Why Tenaya Lodge Is One Of The Best Places to Stay near Yosemite With Kids

Looking for hotels near Yosemite National Park? What well-nigh places to stay near Yosemite with kids?

I have just the place! The Tenaya Lodge Yosemite Valley was one of the weightier walk-up choices we made during our road trip wideness America.

Tenaya Lodge

It had tropical proximity to Yosemite but without the extortionate prices of unquestionably staying in the park, plus the suavities were family-friendly and a welcome site without we came when from a day of exploring.

With so many Yosemite National Park walk-up lodging options to segregate from, and considering how popular Yosemite is, I know that it can be difficult to know where to stay when planning to visit Yosemite NP.

Which is why I wrote this review of Tenaya at Yosemite so you can understand a bit increasingly well-nigh what to expect from a stay here.

About Tenaya at Yosemite

If you haven’t heard of Tenaya at Yosemite before, indulge me to transiently introduce them. Tenaya is a full-service resort that’s located just 2 miles outside Yosemite National Park in the serene scenery of the Sierra National Forest.

It’s location is platonic for nature lovers, who are not only looking to visit Yosemite but other national parks and forests in the region as well.

Located nearby is the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias, Speckerman Mountain, Hogan Mountain, Wawona Point and Bass Lake.

The hotel offers several types of walk-up from hotel rooms to lodges and cottages and spacious suites, as well as a whole host of resort amenities.

Our Wits Staying at Tenaya Lodge at Yosemite

Enjoying the indoor hot tub with the kids

I loved our four night stay at Tenaya Lodge at Yosemite during our 5 day trip to Yosemite in May.

I moreover went when and stayed flipside 3 nights on a separate 3 day trip to Yosemite with Globus Journeys.

In fact, it has been one of my favorite resorts stays in the USA so far and is perfect for those looking for an ultimate Yosemite family vacation.

Tenaya Lodge was a warm, well-appointed and friendly wits that was a perfect match for the outstanding eyeful and outdoor venture in the Yosemite area.

I loved coming home to the lodge without a day on the Yosemite hiking trails to a hot tub, a glass of wine by the fire, a succulent meal and conversations with other travelers virtually the world.

Drinks by the fire in the lobby

When traveling we typically spend most of our time interacting with other Americans in campgrounds, and usually in hotels we stay at. Most hotels are super rented and everyone is coming and going on their own agendas!

But in the Tenaya Lodge it felt like increasingly of a global gathering place and I realized how much I missed that and how isolated we are from it.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Americans and am unchangingly happy to yack with them.

But I do miss interacting with people from other countries, and Tenaya was like the old hostel environment for me – long surpassing smart phones took our sustentation away.

The diversity of guests at Tenaya Lodge was superstitious – young, old, couples, families, and groups of friends!

We had conversations in the hot tub, lobby, dinner table and virtually the s’mores campfire at night with people from England, Ireland, Australia and America. I moreover heard accents from Germany, France and Italy.

Oh this is the goodness of travel all right.

Communal fire pit

No one was too unprotected up in their phones to ignore each other.

This place was well-nigh sharing your memories of the day exploring Yosemite National Park California and tips and tidbits for future travel. Just like the good ole days!

Tenaya Lodge Yosemite had a staff that matched this jovial, friendly atmosphere.

I don’t think I have encountered increasingly genuinely friendly and warm staff before. They must all be treated well as you could tell they liked their job and they liked people.

And did I mention kid-friendly? They plane have a kids check-in section at the lobby.

I paid tropical sustentation to their interactions with other guests as well just to be sure. And I noticed the same sustentation and warmth to everyone. I was so very impressed.

Here are increasingly reasons why staying at Tenaya Lodge is a fantastic option for your Yosemite vacation.

Activities at Tenaya Lodge

Kids Venture course

There are plenty of things to do at Tenaya Lodge, for young and old.

