The Ritz-Carlton, Lake Tahoe

The Hotel

The Ritz-Carlton, Lake Tahoe opened in December 2009 as the only mid-mountain five-star resort at Lake Tahoe — built into the slope at 6,950 feet on the Northstar California ski mountain (Truckee, California, on the lake's northwest flank), with direct ski-in / ski-out access to the Northstar Highlands trail and a private gondola interconnect to the village base. The property was developed in partnership between East West Partners and Vail Resorts (which owns and operates Northstar) and remains the only Ritz-Carlton in the Lake Tahoe basin. The exterior is a contemporary mountain-modern interpretation of the timber-and-stone Sierra vernacular; the interior was refreshed in a 2022–2023 renovation that updated every room and the public spaces while preserving the original architectural envelope.

The 170 keys are arranged across the main building's seven floors, with mountain-view rooms looking south into the Northstar bowl and lake-view rooms (the higher categories) looking north across the Truckee valley to a thin slice of Lake Tahoe in the distance (the lake itself is not directly visible from the property — the views are over the foothills). Standard rooms run 530 square feet — generous by ski-resort standards — with gas fireplaces in every room, deep soaking tubs in every bathroom, and floor-to-ceiling windows. Suites range from Junior to the Presidential; the Lake View Suites are the headline category. Twenty-three Slifer Designs three- to four-bedroom Residences are bookable through the hotel for multi-generational ski-week stays.

Manzanita is the headline restaurant — Bay Area chef Traci des Jardins's contemporary Sierra Nevada concept, opened with the property in 2009 and the only fine-dining room on the mountain. The Backyard Bar & BBQ handles the slope-side après-ski crowd; The Living Room is the lobby bar with live music in the evenings; Highlands Court is the all-day venue. The 17,000-square-foot Spa Highlands has fifteen treatment rooms, a co-ed mineral pool, separate men's and women's lounges with their own steam rooms and saunas, and a fitness centre arranged around a vertical ascent room for altitude training. The two outdoor pools (one infinity-edge, both heated to 88°F year-round, both with adjacent hot tubs) sit on the slope-side terrace under the Northstar bowl.

Ski-in / ski-out is the property's central proposition. The Highlands Express trail runs directly past the property's ski concierge — guests collect skis from the boot room, click in twenty feet from the door, and ride the Highlands Gondola down to the Northstar village base or up onto the upper mountain. The Ski Concierge holds custom-fit boots, demos new equipment, and runs a full Vail Resorts Epic Pass desk. Summer operations (June–October) shift to mountain biking (Northstar's bike park is the largest in the Tahoe basin), hiking, and Lake Tahoe boating from the Sierra Boat Company in Carnelian Bay. The Ritz Kids programme runs full-day age-graded children's activities winter and summer. Among California ski properties only Stein Eriksen Lodge (Park City, Utah) and the Montage Deer Valley operate at this combination of ski-in / ski-out access, food-and-beverage standard, and operating depth.

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