The Best 3 Day Itinerary for Yosemite National Park
Yosemite is one of the best national parks for hiking. With incredible mountain views and stunning waterfalls, it's a must visit park for any outdoor lover. Use this itinerary to plan your trip.
3 day Yosemite National Park itinerary
Day 1: Mount Hoffmann
About an hour and a half from Yosemite Valley, the Tuolumne Meadows area is worth a visit. For this hike, park at the May Lake trail head. Get there via Tioga Road which is typically open May through November (depending on the weather).
It's only about a mile to get to the first viewpoint: May Lake. The first mile is a moderate hike. There's a bit of an incline, but it's not very steep.
While May Lake is pretty, I recommend continuing on to the Mount Hoffmann summit. From May Lake, it's not clear which way to go to get to the summit. Continue on the trail to the left of the lake which will start a steep climb.
The trail becomes very rocky and steep. It's also not well marked. There are some rock piles that help, but they are spread out, so just keep climbing up. The rockiness will come to an end and the trail will level out. This is where the gorgeous mountain views begin.
At the very end, the trail turns into a rock scramble and this is the final climb to the summit. The views right before the summit are just as good as those at the top, so don't feel bad skipping the rock scramble portion.
The hike is supposedly 6 miles round trip, but it felt much longer than that. It took us about 6 hours to finish. The rocks and incline make it a strenuous hike.
Day 2: Yosemite Valley & Glacier Point Road
Yosemite Valley
Bridalveil Falls
We stopped here on our way into the valley. It has its own parking lot which was pretty empty when we got there in the morning. The walk to get to the falls viewpoint is a couple tenths of a mile.
El Capitan
There's a pull off on the side of the road on the way into the valley and one on the way out of the valley that have the best views of El Capitan. The one on the way into the valley also has a nice view of Bridalveil Falls.
Lower Yosemite Falls
Yosemite Falls is a spring time activity, but we decided to check it out anyway. Since we were there so late in the year, it was dried up. It was about a mile hike round trip and we walked there from the main parking lot in the valley.
Tunnel View
This is a must see viewpoint. It's just outside the valley on the way to Glacier Point Road. It's the best view of all of the main attractions of Yosemite: El Capitan, Half Dome, and Bridalveil Falls.
Taft Point & Sentinel Dome
These are actually two separate hikes that start from the same parking lot. They're about an hour drive from Yosemite Valley. We got there in the early afternoon and the small parking lot was full. We parked on the side of the road with several other cars. Get there via Glacier Point Road which is typically open from May to November (depending on the weather).
It's possible to combine the hikes to Taft Point and Sentinel Dome into a loop hike, but it's actually longer than doing them each separately.
We started with Taft Point which was the easier of the two. It was a short hike and almost completely flat. The views of the valley at the end are stunning.
The hike to Sentinel Dome was a little more challenging, but it was still short and moderate. There's a bit of a climb to get to the top of the dome. From the dome, the views of Half Dome and El Capitan are incredible.
Each hike is 2.2 miles round trip, so doing both is about 4.5 miles. These are great hikes for something on the easier side that still has really good views.
Glacier Point
This is about a 15 minute drive further down Glacier Point Road from Taft Point and Sentinel Dome. From the parking lot, there's a short trail that's a couple tenths of a mile to get to Glacier Point. The views from Glacier Point are great, but since there's not much hiking involved, it's very crowded.
The sunset from here is supposed to be gorgeous. We were tired after a long day, so we didn't end up staying to watch it.
Day 3: Vernal & Nevada Falls
This hike starts near the Happy Isles shuttle stop #16 in Half Dome Village. We parked in the main Yosemite Valley parking lot, but there is parking in Half Dome Village as well. From the shuttle stop, walk across the bridge following signs to the Mist Trail.
The Mist Trail starts out incredibly steep. It maintains a strenuous climb to a bridge at the bottom of Vernal Falls. Once Vernal Falls is in sight, the trail turns into stairs. The best view of the falls was part of the way up the stairs where the pool at the bottom of the falls became visible. The stairs seem to be never ending as they climb to the top of Vernal Falls.
Once at the top of Vernal Falls, the hike becomes a bit more moderate. Relax at Emerald Pool and take a break after all of the stairs.
Continuing on past Emerald Pool, the trail flattens out until the base of Nevada Falls. Don't worry though, the stairs to climb to the top of Nevada Falls aren't as steep and there aren't nearly as many.
Once at the top of Nevada Falls, there are great views of the mountains and domes in the area. There are two options for the return trip—go back down the Mist Trail or return via the John Muir Trail (which connects back to the Mist Trail near the Vernal Falls bridge).
I highly recommend taking the John Muir Trail. It's a little bit longer, but not as steep and doesn't have any stairs. This was our favorite part of the hike. There are really great views of the back side of Nevada Falls from the the trail.
It's a strenuous hike, but the worst part is the beginning. It's a little less than 7 miles round trip taking the John Muir Trail back or 5.5 taking the Mist Trail both ways.
Where to eat around Yosemite National Park
Don't come to Yosemite for the food. We struggled to find decent food at all. There are some fancier restaurants in the park, but they didn't look great and that's not really the kind of food we're looking to eat post-hike.
Degnan's Kitchen
We discovered Degnan's on our second night and fell in love. After a not-so-great meal on night one, we got some sandwiches here. There's nothing special about the sandwiches, but they taste good and it was the best food option we could find. They also have free WiFi which was a big win for us since our hotel charged an exorbitant fee per device for slow WiFi.
There's a restaurant upstairs called the Loft at Degnan's that looked pretty good, but it's only open on Fridays and Saturdays, so we weren't able to try it.
Parkside Pizza
This is outside of the park and was on the way back to our hotel. It's solidly mediocre pizza. The crust was actually good (I was expecting cardboard crust), but the pizza was dry.
Getting to and around Yosemite National Park
San Francisco is the closest major airport to the park and it's about a 4 hour drive from San Francisco to Yosemite. A car is necessary to get around to and around the park. During peak season, there's a shuttle that stops at the main attractions in Yosemite Valley since parking is hard to come by.
As with most National Parks in the United States, a pass is required to get in. It costs $35/vehicle for a week long pass and reservations are required to get in. You can also get an America the Beautiful Pass which covers all US national parks entrance fees for $80 per year.
Where to stay around Yosemite National Park
I'd recommend staying in El Portal or Yosemite West for easy access to Yosemite Valley. It would be more convenient to stay in the park, but it's also more expensive and harder to book. Either way, make sure to book accommodations well in advance because they book up quickly even in the off season.
Best time to visit Yosemite National Park
Peak tourist season is in the summer months and I would recommend avoiding the park during that time. Crowds can be a big problem during the peak season, so expect lines to get into the park and parking lots at popular hikes to fill up early. I'd recommend visiting in the spring or fall when crowds are less of a problem and temperatures aren't too cold. There is a risk of snow covering trails in the spring and wildfires in the fall.