While I loved the inclusion of these activities, I loved how they weren’t the focus of your stay as other family resorts are. They’re additions to the main event – visiting Yosemite National Park.

We planned our Tenaya Lodge activities for our lanugo day we had at the lodge, which is something I recommend you do when you visit Yosemite.

There are so many amazing things to do in Yosemite with kids (or plane as a couple) that everyone can get tired pretty quickly. It’s a good idea to soak up the warmth and relaxation of Tenaya for a full day!

Sadly our day of rest (although well timed) was when it rained all day. And plane hailed!

Kalyra braving the rain surpassing the venture course

Our kids (aged 11 and 7) decided they wanted to go outside and do the activities anyway. What’s a little rain for these fearless adventurers?

Although at the end of archery they did ask to cancel waddle climbing as their limbs were freezing and they thought it might be a little too slippery.

Kids Venture Course

Kids venture course

Our daughters, Kalyra and Savannah, really enjoyed the kids venture course!

It is kid sized and they typically do much higher and increasingly challenging venture courses.

But plane though this one was much easier, they used it as an opportunity to practice some ramified skills like walking backward, doing it with vision sealed and no hands, and timing how fast they could zip around.

They did all of this in the rain too with smiles on their faces.

Archery Lessons

Savannah the sharp shooter

The other worriedness they loved was archery.

They were both very good at it, landing only millimeters from the bulls eye, and they played pretend bow and thunderstroke hunting games through the lodge halls for the remainder of the afternoon.

Guided Flashlight Hike

On our first evening we joined an hour long guided flashlight hike, which was a tomfool wing to our Yosemite trip.

Everything is so variegated when viewed in the visionless under the light of a flashlight. Savannah stayed pretty tropical to my side, expressly when learning well-nigh the resident woebegone Bear, Booboo.

We learned a lot well-nigh the forest – the flora and fauna of this area. It was so interesting and made me fall in love with trees all over again.

We plane had the opportunity to snack on a few ants, although passed.

Our guide was very knowledgeable and passionate well-nigh the zone and the forest. He was a rare native of the local town, Fish Camp, the very small town where Tenaya Lodge is located.

You can organize these activities (for a fee) with the hotel concierge, which I found incredibly helpful. Once again, I really liked the staff at Tenaya.

Campfire S’mores

What’s a Yosemite National Park lodging wits without s’mores?

We were so grateful on our last night for the rain and snow to stop so we could go outside to the firepit and roast s’mores. It doesn’t matter how often we do this, the girls never get tired of it.

It’s a very worldwide thing for them to wits on our 1 year USA road trip!

You can purchase kits from the lodge and they have a specific fire pit for s’mores. If you want to skip the s’mores and have serenity by the fire, outside the main restaurant is a huge fire pit to sit virtually with a glass of wine, or beer.

Again, both fire pits were buzzing with conversation. The Tenaya Lodge is very social.

Nearby Waterfall Hike

It’s not just Yosemite National Park California that you can explore whilst staying at the lodge. There are hiking trails from the lodge into the Sierra forest surrounding Tenaya. 

We took the 5.5 mile return hike to a nearby waterfall and swimming hole. I think the water was running too furiously to enjoy swimming in this area, and too cold, but theoretically it’s a local subconscious gem.

It was an easy unappetizing walk through the forest and was so peaceful and quiet with only us on the trail. We saw deer withal the way as well!

I loved the last mile of the hike that took you withal a narrow tree lined path abreast the creek. It was pretty and offered a variegated wits to other Yosemite National Park trails.

The lodge moreover offers guided hikes to this waterfall on Saturdays.

List of Tenaya Lodge activities on offer:

• Mountain wanderlust in the Sierra National Forest
• Wine and paint night
• Archery lessons
• Daily morning guided hikes
• Guided flashlight hikes
• Nightly outdoor s’mores
• Ranger talks
• Climbing wall
• Kids venture course
• Horse when riding
• Kids camp
• Fishing pole rentals

Amenities at Tenaya Lodge

Indoor and /Outdoor Pools and Hot Tubs

I think I mentioned the word hot tub a few times!

