Visitor Centers in Yosemite National Park

Yosemite has great visitor centers where all your essential questions for a park visit can be answered by rangers and other staff. The seasonal nature of park access means that most of them are closed in the winter. In the summertime, wherever you go, you'll encounter these useful educational and informational resources.

The Yosemite Valley Visitor Center is the heart of the system, open every day of the year, and located in Yosemite Village where most park visitors find themselves at some point. New exhibits were dedicated just a couple of years ago, an auditorium out back shows the award-winning "Spirit of Yosemite" film every half-hour, the Indian Museum and Indian Village are right next door. Here is also the park's biggest bookstore for all those Yosemite/Sierra references. Ranger walks depart from here daily in the summer.

Tuolumne Meadows has a historic visitor center located inside an old stone and timber CCC camp building. There's no film here, but an outstanding ranger staff makes up for that.

Wawona's visitor center is also a historic facility: the studio of famed landscape artist Thomas Hill. It was just restored inside, to replicate its interior from when Hill worked here. Located next to the historic Wawona Hotel, with two fountains (also recently restored), this visitor center is easy to find.

Outside the park there are useful visitor centers in Oakhurst and Mariposa as you approach on the west side. In Lee Vining to the east, the Park Service and Forest Service share a very nice visitor center on a bluff above Mono Lake.

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