Tips when Visiting Yosemite National Park

We’ve been planning on what to see and where to stay in Yosemite, since we missed this last year. There’s a lot of to take in and we want it to be in budget but not sacrificing anything. So here’s Some Tips when Visiting Yosemite National Park

I’ve been searching on where to stay, since I just saw that accommodations inside the park are really expensive. And I’ve read that we stay outside the park, so we don’t have to drive that long, minimum would be like 1 hour.

Accommodation
There’s accommodations inside the park, and this will lessen your travel time when exploring the park. However, they can be expensive, and you have to book then ahead of time, maybe at least a year or 6 months. For us, we opted to stay outside the park, but not that far, Oakhurst is closest, which is 1 hour and 30 mins to Glacier Point. So we booked an airbnb room for one night. We stayed in Fresno the night before we drive to Yosemite. Stayed in Oakhurst on our Day 1, and on our Day 2 (Last day), we went back to Fresno.

Food
While your exploring the park, be sure to have some snacks, like bars, sandwiches etc. and especially water. In case you get hungry, ’cause food can be expensive inside the park. But Degnan’s Kitchen have some affordable snacks/lunch to share. You can refill your water bottle in here too.

Gas
Gasoline is really expensive inside the park. We rent an economy car, since there’s only 2 of us, and we fill a full gas tank outside the park.

Transportation
Definitely rent a car to you can explore the park on your own pace. But make use of their free shuttle bus, traffic inside the park can be heavy during summer, and also it may be hard to find a parking spot. We drive to the points that the free shuttle bus can’t go, it saves gas too.

Map
Be sure to have the Yosemite National Park map, which is being given one you pay the entrance fee. But also, offline GPS is helpful, especially if you don’t know where you are or can’t read the map like me.

Plan
Plan ahead of time of what you want to see to avoid wasting time. Remember you will be driving and some points or views are not close to each other. Also, Fresno is the closest airport to Yosemite, so it saves time and energy.

Suggested Itinerary
I suggest to use the free shuttle in the park, it can save you time looking and waiting for parking spot, and especially gas. It’s Eco friendly too, so good for the park.

If you only have a day, First spot you will see in the map is the Mariposa Grove, but you can do that last. You might want to go to Glacier Point in the morning or sunset, on your way there, you will see the Washburn Point, you might want to stop by, this will be your first glimpse of the Half Dome. Then you can go and enter the Yosemite Valley, next will be the scenic view spot of Tunnel View. Not to far will be the El Capitan, and Bridal Veil Fall. Then visit the Lower Yosemite Fall. If you still have time, you can squeeze in Mariposa Grove, on your way out of the park.

We spent 2 days, our day 1, is we ride the free shuttle bus, then Day 2, we drove in the park, for the Glacier Point, some spots that we missed, and Mariposa Grove. We missed the Tuolumne Meadows, you might want to add it to your list to see, if you have more time.

Enjoy and have fun, don’t forget to take pictures but be careful especially doing selfie on some places that don’t have barriers.