You have your pick of two indoor hot tubs (one is adults only) and an outdoor hot tub. While some people were spotted braving the tomfool temperatures in the outdoor hot tub, we stuck to easing our tired muscles in the indoor one.

The girls enjoyed swimming in the indoor pool while we watched from the hot tub.

The outdoor pool is in a trappy setting surrounded by the forest and has a couple of variegated pools and hot tubs. There is moreover an outside bar – Barefoot bar, opened during warmer times.

On some evenings they have a dive-in poolside movies – which is a movie playing whilom the Tenaya lodge pool. You can bladder and swim while watching it.

We didn’t get time to do that.

Arcade Games Room

The girls loved the Arcade Room, which was flipside place people gathered to shoot pool or play backgammon, checkers and chess.

There was two gaming stations, which is what the girls spent a lot of their time doing.

Since I watched a special on the negative effects of the game Fortnight on a child’s smart-ass while working out in the fitness part-way that morning, I ensured I limited their time playing that game!!

Ascent Spa

What would make the ultimate Yosemite vacation?

Amongst the physically demanding hikes you can wastefulness it out with a deep tissue massage.

That may not be everyone’s idea of relaxation, but you’ll find other massage options to suit your mood. Or perhaps a facial instead, or go full out and do them all.

After months of hiking in the Southwest, my soul was begging for a deep tissue massage. It was superstitious and gave some relief to a persistent shoulder issue I have.

It’s important for parents to have their time out moments on a family vacation, and the Ascent Spa Tenaya Lodge is the weightier place for you to find it.

You can get everything you need at the on-site Spa. Be sure to finish your massage with a steam suffuse to help those muscles plane more!

The Ascent Spa was a trappy relaxing space and all guests have wangle to the steam room and sauna and powerful showers. Craig and I liked ducking lanugo there to have a steam room without a day of hiking in Yosemite.

Next door to the spa is moreover a fitness center/gym. It’s a little on the small side, but has plenty of equipment to requite you that workout you need.

Restaurants at Tenaya Lodge

Jackalope’s Bar & Grill

Tenaya Lodge has three restaurants: Jackalopes Bar & Grill, Embers and Timberloft Pizzeria. We wanted to try the pizza at Timberloft but it only opens during the upper season.

We didn’t eat at the fancier of the two, Embers. It is said to be family-friendly with unconfined food, although the environment felt increasingly intimate and quiet so we  decided to stay yonder with our younger kids.

Jackalope’s Bar & Grill

We loved Jackalope’s Bar & Grill though, and ate there for breakfast and dinner each day!

Jackalope’s was buzzing with happy conversation over good supplies and drinks. Our pick was the curried cauliflower and chickpea stew, the caramelized brussel sprouts, and the burgers.

Our kids enjoyed their mac & cheese and strawberry shortcake dessert.

Tenaya Lodge Breakfast

For breakfast, you can segregate from the ala carte menu, or swoop into the buffet. The girls loved the buffet, whereas the ala carte worked largest for Craig and I with our dietary restrictions.

Although we did have the storeroom the first morning, and the quality of the supplies options was upper compared to other resorts we have stayed at.

yummy omelette from the ala carte menu by the fire

There is moreover the Harvest & Grounds Deli (like a small unstipulated store/parkside deli) which offers snacks, picnic lunch, and surprisingly good coffee.

In the summer, they have Timberloft Pizzeria and outdoor Summerdale BBQ with live entertainment.

Rooms at Tenaya Lodge

The walk-up at Tenaya Lodge suits all types of travelers, which is flipside reason I loved it. All lodge rooms were renovated in 2019 and have a Upper Sierra diamond touch.

Lodge Rooms

For solo travelers, couples, and small families, you’ll be happy with the Tenaya Lodge rooms ranging from:

• Premium Room
  • Two queen beds or one king bed
  • 350 square feet
  • Individual room climate control
  • Work sedentary with computer data port
• Extended Two Queen

Our room

Perfect for families and what we slept in.

