10 places to stay while you’re at Yosemite National Park

Yosemite National Park welcomes approximately four million visitors every year. Not surprisingly, travelers from around the world are drawn to the 748,000 acres of natural beauty which include Yosemite Valley, Half Dome, El Capitan, Glacier Point, numerous waterfalls, and Mariposa Grove, where visitors can walk through a giant sequoia. With so much to see and do, visitors to the national park should consider finding a home base nearby to allow enough time for a multi-day adventure to explore. 

Outdoor enthusiasts looking for an ideal place to stay should check into these 10 places to stay in and near Yosemite National Park, each offering something for every type of traveler.  

(Related: Here’s everything to know about Yosemite National Park.)

1. The Ahwahnee, Yosemite Valley

Best for: Architecture lovers

Built in 1927 and designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood, the Ahwahnee is a stellar example of National Park Rustic Architecture, fondly called “parkitecture” by park service staff. This style involves using stonework and concrete, disguised as wood, to help buildings visually melt into nature. The Ahwahnee sits at the base of a sheer granite cliff, and its interiors include Native American designs on tiles and stenciling, 34-foot windows with views of Half Dome, and an astonishing amalgam of Art Deco, Arts & Crafts, and Middle Eastern styles found in its furnishings, rugs, beams, and fireplaces. “We’re running a hotel out of a museum,” says front desk manager Cole Estrada. 

Good to know: For more privacy, guests can elect to forego the main lodge in favor of small cottages in the forest.

2. Château du Sureau, Oakhurst

Best for: European luxury

Referencing Versailles may be putting it too boldly, but this five-star resort is an opulent sprawl. Guestrooms open with an iron key, and each has beautiful textiles and antique furnishings that evoke the French countryside. Instead of a lobby, Château du Sureau has a grand sitting room with a library, where guests can play games, read, or play the piano. It’s a half hour from the South Gate, well worth the drive to be enveloped in luxury.

Good to know: The on-site restaurant, the Elderberry House, is helmed by head chef Ethan de Graaf and showcases an exquisite three- or five-course tasting menu. Serving French cuisine with Japanese and American influences, the restaurant’s must-try menu items include a red wine demi-glace that takes two days to prepare and is served on most entrées. Other favorites include the Brandt Farm ribeye and the cherry wood old fashioned are favorites. The latter is served with a tableside presentation of releasing the trapped cherry wood smoke infused into the drink; its orange oleo ingredient is prepped ahead of time and sits for several days marinating.

(Related: Discover the best day hikes in Yosemite National Park.)

3. Yosemite View Lodge, El Portal

Best for: Tranquility

Located a five-minute drive from Yosemite’s Arch Rock entrance, Yosemite View Lodge provides a serene setting where guests can sit on the balcony and hear the calming sounds of the Merced River which runs through the property. If possible, book a river view room on the ground floor to be mere inches from the water. It’s a priceless experience. 

Good to know: If you can’t score a river view room, bask in one of seven on-site hot tubs with mountain views to relax your hike-weary body. 

4. Firefall Ranch, Groveland

Best for: Families

Opened in May 2024, this newer hotel located a half hour from the Big Oak Flat entrance is a goldmine for families. Firefall Ranch’s outdoor heated pool is open 24 hours, a boon for active kids (and sleepless adults). Individual cabins encircle a frog-laden pond, and on-site amenities and activities include a mini golf course, climbing wall, nightly s’mores, and guided art activities to keep kids busy. According to the property’s General Manager Joe Juszkiewicz, the ranch started offering horseback riding on its extensive acreage in April.

Good to know: For a family activity that merges nature and sports, try the ranch’s forest disc golf course. It features 18 holes across 300 acres. As the hotel’s name alludes, a seasonal package in February called the Firefall Express brings guests into Yosemite to see the Firefall phenomenon where a portion of El Capitan appears to be aflame; other excursions can be booked as well.  

(Related: These are the 10 most popular national parks.)

5. Sierra Sky Ranch, Oakhurst

Best for: History and ghost lovers

The 150-year-old Sierra Sky Ranch has a long history and ghosts. This was once California’s largest cattle ranch with 4,000 head of cattle but it also served other purposes over the years. It housed tuberculosis patients, and after World War II, it became a rest home for shell-shocked U.S. servicemen. With such a varied history, the ranch has become the permanent home to guests who can’t seem to “check out,” including farmhand Elmer and Sarah, a nurse from the sanatorium days. Ask at the front desk to review the book with previous guests’ handwritten ghost encounters. You might end up adding a “ghost-encounter” entry before leaving this historic ranch.

