Within view of Yosemite's most memorable landmarks--Half Dome, Yosemite Falls and Glacier Point--stands the Ahwahnee Hotel, an iconic blend of history, elegance and nature. With its AAA Four-Diamond rating, the Ahwahnee has welcomed queens and presidents. Its gracious accommodations include 99 richly appointed guest rooms, parlors and suites in the main building, with 24 cottages nestled amongst the hotel's dogwoods and pines. Amenities include a full-time concierge, year-round heated outdoor pool and afternoon tea. Indian artifacts from the Meewok and Mono tribes are featured in the gathering areas, along with the Ahwahnee's signature 6-foot tall fireplaces. The award-winning Ahwahnee Dining Room features a 34-foot-high beamed ceiling, floor-to-ceiling windows and unequaled views of Yosemite.
Ahwahnee Hotel
1 Ahwahnee Road
Yosemite National Park, CA 95389
801-559-4884
yosemitepark.com
With most of its 104 rooms opening onto verandas, Wawona Hotel is a grand Victorian-style lodge with an emphasis on tranquility. Designated a National Historic Landmark, the hotel is set in a meadow beside rushing streams. The property offers golf, tennis, swimming, horseback riding, Saturday night barbecues, evening entertainment, hiking trails, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing (in addition, Badger Pass Ski Area is only thirty minutes away), Audubon Certified Sanctuary, Pioneer Museum and plenty of Adirondack chairs for relaxing with cocktails. Also, in keeping with the emphasis on tranquility, the rooms have no telephones or televisions, and are furnished with period pieces and antiques. For your dining pleasure, the Wawona Dining Room is known for culinary excellence, traditional favorites and an array of seasonal specialties.
Wawona Hotel
8308 Wawona Road
Yosemite National Park, CA 95389
801-559-4884
yosemitepark.com
With its Mountain Room Restaurant and Lounge offering picturesque views of Yosemite Falls while you dine, Yosemite Lodge at the Falls is as close to the falls as you can stay. The property offers 226 lodge rooms, 19 standard rooms and 4 family rooms. The property also has restaurants, a cafeteria and shops clustered around its central courtyard. Additional dining and shopping can be found in nearby Yosemite Village. Bicycle rentals are available or, to venture further into the park, there's a shuttle bus. The lodge also offers a post office, pool (with waterside bar service on weekends) and an amphitheater with shows every night.
Yosemite Lodge at the Falls
9006 Yosemite Lodge Dr.
Yosemite National Park, CA 95389
801-559-4884
yosemitepark.com
As Yosemite's best lodging value, Curry Village has 319 tent cabins, 56 cabins, 18 motel rooms and 56 cabins--with another 91 tent cabins and 14 cabins in nearby East Orchard. Located in the heart of the park, within view of Half Dome and Glacier Point, Curry Village also has its own: ice cream and coffee shop, tavern, pool with lifeguards on duty, camping equipment store, bike and raft rentals, amphitheater with nightly shows, post office and pizza place. Yet, all these trappings of civilization don't obstruct nature; rather, they seem to blend in, and are sometimes even partially hidden among the rocks and trees surrounding them. It's a great place for families with children--with plenty of child-oriented activities.
Curry Village in Yosemite
9010 Curry Village Dr.
Yosemite National Park, CA 95389
801-559-4884
yosemitepark.com
Located on the Merced River, with sandy beaches for swimming, Housekeeping Camp offers breathtaking views of Yosemite Falls and Half Dome, and is the only place in Yosemite where you can cook on a campfire ring. Up to six people can sleep in a cabin, which has three concrete walls with a curtain for the fourth wall. There are 266 cabins, and some are fairly close together, so it can become noisy. The quieter cabins are by the river.
Yosemite Housekeeping Camp
9005 Southside Dr.
Yosemite National Pk, CA, 95389
801-559-4884
yosemitepark.com
The High Sierra Camps--Glen Aulin, Vogelsang, Tuolumne Meadows, Merced Lake, Sunrise, May Lake and White Wolf--are a series of camps along connecting trails, with 6 to 8 miles of hiking from one camp to the next. While each camp provides fresh home-cooked meals and tent cabins--with raised wood floors, beds and wood stoves--White Wolf also offers four hard-sided cabins with private baths. Showers are available at all camps except for Vogelsang and Glen Aulin (due to environmental concerns). Despite the absence of showers, you may want to spend some extra time at Vogelsang, often named a favorite place for its peaks, vistas and lakes, or Glen Aulin, with its magnificent waterfall and lucent pool on the Tuolumne River. But whatever you do, don't forget your mosquito net and repellent for those merciless High Sierra mosquitoes.
Yosemite High Sierra Camps
P.O. Box 578
Yosemite National Park, CA 95389
801-559-4909
yosemitepark.com
