First, I recommend you read this entire page, written by the NPS with FAQs on this topic: https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/reservations.htm
Note you will also need a reservation for the park on weekends in February + President's Day but that is not covered in detail in this post.
Starting April 13th through October 27th, you may need a permit to drive into Yosemite. There are 3 periods with different requirements:
- April 13th-June 30th on Sat, Sun, and holidays
- July 1- August 16th for all days
- August 17th - October 27th on Sat, Sun, and holidays
Here are all the ways you can access Yosemite, roughly from easiest to most difficult:
- Drive in before 5a or after 4p. Self explanatory. If you enter after 4p and pay the 3 day entry fee, you still have to enter before 5a or after 4p every other day you plan to visit.
2. A day reservation. These reservations go on sale at the following times:
Preseason: January 5th, 2024 at 8a PST until sold out
Remaining go on sale at 8a PST 7 days before you want to enter, for full days or afternoons (literally, after noon) only.
If you are able to plan ahead, do not wait for the second window. It will be 100x more competitive for these than the first window above.
Passes are good for three consecutive days only. If you want to visit for 7 days, you will need 3 separate passes per car. In 2020, you had to enter on the first day of your permit. This is not the case this summer. Your pass can be valid for 6/20-22 and you can enter for the first time on the 21st, but it doesn't extend your permit date past the 22nd.
THESE PASSES CANNOT BE SOLD OR TRANSFERRED. IDs are checked at entry and the names must match the reservation holder, who must be physically in the car. You also cannot take the "leftover" days, e.g. the last 2 days of someone else's 3 day pass.
If you do not get a ticket at one of the 2 times above, many people have found them by continuously monitoring the recreation.gov page, as passes become available when others cancel trips, etc. Simply owning an annual/America the Beautiful pass does not gain you entry into the park; you must also have a reserved day pass.
3. Take YARTS bus into the park from a gateway community. YARTS
4. You don't need a day pass to enter the Hetch Hetchy area. You cannot drive through Hetch Hetchy to access any other areas of the park. Hetch Hetchy entry hours are limited at 8a-5p.
5. A lodging or camping reservation inside the Park.
a. Yosemite lodging is booked at travelyosemite.com.
b. Campground reservations are made on recreation.gov. No FCFS campgrounds are open in the Park in the summer. https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/camping.htm
c. You can reserve private homes inside the park, e.g. on AirBnb. Only homes in Wawona, Foresta, and Yosemite West are inside the Park boundaries. I understand that these owners have a certificate they will send you in advance to show to the ranger at the gate. Every other community (Bass Lake, Lee's Vining, Oakhurst, Mariposa, Groveland, El Portal, etc) are not inside the park and will require a day pass.
If you have lodging inside the park, the entry gate will issue you a permit for 3 days or the length of your reservation, whichever is longer.
6. A wilderness permit. A wilderness permit is a permit to camp in the back country. You must bring all of your own equip and hike at least 4 miles from a trailhead before camping. Here's all the info on that. 40% of each trailhead's quota is available in an online lottery 7 days in advance. If any remain after that process, you can pick them up in person at a wilderness center. To pick up a same day permit, you have to come into the park before 5a (centers open at 8a) or have a day entry reservation. A wilderness permits gets you into the park starting one day before your permit start date. You’d need an entry permit for any permit required days before or after that.
7. A Half Dome permit. Here's the info on Half Dome. Ascending the Half Dome cables is the only trail in the park that requires a special permit once you have secured entry. There is a lottery in March that issues 80% of the daily permits. There are no FCFS HD permits being issued in the park this year, instead an online lottery 2 days before on recreation.gov for the remaining 20% of permits. A HD permit allows you 3 days of access to the park, starting on the day of your permit, so you will need a day reservation if you want to come earlier. Obviously you will also need camping/lodging reservations somewhere also.
8. Commercial Use Authorization. You can sign up for a Yosemite tour with an outfit that has a CUA.
9. Walk or bicycle in. This is a bad idea for most people. Look at a map and elevation profile.
Other comments on reservation system:
- You cannot come in on a Friday during the weekend only period, pay the 3 day entry fee, and enter on Saturday. You will need a permit to enter after 5a on Saturday.
- When permits are in effect, yes you will need one even if you only want to drive through the park without stopping.
