Palisades Tahoe ski resort to introduce paid parking next season

Palisades Tahoe, the largest ski resort in the Lake Tahoe region, will introduce paid parking next season in response to ongoing traffic concerns.

The new parking and traffic plans were announced Friday.

The no-reservation and reserve-in-advance paid parking program will go into effect on weekends from mid-December 2023 through March 2024 as well as throughout holiday periods including Christmas, New Year’s and President’s Day. Weekday parking will still be free, Palisades Tahoe public relations manager Patrick Lacey wrote in an email to The Press Democrat.

The paid parking program will be adjusted if demand is lower than expected. And, as guests depart on peak days, reservations and paid parking restrictions will be lifted, the resort said.

Palisades Tahoe, which is still partially open for its 2022-2023 ski season until July 4, hopes to alleviate what it calls “arrival and departure traffic impacts on guests, employees, and the local community” with the new efforts, according to a news release.

Those impacts include gridlock traffic on nearby Highway 89 and other roads close to the resort caused by drivers searching for parking. “North Lake Tahoe isn’t just a place for recreation, but there is a whole community up here where people work and live,“ Lacey wrote.

The resort’s Village at Palisades Tahoe contains 4,200 parking spaces, with an additional 1,825 spaces at the resort’s Apline Lodge and overflow parking available in the Hidden Valley lot on Highway 89 and in the Deer Park lot off Alpine Meadows Road.

The resort said that it is “actively exploring alternative options to alleviate the need for parking reservations and paid parking” in the form of mass transit possibilities. While details on those plans are still forthcoming, the resort said it is looking to other resorts nationwide that have implemented similar systems.

“This initiative seeks to promote carpooling, encourage the use of public transportation, and ensure accountability by requiring individuals to show up on their designated reservation day,“ Lacey wrote.

For more information on Palisades Tahoe’s plans, go to blog.palisadestahoe.com.