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Yosemite National Park & Giant Sequoias 2-Day Semi-Guided Tour

Badge of Excellence
San Francisco, USA
Great choice
10+ bookings last month.
  • 2 days (approx.)
  • Pickup offered
  • Mobile ticket
  • Offered in: English

Overview

Escape San Francisco and head to Yosemite on this hassle-free, 2-day tour. After easy pickup from the city, your driver will take you straight to the park’s best sites: Yosemite Valley, the Tuolumne Grove of giant sequoias, Bridalveil Falls, Half Dome, and more. Explore at your own pace with time for photos, hikes, and meals. Accommodations not included.
  • See more of Yosemite National Park on a 2-day tour
  • Relax with round-trip transfers from many San Francisco hotels
  • Park entry fee already included for US residents
  • Explore at your own pace with audio guides in multiple languages

What's Included

  • San Francisco pick-up from most hotels
  • Transportation to Yosemite National Park
  • Drop-off at Yosemite Lodge
  • Free unique geo-based audio guides in 8 languages
  • Park Entry Fee for U.S. Residents
  • Accommodations are not included in this package
  • Meals
  • Transportation from Yosemite Valley Lodge to your separately-booked accommodation
  • Gratuities

Meeting and Pickup

You can head directly to the meeting point, or request pickup

Pickup points

Select a pickup point

Pickup details

Pick-up details and times are as follows: 5:20 AM – Holiday Inn San Francisco-Golden Gateway (1500 Van Ness Ave). 5:25 AM – Motel 6 (2850 Van Ness Ave). 5:30 AM – Zephyr Hotel (250 Beach St), Avis Car Rental (500 Beach St). 5:40 AM – Hilton Financial District (750 Kearny St), Fairmont San Francisco (950 Mason St). 5:50 AM – Hilton San Francisco Union Square (251 Mason St), JW Marriott (515 Mason St). 6:00 AM – The Mosser Hotel (54 4th St). 6:40 AM – 7-Eleven Convenience Store, Livermore (891 Airway Blvd, Livermore).

or

Meeting point

  • Hilton San Francisco Union Square
    333 O'Farrell St, San Francisco, CA 94102, USA

    Meet at the Mason Street entrance (Eastern entrance) at 5:50 am.

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

Operating hours
.5:20 am

Itinerary

Day 1

San Francisco to Yosemite

20 Stops

San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge (Pass By)

San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge (Pass By)

Treasure Island (Pass By)

Sierra Nevada (Pass By)

Big Oak Flat Road (Pass By)

Big Oak Flat Information Station (Pass By)

1

Yosemite Valley

12 hours Admission Ticket Included

2

Tunnel View

15 minutesAdmission Ticket Free

Ansel Adams Gallery (Pass By)

Bridalveil Fall (Pass By)

El Capitan (Pass By)

Half Dome (Pass By)

Horsetail Fire Fall (Pass By)

Mist Trail (Pass By)

Nevada Fall (Pass By)

3

Lower Yosemite Fall Trail

15 minutesAdmission Ticket Free

4

Merced River

15 minutesAdmission Ticket Free

5

Yosemite Falls

1 hour Admission Ticket Free

6

Valley Visitor Center

30 minutesAdmission Ticket Free

Yosemite Valley Lodge (Pass By)

Accommodation: No accommodation provided

Meals: Not included

Day 2

Yosemite to San Francisco

19 Stops

Curry Village (Pass By)

Yosemite Valley Lodge (Pass By)

1

Valley Visitor Center

30 minutesAdmission Ticket Free

2

Yosemite Falls

1 hour Admission Ticket Free

3

Merced River

15 minutesAdmission Ticket Free

4

Lower Yosemite Fall Trail

15 minutesAdmission Ticket Free

Half Dome (Pass By)

El Capitan (Pass By)

Bridalveil Fall (Pass By)

Ansel Adams Gallery (Pass By)

5

Tunnel View

15 minutesAdmission Ticket Free

6

Yosemite Valley

12 hours Admission Ticket Included

Big Oak Flat Information Station (Pass By)

Big Oak Flat Road (Pass By)

Sierra Nevada (Pass By)

Treasure Island (Pass By)

