No. Yosemite does not require an entrance reservation in 2026. Not in summer, not on weekends, not at any hour of the day. The park announced on February 18, 2026 that it would drop the timed-entry system entirely this year. You pay the entrance fee at the gate and drive in.
That is the short answer, and for a lot of trips it is the whole answer. But we have been filming Yosemite for years, and we can tell you the reservations that actually decide whether your trip works were never the entrance kind. They are the ones for a room in the Valley, a Pines campsite, the Half Dome cables, and a wilderness permit, and every one of those still requires booking, some of them months out. Here is exactly what you need in 2026, what you don’t, and how to plan around the crowds now that nothing at the gate is holding them back.
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Where to stay near Yosemite National Park: In-park lodging books out far ahead, so most visitors end up in the gateway towns along Highways 140 and 41. You can compare hotels and lodges near Yosemite National Park to find dates that still have availability, since the best places book out months ahead in peak season.
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It is also worth carrying a paper map and a good guidebook, because cell service is spotty across most of the park. We use the National Geographic Trails Illustrated map for Yosemite National Park for trail planning, paired with a detailed Yosemite National Park guidebook for trip ideas and logistics.
2026 Update: Yosemite is running 2026 with no entrance reservation system, per the park’s February 18, 2026 announcement. Since January 1, 2026, visitors who are not US residents pay a $100 per-person surcharge (ages 16 and up) on top of the standard entrance fee unless they hold an annual pass. Tioga Road opened for the season on May 15, 2026, its earliest opening in 16 years, and all front-country campgrounds are open this summer. Entrance stations are cashless, so bring a card. Check the NPS current conditions page before you drive up.
Yosemite Reservations in 2026 at a Glance
| What you want to do | Reservation in 2026? | How to book it |
|---|---|---|
| Drive into the park, any hour | No | Pay the $35 entrance fee at the gate, card only |
| Drive through on Tioga Road (CA-120) | No | Entrance fee still applies |
| Stay at an in-park lodge or hotel | Book the room | travelyosemite.com, up to 366 days ahead |
| Camp at Upper, Lower, or North Pines | Yes | Recreation.gov, released the 15th of each month, 5 months out |
| Camp at Camp 4 (Apr 15 to Nov 9) | Yes | Recreation.gov, one week ahead, $10 per person |
| Hike the Half Dome cables | Yes, permit | Recreation.gov daily lottery, two days ahead |
| Backpack overnight | Yes, wilderness permit | Recreation.gov, 24 weeks or 7 days ahead |
| See Firefall in February | None in 2026, 2027 not yet announced | Watch nps.gov/yose in the winter |
Do You Need a Reservation to Enter Yosemite in 2026?
No. For the first summer since 2023, there is no timed entry, no peak-hours window, and no $2 recreation.gov ticket standing between you and the entrance station. The park dropped the system for 2026 after its 2025 data showed most weekdays kept parking available and traffic moving within the park’s capacity.
For context, the 2025 version required a reservation from 6 am to 2 pm every day from June 15 through August 15, with exemptions for people holding in-park lodging, camping, wilderness permits, or riding YARTS. All of that machinery is gone this year. In its place the park is leaning on real-time traffic monitoring, active parking management in the Valley, and extra staffing at busy intersections during peak periods.
No reservation does not mean no problem. It means the crowd control moved from the gate to the parking lot, and the parking lot always loses. We have circled the Valley on a July Saturday when day-use lots were full by mid-morning, and that was in a year with timed entry. Expect entrance lines and full lots on summer weekends and holidays, and plan your arrival time like it matters, because it does.
What You Pay at the Gate Instead
The entrance fee never went anywhere. Here is the current NPS fee schedule for Yosemite, and remember the park no longer accepts cash.
- Private vehicle: $35, good for seven consecutive days, everyone in the car covered.
- Motorcycle: $30 for seven days.
- On foot, bike, or horseback: $20 per person for seven days.
- Yosemite annual pass: $70, Yosemite only, US citizens and residents.
- America the Beautiful annual pass: $80 for US residents ($250 for non-residents), covers every national park and federal recreation site for a year. If Yosemite is one of three or more park trips this year, it pays for itself.
- Non-resident surcharge: since January 1, 2026, visitors who are not US residents pay an additional $100 per person, ages 16 and up, unless they hold an annual or America the Beautiful pass.
