Yosemite National Park is world famous for its perfect beauty, and probably best known for its numerous amazing waterfalls. But with almost 1,200 square miles of glorious wild emptiness to explore, there's much more to do and see. Expect deep verdant valleys, vast meadows, giant ancient sequoia trees, all set in endless tracts of wilderness stuffed with fascinating wildlife, soaring views and the freshest, clearest, cleanest air you can imagine. It smells wonderful.
El Capitan towers 350 storeys above Yosemite Valley, the world's biggest exposed chunk of granite.
Beyond the Yosemite valley there's 800 miles of well-marked trails delivering everything from easy hikes to hardcore endurance tests. And you don't always need to be specially equipped. It's very accessible. This is a UN World Heritage site and there's a great deal to do, whatever floats your holiday boat, from total relaxation to some of the toughest physical challenges in the US.
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Top class guided tours into the wilderness
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Rock climbing, hiking, camping, river rafting, horseback riding and scenic drives
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Visit lively Yosemite Village
For a well-rounded experience taking in all the delights Yosemite offers – wild and civilised - try all three.
Learn the ropes at the Yosemite Mountaineering School. Discover the breathtakingly lovely Yosemite Falls. And see the park's giant sequoia trees, which can live as long as 3,000 years. But there's more to life in Yosemite than the rugged, wicked wilderness. There's culture too.
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Yosemite Museum Gallery
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Parsons Memorial Museum
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The Ahwahnee Hotel, a famous historic landmark
The distinctively un-romantic name 'Tunnel View' doesn't go anywhere near describing this absolutely mouthwateringly beautiful sight, so spectacular it's hard to believe.
Badger Pass ski resort is a little bit of pure skiing heaven, letting you enjoy the majesty of the park's landscapes away from the madding summer crowds. It might be hot down below but high in the peaks it's crisp, cold and refreshing.
“Yosemite Valley, to me, is always a sunrise, a glitter of green and golden wonder in a vast edifice of stone and space.” ― Ansel Adams
“The vision of this massive body of water with towering monoliths jutting straight upward to the heavens, stole our ability to think.” So says Danielle Rohr in her book 'Water Falls Down' about just one of the area's breathtaking waterfalls. Fancy the train ride of your life? Yosemite's railroad tours are something else. Take the Yosemite Sugar Pine Mountain Railroad, south of the park, which chuffs you along four thrilling miles of historic rail along the old route once taken by logging trains. The narrow gauge rail is just three feet wide, a dizzying experience you won't forget in a hurry, and it's home to two gorgeous old steam locomotives, the perfect mode of transport in this remarkable landscape.
The lovely Bridalveil Falls, at 620 feet high, are amongst the most spectacular in Yosemite, particularly in the spring when the snow melts fast and boasts the falls to their impressive best. By late summer many of the park's numerous waterfalls are bone dry. Yosemite Falls is the highest waterfall in North America, a whopping 2,425 feet high. Sentinel Fall is almost 2,000 feet high with lots of smaller cascades, anything between 50 and 500 feet. Curry Village, a very smart camp with tents for hire at bargain rates, is an excellent base from which to explore the area's best falls.