Yosemite accomodations and San Francisco trip
 

We plan to stay in Yosemite during the beginning of August, and have made a reservation at the Falcon's Nest (Peregrine Lodge) B & B. Some of the reveiws say it is far from anyplace to eat dinner. My question is, how far is far? We don't mind a drive to get a good meal. Is there another place, inside the Park, that is preferable and won't break the bank?
Also, we will either be coming from San Francisco or going to San Francisco afterwards.
How many days should we plan to stay in Yosemite and/or SF, and how long a drive is it between the two areas.
Thanks for the help.

Do you plan to do a lot of hiking in Yosemite??? or just a drive/walk through Yosemite Valley. Do you plan to just visit the valley, or Tioga Pass & other Yosemite regions???

Time in San Francisco??? Jeeze - a "lifetime" would be the correct answer, IMO. But to really get an appreciation of what makes San Francisco a great place to live, I think 5-6 nights would be a minimum.

Here is something I posted earlier abut San Francisco & the Bay Area
http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...mendations.cfm

Stu Dudley

Yosemite West is a little enclave of private homes and condos that is technically outside the park, but you drive through the park to get there. We stayed in a home there and liked it. It was a 25-minute drive to the valley floor, and another 10 minutes or so to the village area with shops and restaurants. If you just want dinner, you might find it closer going the other direction, to the Wawona Hotel. Or stay in th eValley until dinner time and have an early dinner before returning to your lodging.

As far as places in the Valley that are more convenient, all but the Curry Village tent cabins are quite expensive and probably fully booked. You are paying for the location. While it is very nice to be able to walk outside and see those beautiful cliffs, it is crowded in mid-summer. Yosemite West is a good alternative (but we had a house and cooked for ourselves, so didn't have to worry about dinner!)

Your lodging is about 18 miles (36 minutes) from the Ahwahnee in Yosemite Valley. Going south on 41 it takes an hour to get to Oakhurst which has few good restaurants.
As for the route to SF- Rt. 120 to Manteca ans I-205&I-580 to the bay area. About 7 hours drive time from Yosemite Valley by that route to SF.

SF to Yosemite or vice versa is about a 4 hour drive if there is no traffic slowing you down. Choose your drive time wisely.

There are not restaurants in the near vacinity of the B & B in Yosemite West but here are some places you could consider:

<8 miles away Cedar Lodge and Yosemite View LOdge Restaurants.

About 10 miles away in Yosemite Valley:

Ahwahnee
Mountain Room at Yosemite Lodge at the Falls
Degnan's Deli
Degnan's Grill
Degnan's Loft
Village Grill
Curry Village Pavilion
Pizza Deck
Curry Bar
Camp Curry Bar & Grill

You can get more Yosemite Dining info here:

http://www.yosemitepark.com/Dining.aspx


The Ahwahnee and Mountain Room have the best food. Others are pricey and mostly ok.

Ok Yosmite Valley looks to be cloer to 20 miles away. If you leave the park to go to El Portal to eat make sure you keep your entry receipt because it's good for 7 consecutive days of park entry. You don't want to have to pay the entry fee more than one time.

We found the Mountain Room at Yosemite Lodge at the Falls
to have good food, reasonable prices and wonderful views! I would suggest you ask for a window table near the Falls. I didn't find the prices there to be outrageous but that was a few yrs ago. We also had a great dinner (with dining room piano) at the Ahwahnee that was expensive but I had to eat there ONCE. Both places IMHO should be experienced during daylight to really see the terrific views!

We stayed just south of the park in a lodge called Tenyaya(sp). It is very comfortable and literally just a couple of minutes from the park entrance. Restaurant on site and hiking trails leave from the parking lot. As far as how much time to allow for each destination only you can answer that. On highway 41 we also ate at a mexican restaurant called El
Sids, the place really looks like a dive but the food was most excellent and cheap. I think it was in oakhurst. Enjoy your trip, ziggypop

We are hikers so tht is very important to us. Also, we have been to San Francisco before so I would suspect we would only stay 3 days. Any suggestions about where to stay in SF?

Tenaya Lodge is really nice and near the south entrance. Oakhurst is indeed the closest town. Wawona is a little closer to the Vally but both are more than an hour to Yosemite Valley.

We stayed at Yosemite View Lodge- its outside the park but short drive to entrance. They have a restaurant and a swimming pool-
and you can take a bus into the park and to valley floor- once you are in the valley, you can take shuttles to several of the trail heads- and its nice to be able to avoid trying to find a place to park

If you go across the GG bridge, there is a nice HI Hostel within the Muir Woods National Monument. There are several HI Hostels in SF if you want the more urban setting.
The thing I like about hostels is the ability to cook in the kitchen instead of going out to a restaurant.
Muir Woods is a great place for a hike if it is not raining.