We stayed at Northstar in October 2024 in a 2BR. The rooms are beautifully done and very comfortable, and we enjoyed our week. Like you, we've spent lots of time in South Lake Tahoe (usually Marriott Timber Lodge), but this was our first visit to Northstar. In my opinion, Northstar rooms are classier than Timber Lodge.
I can't tell you the name or number of the building we stayed in. However, my wife is a
very light sleeper, and we like it QUIET. So I requested a high floor room (preferably the top floor) in a quiet location (away from pools, away from elevators), and we were very pleased with the room assignment. (We exchanged into Northstar, and we are not Hyatt owners.) If you look at a photo of Northstar, we were on the top floor on the leftmost side of the resort. We were very near the ski lift chairs, but it wasn't running. There was parking behind us a bit higher up the hill, but it was empty all week. We were on the back side of the resort (not the road side), so the view was mostly trees.
Food shopping: we headed into Truckee. It's probably a 15-20 minute drive. There are supermarkets in Truckee. We mainly bought some things to grill (yes, there are gas grills) and we bought things we could take for lunch when hiking.
We weren't overly impressed with Rubicon Pizza. It's just "OK," and on the expensive side. But we did very much enjoy Full Belly Deli in Truckee for lunch. That's largely a sandwich shop, and it's so good that we went twice during our week. (That's unusual for us. We typically prefer to try out different restaurants, and we rarely repeat.) Make sure to check their daily specials.
https://eatfullbellydeli.com/ - we of course went to the Truckee location. (The article I've attached only talks about the Reno locations. And don't get confused. There's also a place in Gardnerville named Full Belly Deli, but it's not part of this chain.)
If you like the outdoors, there's lots of hiking in the Truckee area. AllTrails is your friend.
One hiking tip: the Truckee River Legacy Trail is popular. It's paved and easy. You can start the walk on either end. (Watch out for the bicyclists.) We began at Truckee River Regional Park, as AllTrails shows. But the trail gets a bit dull after a relatively short distance. So we reversed course back to our car and drove to the Glenshire Drive trailhead on the opposite end. That side was a much prettier walk. If you start on the Glenshire Drive side, you will have to initially walk down a moderately steep (paved) incline, and then back up that incline when you're done, but we enjoyed that side of the trail so much more. Once you are beyond the incline, the walk is easy. Go as far as you wish before retracing your steps.
There was a weekly farmer's market in Truckee River Regional Park. Sorry, but I don't remember which day of the week. I remember buying the largest head of lettuce I have ever seen.
It snowed one day (our dates were Oct 13 - 20). My wife is a California girl, so she always gets a big kick seeing it snow. The snow didn't stay around long.
