From canvas tent cabins inside national parks to a Conestoga wagon near Yosemite and a mountain cabin overlooking California’s Central Valley, one family discovered that you don’t need an RV—or even your own tent—to keep a national park road trip connected to the outdoors.
By Natalie Vereen-Davis | Contributing Guest Writer
The first morning of our Yosemite National Park trip, I walked out of our tent at Curry Village, and it was the first time on our central California road trip that I didn’t miss our camper.
Each summer for the last 4 years, we’ve taken our travel trailer on a 6-8 week road trip, driving days from our home in South Carolina to places like Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Utah, and Arizona.
But this past summer, the summer we were headed to California for the first time since I was 6 years old, I could not make the details of driving the camper out there work.
Between my husband’s work schedule and my children’s increasingly busy lives, I managed to cobble together nearly 3 weeks for us to take the ultimate central California road trip. But that shortened time period wouldn’t allow me to see everything I wanted to see and still drive our camper there and back.
Instead, I faced reality and turned towards something I haven’t done in a long time: looking for hotels. As an avid tent and RV camper, a hotel stay isn’t ever the vibe we’re seeking out on our travels. We want wide open spaces, comfy chairs by the fire each night, and room for our kids to play.
After booking hotels in San Francisco and Monterey, I turned my attention to finding accommodations for the 4 national parks we were planning to visit in central California: Pinnacles, Yosemite, Kings Canyon, and Sequoia.
That’s where my mind reeled at the idea of staying in a traditional hotel. It’s a national park, and I wanted to camp. But I was too cheap to fly out all of our tent camping gear and I didn’t have time to get my RV to the West Coast, so what was the solution?
Glamping!
We managed to find the perfect balance of outdoor accommodations and convenience while we explored the 4 parks, staying in cabins, canvas tents, and even a Conestoga wagon along the way.
If you’d also like to glamp your way through central California, here’s where I recommend you stay.
Glamping at Pinnacles National Park
As the crow flies, Pinnacles National Park is less than 40 miles from Carmel and Monterey, California, but it feels so much more remote than you’d think.
The park has two entrances, but there isn’t a through road from one to the other. To get from one entrance to the other, you’ll need to drive 1.5 hours through rolling hills and past sprawling farms.
There aren’t many accommodations options out this way, so the best place to stay is right inside the national park. There are year-round canvas tents available for nightly rental, and these are comfortable and convenient.
Staying in the Pinnacles National Park Tent Cabins
The tent cabins are located inside the Pinnacles Campground, the entrance of which is next to the park’s store. The cabin sites are mixed into the RV and tent camping sites, so you retain that quintessential campground feel even though you’re in a cabin.
The cabins are simple but clean, and felt much newer and more updated than the similar tents we found in Yosemite National Park later in this same trip.
The exterior of the tents are stretched canvas over a wooden frame. It’s great for getting out of the elements, but it doesn’t cut down much on noise. Inside, you have three windows with fabric curtains, and a (hard) wooden bench. The cabins come with a queen bed and two twins, but you will need to bring your own sheets and towels.
One thing we loved about these cabins was the dedicated outdoor space. The tent cabins each have a small wooden deck, a picnic table, a fire pit, and Adirondack chairs.
There are 3 bath houses throughout the campground. It is great to have that as an option since you don’t get your own bathroom in the tents, but check how far your tent is from the nearest bathroom before you book.
Some of the tents have a longer walk to the restrooms than might be comfortable for some guests.
Glamping in Yosemite National Park
For our time in Yosemite, we split our stay between two unique accommodations options, one inside the park and one outside the park’s Big Oak Flat entrance.
That gave us two very different Yosemite glamping experiences: the rustic tent cabins of Curry Village in Yosemite Valley and a surprisingly comfortable Conestoga wagon outside the park.
Staying in a Curry Village Tent Cabin
Our first stay was in Yosemite Valley’s Curry Village, where you’ll find hundreds of identical tents. The canvas tents are rustic and closer to tent camping than true glamping. While they are similar in construction and size to the ones at Pinnacles National Park, the tents at Curry Village are more worn and feel less clean.
The tents do have actual beds (albeit with pretty terrible mattresses), wool blankets, a safe, and a wooden door that locks. There’s also heat if you’re staying in the late fall, winter, and spring, but it gets turned off after Memorial Day.
We ended up being chilly at night since the temperatures in early June still dipped into the upper 30s, so bring warm clothes to sleep in, wool socks, and a beanie. You can also ask for extra blankets at reception.
If you’re bringing snacks and drinks to Curry Village as we were, you’ll need to keep all of your food–along with your toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, and anything else with a smell–in the provided bear box outside of your tent. This is to deter both mice and bears from entering the tents.
One thing that I wish the Curry Village tents had was an outdoor seating area of some kind. We love being outside and, when we’re RVing or tent camping, love to linger in our camp chairs long after the stars come out. Here, the only option if you didn’t bring your own chairs is to sit on the stairs.
