We went Snowboarding (and skiing) in Heavenly during the first week of April (2021) and this post will summarize our experience and give you some tips on the best places to stay, eat, have fun and optimize your day in the mountains.
Best Hotel in Heavenly
We have to start with the best place to stay. We like to switch between hotels and try different places, but the one we liked the most (by far) was the Marriott Grand Residence Club. This is a picture from our room:
Nice pool, big room, beautiful view and is the one closest to the Heavenly Gondola. Plus, it is in the middle of the village, so you can walk to all the restaurants, the ice skating rink and you are 1 minute walk from the Gondola.
Restaurants
Too many options. We easily gained a few pounds by eating so much there. Best ones we enjoyed were the:
- Azul Mexican Food (In the Village)
- Basecamp Pizza (by the ice rink)
The kids wanted to go back to Basecamp for pizza every night, but the lines were long. So I definitely recommend putting your name early in the evening, before you a too hungry. If you get there by 5pm, you will be seated by 6 or 7pm.
Gondola – Start your day early
The view from the Gondola is beautiful, but you have to arrive early. We were there around 8:15am most days (Gondola opens at 8:30am) and there was always quite a bit of a line. I noticed that between 9am and 11am are the worst times with way too long lines. If you go in the afternoon, it is not too bad as well, but you lose the mornings.
The best view in Tahoe
Arguably, the best view in Tahoe. The lake with the snowy mountains in the back is the place thing about Heavenly. It goes toe to toe with Diamond Peak as the best view ski resort.
The Heavenly Mountain
The mountain is amazing, with lots of good options for all the levels. Some parts are a bit too flat for snowboarders, so you have to be aware and get some decent speed before you get stuck. You can go from California to Nevada and ski/snowboard on both states – that was cool.
Funny enough, the California side is green and snowy, while the Nevada side is the desert. Beautiful contrast between the states.
The best runs we found were the Groove park (features for all ski levels), Ridge run (fun blue run) and the Sky canon (easy black). We noted that most of their Blue runs are pretty easy and would probably be classified as green on other resorts. So if you are a beginner with a few days of practice under your belt, you will probably feel confident on the blue runs too.
Blue runs are Heavenly are greens on most resorts. And most black runs are pretty easy too.
Our experience.
The heavenly Groove park
We had a lot of fun at the Groove Park. They have a side with small and extra small features and a side with the medium and large ones. There is a lift for each one (with no lines), so you can go up and down a dozen times pretty fast.
On the left, is the “easy” Groove, with lots of flat boxes, small jumps and easy trails. On the right, the jumps are medium size with some good rails, tubes and long boxes.
And that’s pretty much it. We loved the resort, the vibe, the runs, food and music. Our kids even took ice skating lessons, which they offer every day at the village.
I would rate it 10/10.
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