Best Cabin Camping near El Portal, CA

this is the ultimate glamping. Bunk beds, electrical outlets, private patio with awning and round picnic table, even curtains for your shared sleeping quarters. Near by clean restrooms running hot water. Id recommend wearing sandals for showering. Nice open space between campsites. We had the campsites reserved months in advance next to the river. It was pretty dry the this time. Enough water to capture some great photos. In the campgrounds there were large bear lockers, and well distributed benches and fire rings. Quiet time is 10pm and they are strict about it. Cant reallly complain about yosemite though. Its just pure beauty.

aka Curry Village

My daughters and I have now stayed in both the canvas tent/cabin and a hard-sided cabin. Both provide comfortable beds with sheets and a warm blanket on each. (If you like fluffy pillows, bring one from home.) 

We stayed in the heated tent/cabin during a major snowfall and stayed toasty-warm. I’d give this place an extra star if we were able to boil water in the tents, so we could make our own warm food and coffee, but it’s not allowed. There are bear boxes to lock up any food you do bring. There are places in the valley to buy warm meals, but they really weren’t very good, especially for the price. 

The showers are warm and have good water pressure. They always had clean towels available, too.

However, Curry Village is packed with wall-to-wall people. Despite quiet hours, there seems to always be That One Guy who gets drunk, loud and obnoxious. On our last trip, That One Guy decided to yell obscenities in my daughters’ faces when they asked him politely to keep the noise down. It was 15min before quiet hours and it was obvious that most of the other guests (many with small kids) had gone to bed. Other than calling the front desk, there really wasn’t another option for “crowd control.” 

When I camp, I do prefer remote, quiet places away from crowds, but I did appreciate the convenience of Curry Village’s location. We really were in the heart of the valley with great access to the best hikes. All in all, we enjoyed our stays.

We stayed here March 2022.  We booked a heated tent cabin for 4 nights.  It had 1 double bed and 2 singles, a storage tower, 1 central electric light, and 1 electrical outlet - this is not advertised, but if you tell them you have a CPAP or other medical device needing an outlet, they will let you know that there is one in the heated cabins.  It was enough to power a power strip, charge our phones, and run said CPAP (LOL).  The beds were comfy and the linens were great.  We requested additional blankets as the comforter on the bed was nylon on both sides and kept sliding off the beds.  We were given old school wool blankets and they were great!  We did adjust the heat often as it would actually get too warm.  

As we visited in the off season, not all of the amenities were available (pool, restaurants), but it didn't bother us at all.  The guest lounge was often crowded and we only spent one evening in there.  Showers and toilets were very clean.  It was still fully booked when we went, but the grounds are quiet are people were very respectful of the park rules.  

This was a great central location to do Yosemite.  We woke up under Half Dome every morning, did the Mist Trail, Vernal Falls trail, and Lower Yosemite Falls trail.  Doing it in the off season was awesome as the number of additional people not actually staying in the park was very small.

Reservations are hard to come by...we reserved in January for March of the same year and got lucky.  Book through the NPS as other sites charge additional, unnecessary fees.  We also recommend packing in food.  There are bear lockers to store it.  Dining in the park is provided by Aramark and is average at best.  We took a trip outside the park to dine in a nearby city and had a wonderful dinner. 

Overall, we would definitely stay here again and again!  It was very peaceful and comfortable.

Overall, the proximity to being in The Valley outweighed the negatives of our stay. 

While pricey for what it is, it IS at the far east end of Yosemite Valley with easy access to the Mist Trail. The tent-cabins are close to each other (3-8 feet), and we were woken by our neighbors our first morning (they were checking out early, and while quiet hours were 'officially' over, it was still 0730...and since it was during the heat wave, we hadn't gotten to sleep til well after midnight).

That said...we were expecting foam rubber mattresses on wooden plywood shelves for beds, but the bed frame, mattresses, pillows and Rumpl blankets were a nice surprise (the website stated there would be wool blankets). The towels and sheets were in need of some fabric softener though.

 It was HOT. Having camped in tent-cabins before (not Curry Village), we brought fans with us that helped cool things down in the evenings, but having fans [battery operated/ rechargeable (we had Ryobi rechargeable fans)] helped us out.

We couldn't figure out how to make the tent-cabin canvas window 'shades' to stay open- which was necessary because we needed the ventilation - we had brought along some binder clips that we were able to jury-rig to keep the canvas flaps over the screens open,  though. 

Showers and restrooms were adequately clean, and showers were hot…but nothing to write home about. 

We were surprised by the trash on the grounds near the cabins (where our nearest showerhouse was)-  in fact, a zip-lock baggie sat on the ground in the same spot for the three days we were there, before I picked it up on our way out. Additionally, on the grounds of the tent-cabins, we found several nails and other hardware on the ground.

 We were also surprised by the size of Curry Village, which isn't really discussed on the website. We were in tent-cabin 749 on the far east end, which was great until we had to walk to Camp Curry and/or the parking lot. We brought a wagon to carry our gear from the car to the tent-cabin, but once again, we've done this before, and we felt really bad for the folks lugging all their stuff without the benefit of a cart. Next time we'd bring bikes to help with the longish walk (400 meters? Maybe longer?) 

The food options were great! The pizza is fantastic, and it was nice having the ability to grab pizza/tacos/burgers as an option at the end of the day (cooking is not allowed in the camp, but we 'tailgated' with backpacking stoves and meals a couple of the days).

This Campground is 5 miles from West gate entrance to "Yosemite National Park". Only 35 miles west of " Lake Don Pedro, take out your boat, go jet skiing or fishing. Don't forget to go to " Moaning Cavern!" Tuolumne River runs through campground. There are 254 Full Hookups, 130 Tent sites, Hostel, Cabin & Yurts. They have WiFi, Satellite TV,Clubhouse, Billiard's, Game room, Shuffleboard, Store, Hiking Trails,Nature, Playground, Mini Golf, Tennis, Picnic/BBQ,Volleyball, Basketball & in the Summer-Bus runs to Yosemite, for an additional fee. Summer Swimming,Seasonal Fishing,Wheelchair Accessible, Restroom/Shower Facilities & Laundry. Yosemite Lakes Resort 31191 Hardin Flat Rd. Groveland,CA 95321 Reservations Member- 1-800-368-7788 Non-Member 1-888-481-6348 Welcome Center (209)962-0103 Rental Check In- 4PM Rental Check Out - 11AM Front Desk- Sun-Sat 8AM-8PM