The tents do not have their own ensuite bathrooms, so you’ll need to use one of the communal bath houses scattered around Curry Village. The bath houses do require a code that is provided at check-in. Each of the bath houses had clean but slightly outdated showers, toilets, and sinks. Keep in mind that the bath houses get very busy around 8 AM and 7 PM, so if you can shower outside of those peak times, do so.
Overall, the tents are as close to sleeping outside as you’ll get in Yosemite Valley without needing your own tent.
As an added bonus, they’re incredibly convenient to the rest of the park as there are 2 restaurants, a dining hall, a climbing gear shop, a market, and a bike rental location less than 5 minutes from the village. Camp Curry also has its own shuttle stop, which will connect you to the rest of Yosemite Valley for free.
Sleeping in a Conestoga Wagon Near Yosemite
We also wanted to explore Tuolumne Meadows and Tioga Pass while we were at Yosemite, so we moved to a second location near the national park. The Yosemite Pines RV Resort and Family Campground is 30 minutes west of the Big Oak Flat entrance and about an hour from Yosemite Valley.
If we’d had our travel trailer, this is the exact sort of campground I’d look for, so I loved the glamping options they had on site, too.
Here, you can try out the standard cabins or step back in time with one of their Conestoga wagon rentals.
Obviously, when a night in a Conestoga wagon presents itself, you have to go for it!
I had no idea how rustic the wagon experience was going to be, so I was very surprised when we showed up to a wagon that fit a king bed, a small table, a mini fridge, end tables, and a bunk bed. Towels, bath products, and bedding was included, though you will need to make the beds when you arrive.
We had heat and air conditioning, and ended up having one of the best night’s sleep on the entire road trip here thanks to the comfortable beds and temperature regulation.
Since the wagon has a canvas cover, it does help hold in that heat a bit. We thought that the wagon provided the best parts of tent camping with the luxe upgrade of a heater.
The campground does have bathrooms available, but they’re on the opposite side of the camp store from where the Conestoga wagons are located. Keep that in mind if you’re traveling with younger kids who might need to use the restroom in the middle of the night. If you think that might be a possibility, bring a flashlight.
Elsewhere on the property, you’ll find some incredible kid-friendly activities, including gem mining sluice, a playground, a pool, and a tetherball set. While my kids were excited to explore Yosemite National Park while we were staying here, I think they would’ve been happy to have a full day to play at the campground, too!
Glamping Near Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks
For our time at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, we decided to try something new.
We weren’t going to stay in the national park, nor were we going to stay at a traditional campground.
I found Sequoia Highlands Camp when I was researching glamping options near the 2 national parks, and, wooed by their beautiful website, booked a cabin for our 4 days in the area.
Staying at Sequoia Highlands Camp
The welcome email did mention that the last 4 or so miles to the camp included a forest road, and that was absolutely true.
On our first trip to the camp, my husband was convinced that it was either going to be the most incredible place we’d ever stayed or it was a ruse to lure unsuspecting travelers to a serial killer’s den. I will fully admit that the promise of a cute cabin and long-range mountain views would be how I’d get kidnapped, so he wasn’t wrong with his assessment.
25 minutes later, we’d traversed a narrow forest road with a couple areas of steep drop-off and arrived at the cutest little place that was well worth the trouble of getting there.
There are minimalist cabins of varying sizes, all with views of the Sierra Nevada mountains or Fresno in the valley below. There are also some beautifully decorated yurts, which I almost booked before being swayed by the small self-catering kitchens in the cabins.
The cabins don’t have air conditioning, but they do have heat, and they come with all of the kitchen basics you’ll need. Linens are provided (you’ll need to make the beds yourself), but bring your own towels and toiletries.
The cabins have ensuite bathrooms, which was a luxury after spending two weeks using the communal bathrooms elsewhere on this trip.
We also enjoyed grilling out and sitting on the wraparound porch each night as we watched the lights twinkle in Fresno below us.
Sequoia Highlands Camp is a 30 minutes’ drive to the Big Stump entrance, which is co-managed by Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. This location put us within easy driving distance of everything we wanted to see and do in both parks, and, honestly, about half of that drive time was getting down the forest road to the paved East Kings Canyon Road.
There are some fun amenities on the property to help you relax when you’re not adventuring in the nearby national parks. Swing in the hammocks while you watch the sunrise or hang out on the wide woven beds at the dedicated stargazing spot. There’s even a self-service shop where you can purchase mugs and t-shirts.
Is Glamping Worth It for a California National Park Road Trip?
While I did have moments of wishing my camper had made it to the West Coast, we had enough variety in our accommodations to make this trip memorable.
While I’m not giving up our RV or tent camping anytime soon, the glamping options that we found in or near these national parks was the perfect balance between the outdoors and traditional hotel stays.
I highly recommend them if you’re looking to add something unique to your central California vacation!