San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge (Pass By)

San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge (Pass By)

7

Tuolumne Grove

1 hour 15 minutesAdmission Ticket Free

Accommodation: No accommodation provided

Meals: Not included

Additional Info

  • Confirmation will be received at time of booking
  • Not wheelchair accessible
  • Stroller accessible
  • Service animals allowed
  • Near public transportation
  • Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level
  • Non-U.S. residents aged 16 and older will be charged an additional $100 park entry fee per person after completing their booking. This fee will be collected by the tour operator via a payment link or on the bus at the start of your tour. Note that “America the Beautiful Non-Resident Pass” holders do not pay the $100 fee, the $250 pass covers up to 4 people at the entrance.
  • Between November and March, when the trail is not safe due to snow and ice accumulation, we substitute the hike with additional time in Yosemite Valley.
  • The Giant Sequoias Grove is located at a higher elevation and the hike is dependent on trail conditions, especially from October through May. Ice and snow might make the trail unsafe to hike. The decision of whether it is safe to go on the hike will be made on a day by day basis. Therefore, a visit cannot be guaranteed. However, while the trail might be closed, guests get to spend more time in Yosemite Valley. There you can see all the other great sights Yosemite has to offer, including El Capitan, Inspiration Point, Half Dome, Yosemite Falls and more.
  • Since there is limited to no storage within Yosemite, please make sure to only bring what you can easily carry with you. Oversized luggage will be subject to an additional $50 fee from the local operator.
  • Tour makes stops for breakfast, lunch, and on the trip back for dinner. Meals are not included.
  • For hotel pickups, please select the Hilton Union Square if your hotel is not listed.
  • Audio guides are available in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, German, Korean, Chinese, and Japanese. Specify language at time of booking under special requirements.
  • California law requires tour guests to bring a car safety seat for all children under 8 years and under 4' 9" (1.4 meters) in height. Any guest that does not provide their child's safety seat at the time of the tour and does not inform the tour operator in advance may not be allowed to board the tour and will not be subject to refund.
  • During winter months, temperatures in Yosemite can vary drastically to the ones in San Francisco. Therefore, it is recommend to wear winter clothes, especially shoes or boots with rubber soles and treads.
  • This tour/activity will have a maximum of 41 travelers

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Gallery picture 1 (from a traveler's review)
Gallery picture 2 (from a traveler's review)
Gallery picture 3 (from a traveler's review)
Gallery picture 4 (from a traveler's review)
Gallery picture 5 (from a traveler's review)

Reviews

4.4
based on 32 reviews
Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor

Awesome guide

Serene_C, Apr 2026
Guide Andy made all the difference on this trip. He's a walking history book n the best storyteller. He's passionate about Yosemite n it shows -- what a gem! He also have clear instructions n made all of the us feel engaged n safe. Thanks, Andy!

Response from Host, Apr 2026

Thank you for your wonderful review! We’re so glad Andy made such a strong impression with his knowledge, storytelling, and passion for Yosemite. It’s great to hear he helped keep everyone engaged, informed, and safe throughout the trip. We truly appreciate your kind words—he’ll be thrilled to hear this!

Its a great way to see...

Helida_C, Sep 2024
Its a great way to see something about the amazing Yosemite National Park! There is much mote to see 🤩

