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Driving is how almost everyone gets from Los Angeles to Yosemite National Park: it is about 313 miles (504 km) and roughly 6 hours to Yosemite Valley on Highway 41, and no other option comes close on time or flexibility. The alternatives exist and they are slower: bus takes 9 to 12 hours with a change at Merced, train involves a bus for the first leg, and flying only helps if you land at Fresno.
The one piece of good news for 2026 is that the entrance reservation is gone. Yosemite announced in December 2025 that it would not run a timed-entry system in 2026, so you can turn up at a gate, pay the entrance fee and drive in. That is a genuine change, and any guide still telling you the reservation is mandatory with no exceptions is describing 2021.
The four routes at a glance
The four ways of covering the distance are listed below, fastest first.
| How | Journey time | Changes | Do you need a car in the park? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drive | About 6 hours | None | You have one |
| Fly to Fresno, then drive or YARTS | 4 to 6 hours door to door | Airport transfer | Hire a car or take YARTS |
| Bus, LA to Merced then YARTS | 9 to 12 hours | One, at Merced | No, free shuttles run in the valley |
| Amtrak Thruway bus, train, then YARTS | 9 to 12 hours, sometimes far longer | Two, at Bakersfield and Merced | No |
Driving from Los Angeles to Yosemite National Park
Driving is the fastest and most flexible way to reach Yosemite, and it is the only one that lets you stop at Glacier Point or Tioga Road on the way to somewhere else. The park covers 1,187 square miles (3,074 sq km) with entrances hours apart, so the route you take depends on where you have booked a bed rather than on which road is shortest.
How far it is
Los Angeles to Yosemite Valley is about 313 miles (504 km) and roughly 6 hours without stops. Add an hour if you leave during the morning or evening peak, because driving in Los Angeles means the first 60 miles decide the mood of the whole trip. Leaving before 6am or after 10am is the single easiest saving on this drive.
Most visitors pick up a hire car at LAX rather than driving their own, and a campervan or RV works well here because the park’s campgrounds are cheaper than its lodges and book up less far ahead. DiscoverCars compares hire cars across the LAX suppliers in one search, which matters on this trip because a one-way drop in Fresno or Merced turns the drive into a fly-one-way itinerary.
Highway 41 to Yosemite Valley
Highway 41 is the quickest and most-used route from Los Angeles, and it is the default answer for a first visit. Take I-5 north, then CA-99 north, then CA-41 north through Fresno and Oakhurst and into the park at the South Entrance.
Yosemite Valley is where the postcard is. There are hiking trails at every difficulty, a visitor centre, food and lodging, the views of Half Dome and El Capitan, the base of Yosemite Falls and Bridalveil Fall, and quiet stretches of the Merced River to sit beside when the trails are full.
Highway 41 to Mariposa Grove and Glacier Point
The same Highway 41 entrance puts Mariposa Grove within a few minutes of the gate, which makes it the natural first stop rather than an afterthought. The grove holds several hundred giant sequoias, including the Grizzly Giant, and a free seasonal shuttle runs to it from the entrance between roughly mid-April and the end of November.
Glacier Point Road turns off Highway 41 further in and climbs through conifer forest and meadows to a viewpoint over roughly a third of the park. Half Dome sits opposite, with the high peaks behind it and the valley floor around 3,200 feet (975 m) below. The road is seasonal and closes with the first serious snow.
Tioga Pass, Highway 120 East
Tioga Pass is the eastern entrance and the least-used way in, reached from Los Angeles by driving north on US-395 and then west on CA-120. It is a longer drive than Highway 41 and a far better one, crossing the Sierra crest at the highest highway pass in California.
This route is seasonal and the dates move every year. Tioga Road opens once the snow has been cleared, which has ranged from late May to early July depending on the winter, and closes with the first storm that sticks, usually in October or November. Check the road status before you commit to it, because the detour if it is shut adds hours rather than minutes.
Along the way, Tenaya Lake has a swimmable shoreline, Tuolumne Meadows has trailheads to alpine lakes, and Olmsted Point looks down the back of Half Dome. Olmsted is worth timing for sunrise or sunset.
Highway 140 to Yosemite Valley
Highway 140 is the route to take if you are staying in Mariposa County, and it is the lowest and least snow-prone of the western entrances. Head north on I-5, then CA-99, then east on CA-140 through Mariposa and El Portal into the Arch Rock entrance.
It takes a little longer than Highway 41 from Los Angeles. It also stays open in weather that closes the others, which is why YARTS runs its year-round service along it.
Highway 120 West to Yosemite Valley
Highway 120 West is the entrance for anyone staying in Groveland or elsewhere in Tuolumne County, and it enters at Big Oak Flat. Follow the Highway 140 route as far as Mariposa, then take CA-49 north to CA-120 east. Expect roughly 7 hours from Los Angeles.
Winter driving and tire chains
Winter driving in Yosemite means carrying tire chains, and California enforces this with chain controls rather than advice. You are required to carry chains in the park during winter conditions even when it is not snowing, and rangers will turn you back at the gate without them.
