Yosemite Tours from San Francisco

The Two Fees

The standard entrance fee is $35 per private vehicle or $20 per person on foot or bike, valid 7 days. Every tour on this page includes it for U.S. residents. Since 1 January 2026 there is a second charge: any visitor aged 16 or over who is not a U.S. resident pays an extra $100 per person.

Children under 16 are exempt from it. The America the Beautiful non-resident annual pass costs $250 and waives the surcharge for up to 4 people. Yosemite is one of 11 parks with this surcharge.

How Each Tour Collects It

The listings handle the surcharge differently, so check the wording before you book. Some operators collect through a payment link after booking, some take it at the destination, two listings do not state the amount, and one does not mention the fee. The private tour is the only one that covers the fee itself. The details below are what each operator's listing says.

• Budget $100 per adult on top of the tour price unless you hold the $250 America the Beautiful non-resident pass
• Gray Line's listing prints $103 rather than $100, so expect that figure at the destination on the coach day
• Each listing's full wording is in the Yosemite nonresident fee guide

No Reservation Needed This Year

Yosemite dropped its timed-entry and peak-hours vehicle reservations for 2026, including the February Horsetail Fall weeks. The park now manages parking and traffic in the valley in real time. For a tour passenger that changes little.

The operator drives in on its own commercial permit, so there is no slot to book and no gate time to hit. What still decides your cost is the fee table above: $35 per car or $20 per person is already in every tour price, and the $100 nonresident charge is not. Busy days still mean full lots at the valley trailheads, which is the one thing a 5:30 AM van start helps with.

The Shape of the Day

Pickups start between 5:20 and 6:40 AM, and every day tour runs 14 to 15 hours from pickup to drop-off. That leaves 8 to 10 hours on the road and roughly 4.5 to 5 hours in the park on a typical day tour. So yes, a day trip works, but it is a long day.

Whether that trade pays off is weighed in is a Yosemite day trip worth it. Here is how the day tours split their time in the valley, from each listing.

What a Sequoia Stop Costs You

A giant sequoia grove walk comes out of your valley time, not out of the drive. Tuolumne Grove is a 2.5-mile round trip with 500 ft of elevation change, down about a mile and back up, taking 1 to 2 hours. On a small-group day that is the main event, as the giant sequoias guide explains.

On a valley-only day the same hours go into free time at the falls and the walls instead. Neither is wrong, but you cannot have both in full on a 14 to 15 hour day.

The Main Sights

Tunnel View frames El Capitan, Half Dome and Bridalveil Fall in one view, and most tours stop there on the way in. El Capitan rises over 3,000 feet above the valley floor with its summit at 7,573 ft. Half Dome rises nearly 5,000 feet above the valley, summit 8,842 ft.

Bridalveil Fall drops 620 ft and flows all year. Yosemite Falls totals 2,425 ft across its three parts, one of the tallest waterfalls in North America, but it flows roughly November to July and is often a trickle or dry by August. Waterfalls peak in May and often stay strong into June with the snowmelt.

Glacier Point, the Exception

Glacier Point stands 3,214 ft above Curry Village and looks across at Half Dome, Yosemite Falls, Vernal and Nevada Falls. It sits about 30 miles, roughly 1 hour, from the valley on a road that normally opens late in spring and closes in autumn. The road can shut at short notice, as it did late in the 2026 season for wildfire smoke and firefighting.

Just two listings name it, the 2-day tour with lodging and the private tour, and both always say weather permitting.

The Four Ways to Ride

The fleet ranges from a 15-passenger van to a 45-seat coach, plus a private SUV or minivan for up to 5. Most tours pick up at your hotel, and the one exception is the Gray Line coach day, where you meet downtown at Fisherman's Wharf, 2805 Leavenworth St, by 6:10 AM for a 6:20 AM departure, or Union Square, 478 Post St, by 6:25 AM for a 6:40 AM departure. The 15-seat van day has its own page: small-group Yosemite tour from San Francisco.