We found this room to be spacious and well-appointed and loved the sitting zone which came in handy for working at the sedentary and playing Clue on the coffee table.

And the girls were very excited by the game options you could trammels out from the front desk.

• Two queen beds
• 450 square feet
• Sitting zone with pull-out sofa bed
• Private balcony or patio
• Work sedentary with computer data port

For those who want a little increasingly luxury and romance, opt for the Spa Room.

• Spa Room (spacious washroom making it perfect for romantic getaways)

• 550 square feet
• One King bed
• Sitting zone with pull-out sofa bed
• Soaking tub
• Separate shower
• Private balcony
• Wet bar

The Deluxe Suite offers a separate bedroom and living space area. And the Luxury Suite offers the same but at a worthier level and mountain lodge décor.

• Deluxe Suite
  • 650 square feet
  • King bed in bedroom
  • Pull-out queen-size sofa bed in living room
  • Two armoires each with subscription flat-screen TV (one in bedroom, one in living room)
  • Coffee table, wet bar and refrigerator
  • Work sedentary with computer data port
• Luxury Suite
  • 800 square feet
  • King bed in bedroom
  • Pull-out queen-size sofa bed
  • Two armoires each with subscription flat-screen TV
  • Coffee table, wet bar and refrigerator

Cottages

For large groups traveling together, like multiple families or multi generational families, you’ll love the Tenaya Lodge Cottages.

They are part of a duplex or triplex cottage towers nestled into the Sugar Pine and Incense Cedar forest offering a increasingly secluded mountain getaway, but just a short walk from the main lodge.

It feels like a cozy neighborhood, and you still have wangle to all the lodge amenities.

The duplex (cottage room) or triplex (cottage suits) offer you your own space within a group travel experience.

Your group could rent out the unshortened cottage, but still have two or three separate sleeping areas. It’s a clever walk-up offering from Tenaya Lodge.

Explorer Cabins

For self-sufficient travelers you will love the two-bedroom explorer cabins, which come with a spacious living and dining area, a fireplace, and a kitchen zone with full-sized fridge and coffee makers.

There are communal Explorer Clubhouses and s’more fire pits.

You can moreover wangle everything in the main lodge. They come with a refrigerator and a microwave and a covered porch.

Other Things to Love well-nigh Tenaya Lodge Yosemite

Stylish décor with warm, wifely ambiance

Lobby

There was a warm wifely environment throughout the lodge.

I’ve stayed at many places like this surpassing where the energy has been quite frantic and loud. You didn’t wits that here.

It had a lovely, scrutinizingly meditative energy.

You scrutinizingly thought there was no one around, but then at night and in the morning the dining areas were packed and a whoosh appeared but it wasn’t too much to tire you. It was just the perfect value of happy energy.

You could tell this was a place where special memories were created.

With Yosemite National Park on your doorstep, you had much to talk well-nigh over a glass of wine and a succulent meal.

Tours of Yosemite National Park

luxury tour bus with a roll-back roof

If you don’t want to explore Yosemite by yourself, and would finger increasingly well-appointed in a small group tour with an expert local guide, Tenaya Lodge offers full-day or half-day Yosemite tours.

There is moreover a Glacier Point sunset and starry skies tour (seasonally).

If you have only one day, a tour can be an spanking-new way to make sure you see the highlights.

And you’ll be exploring Yosemite in the repletion of a luxury tour bus with a roll-back roof.

Free laundry

This may not be of interest to some travelers, but it definitely was to us.

Finding places to do our laundry on a long road trip is a weekly task for us.

Having wangle to the washer and dryers in Tenaya, and for free, was so helpful. And if you’re out doing lots of Yosemite activities, you’d probably need your sealed washed at some stage too!

On the day we checked out we were worldly-wise to do our laundry so we were ready for San Francisco.

