I’ve always bought into to the argument that popular things are popular for a reason. And the more National Parks I visit, the more I realize that they are living proof of this. When I go to a popular National Park, I know it’s going to be epic. This logic again proved true at Yosemite National Park.
One of the most visited in the National Parks in the US, Yosemite National Park welcomes over 4 million visitors a year. We were in the park for approximately 10 minutes and I immediately knew why. It was absolutely stunning.
In this post, I’m going to share how we filled 2 full and perfect days at Yosemite National Park. I’ll go over the details of the hikes, the most epic views, and some practical information along the way.
Lace up your hiking shoes, friends, we’re going to Yosemite!
Quick Intro to Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park is known for its looming granite peaks, thundering waterfalls and towering sequoias (the last of which we personally missed.) It’s also home to a diverse array of wildlife, including its most famous resident, the black bear.
More than just one of the most popular National Parks in American, Yosemite is also one of the oldest. In fact, it played an important role in the creation of the entire National Parks system. Back in 1864, President Abraham Lincoln officially declared Yosemite federally preserved land. The famed environmentalist John Muir is credited for motivating Congress to establish Yosemite Valley as a National Park in 1890 (the third National Park in the country.)
Some of Yosemite’s most iconic sites include:
- El Capitan: a massive, near-vertical granite rock face known for attracting elite rock climbers.
- Half Dome: a uniquely shaped peak with one of the most difficult but rewarding hikes in Yosemite.
- Waterfalls (Yosemite Falls, Nevada & Vernal Fall, Bridalveil Fall): each unique and breathtaking, the stunning falls are a highlight for hikers and day-trippers alike.
- Glacier Point & Tunnel View: popular viewpoints with sweeping views of the valley.
- Mariposa Grove: home to over 500 towering Sequoia trees.
Like most National Parks, Yosemite National Park is open all year. However, it’s peak season is during the summer, from roughly May through September. This is when it’s the most popular, but again, for good reason. During the off season from fall into late spring, many trails and roads are closed. Be sure to check the National Park Service website for the exact schedule and realtime closure information.
About this Itinerary
This itinerary follows our personal experiences at Yosemite National Park. There are a few things to note about why we made some of the choices we did.
First and foremost, our trip was in mid-April — just on the tail-end of spring. Despite having absolutely dreamy weather, the park hadn’t fully opened for the summer season. Most notably, the roads to Mariposa Grove and Glacier Point were closed during our visit. Also, some of the trails still had segments closed (specifically Mist & John Muir Trails.)
Second, we were traveling with our 4-year-old. They are a strong hiker for their age, but they aren’t quite soloing El Cap yet so we had to make a couple concessions. Most notably, we opted to save Half Dome and Yosemite Falls Trail for a later trip. (Check back with us in 2026, though after a hopeful Yosemite 2.0 trip.)
Those caveats actually make a strong case for the versatility of this itinerary. It’s a pretty flexible itinerary, which can be accomplished by a wide range of skill and ability during most any time of the year.
Getting to Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park is located in northeastern California — sort of in the middle of nowhere. If you’re traveling by plane, you’ll need to fly to a nearby hub like San Francisco, Sacramento or Fresno, and then drive to the park.
We personally flew to San Francisco. It’s the farthest of the three options, but when you’re traveling cross country, beggars can’t be choosers. The best transcontinental flight flight in terms of times and prices was to San Francisco, so we settled for the 3.5 hour drive.
Now, had we realized how bad our 4-year-old (who rarely rides in cars) was going to do in a car, we may have reconsidered. The drive ended up taking us quite a bit longer, because we did have to make multiple stops for our poor child who threw up most of the way there.
None the less, we arrived at our hotel at approximately 7 PM local time after about 15 hours of travel.
Where we stayed at Yosemite
We were staying inside Yosemite National Park at The Ahwahnee. It is a historical and beautiful lodge right in the heart of the park. (It’s also the only true hotel inside the park.)
Read more! You can read a full review our Stay at The Ahwahnee here, including our list of pros and cons and whether or not we think it was worth it.
I’ll tell you right now that one of the cons of this hotel is the price. The Ahwahnee is very expensive. So if that’s not in the cards for you, there are other options. Inside the park, there is one other lodge and several camping options.
You can also stay outside of the park and drive in. Depending on where you look (Mariposa is a typical choice), accommodations are more reasonably priced and slightly more abundant.
