Where to stay on Smith Mountain Lake?
 

Couple years ago I stayed at Bernards Landing. It was an Airbnb or VRBO condo. Few slips available to rent, walking and sight distance from the condo. We were able to access the resort amenities. Beach area for kids to play. Restaurants all over that lake so no matter where you stay, you can get to something by boat.
The launch area and ramp was tight was my only complaint. I had a 27’ Fountain then.
Really enjoyed the lake. I’ll go back one day. I would have already been back if it was closer than 6 hours.

Homestead Creamery has awesome sandwiches and ice cream. You would have to drive a vehicle there but it’s worth it.

The condo I stayed at would be too small for you but I’m sure there are lot of other options there.

Bridgewater Plaza is a bit of a ways to drive by boat but I didn’t mind it. Ice cream and miniature golf for the kids there + food.

Currently, we like this place the best:
https://www.marinerslanding.com/

We saw that but we are reallying looking for a house. We usually do a big trip to a house in the beach in nags head but we want to change it up this year

As if right now a house in the lower part is the front runner. Plenty of entertainment this end of the lake? How far from the bridge give or take should this be?


https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...022bab7500.jpg

In my opinion that is a good area of the lake to stay. Everything to the left of RT711 is more laid back and the water is smoother. There are also a few good restaurants around that area. One word of caution... looking at your picture of the area look to the right of the “E” in lake and you will see a few islands. DO NOT try and cut between them. Go below and around them it gets very shallow. One of the few shallow spots on the whole lake. We were warned about that area at the captains meeting for a poker run. As far as getting to the bridge it will take less than 20min by boat at 30mph.

How would the Smith Mountain Lake area be to retire in?

SML is a good place to retire. Well... having said that we will need to interview you first. LOL It took me years to get the Northerner out of my wife. If you can assimilate or are already in a laid back mindset come on down we would love to have you! I would like to move to SML but we have so many great friends that live close to us. Soooo we may just get a second house for summer time use. The wife and I have looked at "The Waters Edge" area. The development has a nice CC that has Golf, tennis and pickleball along with other activities. The lake also has an active boating group. (SMLBA) The group is not HP oriented for the most part, but not a bunch of old farts either. LOL They also put on the Poker Run each year and they would like to have more performance boats in the mix. Depending on your price range if you don't want to be on the water houses can be had at a good price.

Are their many performance boats on SML?

We typically see about three to six every time we go. Now I have never seen any 40+ MTI / Skaters type boats on the lake. It’s no LOTO. The waves on SML are typically under 12ft. LOL sorry I had to add that. I have read so many posts about various places around the country that have huge waves. Most performance boats on SML are V hulls in the mid 30’ range. Although, I did see a nice Twin OB cat last year but it was too far away and moving way faster than me.