Planning to fly into SF or Oakland. I would like to purchase transportation to Yosemite. 3 days Yosemite and 3 in San Francisco. I am trying to avoid renting a car. Any suggestions!!!! Thanks in advance

Kat22
this is the only way that I know of to get to Yosemite without a car.
http://www.calpartours.com/yosemitetransportation.htm
I think they do have a toll free number. After you get into the park there is transportation to other areas.
Also If you stay outside of the park in the town of Merced there is a shuttle that takes you into the park....
Good luck

Amtrak goes to Yosemite. You have to take a bus from SF to Emeryville (East Bay) and then take the train to Merced. In Merced you board another Amtrak bus and it takes you into the valley. It is a little bit of a pain but you can avoid driving this way.

I've done the Amtrak route, I can't really recommend it unless you're staying overnight in yosemite. The connection in Merced was not timed when I made this trip, so I had to kill quite a bit of time in 'lovely' downtown Merced.

Basically it eats a huge chunk of your day.

BayArea, I'm thinking of taking Amtrak round-trip to Yosemite... I thought they are scheduled so the bus brings you to the train, maybe 1/2 hour of waiting. Did you take Amtrak bus back or YARTS? I just checked Amtrak schedule, did not see long gaps between buses and trains. Or was it on holiday schedule?

This was about 3 years ago, took the train from Emeryville, to Merced. My recollection was that we had to wait for 90 minutes for the bus. The bus then went into Yosemite on highway 140.

I think I was frustrated by the trip because I'm used to driving myself there and often make it in anywhere from 2.5 to 3.5 hours, and this took more like 5 hours. It seemed like it ate the whole day.

There are some upsides, you get to see stuff you wouldn't ordinarily see, and if you had people to talk to, or a book you were dying to finish & a picnic lunch that it could be a good experience, I just think that 10 hours (RT) is too much time for transit for me. Others mileage may differ.

Oh, thanks for clearing this!

Amtrak is nototiously late, so that could account for having to wait for a connection.