Free and discounted passes exist for seniors, active military and veterans, fourth graders, and visitors with permanent disabilities. The remaining fee-free days in 2026 are July 3 to 5, August 25, September 17, October 27, and November 11, and the fee page has the fine print on who qualifies. If you are hitting several parks this year, our guide to national parks that require reservations in 2026 covers which other parks still gate entry, because several still do.
The Reservations You Still Need in Yosemite
The gate is open, but almost everything worth sleeping in or sweating up still requires booking. These four are the ones that make or break trips.
Lodging Inside the Park
The Ahwahnee, Yosemite Valley Lodge, Curry Village, and the Wawona Hotel all book through Yosemite Hospitality at travelyosemite.com, and reservations open 366 days in advance. Summer weekends in the Valley effectively sell out at the front of that window. If your dates are flexible, keep checking back, because cancellations do surface, especially two to four weeks out.
Campground Reservations
Yosemite has 13 front-country campgrounds, and in a rare bit of good news, all of them are open this summer. The catch is that almost all of them now require reservations in season, on staggered release schedules through recreation.gov. The Valley classics (Upper Pines, Lower Pines, North Pines) plus Wawona and Hodgdon Meadow release five months ahead, on the 15th of each month at 7 am Pacific, and the summer blocks are gone in minutes. Set an alarm. Bridalveil Creek, Crane Flat, Tamarack Flat, White Wolf, Yosemite Creek, and Porcupine Flat release on a rolling window two weeks ahead, which makes them the best shot for a trip you are planning right now.
Camp 4 changed its system, so ignore any guide still describing a daily lottery. The famous climbers’ campground now takes standard reservations on recreation.gov, released one week before arrival, at $10 per person per night. Reservations are required April 15 through November 9, 2026, and it reverts to first-come, first-served in winter.
Half Dome Permits
You cannot climb the Half Dome cables without a permit, full stop, and rangers check. The park caps the route at 300 hikers per day, roughly 225 day hikers and 75 backpackers, while the cables are up. By the NPS formula the cables go up the Friday before Memorial Day and come down the day after the second Monday in October, which for 2026 works out to May 22 through October 12.
The preseason lottery ran March 1 to 31, so for a 2026 hike your remaining option is the daily lottery. Apply on recreation.gov two days before your intended hike, between midnight and 4 pm Pacific, and results land late that night. It costs $10 to apply plus $10 per person if you win. We have won the daily lottery, and we have also struck out more times than we care to count. If it does not go your way, hike Clouds Rest instead. No permit, a bigger summit panorama, and we honestly think it is the better day.
Wilderness Permits
Every overnight backcountry trip needs a wilderness permit. Sixty percent of each trailhead’s quota goes into weekly lotteries starting 24 weeks ahead, and the remaining 40 percent releases seven days before the trip date at 7 am Pacific on recreation.gov. The fee is $10 per application plus $5 per person. The park’s own warning is blunt, and we will pass it along. Do not show up expecting a walk-up permit in summer. Popular trailheads like Little Yosemite Valley, Cathedral Lakes, and Lyell Canyon go the morning they release. And note that backpackers who want to summit Half Dome still need the Half Dome add-on permit on top of the wilderness permit.
The seven-day releases are the sleeper play of 2026. Camp 4 releases one week out, 40 percent of wilderness permits release seven days out, and the two-week campgrounds roll daily. A trip you plan ten days ahead, aimed at those windows, routinely beats a trip planned six months ahead around whatever scraps were left. Be online at 7 am Pacific with your recreation.gov account already logged in.
Plan by How You Are Arriving
If You Are Day-Tripping, Arrive Before Sunrise Anyway
Under the old system, beating the 6 am checkpoint was how you dodged the reservation. The checkpoint is gone, but the strategy survives because parking is now the only filter left. Valley day-use lots fill by mid-morning on summer weekends, and once they do you are idling on Southside Drive waiting for someone to leave. Through the gate by 7 am, parked once, then shuttle and feet for the rest of the day. That is the whole playbook. As a bonus, you get El Capitan at first light, which is worth the alarm on its own.