Chains are most often needed from November to March, and they have been required as late as May and as early as September in heavy years. Tioga Road and Glacier Point Road close for the winter entirely. Yosemite Valley stays open through almost all conditions, though the roads narrow as the snow banks up and parking gets harder.
Call the park’s 24-hour information line on +1 209-372-0200 or check current road conditions on the NPS site before setting off in winter.
Do you need a reservation to enter Yosemite?
No. Yosemite is not running a timed-entry reservation system in 2026, so you do not need one to drive in. The park announced the decision in December 2025 and is managing peak days with real-time traffic monitoring, parking management and visitor alerts instead.
The rule has changed almost every year since 2020, so check it against your own travel dates rather than against a blog post. The NPS entrance reservations page is the only source that is always current.
Two things have not changed. You still pay an entrance fee per vehicle, and you can now buy the pass in advance through Recreation.gov’s digital pass, which shortens the queue at the gate. And a lodging, campground or wilderness booking has always guaranteed entry when a reservation system was in force, so if one returns for a future season, having a bed booked inside the park is still the simplest way around it.
Los Angeles to Yosemite National Park by bus
Taking the bus from Los Angeles to Yosemite means two legs and no driving, which is the trade: about 9 to 12 hours instead of 6, in exchange for skipping the mountain roads and the parking problem that swallows the valley in summer.
YARTS, the bus that actually enters the park
YARTS, the Yosemite Area Regional Transportation System, is the bus that takes you the last stretch into Yosemite Valley, and every other option connects to it. Four corridors feed the valley.
- Highway 140 from Merced, calling at Mariposa, Midpines and El Portal. This is the year-round route and the one to build a trip around.
- Highway 41 from Fresno, calling at Oakhurst and Fish Camp. Summer only.
- Highway 120 West from Sonora, calling at Groveland and Buck Meadows. Summer only.
- Highway 120 East from Mammoth Lakes, calling at June Lake and Lee Vining. Summer only, and dependent on Tioga Pass being open.
The fare includes the park entrance fee, so a YARTS ticket is the cheapest way for a solo traveller to get in. Online booking opens 24 hours ahead. Reservations are not required, and remaining seats are first come, first served at the stop, which matters on summer weekends and holidays. Check the YARTS routes and timetables before you plan the connection, because the summer lines run a handful of times a day rather than hourly.
Greyhound and FlixBus to Merced
Greyhound and FlixBus both run Los Angeles to Merced, which is the connection most bus travellers use. Services leave from the Patsaouras Transit Plaza beside Union Station and set down at the Merced Welcome Center, where the YARTS stop is.
Allow a real gap between the two. A missed YARTS connection in Merced can mean a night in Merced, because the later services thin out.
Free shuttles inside the park
Once you are in the valley you do not need a car, because Yosemite runs free shuttles that reach most of what people come for. The Valleywide route serves every valley stop every 12 to 22 minutes from 7am to 10pm, and the East Valley route runs more often, every 8 to 12 minutes, between the village, Curry Village and the eastern trailheads.
Two seasonal shuttles run outside the valley: one to Mariposa Grove from the South Entrance, roughly mid-April to the end of November, and one to the Badger Pass ski area, typically from mid-December to March.
Guided bus tours
Guided coach tours to Yosemite do run from Los Angeles, and they are a long day out rather than a comfortable one, because the park is 6 hours away. Most Yosemite day tours leave from San Francisco or San Jose instead, where the drive is 4 hours and the maths works.
If you want a guided trip from Los Angeles, look for two-day or three-day tours with a night in a gateway town rather than a single-day round trip.
Los Angeles to Yosemite National Park by train
There is no train from Los Angeles to Yosemite, and there is no train from Los Angeles to Bakersfield either, which is the detail that catches people out. Passenger trains have not run over the Tehachapi mountains since 1971, so Amtrak covers that first leg with a Thruway coach.
The journey has three parts. An Amtrak Thruway bus takes you from Los Angeles to Bakersfield, the San Joaquins train runs from Bakersfield to Merced, and YARTS takes you from Merced station into the valley. Amtrak sells it as one ticket.
Expect 9 to 12 hours in total on a good connection. Some itineraries build in an overnight stop at Bakersfield or Merced and stretch past 24 hours, so read the schedule rather than the headline journey time. The train leg is the pleasant part: the San Joaquins has proper seats, luggage space and a cafe car, and the Central Valley farmland is more interesting from a train window than from I-5.
Los Angeles to Yosemite National Park by plane
Flying to Yosemite makes sense from one airport, Fresno, and only barely from the other. Fresno Yosemite International Airport is served by Alaska, Allegiant, American, Delta, Southwest and United, and it is roughly two and a half hours from Yosemite Valley by road.
Merced Yosemite Regional Airport is the closer of the two but has a single airline. Contour Airlines took over the Essential Air Service contract from 1 July 2026 and flies 30-seat jets nonstop to Los Angeles daily, plus Las Vegas five times a week. That daily LAX service is the one genuinely quick air link on this route, and it is a small operation, so book early and have a fallback.