Things to Alimony In Mind

We know no walk-up is perfect, and we like to include any negatives or challenges we experienced at places we stay.

There really wasn’t much at all. We had a lovely stay and squint forward to going when again.

Limited dining options nearby

I didn’t like how there wasn’t many dining options nearby to the resort. The nearest town was a 20-minute momentum away.

The supplies at Jackalope was delicious, but I do however like variety and trying variegated places to eat while on vacation.

Given it was a resort, the supplies was a little pricier so eating out would be easier on your wallet. You could eat out while in the Yosemite National Park, or have a picnic, and just eat at the resort once, or on your lanugo days.

The momentum into Yosemite

Tunnel View overlook on the momentum from Tenaya Lodge to Yosemite Valley

Tenaya Lodge is well-nigh an hours momentum from Yosemite Valley, but it’s only two miles from the south archway to the park, and then a few minutes to the Mariposa Grove section of Yosemite.

You can read increasingly well-nigh that in our Yosemite travel guide. You definitely don’t want to miss it. It’s moreover not too far from Wawona which is flipside village zone in Yosemite.

To be clear, I didn’t mind it stuff that far yonder from the valley. The momentum in and out was beautiful, expressly the higher sections covered in now and the spectacular Tunnel View we got toe wits each time we crush when to Tenaya Lodge.

Plus, I use travel time to get work washed-up in the car, so it was super handy for me to get those two hours each day.

driving through snow in May

After seeing Yosemite Lodge in the Valley (another Yosemite walk-up option we were considering) I was so glad we decided to stay an uneaten two nights at Tenaya, despite the commute in.

Yosemite Lodge has the location in Yosemite Valley, but the rooms didn’t squint that unconfined (this is without only seeing the outside and small glimpses through the opened doors).

They were motel style buildings so had no inside inside space.

What I didn’t like well-nigh the idea of staying in the Valley was it was way too busy.

People were everywhere and there wasn’t that warm relaxed, communal gathering finger that I loved so much well-nigh Tenaya.

Noise in room

There was this strange tapping/knocking noise in our room, near the washroom walls, which was quite noticeable during the still of the night, which we reported to the front desk.

We don’t know if it was considering there was so much rain and something was continually dripping, or it was a pipe vibrating, or what?

I’m a pretty heavy sleeper so it didn’t scarecrow me too much, but it unsated Craig and Kalyra. I’m sure we just had a bad pipe or something.

FAQs Well-nigh Tenaya Lodge

Here’s what people usually ask us well-nigh staying at Tenaya Lodge…

How to Get To Tenaya Lodge

Tenaya Lodge is located in the town of Fish Camp, which is 2 miles (4km) from the Mariposa Grove archway (South Gate) to Yosemite National Park.

If you are driving from San Francisco Airport to Tenaya Lodge, it will take you approx 4.5 hours at a loftiness of 208 miles. From Los Angeles to Tenaya Lodge, it will take roughly 5 hours to momentum and 277 miles.

Even remoter afield, Las Vegas to Tenaya Lodge (via Bakersfiled) is 455 miles and takes approx 8.5 hours.

Directions to Tenaya Lodge

Above is a map of Tenaya Lodge at Yosemite Fish Camp CA. You can use this map to find directions from your current destination. Or you can input the write into your GPS.

The write is: 1122 CA-41, Fish Camp, CA 93623

Final Thoughts on Staying at Tenaya

I hope you found this Tenaya Lodge review helpful and insightful. We had a wonderful stay here and I do think Tenaya Lodge at Yosemite can requite you a better, increasingly memorable Yosemite family vacation experience.

Staying in Yosemite Valley would be purely for the location.

But staying at Tenaya Lodge Fish Camp was a highlight of our Yosemite trip.

Video Review of Tenaya at Yosemite

Things to do in Yosemite National Park with kids video:

Need increasingly inspiration for Yosemite National Park? Watch our video of our wits here…

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