Palisades Tahoe — Hotel in Tahoe City

To be clear, this review is based on our shoulder season experience and not what I imagine to be a crazy busy winter season (if there's snow). I also raise a question about where this development is going, as it appears to be ignoring historic resources beyond requirements for a name change. The location alone is underutilized, so I'm hoping future plans lead to a more resourceful future.

I loved the calm, relaxed vibe. I could hang at any of the restaurants or just do some reading from a comfy Adirondack. The views are bucket list worthy, but this entire development is in a moment of transition that makes me both excited and sad.

Based on observation, the development is initiating infrastructure improvements as well as plans for continued village expansion. It meant a rush of weekday construction noise, unavoidable as the work prepares for what will hopefully be a solid snowy ski season. My expansive mountain views were punctuated with heavy diesel equipment and their cautionary back up beeps. For someone in the design and development industry, it's all very exciting if not an obnoxious interruption of a quick weekend away. To be clear, I don't want them to stop, it's just my bad timing.

It saddens me, however, that the development has decided to nearly abandon its Mid-Century Modern origins as a 1960 Olympic Village. There are some truly gorgeous architectural elements from this past that should be elevated rather than what appears to be their dismissal, from the enormous A-frames to the glass panoramas of the mountain top vista, pool, and skating rink that are still worthy of a James Bond visit. I don't know if the A-frames are part of the redevelopment, but the newer "alpine" hotels and time shares suggest their days are numbered rather than embraced for a modern architectural aesthetic.

What would its alpine vocabulary look like today as an expansion of Mid-Century Modern geometries rather than the rehash of obese Craftsman styles found at ever other ski village in the US? So much for sense of place and an acknowledgement of California's Mid-Century Modern origins, but I suppose there's a similar argument for California's Craftsman style. But I digress.

The neglect of the mountain top vista, restaurant, pool and ice rink turned skating rink (during the summer) is truly sad to see, too. I can imagine some good reasons, such as being built in a rush for the Olympics and were never intended to last this long, especially as priorities and uses change. The pool is an awesome 60s organic shape, but I can't imagine how much water it takes to maintain. Then we have the roller rink.

A quick online search found a roller rink in Kazakhstan claiming to be the world's highest....at 5,500'. The Palisades has this beat by nearly 3,000', but the development does not take advantage of this status that could be a fabulous summer draw. Where else can you skate to a panorama including a distant view of Lake Tahoe? The neglect suggests ripeness for redevelopment, sorely needed, but at what cost to this dynamic architecture, unique history, and tremendous view...and possibly a world record breaker gone unrecognized?

I applaud local effort to develop bikeways, which I hope to take advantage of next year. I'd especially enjoy more hiking opportunities in the valley's meadow as well as on the mountains. I may be wrong, but this appears to be another area that could use more expansion, especially if the drought persists and there might need to be greater emphasis on summer/fall activities. Mountain biking is another missed opportunity that other resorts have gained interest in providing guests.

This review is much lengthier than I expected, and I hope I'm not the only voice that can express this twisted excitement for the village's future wrapped in concern for embracing the remnants of its...

Truly amazing family experience.

Suggest to arrive by 8:30 am latest to make sure we had enough time to find parking, rent skiing equipment including helmets, and pay for the lift tickets.

Early arrivial guarantees a fun unforgettable experience. Arrive later and expect a long wait time in 2 hour lines for rentals and lift tickets.

Arrived early, waited in line, rented equipment and lift tickets (45 minutes).

Customer Service was surprisingly fantastic, especially with many people feeling grumpy due to SIP (Shelter in Place) or Stay at Home. On another note, customer service in many aspects of our communities (restaurants, schools, supermarkets, etc) are non existent or lazy. The skii and resort offer awesome service. Best of all the diveristy of the young people they bring in from all over the world on work visas combined with local charming people offer great friendly service. We love the VIP experience and smiles.

Hit the skii lifts and slopes 15 minutes later.

2021 snow was a perfect powder with slight icy crunch that skiis and snowboards love.

We are in ski and snowboard Heaven. Perfect snow. Perfect weather. Perfect cold. Perfect sun. Made sure to have our winter attire, jackets, beanies, snow pants, boots, snow shoes - made the day fun for young and old.

The large ski lift charges extra $49 to ride to top of mountain. Well worth the money to take a 15 minute ride up over 8000 feet.

The views are beautiful. Restaurant at top is very nice. Opens at 11am. Enjoyed light lunch, Bloody Mary's, and chilled while young ones enjoyed snowboarding and skiing. Top of the mountain is super windy and brings a type of Chicago Wind Chill factor - brrrrrr. Make sure to have scarf to cover face.

Once at top, one may ski or snowboard all the way down by following the trails. Excellent long 20+ minute snow experience going down.

The resort area is full of fun things to do. Eat, drink, walk around, shop, chill....repeat. We spent 2 days at ( the resort formerly known Squa Valley).

Leaving late at 5pm - must have patience because escaping the parking lot takes more than 15-20 minutes and getting down the road to turn on main highway another 15. Total time could be 30-45 minutes to get out of parking lot. However, once reaching main highway, turn right drive a few minutes and stop onto side road to take photos of the river, snow covered pines, ducks. Beautiful.

Over all awesome experience....

Palisade ski area especially since it combined with next door Alpine Meadows is a world-class resort. I'm an expert but not extreme skier, and with few exceptions can ski most of the terrain, which is quite varied. There's plenty of terrain for intermediate skiers as well. Between both areas there's plenty of terrain for beginners too.

Both resorts are easy to get around. And getting between Olympic Village (formerly Squaw Valley), is really easy with regular shuttles and a new gondola that bridges the two areas. Most of the lifts are high speed high capacity adding to a positive experience. The scenery is outstanding including certain vantage points of Lake Tahoe and the surrounding mountain peaks!

While there are several really good ski areas in Lake Tahoe, if you are a visitor this is definitely one of the places that should be on your itinerary.

When there was a lot of snow, such as the 22-23 season, you can pretty much ski anywhere. Intermediate skiers and above can cover the entire mountain not necessarily ever run but ride all of the lifts a couple of times and get a feeling for the different sections and terrain. If you have never skied Palisades before and are coming to visit I recommend spending two or three days so you can experience both the Olympic Village and Alpine Meadows areas.

I I'm retired so I mostly ski weekdays, It can be busy at times, though I've never had a problem with parking or lift lines. Like most large resorts, holiday and weekend crowds can be difficult to contend with. A lot of the terrain is open with minimal or no trees, so days when there's high wind most if not all of the lifts may not be operating so be sure to check the weather forecast.

All of the amenities that you would expect of a large world-class resort are available as well especially at Olympic Village, that includes pubs, restaurants, rentals, shops,...