Staying at The Ahwahnee was incredibly convenient for our stay — particularly because of the aforementioned barfy baby. After the drive in, they were pretty shell shocked and nervous to get back in the car. It was clutch that our hotel was never more than a 15 minute drive to anywhere we wanted to be in the park.
On our arrival day, we mostly just checked in, ate dinner, and went right to bed. Tomorrow was a big day!
Day 1 — Hike to Vernal and Nevada Falls
Despite our long travel day, late bedtime and jet lag, we hit the ground running. We had two full days at Yosemite and we would not let them go to waste.
First up was one of the most popular trails at Yosemite: Vernal and Nevada Fall via John Muir and Mist Trail. This trail is famous but not necessarily easy. Our specific route wound up being about 9 miles and 2600 ft of elevation, and took us about 7.5 hours to complete.
Read more! We go into all the details of this hike in this post about Hiking to Nevada Fall with a 4-year-old. It’s great if you’re thinking about hiking with kids, but it also generally outlines the challenging parts of the trail so hikers of any age can decide if it’s right for them.
Starting our Day
After grabbing coffee and a pastry at our hotel, we headed out for the trailhead. We parked here, at the Yosemite Valley Trailhead lot. On a Saturday in June, there was plenty of space available at 7:30 AM.
From there, we walked about a half mile to the Mist Trail & John Muir Trail Trailhead here. The trail here is very clearly marked and there’s plenty of people so you aren’t likely the to get list.
Trail Summary
Here’s a quick breakdown of our route. (Again, check out the full review linked above if you want to hear all the nitty-gritty.)
- John Muir Trail to Vernal Fall Footbridge. This leg is a pretty steep ascent, but the trail is paved which makes for a fairly easy climb. It’s a popular stretch of trail, but you can beat the crowds by starting early.
- John Muir Trail to Clark Point. The path splits after the footbridge, and we followed John Muir Trail. This stretch is mostly a series of switchbacks up which climbs up the mountain to Clark Point. From Clark Point, you can see Vernal & Nevada Falls, Half Dome and overall epic views of the valley.
- Clark Point to Vernal Fall. This is a steep and rocky climb down to Nevada Fall, but it’s not too long. It’s a bit of a pain, but does have some epic views from right above Nevada Fall before the main viewing area. (Be careful though — it’s a steep drop-off!)
- John Muir Trail from Vernal Fall to Nevada Fall. This leg starts off easy, but the climb up to the top of Nevada Fall is tough. The trail follows steep, narrow rocky switchbacks straight to the top of the falls. This was the hardest stretch I’d say.
- John Muir Trail from Nevada Fall to Vernal Fall. The climb up was the hardest but the climb back down was the scariest. It’s very technical and nerve-racking, and by 1PM was getting more crowded.
- Mist Trail from Vernal Fall to Vernal Fall Footbridge. Mist trail is a rocky set of over 600 steps that hugs the cliff along Vernal Fall. It was closed when we passed it in the morning, but had since opened. It’s a beautiful and wet stretch of trail, but definitely worth doing. Going down was obviously easier, but the constant views going up would have been better.
- Footbridge to Trailhead. Going down this steep stretch of trail was tough after a long day of hiking. With every strep, your toes just pound into the front of your shoes. But it was a downhill to the finish line, so can’t complain.
Note: We ate a picnic lunch at the top of Nevada Fall and took lots of snack breaks along the way.
Visitor Center & Dinner
We got back to the car, exhausted, around 3:30 PM. While there were other viewpoints and shorter tails we could have checked out before dinner, we chose to wrap up our day at the Visitor Center.
It was a short drive back to Yosemite Village. Parking in the mid-afternoon in June wasn’t great, but we found a spot fairly quickly. In the summer, I would expect parking to be a bit more annoying.
Yosemite Village is where you’ll find a bunch of the main park buildings. There’s the official visitor center, a large gift shop and store, a few small museums and a couple restaurants.
Our top priorities were picking up a Junior Ranger book (because how could our kid hike to the top of Nevada Fall like a boss and not get a Junior Ranger Badge?) and getting drinks at the store (full-sugar Dr. Pepper just hits different after a day on the trails.) We also popped into the Yosemite Museum, which has some really great interactive exhibits for kids.
