This post is part of Just Ahead’s Yosemite Trip Planner—our guide to what you need to know to plan your trip to Yosemite National Park. Click here to see the complete series. And be sure to download our Just Ahead smartphone audio tour of Yosemite before you head to the park.

Camping under the stars in Yosemite sounds like a dream, and it is. However, it’s a dream shared by many others. Although the park has 13 campgrounds, many of them are seasonal, and most are in great demand. When it comes to deciding where to camp in Yosemite, the key is to plan ahead for campgrounds that take reservations, and to arrive early for campgrounds that don’t. The park’s most popular campgrounds take reservations through recreation.gov, but to nab a site in one of them, you need to think in terms of getting tickets for a big rock concert. Get on the website ready to start clicking promptly at 7 a.m. Pacific time on the 15th of the month, five months in advance of your month of arrival.

Sights like this are not far from your tent flap when you camp in Yosemite.

So what should you do if you arrive during a busy season with no reservations? If you have cell-phone reception, you can call the park’s campsite availability hotline at 209-372-0266. Most likely it will steer you to one of the campgrounds outside Yosemite Valley that has sites on a first-come, first-served basis. Best advice for getting one of those sites is to first verify that the campground is open (call the hotline or check with a ranger), and then to arrive by 8:30 or so in the morning. Sites generally fill up by noon, earlier on weekends. The one Valley campground that is first-come, first served is Camp Four. The same advice applies: Get there early.

All campgrounds accept RVs unless noted in the write-ups that follow. As for amenities, as a general rule, expect tables, fire pits, running water, toilets, and bearproof food lockers. Exceptions are noted below.

Naturally, Just Ahead points out all of these campgrounds as you drive through Yosemite.

Yosemite Valley Campgrounds

The Pines
The Pines Campgrounds: Upper Pines, Lower Pines, and North Pines, are what most people think of when they think of Yosemite camping: big spaces under tall pines with views of Half Dome and Glacier Point. The three campgrounds are adjacent to one another near Curry Village at the east end of Yosemite Valley. They have 379 sites altogether, and many will accommodate large RVs. Upper is open year-round; the others are open roughly from early spring through mid-fall. These campgrounds are especially suitable for families and people who enjoy a very social camping atmosphere. All sites can be reserved through recreation.gov.

Camp Four
Camp Four is a walk-in campground for tents only, but the sites are quite close to the parking area. Think car camping without your car right next to your tent. The campground is open year-round, with 35 sites. As we describe in our Best of Yosemite post, Camp Four is the center of Yosemite’s rock-climbing culture, and primarily populated by climbers.

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