We are planning on doing Yosemite in July 2024. In our experience, it is best to plan a year ahead and book the day lodging opens for advance reservations.

Travel Yosemite is the website for Yosemite Valley Lodge, Ahwahnee and Wawona. A soft sided tent with no bathroom at Curry Village doesn't work for us. It seems next to impossible to get reservations. Allegedly, you can book 366 days in advance. However, if you try book now (I.e. for June 20, 2024, the website shows availability but returns no rooms and says they are full. Same thing if I try to book June 19, 2024 for 5 nights. If I plug it in for 1 night (we want to stay 5 nights) I see a room. But again, the website shows it has the availability we desire, but won't let you book it. Do I have to book each night individually, and try to string them together? What a pain! Does anyone have any experience or tricks for this?

Yosemite Valley Lodge seems to be the place to go for "location", but the reviews say it's a dump, even for national park standards. Are there some lodges or hotels just outside the park that are convenient that anyone can recommend? What about eateries?

Any help or experience is appreciated!

Curry Village has rooms, too. We stayed in one a few years ago and liked it (although tents are fun, too). I didn't think the Alwhanee was worth the price.

As far as reservations, it should be just like booking a normal hotel, so I'm not sure why availability seems off.

2011 we stayed in Yosemite West. Rented a house there. It isn't the valley, but about as close as you can be and not be in it.

2015 we stayed in Oakhurst. Cheaper, but gotta drive a lot more.

I saw that Curry had regular cabins as well. However, I cannot get them to pull up as an option on their website.

I am beginning to think that you simply cannot get a reliable reservation in the park without a ton of luck.

Have you called them?

I had the same problem with Yellowstone and ended up calling the company that runs the hospitality stuff and booked over the phone. They were very helpful.

Yes. They said that a lot of folks hoard dates and tbat it was just very difficult to get the dates you wanted.

I never had any problems with Yellowstone. I booked the day lodging opened up and got exactly what we wanted. But again, Yellowstone has so many more options and rooms than Yosemite.

I grew up not far from Yosemite.

Check some of the lodges just outside the park like in El Portal or Fish Camp. Yosemite isn't that big and is fairly easy to get around with a vehicle. It's not like Yellowstone where it can take hours to go around from one place to another.

If you are able to get a room at Yosemite Valley Lodge, TAKE IT.

Just go in with the expectation that its not the Four Seasons and you'll be fine...I've stayed at way worse (in and out of national parks).....it's location is absolutely primo. I think a lot of people are disappointed with it because they're paying a price that elsewhere would get them a really nice hotel and don't realize they're paying for the location and when they walk into the room they're suprised because of that.

The best advice I can give is to be a bulldog and just keep checking the website once or twice a day and pickup whatever comes available and piece it together. You're far enough out that you can do it that way and work your way up.

Thanks! That's what I'll have to do.

The restaurant at the Wawona was excellent when we were there. Plan on having a drink on the front porch in the late afternoon before dinner. Be sure an book reservations in advance for dinner.

Also book dinner reservations at the Ahwahnee restaurant. Great food and atmosphere. Notice the large single pane windows in the dining room. They are huge!

If you stay at the Ahwahnee (and you should at least one night), see if they still offer the afternoon guided tour of the hotel. It was free when we were there and you will hear some fantastic history of the building of the place and the origin of the expensive rugs and artwork on the walls as well as many other fascinating stories. The hotel has a rich and interesting history.