Popular Tahoe beach plagued by overcrowding to get new, bigger parking lot
May 1-Lake Tahoe's East Shore is a summertime paradise with hidden beaches, sun-washed boulders and the clearest blue water. The only problem is how to get there. Driving up the winding and narrow Highway 28 involves blind corners, cars parked on sketchy, narrow shoulders - often illegally - and pedestrians filing past zooming cars, their arms full of beach chairs, floaties and coolers.
Tahoe transportation authorities announced a milestone in a 13-year-long effort to make this highway corridor safer and increase access to the East Shore beaches: A new parking lot at Chimney Beach is opening this spring with 130 spaces.
This is one instance where paradise actually needed to be paved.
Highway 28 between Incline Village and Spooner Summit is a two-lane road that sees 1 million recreational visitors and about 4 million cars whizzing by, every year, according to transportation authorities. About 3,000 people will descend on this narrow stretch of Tahoe on a peak summer day.
All those people are heading down a steep trail to one of the beaches tucked into the boulder-strewn coves on Tahoe's East Shore. Chimney Beach is one of the more well-known and popular East Shore beaches. Its namesake stone chimney is the last remnant of an old caretaker's cabin. It stands alone on the sand, in front of the trees, looking out toward the main cove. On a busy summer day, the narrow strip of sand and shallow water in front of the beach are full of people and dogs, with beachgoers spilling over onto the rocks, setting up in the nooks and crannies of the boulders.
Chimney Beach's proximity to Incline Village is yet another reason it gets so crowded. Home to millionaires and billionaires seeking a tax-friendly haven in Nevada, Incline Village's beaches are private and closed off to the public. That exclusivity pushes beachgoers from out of town down the highway. Sand Harbor State Park is the first beach they'll encounter, and it's been overwhelmed by visitors. Now Sand Harbor requires a reservation to enter, while those without a reservation continue down the road, looking for a spot to access one of the other beaches hidden below the highway, like Chimney Beach.
The new, expanded parking area is a "key piece" to making the gateway to Chimney Beach and the Highway 28 corridor safer for everyone, said Jim Marino, executive director of the Tahoe Transportation District, in a news release.
With the new parking lot comes increased enforcement to curtail roadside parking on Highway 28. The Nevada Department of Transportation will remove more roadside parking on Highway 28 and extend the no-parking zone that currently exists near Sand Harbor down to the county line between Washoe County and Carson City.
Starting June 1, drivers must pay to park their vehicles at the new Chimney Beach lot. Paid parking will also go into effect at the Secret Beach parking lot on Highway 28. Both parking lots will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily, and will charge a flat rate of $12 for the day. There's no time limit for how long a car can be parked during operating hours.
The revenue generated from the parking lots will go toward "safety, access and environmental stewardship" along the Highway 28 corridor, the Tahoe Transportation District stated in the news release.
"By providing designated and managed parking, we are reducing impacts to sensitive resources and creating safer, more sustainable access to public lands," said Daniel Cressy, public services staff officer for the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit. Much of the land on Tahoe's East Shore is managed by the Forest Service.
Authorities also installed a new pedestrian crossing on Highway 28 with advanced warning to motorists, making it safer for pedestrians to cross the road. A new restroom facility and other amenities are in the plans to be constructed at Chimney Beach this summer.
Eventually, both parking lots will connect to the Tahoe East Shore Trail, a paved bike path that currently connects Incline Village to Sand Harbor. That project is currently in the design phase of planning.
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This story was originally published May 1, 2026 at 7:07 PM.