Both airports have car hire desks and both sit on a YARTS corridor, so you can land and continue without driving. Compare the short-hop fares against the drive before you commit, because a 6-hour drive often beats a flight plus two transfers once you count airport time. Trip.com compares California fares across the airlines serving both airports.
Where to base yourself
Basing yourself inside the park saves the most time and books up the furthest ahead, and the gateway towns are the practical alternative. Yosemite Valley lodging goes months in advance for summer; El Portal on Highway 140 and Oakhurst and Fish Camp on Highway 41 are the nearest towns with a real choice of rooms; Mariposa and Groveland are cheaper again and add 45 minutes to an hour each way.
A room in a gateway town also keeps you on a YARTS corridor, which is worth something on a busy weekend when the valley parking fills by mid-morning. Hotels across the Yosemite gateway towns are on booking.com, and it is worth booking the bed before the flight on this trip, because the bed is the constraint.
Guided trips inside the park
Guided trips solve the parts of Yosemite that a hire car does not: the trailheads with no parking, the winter roads, and the guiding itself. Valley floor tours, Glacier Point sunset trips, snowshoe walks in winter and rock-climbing instruction all run from inside the park or from the gateway towns.
Availability and prices move with the season and with the road openings, so the widget below shows what is currently bookable rather than figures that would be wrong by next month.
Before or after the park, a few days in Los Angeles makes the flights worth it, and the two halves of the trip need almost nothing in common.
Los Angeles to Yosemite FAQ
How long does it take to drive from Los Angeles to Yosemite? About 6 hours to Yosemite Valley, covering roughly 313 miles (504 km) via I-5, CA-99 and CA-41. Add an hour if you leave Los Angeles during rush hour, and add more in winter when chain controls slow the last stretch.
Do you need a reservation to enter Yosemite in 2026? No. Yosemite announced in December 2025 that it would not run a timed-entry reservation system in 2026. You still pay the entrance fee, which you can now buy in advance as a digital pass through Recreation.gov.
Can you get to Yosemite from Los Angeles without a car? Yes. Take a Greyhound or FlixBus to Merced and change to a YARTS bus, which is the only public transport that enters the park. Inside the valley, free NPS shuttles run every 8 to 22 minutes from 7am to 10pm, so you do not need a car once you are there.
Is there a train from Los Angeles to Yosemite? No. Amtrak runs a Thruway bus from Los Angeles to Bakersfield, because passenger trains have not crossed the Tehachapis since 1971, then the San Joaquins train to Merced, then YARTS into the park. The whole trip is sold as one ticket and takes 9 to 12 hours.
When is Tioga Pass open? Tioga Road usually opens between late May and early July, once the snow has been cleared, and closes in October or November with the first storm that sticks. The dates change every year with the snowpack, so check the park’s road conditions page before planning a route through it.
Which airport is closest to Yosemite? Merced Yosemite Regional is closest and is served only by Contour Airlines, with a daily nonstop from Los Angeles. Fresno Yosemite International is further out at about two and a half hours from the valley and has six airlines, so it is the more practical choice for most itineraries.
WonderfulWanderings Pro Tips
The 5 tips below come from checking this route against the National Park Service, Amtrak, YARTS and the two gateway airports in 2026, and each one contradicts something you will still read on older pages.
- Do not go hunting for a timed-entry reservation. Yosemite is not running one in 2026, a decision the park announced in late December 2025, and it is managing crowding with traffic monitoring, parking control and visitor alerts instead. An entrance fee still applies, and buying it in advance as a digital pass on Recreation.gov is what actually saves you time at the gate.
- There is no train from Los Angeles to Bakersfield. Passenger trains stopped crossing the Tehachapis in 1971, and Amtrak covers that leg with a Thruway coach before the San Joaquins takes over from Bakersfield to Merced. Book it as one Amtrak itinerary and expect the first few hours on a bus.
- The in-park shuttles are running, whatever a 2021 page tells you. The Valleywide route comes every 12 to 22 minutes and the East Valley route every 8 to 12, both from 7am to 10pm, which is what makes a Yosemite trip work without a car once you are inside the park.
- Only the Highway 140 YARTS corridor runs all year. That is the Merced, Mariposa, Midpines and El Portal line. The Highway 41 corridor through Fish Camp, Oakhurst and Fresno, Highway 120 West through Groveland and Sonora, and Highway 120 East through Lee Vining and Mammoth Lakes are summer services, so an off-season car-free trip has to route through Merced.
- Merced’s airport has one airline, not six. Contour Airlines flies it on an Essential Air Service contract, with a daily nonstop to and from LAX on 30-seat jets, so the airport closest to the park has a single daily option out of Los Angeles. Fresno is served by Alaska, Allegiant, American, Delta, Southwest and United, and both airports sit about two and a half hours from Yosemite Valley.
About the author. This guide is written and maintained by the Wonderful Wanderings editorial team. Wonderful Wanderings was founded in 2012 by Sofie Couwenbergh and covers California for independent travellers, including the hire cars, gateway-town hotels and guided trips worth booking for a Yosemite visit. Yosemite’s entry rules, road openings and transport connections change from season to season, and the team re-checks this page against the National Park Service and YARTS when they do.