If You Are Staying Inside the Park
Your lodging or campground confirmation is the only booking you need, and it also solves the parking problem, since you park at your lodge or site and leave the car there. You still pay the entrance fee on the way in. In 2025 an in-park booking doubled as your entry exemption. In 2026 there is nothing to be exempt from, so the real value of sleeping in the park is position, waking up already inside while the day-trippers are still queued at the arch.
If You Are Driving Through on Tioga Road
Crossing the Sierra on CA-120 through the park requires no reservation, just the $35 entrance fee, which then covers you for seven days. Tioga Road opened on May 15 this year, its earliest opening in 16 years, and it typically stays open into November depending on snow. Since you are paying full freight either way, give the crossing two extra hours and stop at Olmsted Point and Tuolumne Meadows. The high country is the least crowded spectacular thing in California.
If You Would Rather Skip the Driving Entirely
YARTS buses run into Yosemite Valley from Merced and Mariposa on Highway 140 year-round, and in summer from Fresno and Oakhurst (Highway 41), Sonora and Groveland (Highway 120 West), and Mammoth Lakes and Lee Vining (Highway 120 East). No reservation, no entrance line, and no parking hunt, which in 2026 is the single biggest favor you can do yourself on a summer Saturday. One money note, because guidance is currently inconsistent. YARTS’s own fare page says park entrance fees are not included in the fare, while some park pages still say the opposite, so budget for the entrance fee and check yarts.com when you book.
How to Beat the Crowds Without a Reservation System
Ride the free Valley shuttle and leave the car parked. The valleywide shuttle runs 7 am to 10 pm, every 12 to 22 minutes, hitting the trailheads, the visitor center, and the lodges, with a faster East Valley loop every 8 to 12 minutes. Moving your car midday in July is how you lose your spot and an hour of your life.
Shift your season. The park is actively steering people toward weekdays and non-summer months, and we co-sign that advice. May is the best month almost nobody plans for, with peak waterfalls and manageable crowds, and Yosemite in the fall trades waterfalls for golden oaks, empty trails, and the best light of the year.
Get out of the Valley. The Valley is about one percent of the park and holds nearly all of the congestion. Tuolumne Meadows, the Tioga Road domes, and Hetch Hetchy absorb a summer day beautifully, and our full list of things to do in Yosemite is weighted toward exactly those escapes.
Firefall and What Happens in 2027
February’s Firefall, when sunset lights Horsetail Fall like lava for a few minutes, needed no reservation in 2026 for the first time in years, and the crowds showed it. The park managed the rush with parking at the Yosemite Falls lot, a roughly 1.5-mile walk each way to the viewing area, and a pedestrian lane on Northside Drive. For February 2027, nothing has been announced either way. The NPS Horsetail Fall page is where the rules will post, usually in early winter, and our Firefall guide will be updated the day they do.
The bigger 2027 question, whether entrance reservations come back at all, is also open. The superintendent’s framing in February was that reservation systems remain “one valuable management tool” that simply was not the right fit for this season, which is not the language of a park that has sworn them off forever. If summer 2026 produces the gridlock some park advocates predicted when Yosemite, Arches, and Glacier all dropped their systems this year, a 2027 return is entirely plausible. Decisions have historically landed between late fall and February, and we will update this guide the moment one does.
Yosemite Reservations FAQ
Related: Pairing parks? The Yosemite to Sequoia road trip is the classic Sierra double bill, and neither park requires an entrance reservation this year. And before you drive up, check current park conditions for road, smoke, and closure alerts.
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Why Listen to Us About Yosemite?
We’re Will and Jim Pattiz, the Parks Brothers. We’ve spent our adult lives filming America’s national parks, including Yosemite for our film on the park, and we’ve worked with the National Park Service, the Department of the Interior, and the U.S. Forest Service creating films on important places and issues. Every reservation rule, fee, and permit window on this page was checked against current NPS and recreation.gov sources in July 2026.
Related Guides
- Yosemite National Park Hub, Conditions and Trip Planning
- Things to Do in Yosemite National Park
- Best Hikes in Yosemite National Park
- Yosemite Itinerary, a Day-by-Day Plan
- National Parks That Require Reservations in 2026
- Yosemite Firefall, the Complete Horsetail Fall Guide
- Hike Clouds Rest in Yosemite, Not Half Dome
- Yosemite in May, the Best Month Nobody Talks About
- Visiting Yosemite in the Fall
What to Bring to Yosemite
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