Which One Suits You

Fewer seats mean shorter stops, because a van parks and moves faster than a 45-seat coach at Tunnel View or the falls. The big coach is the lowest price at $199, and it trades that for a downtown meeting point and fewer, longer stops. The private tour at $1,200 per group of up to 5 sets its own pace and covers the nonresident fee.

For two people the private day costs $600 each, so couples and solo travelers pay less on a shared van.

The Day Tours

Every day tour from San Francisco leaves between about 5:20 and 6:40 AM and runs 14 to 15 hours, with roughly 4.5 to 5 hours actually in the park. If a sequoia grove walk is on the itinerary, it comes out of that time. That is the trade you accept for not driving 195 miles yourself.

If you want more than a taste of the valley, the 2-day and 3-day options below split the drive around one or two nights.

Two Days with a Room Included

The 2-day tour with lodging caps the group at 13 on a biofuel mini-coach. The price from $629 covers your overnight at Yosemite Valley Lodge, a tent cabin at Curry Village or Yosemite View Lodge in El Portal. Over the two days it covers the valley highlights, a hike among the giant sequoias and a trip to Glacier Point, the last two weather permitting. Note the cancellation terms: a full refund only 6 full days before departure, 50% from 2 to 6 days out, nothing inside 2 days.

If you would rather pick your own bed, the 2-day guided trip runs from $251 with the room booked separately. The 3-day version is also from $251 and adds a full unguided middle day, with the Tuolumne Grove sequoia hike on the afternoon of day 3.

Booking a Room in the Park

Rooms inside Yosemite book up to 366 days ahead, so on the tours where you arrange your own lodging, reserve the room before or immediately after you book the bus. Staying over removes one of the two 4-5 hour drives from each day, which is the single biggest gain. The guide to where to stay in Yosemite compares the valley lodges, Curry Village and El Portal, and the 2-day Yosemite tour from San Francisco page walks through the book-your-own-room trip in full.

Driving Yourself

The valley is about 195 miles from San Francisco by Highway 120 (Big Oak Flat entrance) or Highway 140 (Arch Rock, through Merced). The park service budgets 4-5 hours each way, so a self-drive day trip mirrors the tours at 8-10 hours on the road. Entry costs $35 per private vehicle, valid 7 days.

From about November to March, chain controls are likely on the approach roads, and rental car chains are your problem to fit.

Train and Bus

There is no direct train or bus from San Francisco. Amtrak San Joaquins runs to Merced, where the YARTS Highway 140 bus continues into Yosemite Valley as an Amtrak Thruway connection. On its own, YARTS costs $22 one way or $44 round trip for adults, and $11 one way for seniors 62+ and children 6-17.

It does not include the entrance fee or the $100 nonresident fee. An Amtrak ticket booked through to Yosemite bundles the bus ride and park entry in one fare. The full route breakdown is in the San Francisco to Yosemite guide.

Waterfalls, Weather and What the Tours Do

Waterfalls peak in May and often stay strong into June on the snowmelt. Yosemite Falls flows roughly November to July and is often a trickle or dry by August, while Bridalveil Fall flows all year. Average highs in the valley run from 9 C (48 F) in January to 32 C (89 F) in July and August, with 21 C (71 F) in May and 22 C (71 F) in October. Chain controls are likely on the approach roads roughly November to March.

Winter also changes the itineraries. On some tours the Tuolumne Grove sequoia hike is swapped for extra valley time when the trail has snow or ice: Extranomical's sequoia day tour does this from November through March, as does the 3-day tour. Glacier Point sits on a road that normally opens late May to October or November and can close at short notice, so it is always listed weather permitting.

So Which Month

If you want the falls at full volume and accept booking months ahead, May or June is the answer. September and October trade water volume for warm days, with the Glacier Point road usually open, weather and fire permitting. Winter is the quiet season, with snow in the valley and the sequoia hike swapped out on some departures.

The month-by-month detail is in the guide to the best time to visit Yosemite.