The Ahwahnee has a bar/restaurant that we were fine eating at again, so we headed back to the hotel. We had an easy dinner and let our kid pick out an ice cream bar at the hotel sweet shop as a reward.
Our first day was tough, but so incredible. The views from Clark Point and the top of both Vernal and Nevada Falls were absolutely breathtaking. If we only had one day at Yosemite, we’d have definitely spent it like this. We had one more day though, so we were more excited than ever to see what this park had to offer.
Day 2 — El Capitan, Tunnel View, Waterfalls & More
Our second day was a much easier day physically, but a little less straight forward. Not in a bad way, but we had a lot more driving and lot more starting and stopping. We managed to fit a ton in though. If you don’t want to do another big hike, this is a great way to see a ton of the highlights in a single day.
El Capitan
We started our day at El Capitan. My respect and appreciation for this rock face comes almost entirely from the film Free Solo. (If you haven’t seen it already, go watch it. It’s a documentary about Alex Honnold free soloing — or climbing without ropes — El Cap.) We actually watched the movie again the night before as a family to get amped for our morning, which I’d definitely recommend.
After watching the documentary, I wish I could say that my toddler cared about El Capitan. The truth though, is that they were exclusively interested in the pinecones. Honestly, bless children and their sweet souls.
Just before 8 AM, we were the only ones at the El Capitan Meadow. There are a few trails nearby, but most people just come here for the views of the rock face, and to watch the climbers, particularly in the summer. We collected pinecones, worked on our Junior Ranger Book and just relaxed in the morning sun.
Note: We are strict enforcers of “Leave no trace.” Zoe got to play with the pinecones, but we did insist that they return them all to roughly where they found them before we left.
Yosemite Valley View
We continued on a little ways and pulled off here, at Yosemite Valley View. This particular view point is a popular place to go at sunset, but we had the place to ourselves at 8:30 AM.
The view from here is delightful. It’s right along the Merced River, with a backdrop of El Capitan and Bridalveil Fall. We expected this to be just a quick stop to snap a photo of the view, but our toddler randomly loved it here so we stayed for about half an hour.
Tip! I invented an activity that kind of tied into their Junior Ranger book. We spent one minute focusing on each sense: what do you hear? what do you smell? Etc. It was simple but my kid loved it. It’s a fun thing to do if you’re anywhere in nature with kids.
Bridalveil Falls
Speaking of Bridalveil Falls, that was our next stop. It’s a popular stop, and was already crowded when we arrived around 9 AM. I assume parking here get’s tough later in the day and during summer peak.
The walk from the parking lot to the falls is less than 10 minutes and fully paved. You can walk right up to the base of the falls and a over the river below, so it’s a very accessible view point. It’s a really great payoff for people who can’t (or don’t want to) do the more intense hiking around Yosemite.
That said, we were up for hiking and had more to do. We were in and out in under 10 minutes.
Tunnel View & Artist Point Trail
Tunnel View is probably the most famous viewpoint in Yosemite. It’s another easily accessible and undeniably beautiful spot. There are parking lots on both sides of the street, which by 10:30 AM (in June) were starting to fill up. Again, I can imagine this place is pretty chaotic during peak summer.
The viewing platform looks out over the whole valley. From here, you can see El Capitan, Half Dome, Glacier Point and Bridalveil Falls.
At this point, we were done with photo ops and wanted to get back to hiking. We picked up the Pohono Trail at the south parking lot for Tunnel View. A popular segment of this trail is to Inspiration Point, but it does go all the way to Glacier Point. Our plan was to hike Pohono Trail for only about a half mile, and then cut over to Artist Point.
The trail was harder than we expected — not hard, but we should have put our kid in their hiking shoes. The first half mile is pretty steep, winding up rocky switchbacks. The trail also basically follows a shallow stream (at least in the spring), so it was a bit wet. After that half mile though, we hit the old stage coach road (there’s a sign) and took that the rest of the way. This leg was pretty flat, other than fallen trees we had to climb over.
Artist Point isn’t labeled, but you’ll know it when you see it. All of a sudden, the path turns and the trees clear and you get this absolutely stunning view of the valley. It’s basically the same as Tunnel View, but higher and much less crowded. (As in, it was just us!) We sat on a rock and ate snacks and enjoyed the view.
