Yosemite National Park has finally decided what it's doing about 2025 reservations
ZitatAlles anzeigenThis summer, you will likely need a reservation to visit Yosemite after all
After months of confusion and uncertainty, Yosemite National Park has announced that a reservation system will be in place during its busiest time of the year.
The system will be the least restrictive the park has ever implemented, with reservations required every day from June 15 to Aug. 15, 2025, between 6 a.m. and 2 p.m., as well as over Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends during those same hours, according to an emailed statement from a Yosemite National Park spokesperson.
The information has also been published on Yosemite National Park’s website.
“This system ensures all visitors, whether they plan in advance or decide last minute, can experience the park each day,” Yosemite’s spokesperson wrote. “It also spreads visitation across the day so that visitors have a better experience.”
The park encourages the public to visit its trip planning website and the park service app for more details, including exceptions and instructions for how to make a reservation on Recreation.gov. Reservations will become available on May 6 at 8 a.m. PST, according to the website.
The announcement of a reservation system so close to the busy summer season will no doubt rankle the owners of gateway town hotels. Occupancy numbers for the summer have already been low, ostensibly due to the confusion over the reservation system, the lack of bookings from international travelers, a downturn in the economy and an onslaught of distressing news regarding staffing cuts and other issues created by the Trump administration.
“We are at just over half of our usual peak summer occupancy at this time,” Lee Zimmerman, the owner of three hotels near Yosemite’s Big Oak Flat entrance, told SFGATE in an email earlier this month.
In previous years, the reservation system was announced months in advance, and reservations went on sale very early in the year, allowing visitors to nail down their entry dates and times, and businesses to plan accordingly.
Conservationists aren’t thrilled with the delayed announcement, either, but they’re calling it a win.
“Following the back-and-forth confusion on Yosemite’s seasonal reservation system that began a month ago, it’s a relief to know that certainty and commonsense still prevail,” Mark Rose, the Sierra Nevada and clean air program manager for the National Parks Conservation Association, wrote in a text message to SFGATE. “While we believe that this announcement is late coming and insufficient compared to prior proposals, it’s far better than blocking the system altogether.”
In keeping with previous years, visitors who reserve lodging, campsites, wilderness permits or special use permits in the park won’t need reservations to enter, according to the park service. Those who book commercial tours and hotel shuttle buses are similarly exempt. Those without reservations can enter Yosemite before 6 a.m. or after 2 p.m. or at any time via the Yosemite Area Regional Transportation System’s public buses.