Lake tahoe is one of the most beautiful place in California. There are plenty of state parks and campsites around the lake, but D.L. Bliss is one of my favorite. Its nestled right on the lake, but some of the campsites are a little further back away from it. My favorite part about this campground is that it was pretty quite when I went. Not a whole lot of people there. The sites are a little small, but very nice. The beaches are great too and secluded.
The campground has all the amenities you could need. Hot showers, clean drinking water, nice bathrooms, firewood for sale, picnic tables. There are hiking trails right near the campground and, of course, the beach. There's also tons to do right around the lake. Scuba diving, biking trails, hiking trails, kayaking, whatever you can think of really.
My favorite hike in near Lake Tahoe is defiantly Mount Tallac. If you decide do to this hike, be prepared. Its about 10ish miles, pretty strenuous, and some of the trail can be covered with snow depending on the time of year.
Also, make sure to always store your food in bear safe containers. The bears can get pretty active around here depending on the time of year.
The campground is beautifully set in the trees. Lots of shade, but lots of Tahoe granite too: made it almost impossible to use tent stakes (if you use them). The sites range in size: some are quite large, some are very small, so some are very private, some have cozy neighbors. There is very little parking at the beach, so it’s best to just walk or drop off then return car to site. Some camp sites are quite far from the Lake if you have kids and lots of beach gear. There are lots of trailheads from the campground, and all of them are a great hike. We camped here multiple times with our family. It was an easy day trip to take our kayaks from here to Emerald Bay. Watch the weather though! The summer has become prone to afternoon thunderstorms.
Came here without reservations and was able to find a spot easily. Although it rained much of the time had a chance to explore the park and area. Each spot has a bear vault for curious visitors. Swimming access down by Lke Tahoe is great. Clean facilities, showers are coin operated and you need to get tokens from the check in.
My first time camping here was last year in June and we're going back this year. Pretty neat place. Had no Bear problems here, unlike Fallen Leaf.
We stayed here for 2 nights in October, just before they shut down for the season. I can imagine this place must be HOPPING in the Summer, but when we stayed it was peace and quiet and deserted!! So fantastic. We got a site right along the lake (stairs to the beach were just adjacent to our site) and there were only 2 other people in the entire campground.
Site was large, with picnic table, fire pit, and bear box to store and protect food. Bathrooms were clean, flush toilets, and hot showers that were token operated (buy tokens at check in area). The showers were only open every other day to conserve water when we were there as it wasn't busy. Firewood for sale, and drinking water easily accessible. We were told a bear had been seen in the campground just the day before, we didn't see any though. Plenty of trees for our hammock. Sunset over the lake was beautiful!
We did a trail run on the Rubicon trail (right from the campground) out to Vikingsholm and back. Very cool! Vikingsholm had closed just before we arrived so we couldn't tour the building itself, wish we could have done that.
Plenty of peace and quiet around the area since it was off season and pretty chilly (20s-30s at night). We loved Lake Tahoe and this campground, and can't wait to go back and properly explore the area more!
We've camped here 3 times. The bears were very active a few years back and knew how to get into the bear lockers, but it wouldn't stop me from going back. Beautiful campsites with shade. Walking distance to the beach.
Even on a Sunday night, the campgrounds near Lake Tahoe were packed. We found a fairly empty section of DL (the beach sports were all reserved much in advance). For a base to explore it'll work
We stayed at DL Bliss State Park campground for two nights in August. The campground location is perfect, with access to beautiful beaches and hiking trails. From the campground you can walk to the start of the Rubicon trail. They have flush toilets and hot showers (token operated), firewood and ice for sale. From the campground it's a short drive to Emerald Bay State Park, and hiking trails in the Desolation Wilderness. Suggest an early start for those because even during the week the trail head parking fills early. Lots of shade at the campsites and plenty of trees to hang a hammock. We were lucky and all of our neighbors respected quiet hours. Bear lockers were available at each site, which were large enough to hold two coolers and a large Rubbermaid of food.
