After being lied to by AlcatrazMedia, the booking company for the around the lake tour about a nonexistent e-ticket and another limo tour would not ever commit to a specific date, I called Paulette on Monday afternoon 7/13. She and Roger picked us up Tues. 7/14 on time. She was so accommodating and answered all of our questions. Roger, the driver, who lived a short time in Texas (our home state), provided interesting humorous details. Our week in Reno was saved by this Lake Tahoe, Virginia City, and Carson City bus tour. This is the one silver lining in the declining, indifferent city of Reno.

I am a solo traveler and I hate the hassle of renting a car, so I have been on many tours, some good, some not so good. This one is well worth the money. The tour guide, Paulette was so friendly, like she knew everybody for a long time and we were just hanging out. And, I believe the driver was Roger, he also did a great job and threw his 2 cents in now and then. The knowledge of Paulette on EVERYTHING was just unbelievable!! Anything you ask, she also knew. If you want to see the beautiful sights and learn the history etc in a short time comfortably....DO IT!!!

Jolene, the tour guide and bus driver has set a standard by which many future guides will be measured ;) I cannot say enough about how she directed this three city tour. Very knowledgeable and history filled. This is a must do activity for anyone interested in the sights, Lake Tahoe, and history. I visited in August and was able to take many great pics from the front passenger seat.Caron City, Virginia City are included in the tour. We even passed through the Red Light district! LOL... Nothing alarming to see here :) Jolene stopped briefly for me to pick a bit of the wild Sage bush, Nevada's State flower, growing every where! A long the way, stops are made for bathroom breaks and food. The most impressive for me was Lake Tahoe and the Donner State Park where stopped just briefly and the history.I will do the entire tour again in a heartbeat with Jolene as the guide. The bus as very comfortable and the cost very affordable. I just wish a tour was available to attend the Shakespeare Festival at the Sand Harbor State Park! Money and time well spent! Five Stars*****!

If you are visiting for a short time taking this trip is a must. It was a great way to see Lake Tahoe without having to drive over the mountains. No knowing the area this was a real great way to see attractions that you would not see if you were doing a tour yourself.

I met a lady who had also signed up for the tour, and we stood next to the statue of the horses in front of the Grand Sierra Resort as directed when we signed up. The driver was 15 minutes late, and instead of pulling up to the curb, Jim parked in the middle lane with some other commercial vehicles. He saw us standing there, but instead of walking over and asking us if we were waiting for the tour bus, he made 4 or 5 calls to our cell phones, which were off, as well as to the main office, which also called and left messages. So, we pulled away 30 minutes later than the planned 11:00 departure time. Jim didn't introduce himself or give us an opportunity to introduce ourselves, where we were from, or tell us to speak up if we had any questions. At first I thought he was peeved about the fact the he almost couldn't find us, but he turned out to be a nice guy, grandfatherly type, soft-spoken and with a slight stutter. The van was described to us on the phone as being a large, 10-seater, very modern, with glass all around, and captain's chairs. Now, you're thinking spacious, right? Wrong! The seats were cramped, because it was just a large-sized van. Each of us had a window to look out of, but it was only about a foot high. When we drove through the mountain passes you could hardly ever see the tops of the mountains. The speaker system was cheap, with the driver wearing a clip-on microphone that was too close to his mouth, so that each of his p's and t's became minor explosions in an otherwise ear-straining stream of conversation. His voice coming out of the two speakers mounted in the rear doors was barely audible for the first hour and a half until we got out at Lake Tahoe. Only then did he ask how well we could hear him. I asked him if he could possibly turn it up, which he did. This was an improvement, but still not what you would expect of a tour bus. To make it worse, whenever the tourist in the front seat asked a question, Jim would simply answer it without repeating the question, so most of us in the back had the annoying experience of listening in on half of a conversation that seemed like it would otherwise have been interesting. The driver pointed out quite few things, but his remarks could have been better prepared and more complete. He repeated the same facts several times. He also made reference to things that he spotted along the way, but didn't bother describing where he saw them (things like to the left or to the right would have helped). In a van such as this, not every passenger can see things as well as from the front seat. Don't some tour buses have raised ceilings with windows in them, too? Before the 5-hour trip was over, we had to stop for gas. What?! Why? We stopped at a rocky outcrop for our single photo op at Lake Tahoe. While that was nice, it would have been nice to also be able to walk along the water somewhere, but no. We drove past a lot of expensive log cabins, houses, and hotels...some of them very run down. After you've seen a few of these, you've probably seen enough. Let me tell you, it takes a while to drive all the way around this lake! Personally, I didn't care for Virginia City. It seemed really run down and a cheap tourist trap. For me, an hour was more than enough time, but others on the trip would have liked to spend more time there. Maybe I was just waiting for the trip to be over, so I could write this terrible review! All in all, this was not worth the $80 price tag. Even so, I gave the driver a $5 tip because I felt sorry for him, and most of the things I didn't like weren't his fault. If you still decide to go on this trip, make sure you get a direct-dial phone number for the office (I had to be patched in through the Silver Legacy Resort when I signed up), and maybe also the driver. When you sign up, they get your credit card information and make it clear that you will be charged full price if you fail to show up.