Good to know: Your drive to the South Gate entrance is only 20 minutes. Stop halfway to visit the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad for a scenic ride on a whistling steam locomotive through the Sierra National Forest.  

6. Lodge at Tenaya, Fish Camp

Best for: Rustic elegance

At the Lodge at Tenaya, just six minutes from the South Gate, the luxurious lobby boasts a lofty ceiling and elaborate iron chandeliers with dozens of tapers, borrowing vibes from the “parkitecture” era even though the lodge was built in 1990. People gather near the impressive stone fireplace to play chess and chat with strangers. Ascent, The Spa at Tenaya upscales the experience with a relaxation lounge, steam and sauna rooms, and complimentary yoga classes. 

Good to know: Guests can book a private cottage or, better yet, an Explorer Cabin with exclusive golf cart use, views of the nearby creek, meadow, or pond, and access to the Explorer Clubhouse with complimentary snacks and wine. Explorer Cabin #41 is completely solar-powered. 

(Related: See what national parks in the United States first looked like.)

7. Yosemite Valley Lodge, Yosemite Valley

Best for: Access to the continent’s highest waterfall

The motel-style rooms at the Yosemite Valley Lodge are clean and serviceable but dated—but that’s negligible considering you’re an easy walk to Yosemite Falls, North America’s highest waterfall. With three separate drops, it plunges 2,245 feet and is visible and audible from the lodge.

Good to know: This is also the closest lodge to the seasonal Firefall phenomenon; you can walk 40 minutes, drive five minutes, or take the free shuttle to the El Capitan picnic area for optimum viewing.

8. Curry Village, Yosemite Valley

Best for: Valley views

Guests staying at the historic Curry Village (1899) will have a stunning view of Half Dome and Sentinel Dome. It features 424 tent cabins (wooden framework with white canvas stretched over it), providing an interesting hybrid of cabin and tent, or choose from 46 traditional cabins or 18 motel rooms. Curry Village offers guests immediate sightlines to waterfalls, meadows, and dramatic rock faces.

Good to know: In winter, a skating rink goes up for the thrill of carving ice under the majestic rise of granite cliffs. 

(Related: Avoid the crowds at the 10 least-visited U.S. national parks.)

9. Hotel Charlotte, Groveland

Best for: Exploring a historic town

Charlotte DeFerrari was an enterprising immigrant from Italy who built this 1921 National Register hotel 30 minutes from the Big Oak Flat entrance. Groveland is the quintessential Gold Rush town with a mercantile store that serves ice cream, a tiny jail (1895) no longer in use, and the Groveland Yosemite Gateway Museum. The Hotel Charlotte is across the street from the Iron Door Saloon (1852), said to be the oldest saloon in California. 

Good to know:  Plan a picnic and spend the day at Rainbow Pool, located 10 minutes away from Hotel Charlotte. Fed by a small mountain stream, this swimming hole was originally a stagecoach stop. Adventurous travelers can go whitewater rafting on the Tuolumne River where the gold rushers once plied for gold. The Tuolumne boasts 40 rapids in an 18-mile stretch. Outfitters, such as Sierra Mac River Trips and Arta River Trips, can arrange your whitewater voyage.

10. Yosemite Bug Rustic Mountain Resort, Midpines

Best for: A social California vibe

“Berkeley” meets Yosemite at the hillside Yosemite Bug Rustic Mountain Resort, which began in the 1930s as a Boy Scout camp. This casual spot 25 minutes from the Arch Rock entrance offers stilt cabins, hotel-style rooms, youth hostel bunk bedrooms, glamping tent cabins, and the Starlite House, a rustic space with a 1970s hippie vibe that sleeps seven people.  Guests who don’t know each other can slide into the communal 10-person stainless steel tub, visit the cedar-walled sauna, join a yoga session, and eat together in this spot that feels like a European hostel with a California vibe.

Good to know: At the spa, the “hiker’s massage treatment” dials back stiffness from climbing Vernal Fall or any of Yosemite’s strenuous hikes. The spa has many sets of stairs, so guests who may have issues walking or have other physical challenges should let the resort know when booking an appointment.