Welcome back to our description of the Reno-Lake Tahoe half day sightseeing tour. In our last article we described the first part of the sightseeing tour that involved driving up Mt. Rose, the highest year round open pass in the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

In this post, we’ll describe going over the pass, the beautiful view of Lake Tahoe, driving down to the lake, and where we go from there.

Lake Tahoe

Once we hit the high point of Mt. Rose at around 9,000 feet in elevation, it’s downhill from there to Lake Tahoe. Most of the trip will be on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, but we’ll also hit a corner of California with our stop at the historic Cal Neva Lodge.

Cal-Neva Lodge

The first stop at Lake Tahoe on our sightseeing tour is this wonderful and old historic casino/lodge that used to belong to Frank Sinatra. We’ll stop here for a break, to look around, and learn some of the goings-on that used to happen in Frank Sinatra’s days, some stories about Marilyn Monroe, and the underground tunnel system that used to be used in the days of Prohibition.

Incline Village

Our next highlight will be in the beautiful little town of Incline Village. We’ll drive along Lakeshore Drive and oggle at some of the most expensive homes on Lake Tahoe. Some of these home are built right on the lake, and be able to slowly drive by and take them all in.

On the way out of town, your tour guide will point out where the old TV show “Bonanza” was filmed, perhaps showing you the set, and the grounds where some of the show was filmed.

From here we’ll drive around Lake Tahoe on the eastern side on the way to Carson City. You’ll learn more history, take in some INCREDIBLE views of Lake Tahoe, and hear lots of stories about who lived here and what went on from the turn of the century through the “mafia” days.

Carson City

Carson City is the capital of Nevada, and is kind of a sleepy little town with an adorable historic downtown area that includes the beautiful grounds of the state capital buildings, original historic casinos like Cactus Jacks and the Nugget, and some stately old buildings.

From Carson City we take a half hour drive into the foothills of Virginia City, passing the infamous “Bunny Ranch” and its HBO popularity on the way.

Virginia City tours

Virginia City

The drive to Virginia City is a lot of fun. This is true Nevada desert complete with lots of mining history and perhaps a couple of herds of wild horses. On the way you’ll see lots of gold mining activity — old, abandoned mines, and current, in-use gold mines.

In Virginia City we’ll get out and spend about half an hour here, depending on time. It’s a touristy little town with lots of old shops, museums, old churches, graveyards, and lots of gold-mining history. There’s even some of the best candy stores that make their own candy right in front of you.

From Virginia City it’s back to Reno over the beautiful Geiger Grade, a windy and amazingly scenic old road that connects Virginia City to Reno.

Sightseeing Tours Reno Lake Tahoe

This winter, with the beautiful clear weather that we’ve been having in this area it’s a perfect time to take the Adventures of Reno sightseeing tours.

Our half day tour originates in Reno, and we will pick you up at any major casino in the area. You can call us directly at 775-789-2412, or have your concierge at the casino you are staying at contact us. Most of our tours leave around noon daily, and you should be back around 5 p.m.

We usually conduct our tours in a sightseeing van, a 9-person van with big comfortable chairs and lots of open window space for you to see out of.

From Reno, we’ll drive south on Highway 395 to Mt. Rose Highway. During this time you’ll find out some history and local information about Reno from our friendly and super-interesting tour guides who have been leading these tours for a long time and are very knowledgeable in Reno and local history.

We’ll take Mt. Rose Highway west toward Lake Tahoe. The Mt. Rose pass is an extremely scenic pass and is the highest mountain pass that’s open year-round in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, and is one of the few passes that cross the Sierra Nevadas. The highest point of the pass is around 9,000 feet.

On the way you’ll see Mt. Rose ski resort, and we’ll stop to see the East Bowl, and take a short picture break on an amazing overlook of the whole Washoe Valley that extends south from Reno. On a clear, non-windy day, you might even get to check out the hang gliders that take off from this point and sail down to the valley below.

You’ll be able to clearly see Carson City (Nevada’s capital), Washoe Lake in the valley below, and the Carson Range on the east side of Reno. Next week we’ll continue with our description of our Reno-Lake Tahoe half day sightseeing tour, and where we go from Mt. Rose.

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Be sure to ask about our Lake Tahoe snowmobile tours that take you to panoramic views of Lake Tahoe.