Some Communication Problems but Worth It

Patricia_H, Oct 2023
The tour was great, the park is amazing and I would highly recommend it, however the company needs to work on their communications. Their tour description is not clear on the stops--it made less than half of those listed and it wasn't clear when you made them on the tour, which would have been helpful. It also wasn't clear on the pick-up points so I changed hotels to make sure we could get picked up there and then on the ticket I saw them listing our pickup at the original hotel. I was panicking since it was late the night before the tour but the good news is that they do keep staff available at late hours and she was very helpful. Our first guide Aiden was polite and somewhat informative, but he didn't mention to the 2-day tourists like ourselves to not return to the bus after dropping us off at the park and that we weren't to return until the 2nd day. If a lady in front of us hadn't specifically asked him, we wouldn't have known. Same thing happened to a couple of guys on the 2nd day. So, in case they don't tell you, if you are on a 2-day tour, you take your bags when you are dropped off at the lodge on that first day, then you are on your own until you return to that spot at 2:00 pm the next day to complete the tour. The 2-day tourists were obviously a minority since we were the only ones who had suitcases (this tour was only a part of our longer trip). They were pretty cumbersome and seemed to cause them some problems on the buses, but the guides on both days were very helpful about it. Don on the second day was much more informative and helpful. Another problem that we confronted was that, even though they picked us up at the hotel the first day, they didn't plan to return us to that hotel on the return (something else no one mentioned) and we didn't get back until about 10 pm. Don was very helpful and arranged an Uber to pick us up at the stop where he could drop us off which we really appreciated. The office staff was also very helpful, again, in this situation. I especially want to mention Janica in particular. She was great--very helpful and even used several methods to communicate with us to make sure we got the message. So 5 Stars for the customer service staff, but I hope that they will work on communicating better in advance to avoid all the problems and confusion. You will enjoy the tour however. The park is gorgeous and it's a great idea to offer the 2-day tour. I think it would have been hard to thoroughly enjoy it in one day--you would see the major sites but only have a couple of hours of free time to just enjoy the park. Which reminds me--make sure to walk to see Yosemite Falls on your own. It's very close to the Lodge where they drop you off and I don't recall our first guide mentioning to us that we wouldn't see it on the 2nd part of the tour.

Response from Host, Oct 2023

Thanks for taking the time to review your tour...this sort of feedback makes us better. Please tour with us again soon!

terriblest company!!!...

Ekaterina_R, Nov 2022
terriblest company!!! ruined my trip i booked 2 days trip yosemite park and sequoia, so this sucks company did only one day and back in San francisco when i texted company about that i want 2 days trip and it’s complicated serpentine road. I booked the tour solely for the sequoia but they just ruined the tour with their disorganization the road is hard to go only one day on which they offered to return half of the tour I understand they are scammers you pay and expect a full tour and they did one day and return 50% with a favor but I don't need a refund, I need a sequoia tour

Response from Host, Dec 2022

We, of course, are sorry to know that you were disappointed with our service. I'll explain what you already know from our conversation: you booked and paid for a one day tour on Viator but believed you had booked a 2-day tour. When we spoke you refused to pay the difference to our agent. As an act of good faith we refunded 50% of your cost for the 1-day tour. We thought that to be a generous solution, but apparently you do not agree. We also direct you to our tour description which clearly states that we do not do the Sequoia hike in icy, unsafe conditions which was the case on your tour day. We are still open to hearing from you; please call our guest services team at (415) 357-0700 and ask for a manager.

Marvelous Memories

Christina_C, Mar 2022
We had a great trip and had a wonderful experience. Ben was our driver on day one and Denise was our driver on day two.

Response from Host, Apr 2022

"Magical moments" is what we always try to deliver. We were glad to hear we delivered. Please come again.

We enjoyed our tour!

Sophie_C, Feb 2022
We had Denise from Extranomical Tours for the first half of our tour to Yosemite Valley and Brian from Best Bay Area Tours for the second half of our tour back. Denise's a great storyteller - she gave a lot of information on the places and their history along the way - and she was really witty. She was also very clear with communication like how much time we had at each place and when the next toilet stop would be . Brian provided more experiences, like setting up telescopes to let us view the climbers on El Capitan, and guiding us on short hikes. Both had very different styles and we enjoyed our tour very much. For those who're thinking of visiting Yosemite, we recommend taking this 2-day tour and staying overnight at Yosemite so you have more time hiking and taking in the natural wonders. The 1-day tour would have been too short for us.

Response from Host, Feb 2022

Congrats! You did Yosemite right. Allow down time to enjoy Yosemite's many attractions by adding an overnight stay is a great way to go. We've passed your kind words on to your guides. Thanks.

Yosemite valley bus tour

Srinagesh_P, Oct 2019
Excellent drivers on both ways to Yosemite valley and back to SFO. They drove us safely and explained in detail the history of Yosemite valley

Response from Host, Oct 2019

As they do every day! Thanks for letting everyone know that the fall and early winter are some of the best times to visit and enjoy Yosemite.

From $269.00

per person

up to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)

Book ahead!
On average, this is booked 45 days in advance.

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