On a cold and rain threatening day, I was welcomed into the Echo Chalet with smiles and a heater blasting me warm, a massive piping hot cocoa with half & half, a giant hot Italian sub and the nicest conversation with the owner. Great guy, great people, great dogs! Locals are the best here. Thanks for your hospitality and kindness. My hike into Desolation Wilderness afterwards was all the better because of your good juju!!! Cheers!!!! read more

Love this spot. Wine list is great. Staff is wonderful. Lake is beautiful. Chalet is amazing.

Beautiful!!! You have to see it to believe it's real. Calm waters and lots of wild life to see. The pacific crest trail comes through here too. Great day hiking is available overnight will require a permit though. read more

Echo Chalet - Echo Lake August 2025 taken from the boat docks. - Hotels Near Me - Echo Lake, California

My fiancé and I came out of our 4 days hike from Meeks to Echo Lake and stopped at the chalet for snacks, and beer. We were treated so well by Kat and her staff!!! What a treat. Thank you for the hospitality! read more

Echo Chalet - Hotels Near Me - Echo Lake, California

They've got the snacks and beers for your day hikes, and enough ramen to get you to Tahoe City on your rim trail hike. Prices are reasonable for the convenience, and they can't be blamed for how the forest service maintains the nearby pit toilets. read more

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Fabulous Chalet with a small store for groceries, sundries & clothing. Fountain for ice cream cones & food. A must visit while going to Echo Lake! Wonderful owners, the Fashinells - Kat & Tom. A special experience! read more

We came here to hike. There's a small small lot at the bottom near the lake, but filled up by the time we got here around 8. We parked at the top and hiked our way down this unofficial trail that seemed pretty well used. You can also walk down the road that leads to the lake, but I don't recommend it because it's an actual car road. What I will give 0 stars for is their public restrooms. It is the SMELLIEST restroom I have been to. Worse than all of my camping ground + porta potty experience! I almost could not stay in there without wanting to gag and subsequently covering my nose and mouth with my shirt barely helped. Someone do something about that. PLEASE. The boat ride was $14 one-way and operates technically around 8am, but they didn't get to it till 8:30am. TOTALLY WORTH IT. It was a steady ride and no swaying/bumpiness. Did not trigger my motion sickness and my friend who has vertigo. We were dropped off at the Upper Lake. It was a little bit harder to find our way back on the trail, but it wasn't too bad. From there, headed toward the docks was about a 2 mile "hike". Not much elevation at all. It is really everyone-friendly. The view was beautiful and there were intermittent shades under the trees. So much to see and so many different views to appreciate! read more

This lake is stunning and the staff working at the Chalet are very kind. We rented two double kayaks to paddle around the lake with our kids and had a wonderful time. I did have to take off a star though because of the bathroom situation. Being so far and remote, they really need usable bathrooms and the bathrooms were so gross, I didn't dare even attempt to use them even though I had been chugging water on the lake. They smelled horrible, there was feces all over the seat....I could go on. Something needs to be done about this as I would likely not return to kayak here because there are basically no usable bathrooms, which doesn't work especially when you have kids. read more

One of my favorite places in the Sierra Nevada is the Echo Chalet Lodge, on Echo Lake. The Echo Chalet is the perfect high alpine resort. Rent a kayak or motorboat. Take the water taxi across lower Echo Lake, then thru the small channel to the upper lake. Here the taxi will drop you off at the trailhead to Desolation Wilderness, for a great day hike or backpacking trip. Echo Chalet has a deli and a ice cream counter, Plus foods, camping supplies, fishing tackle and dry goods. Even cabin rentals! You won't regret a day spent at Echo Chalet! read more

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The best location in Tahoe Cabins to rent and water taxi to shorten hike to Desolation

I started and stopped by TRT thru-hike here. It is a great hiker resupply point, they have everything you could want as a hiker. The staff is fantastic! I left my trekking poles there while getting picked up and someone turned them in the the lost and found. When I called the Chalet, they were super helpful in getting them returned to me. They went above what I could expect. Thank you Echo Chalet! read more

echo chalet...market, general store, reservations and more...t-shirts and hoodies...wine and snacks...aged wooden structure by the boat docks...$one ice cold soda...$three ice cream bars...refreshing reward after three full days and two nights backpacking through trails starting and ending at echo chalet...surviving on filtered lake water...traveling thirty miles through lower and upper echo lake, lake aloha, heather and susie lake and suicidal rock climb up dick's peak, down half moon lake and back...some off-trail hiking and exploring...for boating, fishing and day hiking, echo chalet a great start...for backpacking and camping...echo chalet a tricky start and hunt for suitable places to camp... read more

Echo Chalet - $3 ice cream... - Hotels Near Me - Echo Lake, California

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What a wonderful hiking location! My boyfriend and I decided to go hiking on a whim, and thanks to my father who's a avid hiker, he suggested this area. There are several trails ranging from beginner to advance hikers. There is also a boat charter that you can take around the lake to simply enjoy the scene without any hiking, but I very much enjoy the hiking part. read more

Echo Chalet - Different panoramas of the scenery - Hotels Near Me - Echo Lake, California

