How Many Days Do You Need in Yosemite?

How many days is enough?

Yosemite is large and its main areas are far apart. Glacier Point is a little under an hour's drive from the Valley, the Mariposa Grove a little over an hour, and Tuolumne Meadows about 1.5 hours. Each one is a half day or more once you add walking time.

Count full days in the park, not nights. If you are driving in from San Francisco or Los Angeles, your arrival day is mostly lost to the road.

One day in Yosemite

With one day, stay in and above Yosemite Valley. Arrive early, park once (Yosemite Falls, Yosemite Village or Curry Village lots), and use the free Valley shuttle, which runs all year from about 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

• Sunrise or early morning: Tunnel View on Wawona Road, for the classic view of El Capitan, Bridalveil Fall and Half Dome.
• Bridalveil Fall: a 0.5-mile round-trip walk to the base.
• Late morning: Lower Yosemite Fall loop (1 mile, nearly flat) and Cook's Meadow loop (1 mile) for Half Dome and Yosemite Falls views.
• Midday: Mist Trail from Happy Isles to the Vernal Fall footbridge (1.6 miles round trip, 400 feet of gain), or on to the top of Vernal Fall (2.4 miles, 1,000 feet, about 3 hours).
• Afternoon: stop in El Capitan Meadow to look for climbers on the wall.
• Sunset: Glacier Point (30 miles, a little under an hour from the Valley) when Glacier Point Road is open, usually late spring to November. Otherwise, return to Tunnel View.

Two days in Yosemite

Two days lets you slow down in the Valley and give Glacier Point a proper half day instead of a quick sunset stop.

• Day 1, Valley floor: Tunnel View, Bridalveil Fall, Lower Yosemite Fall and Cook's Meadow in the morning. Mirror Lake in the afternoon (2 miles round trip to the lake, or a 5-mile loop). Sunset at Tunnel View or along the Merced River.
• Day 2, Mist Trail and Glacier Point: start early on the Mist Trail to the top of Vernal Fall, or continue to the top of Nevada Fall (5.4 miles round trip, 2,000 feet of gain, 5 to 6 hours). After lunch, drive up Glacier Point Road and hike Sentinel Dome (2 miles round trip) or Taft Point (2.2 miles round trip), then stay for sunset at Glacier Point.
• Winter version: Glacier Point Road is closed past Badger Pass, so swap day 2 for the Valley Loop Trail, a snowshoe walk or skiing at Badger Pass.

Three days in Yosemite

Use the two-day plan, then pick a third day based on season and where you are sleeping. If you are entering or leaving through the South Entrance on Highway 41, the sequoias are on your way. If Tioga Road is open (usually late May or June to November), the high country is the bigger contrast to the Valley.

• Option A, Mariposa Grove: park at the Welcome Plaza near the South Entrance and ride the free shuttle (late April to November; 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. from May 3 to September 23 in 2026). Walk the Big Trees Loop (0.3 mile) or the Grizzly Giant Loop (2 miles, 1.5 to 2 hours). The 300-space lot can fill by late morning. Stop at Wawona on the way back.
• Option B, Tioga Road and Tuolumne Meadows: drive up Tioga Road with stops at Olmsted Point and Tenaya Lake. At Tuolumne Meadows, walk to Parsons Lodge and Soda Springs (1.4 miles round trip) or hike to Dog Lake and Lembert Dome (3.8 miles, 3 to 4 hours). Strong hikers can do Cathedral Lakes (7.6 miles, 6 to 7 hours) instead.
• Leaving east: Tioga Road continues over Tioga Pass to Lee Vining, about two hours from the Valley, which makes Option B a good last day if you are heading to the Eastern Sierra.

If you have four or five days

With extra time, do both third-day options and add one big hike. Upper Yosemite Fall is 7.2 miles round trip with 2,700 feet of gain, best in May and June when the fall is running. Half Dome needs a permit for the cables, from the preseason lottery (applications March 1 to 31) or the daily lottery two days ahead.

Hetch Hetchy, about 1.5 hours from the Valley, is a quieter option with waterfalls that are best in spring. Its road is open sunrise to sunset and closes in snow.

Where to stay inside the park

Staying in the park saves the most driving, which matters most on one- and two-day trips. Lodging is run by the park concessioner, Yosemite Hospitality, and summer dates book far in advance.

In Yosemite Valley, The Ahwahnee and Yosemite Valley Lodge are open all year; Curry Village and Housekeeping Camp are seasonal. Wawona Hotel, near the Mariposa Grove, has been closed since December 2024 for a condition assessment, with no reopening date announced. Along Tioga Road, White Wolf Lodge and Tuolumne Meadows Lodge (tent cabins) open only in summer.

Yosemite has 13 campgrounds. Upper, Lower and North Pines in the Valley, plus Wawona and Hodgdon Meadow, are released on Recreation.gov five months ahead on the 15th of the month at 7 a.m. Pacific, and they sell out within minutes. Several Tioga Road campgrounds book on a rolling two-week window.

Where to stay outside the park

If in-park rooms are full, pick a gateway town on the side of the park you plan to spend the most time in. Drive times below are NPS estimates to Yosemite Valley.

Highway 140 through Mariposa and El Portal is the route YARTS buses serve all year, and these two towns are the most practical base in winter. Lee Vining only works while Tioga Road is open.

Getting around and timing tips

Yosemite does not require an entry reservation in 2026, so the main constraint is parking. Arrive in the Valley before about 8 a.m. on summer weekends, park once and ride the shuttle. NPS recommends weekdays over weekends.

From mid-June to early September, a Tuolumne Meadows shuttle and a Valley-to-Tuolumne hikers' bus run along Tioga Road. YARTS buses (fares apply) connect the Valley with Mariposa and El Portal all year, and with Oakhurst, Groveland and Lee Vining seasonally.

Check the NPS current conditions page the week you go. In 2026, the Mist Trail between the John Muir Trail junction (above the Vernal Fall footbridge) and the top of Vernal Fall was closed for repairs Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., through October, with the John Muir Trail as the detour, and Glacier Point Road was temporarily closed in early October during the Dome Fire.

More Yosemite guides

• Best Time to Visit Yosemite National ParkWhen to visit Yosemite: waterfall peak in May and June, Tioga and Glacier Point road seasons, February Firefall, winter access and the 2026 reservation status.