San Francisco to Yosemite
 

My family (2 adults and 3 children) will arrive in San Francisco at 10am (if all travel goes well) on July 2nd. We have reservations at Curry Village Campground on the 3rd. I am wondering if we should leave SF on the 2nd and stay somewhere closer to Yosemite in order to get into the park early on the 3rd. If so, where are some good places to stay along the way, I was considering Sonora. We spend 4 days in SF at the end of our trip, so I am not worried if we don't stay there on the 2nd.

Many people will be leaving SF early on Friday 7/3 to have a long weekend. There might be a big traffic jam getting out over the Oakland Bay bridge. You may want to go south from SFO and take the San Mateo-Hayward bridge to get on I-580.
Try to get a reservation at someplace between Merced and El Portal for 7/2.
I hope California gets some rain between now and then or the waterfalls may be pitiful.

It is only about 4 hours drive and you should be able to reach YNP by 10 AM on 3rd for an early morning start from SF. I hope you will be spending more time in YNP than just the remaining day.

We will be in Yosemite for three days and then we will head to SNP! Good to know about the traffic. This is our first trip to CA, so every bit of info helps!

>>here might be a big traffic jam getting out over the Oakland Bay bridge.<<

One wouldn't use the Bay Bridge driving from SFO to Yosemite -- that would require driving out of the way and through San Francisco. They'd use the San Mateo Bridge/580 and across the valley through Manteca and Oakdale.

If you leave SFO in the AM that is your best option since you can't check in till the afternoon at Curry Village, and there are really no places one would want to stop directly enroute.

But -- driving out on the 2nd and taking a small detour, you could spend that night in Sonora. This would give you a nice intro to the CA Gold Rush Country including Columbia Historic State Park. SFO to Sonora is about a 2.5 hour drive.

This is kind of an unsecnic drive-and there will most likely be traffic somewhere along the way-especially since it's Friday-so plan on 5 hours at least.
You may want to consider Oakhurst-it's about an hour outside of Yosemite Valley (15 minutes or so to the gate)

You definetly want maximum time in Yosemite
It takes an hour drive into the Valley (maybe a little more with traffic and stops)-so add that to your travel time.
Plus check in-getting bedding-etc. is another hour
So you are really looking at a 7ish hour time frame from SFO to your hut!

From Oakhurst to Yosemite Village (center of the valley) takes about 90 minutes w/o photo stops.

So it is a shorter drive in than from say Sonora, but there is more to see/do near Sonora.

Oakhurst is not on your route and out of the way for you. Stick to Sonora/Columbia route.

Oakhurst is out of your way but going in on Hwy 140 and staying as close to Mariposa might be another option. Another thing to keep in mind is the fact that Friday might be a day off for many people since it is the day before a Saturday holiday. Traffic is going to be a nightmare no matter how you slice it.

Another thing to consider is getting in the Yosemite park entrance. We've seen just an ordinary weekend where cars are backed up for a mile or so to get into the park. (we were exiting so it was easy to see) I would highly recommend finding a place to stay at least past Tracy, CA on 580 but as close as you could get.

Utahtea