This was by far one of my favorite parts of our trip. It was just amazing that with just a little bit of effort, we got got such an incredible view all to ourselves.
Picnic Lunch at The Hotel
By the time we got back to the car after Artist Point, it was a little after noon. We were already starting to notice that parking lots were filling up, so we decided it was time to ditch the car.
We drove back to our hotel to park the car. And since it was lunch time, we had a picnic outside the hotel. The lodge grounds are open to the public, so even if you aren’t staying here, it’s a fan spot to break for the afternoon. (You have to pay for parking, though.)
Yosemite Village
For the rest of the afternoon, we walked everywhere we needed to be.
First stop was Yosemite Village. We worked on our Junior Ranger book all day, and our last task was to attend a Ranger program. We didn’t really have a plan for for that, but we managed to walk up to the visitor center right at the start of a Ranger presentation about bears. So my little one jumped in the circle with all the other perspective Junior Rangers and learned about bear safety.
With their book signed, they went inside to recite their pledge and receive their badge. Honestly, what an honor. This kid earned it.
We also did a quick stop at the Wilderness Center. We never actually made it to the Museum, but that’s around here, too.
Light Hiking Around Yosemite Falls
We left Yosemite Village and followed the trail to the Yosemite Falls area. There are actually a lot of flat, winding, easy trails around here, so you can really take in the view from every angle.
We started with the Cook’s Meadow Loop. As the name suggests, it’s a loop around a meadow. It’s partially paved, partially boardwalk. The skies were blue, the trees were green, the mountains loomed — it really was quite lovely.
Next, we looped back to Yosemite Falls. Like Bridalveil, there’s a parking lot and it’s short walk to the falls, making them incredibly accessible to all. The best views are actually from a bit of a distance, where you can see upper and lower falls. Then, you can walk right up to the falls and over the river below. From up close, you can just see the lower falls.
It was now close to 3:30 PM and we were in the market for a boost. We decided to walk a half mile further to Yosemite Lodge. Yosemite Lodge does not have air conditioned rooms, but they do have at Starbucks. This my friends, was the boost we needed!
Caffeinated, we made the return journey back to Yosemite Village. Instead of taking the direct route though, we took the longer trail we hadn’t yet taken. After passing Yosemite Falls again, this time we hopped on Valley Loop Trail.
This trail was steeper than we expected, but a lovely walk and only took us about 30 minutes.
Note: We walked this trail with our child around 5 PM and happened to take this photo. Having walked the trail and feeling comfortable with it, my husband decided to run this trail the following morning. He saw a bear! These photos are taken in the same spot, almost exactly 12 hours apart. Bears are no joke, folks!
Dinner & Swimming
For dinner, we decided to grab a quick meal at Degnan’s Deli in Yosemite Village. The restaurant at our hotel was good, but we’d had the same single vegetarian offering two nights in a row, so we were ready to change it up.
Degnan’s closes early (6 PM during our visit) and is nothing to write home about, but it was a fine option for a quick dinner.
Exhausted by fulfilled, we trudged the final mile back to our hotel. We got there about 45 minutes before the pool closed, so we decided our child had earned a swim. It was the perfect way to close out a perfect 2 days in Yosemite.
Leaving Yosemite
And that was all the time we had! The following morning, we packed up our things and headed out. We made one final stop at El Capitan, and then it was onto the next big thing. In our case, we were on to Pinnacles National Park a few hours away.
Yosemite 2-Day Itinerary at a Glance
TLDR here’s how we spent two amazing days in Yosemite National Park.
Day 1:
- Hike to Nevada Fall (John Muir Trail to Vernal Fall Footbridge > Clark Point > Vernal Fall > Nevada Fall > Picnic Lunch)
- Return hike (John Muir Trail from Nevada Fall to Vernal Fall > Mist Trail down from Vernal Fall)
- Visitor Center
- Dinner at Hotel
Day 2:
- El Capitan Meadow
- Yosemite Valley View
- Bridalveil Fall
- Tunnel View
- Hike to Artist Point
- Picnic lunch at Hotel
- Yosemite Village
- Yosemite Falls
- Cooks Meadow Loop
- Starbucks at Yosemite Lodge
- Valley Loop Trail
- Dinner at Yosemite Village
- Swimming at Hotel
If you had 2 days in Yosemite National Park, how would you spend them? Let me know in the comments!
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