The Biggest Little City in the World — Lake Tahoe's backyard, casinos, and mountain air
Reno earns its ironic tagline by packing casino culture, a thriving arts scene, and outdoor adventure into a compact downtown an hour from Lake Tahoe's 22 miles of alpine shoreline. The Truckee River Walk threads through breweries, restaurants, and public art installations. Burning Man launches from the Nevada desert an hour north each August. The region's skiing, climbing, and mountain biking have made Reno a base camp for outdoor-first travelers who want casinos and nightlife close at hand.
Reno grew from a California Trail river crossing officially platted in 1868 as the Central Pacific Railroad pushed east from Sacramento. For much of the 20th century it was Nevada's 'divorce capital' — Americans could establish the six-week Nevada residency needed for a quick legal divorce at a time when most states made it difficult. Casino gambling, legalized in Nevada in 1931, eventually overtook the divorce trade as the city's primary industry, while recent decades brought diversification into technology: Tesla's Gigafactory sits 25 miles east, and the region now markets itself as 'Silico…