Looking for the best campgrounds near Sonora, CA? There are tons of hikes and other fun activities to partake in. Experience some of the most stunning views that California camping has to offer. Search nearby campsites and find top-rated spots from other campers.
"Bathrooms were very unclean but the park gets the job done as a place to sleep while visiting Yosemite. No Verizon or T-Mobile coverage. Wifi available for purchase."
"With a pool, petting zoo, a corral where they have a fire and s'mores followed by a movie, this is a great place to camp with the kids."
$150 / night
"It is very dry, the Lake New Malones was down quite a bit. We swam in the lake the water was great. However, we did not bother with the Kayaks. It’s really not a kayak lake more of a speed boat lake."
"New Melones was not a top destination but it was close to a very special place for us, Natural Bridges."
$30 - $89 / night
"We arrived in the dark. We had reserved a site with a small two person tent already set up for us."
"Has water, portable toilets and heated showers. Campsite has Some shade from the sun. Also has a couple glamping tents aswell."
"We were lucky to have a spot at the dead center of the top of the mountain looking out at the lake (site 13) with a big shade tree."
"There are sites on the lake with shade provided over the tables. It was mid week and was not crowded at all. The lake is gorgeous and at night there were several deer walking thru the site."
"Super nice, close to the bathrooms. There's a community outdoors kitchen with stove and sink. Small hiking trail that had some horse nearby that cam and said hi to us. Will definitely be coming back."
"Close to lots of cute towns and wineries."
"Really beautiful park, stream running through, campfires allowed. Friendly helpful staff. Somewhat difficult drive up the 120 especially if you are in a large rig."
"Whip out your wallet and empty on it on the check-in desk of this thousand trails (or whatever) park."
$20 / night
"The lake has receded quite a but that one of the docks is about 100 yards from the actual lake now (California drought). The campsite was well maintained."
"There was no formal check-in system to the campground, and finding the location of campgrounds 120-130+ was confusing because of the signage. Otherwise, a very serene lake and good site."
$40 / night
"The terrain varies where you stay and if you are in D or E loop you are closer to the lake. Even though they are large, the tree coverage is bear on some of them so there isn't much privacy."
"Pinecrest is a fun campground for the family, sometimes I enjoy my quiet camping where there aren’t a whole lot of amenities around then other times you want to be able to bring the kids around."
$36 / night
"The site was clean, spacious enough, flat enough, and very convenient to access to everywhere in the valley."
"Sites are moderate sized with bear locker, picnic table and fire pit. Campground has flushing toilets, sinks. Campground is close to curry village where showers, pool, market and pizza are available."
$40 - $80 / night
"You are aboute 12 Mi. to Yosemite Park entrance. It is family business , very clean and you feel country! They provide everything for you. There are few fool hock ups and they provide also fire wood."
Rangeraka 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.
GuideOverall, 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).
ScoutWe stayed here for the night prior to a Hetch Hetchy backpacking trip. We arrived in the dark. We had reserved a site with a small two person tent already set up for us. It was a bit hard to find in the dark, but the camping area is fenced in under an oak grove so eventually we found the stump with our name on it next to the tent. In the future, I think I’ll just bring my own tent and deal with the small hassle of setting it up—the tent provided was fine, but definitely would not have been a good choice if there had been rain. And you could tell it is essentially set up 24/7—some tiny insects living inside etc. The campsites themselves were sufficiently spacious and the host has nice fire pits with fire wood provided for each site, plus picnic tables. Basic portapotties plus some running water for bathrooms. Fellow campers were an interesting mix of folks from all over, though I wish the owner had quiet hours posted and communicated—our immediate tent neighbors sat out chatting and laughing until nearly 1am which was annoying. The coyotes and owls at night were lovely.
Legend***I start off by saying that the staff I did interact with were all very nice and it have a great mountaineering school with excellent staff and a nice camp store.
Also, this campground is definitely in a great location within the valley. However, for the cost you'd think they could do a lot more maintenance to these "tents". Similarly, not sure why they aren't all heated as they include a simple cheap heater that they could easily put in all of them.
When the campground is making about ~70K per night on the weekend you'd think they could easily afford to maintain the grounds. The tents are filthy, the bathrooms have graffiti in the stalls and there's no area for picnicking, fires, seating, etc. (things that you always get included at a standard campsite). My personal tent is way cleaner than these "tents" as it appears that they haven't cleaned out the dirt in quite some time...They simply (hopefully) just come in and change the sheets in between people and that seems to be about it.
Also, I can understand not having people cook/eat in their tents, but they should then provide a picnic area so you don't have to bus/drive to a different area of the park or eat all your meals in the restaurant (Another way they're making money) if you'd like to bring in some of your own food or sit around a fire and have a S'more. They do have a lounge with a fire place, so why can't they have an outdoor fire pit so you can actually be closer to nature?
Stayed October 11-14th 2018 like another reviewer and couldn't believe how disrespectful so many of the other "campers" were during the quiet hours. People (not just the kids) were not only running through and disrespecting people personal space/belonging but they were up and extremely loud late into the night (at least 3am). Although isn't part of the reason to come to this incredible National park to get up early and explore the park? May people seemed to treat this "campground" as a party spot. People in true campgrounds are much more respectful of the others around them.
While, I'll definitely be back to Yosemite, I won't be staying here again.
GuideWe 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.
GuideStayed two nights here in a 2 bed tent cabin. Slept 3 of us perfectly and was somewhat heated. Meaning the heater likes to turn it self off at times cooling the tent back down before kicking back in. The bathroom and showers were great for camping showers. The is a nice lodge style place to hang out plus great pizza place on site as well. This is a perfect place for those who like to camp but not fans of tent camping in cold snowy conditions. I will definitely return!
LegendYosemite's Housekeeping Camp is exactly as described. It's in a great location right in the Valley. It's an easy walk to the main visitors center and both the Valley Village and Half Dome Village. There are A LOT of shelters in the Housekeeping Camp area and it might feel a little crowded. When you register you can preference a riverside site for no extra cost which is certainly worth it. The structures are built so there are two sites per building, you can hear your neighbors. The fences around each site are angled to maximize privacy. Each site is equipped with a table, lights and outlets, beds and a fire pit. Showers and laundry are available. It felt a lot like I was at summer camp.
I wish the river had been higher when we were there, it was a little low for swimming. It's certainly worth it to take the shuttles around the valley rather than sitting in traffic. Even in late September all of the sites were booked and the parking lots filled up.
Recommendation: take the drive up to Glacier Point, the view is incredible!
LegendNot expensive and has bathrooms, garbage, fire pits and picnic tables but no privacy and unfriendly camping ground covered with gravel and few level places to comfortably pitch a tent. Many families here but some partiers till midnight and an idiot who ran his generator all night during quiet hours
ScoutGreat campground accessible for most campers but large RVs might struggle. Has water, portable toilets and heated showers. Campsite has Some shade from the sun. Also has a couple glamping tents aswell.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular glamping campsite near Sonora, CA?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular glamping campground near Sonora, CA is Yosemite Pines RV Resort & Family Lodging with a 3.9-star rating from 23 reviews.
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