I really like what this place is trying to do. It's designed to be "everything for all people" with stuff including: * Basic boating / fishing supplies for people out at Echo Lake for the day (including very expensive gas) * Home repair and food supplies for people with cabins on Echo Lake * PCT / backpacker resupply supplies * Sandwiches, milkshakes, candy, fresh fruit for day hikers * Tourist "Echo Lake" logo t-shirts and hats and stuff for people who want that It'd get a fifth star, except everything is priced as if it's the only place for supplies for a long ways in any direction, and, well, it's not -- it's only a half hour from the major stores of South Lake Tahoe, so the price premium feels unjustified. Note: They also have a water taxi across Echo Lake; it's $14 one way (up from $12 last year), and it's fast, friendly, efficient, and quite expensive. Kind of like the rest of the store. read more

This is the BEST place in the High Sierra!!! it's about 9 or 10 miles from South Lake Tahoe, which is only a very short walk from our family cabin. Echo Chalet has never let us down. Always suppling today's newspaper, a fabulous cup o'joe, last minute fishing supplies as well as ingredients for tonights dinner...and let's not forget the hand scooped ice cream cone. You can get a cool post card and buy stamps right there and mail it from right there at the post office. Want a tour of the lake or just a boat taxi to the other side, the great Echo Chalet crew can do it. They'll also rent you a canoe or kayak! AND they have chaletlees/cabins for your overnight stays. The list goes on and on with their fab services. GO VISIT THEM. You won't be disappointed. read more

Closed unfortunately due to snowy weathers. We had a hard time getting here via Yelps address and ended up giving up.

The staff and owners are incredible. The negative reviews about the drought? That has nothing to do with being a small business, there was a drought! We ALL had to conserve that year. And many businesses charge for using credit cards on small purchases. The restrooms are chemical, that's the way it is at Echo. Has nothing to do with the Chalet, they can't do flush toilets! Seriously people, let's focus. read more

I really want to like this place. I do. It's in a beautiful scenic location. Its the gateway to Desolation Wilderness. The $12 water taxi rides to the far end of the Echo Lakes are convenient if a bit pricey. There's character to spare. And the teenagers who work here are friendly enough. But the policies they're asked to enforce are miserly to a fault. You get a clue to this on the sign on the door: "Drought. No water available to fill water bottles." OK. I sympathize with the plight of the small business. Everyone wants something for nothing. I bet it happens that a group of hikers will show up with empty one-liter bottles, buy nothing at the store, and ask to fill two bottles per hiker. But c'mon. My family spent $60 on water taxi rides across the lake, $36 on the return trip (two of us hiked back) and bought a bunch of ice cream. And you couldn't give me a lousy cup of water to go with my ice cream cone? And then you wanted to charge me a $1 surcharge on a credit card purchase of less than ten dollars? I understand needing to adopt frugal business practices to stay in business. But there's a tipping point between frugal and miserly. This frequent Tahoe visitor won't be spending any more money in your store if I can help it. read more

The restrooms there are DISGUSTING!!! I had to pinch my nose and breath through my mouth while choking back dry heaving and fighting the urge to throw up. I strongly recommend that you use the bathroom before coming here. If you must use this bathroom, be sure to wear a gas mask and bring your own toilet paper with you. The toilet paper they have is locked on a bar and forget about getting more then one small piece at a time. read more

Mostly famous for being a resupply for Pacific Crest Trail hikers. Cheryl Strayed did not stop here, though - she skipped the high Sierra all together. You can expect your typical tourist needs to be filled here at typical tourist prices. If you have nothing better to do, grab a beer and take a ride on the water taxi. read more

One star only because negative stars are not possible. Hands down the worst customer service I have ever experienced. If you run into Tyler, run the other way. This employee should be unemployed! How sad that one employee can ruin the reputation of the entire place. I will never spend another dollar here. Nor will I ever visit this place again. Tourists......be warned! read more

I love that they charge a lot less than they could, given their location (a can of soda for 75 cents!).

Rustic, amazing and the best staff. Everyone was incredibly friendly, especially Tyler. He answered all of my questions and was awesome. Can't wait to go back to this beautiful place. read more

Bill B. This is a beautiful location, but the cabin left a lot to desire. The cabin was filthy - the sink in the bathroom and toilet weren't cleaned before we got there, the carpet hadn't been vacuumed all summer and in the kitchen the sink was dirty and so were the dishes. The thing that was the worst though was that there were mice in the cabin. This wouldn't be that big a deal if the bedroom was separate from the kitchen but it is not, so there were mice running around the bedroom all night. We didn't want to stay a second night in that situation so we talked to owner who's response was that there were no mice in the cabin and they had a no refund policy. We were not asking for our money back for the night we had stayed, but just for the next night we were not going to stay. They weren't losing out on a someone else who might have rented the cabin because there were several empty cabins. The place is run very unprofessionally! read more

Breathtaking scenery. Great paninis. Extremely friendly and helpful employees

Charming mountain cabins with excellent views and vibe! Staff is extremely competent and courteous. We felt that the staff was taking personal care of us, with a true family feel. read more