Emerald Bay is one of the many places in the Lake Tahoe Basin that Instragram users photograph. (Image: Kathryn Reed)

“They” say Emerald Bay is one of the most photographed places in the world. “They”might be correct.

Family Destinations Guide analyzed Instagram hashtag data to determine which California tourist locations are most popular. Lake Tahoe, not Emerald Bay alone, came in No. 4.

Even those who don’t do Instagram would likely put Tahoe in their top 10 list of must-visit places in California, and even higher for Nevada.

What wasn’t revealed in the information provided by the hashtag trackers or by reaching out to Family Destinations Guide was for what time period the data was collected. So, what none us knows is if the numbers are for all of 2022, or some other chunk of time.

Regardless, it’s fun to see Lake Tahoe deemed so Instagramable. With so many locations being photo-worthy, it would be interesting to dissect the data to know what is photographed most in the basin, in what season, and whether more tourists or locals are doing all that posting.

Not surprising is that Yosemite National Park was the No. 1 tourist attraction in the state with 4.8 million hashtags, according to the data provided. Venice Beach (really?) was No. 2 at 4.4 million hashtags. No. 3 was the Golden Gate Bridge at 4.3 million.

The next tier starts with Tahoe with 2.81 million hashtags. No. 5 was Disneyland at 2.46 million. Big Sur was No. 6 with 1.48 million, No. 7 Santa Monica Pier 1.47 million, No. 8 Death Valley National Park 1.3 million, No. 9 Alcatraz Island 1.2 million, and No. 10 was the Hollywood sign with 978,000.