Yosemite Valley Day-Use Parking
Yosemite Valley has no single day-use lot, no published capacity for any of the lots it does have, and one rule that governs the whole day: park once. NPS puts day-use parking at Yosemite Village, Curry Village, and near Yosemite Falls, and adds the sentence that should shape your plan — “If you find a parking space, plan to leave your car there; you will not be able to find another parking spot.”
Arrive before 8 a.m. The Valley floor is small, the demand is the highest in the park system, and there is no overflow lot anywhere — the free shuttle is the overflow.
And don't improvise a space. NPS tows here, and says so on the page.
The facts
- Trail served
- The Valley's entire trail network — Lower and Upper Yosemite Fall from the Yosemite Falls area, the Mist Trail via Curry Village, Mirror Lake, the Valley Loop Trail, and the Four Mile Trail from the west end
- Cost / pass
- Parking free. Park entrance $35/vehicle for 7 days, $30 motorcycle, $20 per person. America the Beautiful accepted. Non-US residents 16+ pay an extra $100 unless admitted on an annual or America the Beautiful pass. The park does not accept cash. No separate parking fee and no reservation required in 2026
- Lot size
- NO PUBLISHED COUNT for Yosemite Village, Curry Village or the Yosemite Falls area. NPS names the three locations and sizes none of them
- When it fills
- NPS: “arrive before 8 am, after which parking is usually full.” On weekends, arriving later means “multiple delays followed by inability to find a place to park” — NPS's phrasing, not ours
- Overflow option
- There is no overflow lot. The free Valleywide Shuttle (every 12–22 min) and East Valley Shuttle (every 8–12 min) run 7 a.m.–10 p.m. and connect the lots to the trailheads. Parking once and riding is the intended design
- Tow / citation risk
- NPS states it directly: “Do not create a new roadside or off-road parking space; violators may be towed and/or cited.” Vehicles on vegetation or blocking traffic are subject to citation and towing
- Restrooms
- Yes
- Road to the lot
- Paved and open year-round. Valley floor roads do not close seasonally the way Tioga and Glacier Point Roads do
- Busy season
- Tuesday through Thursday, and outside July and August if at all possible. Spring gives peak waterfall flow and peak crowds together; late autumn is the Valley's best-kept secret
Getting there
Get directions →One space per day is the actual rule
Most parking advice is about getting a space. Yosemite's is about what you do with it afterwards, and the Park Service states it without hedging: “If you find a parking space, plan to leave your car there; you will not be able to find another parking spot.”
That single sentence invalidates the way most people plan a day here. Drive to Yosemite Falls, look at it, drive to Curry Village for lunch, drive to Mirror Lake — that itinerary doesn't work. The first move loses you the space and the second never materialises.
The design intent is that you park once, early, anywhere you can get in, and then use the shuttle for everything else. The Valleywide Shuttle serves all Valley stops every 12–22 minutes; the East Valley Shuttle covers the Village, Curry Village, the Pines campgrounds and the eastern trailheads every 8–12 minutes. Both run 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. and both are free.
Once you accept that, which lot you got becomes almost irrelevant — which is fortunate, because you don't get to choose.
Three lots, no numbers
NPS names the day-use parking areas — Yosemite Village, Curry Village, and near Yosemite Falls — and publishes a capacity for none of them. Not on the Valley page, not on the traffic page, not anywhere we could find.
That's a notable gap for the most visited square mile in the national park system, and it means any specific space count you encounter online is invented. We'd rather tell you the number doesn't exist than pass along someone's guess.
What NPS gives instead is the clock, and on this the two relevant pages disagree — 8 a.m. on the traffic page, 9 a.m. on the Valley page, both updated in June 2026. We use 8. On a Saturday in July, treat even that as optimistic, and understand what the Park Service is warning about: not a longer walk from a worse space, but “inability to find a place to park” after a queue to get in.
Plan B
Arrive before 8 a.m. and take whatever you get. There is no better lot to hold out for. The shuttle reaches everything, so the only bad outcome is no space at all.
YARTS is the real alternative and almost nobody considers it. The regional bus runs into the Valley from Merced, Mariposa, Fresno, Sonora and Mammoth Lakes along Highways 140, 120 and 41, and the fare includes your park entrance. You skip the entrance queue, the parking problem stops being your problem, and it's the one approach that works fine arriving at 11 a.m. on a Saturday.
Move the trip, not the car. NPS's own steer is Tuesday through Thursday, and out of the Valley entirely — Tuolumne Meadows, Wawona and Hetch Hetchy all have room. Hetch Hetchy in particular is a full-scale Yosemite valley with a fraction of the traffic.
What isn't a plan B: parking on a verge, on vegetation, or in a half-turnout. NPS tows, the roads are narrow enough that a badly parked car genuinely blocks things, and the citation risk here is real rather than theoretical.
Frequently asked questions
How many parking spaces are in Yosemite Valley?
NPS publishes no capacity for any Yosemite Valley day-use lot. It names three locations — Yosemite Village, Curry Village and near Yosemite Falls — and sizes none of them. Any specific number you find online is unofficial.
What time should I arrive at Yosemite Valley?
Before 8 a.m., per NPS's traffic page. Its Valley page says 9 a.m., and both are current, so we use the earlier and more conservative figure. On weekends and holidays NPS warns that arriving after 8 means delays followed by an inability to park at all.
Can I move my car between parking lots in Yosemite Valley?
You can, but NPS advises against it in strong terms: “If you find a parking space, plan to leave your car there; you will not be able to find another parking spot.” Park once and use the free Valleywide or East Valley shuttles to move around.
How often do the Yosemite Valley shuttles run?
The Valleywide Shuttle serves all Valley stops every 12 to 22 minutes, and the East Valley Shuttle covers Yosemite Village, Curry Village, the Pines campgrounds and the eastern trailheads every 8 to 12 minutes. Both run 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. and both are free.
Is there an alternative to driving into Yosemite Valley?
YARTS, the regional bus, runs into the Valley from Merced, Mariposa, Fresno, Sonora and Mammoth Lakes, and the fare includes the park entrance fee. It removes the parking problem entirely and is the one approach that works well on a busy weekend morning.
Facts on this page last verified July 28, 2026. Fees, hours, and access rules change seasonally — confirm with the official source before a long drive.