Yosemite reservations.

No entry reservation in 2026.

You do not need a reservation to enter Yosemite in 2026. The park announced it will not use a timed-entry reservation system this year. You drive in and pay the entrance fee, no advance booking to get through the gate.

In place of reservations, the park says it is leaning on real-time traffic monitoring, active parking management, extra staffing at peak times, and better visitor information to handle the busiest days. So the gate is open to you without a booking, but the busy-day congestion those tools are meant to manage is still real inside the park.

What still needs a permit.

Dropping the entry reservation does not touch Yosemite's activity-specific permits. Half Dome, for instance, still needs its own permit through a separate lottery, and wilderness backpacking needs a wilderness permit. Those are unrelated to park entry. If your plan is general sightseeing, driving the valley, seeing the waterfalls and Glacier Point, you need nothing beyond the entrance fee in 2026.

When it matters most.

Without a reservation, timing is your crowd tool. August is the busiest month of the year here, with about 537,020 visits in a typical recent year and 594,060 in 2025. The summer stretch from June through September carries roughly 53 percent of the whole year's visits, so that is when lines, parking, and any booking pressure are heaviest. For the full month-by-month picture, see the crowd calendar linked below.

Common questions.

Do you need a reservation to enter Yosemite in 2026?
No. The park announced it is not using a timed-entry reservation system in 2026. You drive in and pay the entrance fee, with no advance booking needed to get through the gate.

How is Yosemite managing crowds without reservations?
The park says it is using real-time traffic monitoring, active parking management, extra peak-time staffing, and better visitor information instead of a reservation system.

Do you still need a permit for Half Dome?
Yes. Half Dome has its own permit through a separate lottery, and wilderness trips need a wilderness permit. Those are unrelated to park entry and are not affected by the reservation change.

When is Yosemite busiest?
August is the single busiest month, and summer overall is the heaviest stretch. Without an entry reservation to spread the crowd, arriving early or visiting in a shoulder-season month makes the biggest difference.

How we read the crowds

The monthly visit counts on this page come from the official NPS Visitor Use Statistics. "Share of peak" compares a month against the park's own busiest month, so 100 percent marks the single busiest month of the year. The reservation and permit rules come from each park's official NPS pages, linked above and last verified on July 13, 2026. We are an independent site and not affiliated with the National Park Service.