss is Friday afternoon.  If you leave early or mid morning, you're OK.  But if Sat or Sun are options, both should be even better.

On the way back, you want to avoid Sunday afternoon.  If you leave early enough, as smsavage says, you should be OK.  But if you can avoid Sunday for your return, most any other day should be fine (other than weekday rush hour traffic in the bay area, but you know that).


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## daventrina (Jun 29, 2006)

The traffic can also be a mess going into Placerville.
We try to make sure that we're through sacramento before 2 in the afternoon. If you leave too early you may catch the treffic headed into Sacramento in the morning (usually gone by 9-10am)
Sunday headed up the hill would have the lighest traffic. But the traffic will be headed at you on their way home on the 2 lane sections.
With no traffic it is 2:45 from Tracy.
If we can get bonustime, we like to drive up Thru. evening and miss the commute and weekend traffic. Instead of fighting the traffic coming home we tend to leave late in the day and let the traffic get home first. OTherwise as stated you want to be headed out of Tahoe before 10am at the latest (unless you like traffic).

If your renting rooms, many times the rates are better Sun. thru Thur.


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## Denise L (Jun 30, 2006)

Thanks for the tips. We can leave Friday, Saturday or Sunday, and head home Wednesday, Thursday or Friday.  I am probably renting the place for the week, but can save money if I skip the weekend and just leave on Sunday. 

Is it just generally super crowded everywhere on Saturday and Sundays even though it is summer? Or is every day crowded? I wanted to get an early start to our getaway (my first vacation this year!), but if the beaches and restaurants will be a lot more crowded, maybe we'll just head out on Sunday morning and back to San Jose on Thursday or Friday.


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## debraxh (Jun 30, 2006)

If I had a choice I would probably go up on Sunday and come back on Friday.  The last time we were in Tahoe was the summer before last -- we had a Sun-Sun week and it was great.  We missed most of the weekend crowds, left the resort at noon (checkout time) on Sunday and traffic was not too bad at all.  Most people seem to want to eke out every last minute of the weekend and leave much later on Sunday.

IMO the worst part of the drive is 205 through Tracy and the traffic seems the worst going east Friday afternoon and Saturday and west on Sunday afternoon. Even though our week in Calaveras Co. is Sat to Sat we usually go up very late on Sat and return late Friday, just to miss the worst traffic.


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## jancurious (Jun 30, 2006)

Denise,
I would stay the whole week - just go from Saturday to Saturday.  What you have on Friday & Sunday is the weekenders that clog the highways.  

Jan


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## Denise L (Jun 30, 2006)

We can have the rental Friday to Friday. If we survived the traffic on Friday going up, would the whole place be packed with the weekenders?


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## smsavage (Jun 30, 2006)

I think that you'll find that the Stateline area (the casinos and the new Marriott development) are busiest Friday and Saturday. Midweek the beaches, the casinos and the restaurants slow down, so you should be ok based on your schedule. 

Traffic in and around Stateline on 50 can get backed up Friday and Saturdays starting at around 4 PM or so.


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## daventrina (Jun 30, 2006)

deniselew said:
			
		

> would the whole place be packed with the weekenders?


Yes and no. There are places that may be packed, and there are places that there will be not so busy.
80% of the people are probably in 20% of the space, and it is a big place. 
It would be a good day to crash at the pool, hike some of the less popular trails (e.g. not the Richardson area), plan the rest of the week, BBQ for dinner (or you can go across the street to the Stardust BBQ if you don't want to work that hard), poke around in some of the shops (but wait till the week to buy because prices tend to go down - and buy gas during the week too), play some slots (more people but seem to pay better). 
We wouldn't pick Saturday to drive around the lake, eat dinner out, spend the day on the beach, visit the Richardswon area, go for a boat ride.
We like to go 4wheelin on Saturday, when the pavement ends, you seem to loose nearly all of the people (the same goes for some of the less popular trails).


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