Yosemite Accommodations
 

I hope to visit Yosemite for 3 nights in late September. The Ahwahnee and Yosemite Lodge are booked, so I am debating between staying just outside the west entrance at El Portal and someplace in Yosemite West (from yosemitewest.com) like a condo?

I've never been to the area and am arriving from the east coast for the three nights. Any suggestions?

hi, i would recommend the condos at yosemite west. i stayed there in may and it's a great location. a short drive to glacier point and 30-40 minutes to the valley and 30 minutes to wawona. on the plus side, we got to cook our own meals and we passed the tunnel view every almost every day, morning and dusk. have a great time!

1st, keep calling your in park choices,you may catch a cancellation.
It has worked for me in the past. When it hasn't,we have always enjoyed the Yosemite View Lodge in El Portal. Opt for a 3rd floor river view room. You'll be treated to the sounds of the Merced river just below you and off your private patio. (And the in room jacuzzi is great after a day of hiking.)
There is a restaurant/bar and good pizzaria on-site. If you want to purchase snacks,go back a 1/2 mile of so west to the El Portal store, better selection and less pricey than what is offered at the store at YVL.
R5

I also second Yosemite West because of the location. A very pleasant and doable drive into the valley.

We stayed in a studio in Yosemite West last week. The location is great. The condos are basic....nothing fancy. The kitchen and baths were clean, however.

I have also stayed at Yosemite West and liked it there. I have stayed in condos, but there are a variety of accommodations there, including some B and B's.

I find the El Portal area pretty charmless, a few businesses next to the highway. Yosemite West is back in the woods, gives much more of a resort, staying in the park feel. And the location of being centrally situated between three centers of interest--the Valley, Glacier Point and Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias--is a big plus, as opposed to staying in El Portal which is much more distant from the last two of those three.

We stayed at the Yosemite View Lodge in El Portal in June, and thought it was very nice. We had a river view room with a private balcony overlooking the Merced River, which was great. Our room was quite large, with a kitchenette, and a jacuzzi in the bathroom. It had a "fireplace", which was really just colored lights on strips of fabric blown around by a fan - quite silly, really. We encountered the same thing at the hotel we stayed at in Niagara Falls. But we thought it was a very nice place to stay, if you can't stay in the park - and it's right outside the park entrance, although about a 20 minute drive into the valley (if the traffic isn't bad).

Can anyone suggest a website or contact to check out accommodations in Yosemite West other than yosemitewest.com? The website seems to highlight houses - to large for me and my partner, and it shows few pictures of any alternatives like condominiums.

We stayed in Yosemite West in the Jumping Deer Apartment. It's a private rental; you can check out their website and see if there is still a vacancy:

www.pinearbor.com/jumping_deer.htm

hi, yosemite west seems to have updated their website; they used to have condo pics... but if you'd like i actually took pictures inside out condo that i can e-mail you...

woodstockguy, I wonder if you maybe didn't find your way to this page. It has pictures and descriptions of the studio and loft condo units, as well as a phone # and online link to make reservations for them:

http://tinyurl.com/dxrtd

Here's a link to reviews, mostly about the condo units rather than the houses or B&B's, in Tripadvisor.com:

http://tinyurl.com/dbauz

Thanks again everyone for your assistance.

guimbymoy - if you have pictures of inside condos I would love to see them. My email address is [email protected]

JBC411, thanks once more, this time for the links. I'll check them out of course.