About the Reno-Tahoe Area
Nevada can only be described as unique — the place, the people, and the culture. All are like no other place in the United States — or the world for that matter. From the pristine shores of Lake Tahoe to the flat playa of the Black Rock Desert, from the antiquity of Mark Twain's Virginia City to the neon metropolis of Las Vegas, Nevada is a compilation of extremes founded on the pioneering spirit of the West.
The University of Nevada reaches into every county in the state from its main campus perched on a hill above downtown Reno. The city has become a melting pot of personalities, combining its old Western attitude with modern influences creeping in from the nearby San Francisco Bay Area. Horse trainers and technologists live side-by-side in a growing suburbia, with entertainment options ranging from the Reno Rodeo to the Nevada Museum of Art.
Reno has long been famed as “The Biggest Little City in the World,” though it now has more than 335,000 residents calling it and the surrounding region home. The city offers the advantages and excitement of an urban area along with the quality-of-life characteristic of a relatively small Western community. With tourism as the major industry, headlining shows can often be found in the downtown and Lake Tahoe entertainment centers. Fine restaurants and nightclubs exist in abundance.
With an average of 300 days a year of sunshine, the Reno-Tahoe area has been ranked by Rand McNally's Vacation Places Rated as the No.-1 location in the nation for outdoor sports activities. Reno offers easy access to some of the world's finest ski resorts as well as whitewater kayaking on the Truckee River — five minutes away from campus.
The Truckee, which runs from Lake Tahoe through Reno on its way to Pyramid Lake, provides a natural parkway that winds through the heart of the city and a developed bicycle and pedestrian path follows its course. Reno is surrounded by public lands that provide hiking and mountain biking opportunities immediately accessible from the city and the university campus. More than 30 golf courses are within an hour's drive of downtown Reno , and numerous parks, recreation facilities, and swimming pools are found around the city.
Reno also supports a thriving arts community rivaled by few cities of its size: both philharmonic and chamber orchestras, a municipal band, an opera company, a performing artist series, a month-long summer arts festival, and active theater groups. Several art galleries, museums, and a planetarium are located on or near the university campus. The municipally-owned Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Reno and the Church Fine Arts Complex at the university provide ideal settings for artistic and cultural events. The Reno-Sparks Convention Center near the southern edge of the city and Lawlor Events Center on campus are used for indoor athletic activities such as basketball, and for large concerts, conventions and trade fairs.
Accolades
- No. 1 on Inc. magazine's Best Places for Doing Business in America 2005 [PDF]
- No. 9 in the annually updated book, Cities Ranked and Rated
- Life 2.0 - Among Top 150 Cities to Combine Fulfilling Jobs and Quality of Life