In this review of the Yosemite Cedar Lodge, in El Portal, CA, I’ll go over my experience staying there in June of 2023, and also compare it to my previous stays in Yosemite West.
Yosemite Cedar Lodge is located on California Highway 140. It’s address is 9966 CA-140, El Portal CA, 95318.
Yosemite Cedar Lodge is part of the Yosemite Resorts which also includes the Yosemite View Lodge.
Driving to and from Yosemite Valley – a major plus
It doesn’t take too long to get into Yosemite Valley from the Yosemite Cedar Lodge. When I left early one morning to hike the Mist Trail, whose trailhead starts at Happy Isles in Yosemite Valley, I left somewhere between 7am and 7:30am, and was at the Yosemite Valley Trailhead Parking Lot by 8am. That parking lot is about as deep into Yosemite Valley as you can drive.
I’d say with no traffic, like there is in the 7am time frame, you can get to the park entrance (Yosemite Arch Rock Entrance) from the hotel in about 15 to 20 minutes. And from the park entrance, you’re maybe another 15 to 20 minutes away from the Yosemite Valley Lodge, in the heart of the Valley. It’s around 22 miles from Cedar Lodge to the Valley Lodge.
Shorter wait times to get past the Park entrance
One thing that was notable was that when I left the Cedar Lodge in the 7am hour, I only had to wait behind 4 cars to get through the Yosemite Arch Rock Entrance, which took only a few minutes. The next day, when I left Cedar Lodge in the 9am hour, I had to wait maybe 15 minutes behind a line of cars, to get past the entrance.
There’s not much on CA-140 other than the Yosemite Cedar Lodge and the Yosemite View Lodge. So of course the traffic volume is a lot less than that from Wawona Road.
It’s a shame when you Google places to stay around Yosemite, you have lodging from Oakhurst, Ahwahnee, Mariposa, Bass Lake, etc. advertised, as not only is there a giant one-hour wait-line of cars backed up from the Park entrance from those places, but every RV, bus, camper van, camper trailer, or other imaginable slow poke vehicle is taking this way into the park.
The drive is less dangerous and arguably faster, and more scenic, than coming from Yosemite West
On paper, Yosemite West looks like it’s closer to the park than Yosemite Cedar Lodge. In reality, once you account for traffic, the hang-ups at Yosemite’s Tunnel View, where loads of people want to run back and forth on the road to get pictures, and that you have to drive slower or risk losing control of your vehicle on that windy road, and plunging hundreds, if not thousands of feet down into the Valley, I think coming from Cedar Lodge is faster.
Who knows why they haven’t elected to put guard rails up on parts of Wawona Road, where you could launch yourself over the mountain, were you to hit a curve too fast. In contrast, CA-140, the road you take coming from Cedar Lodge into the Yosemite Valley, just hugs the Merced River, i.e. is not thousands of feet up on a ridge, and though it’s curvy, it’s not ‘I feel centripetal force trying to pull me off the road’ curvy.
Yosemite Cedar Lodge is actually in the extended Yosemite Valley
Indeed since you are just driving beside the Merced River from Cedar Lodge, you actually are in Yosemite Valley, or at least the part of it extended past the traditional, touristy area. It’s quite beautiful, with the Merced at parts going down mini-water falls and creating white water, and at other parts looking quite calm. Every once in a while, during my drive, I would even see a more legit waterfall coming off the side of the mountain, making its way to the Merced.
Yosemite Cedar Lodge, being on CA-140, is just across the street from the river, and you can walk 5 minutes from your hotel room and hang out in a kind of park, or adult playground, the hotel has made, that directly looks onto the river.
You’re at a lower altitude than Yosemite Valley and Yosemite West
Another plus in my book is that Yosemite Cedar Lodge is only a little under 2000 feet in elevation. Compare that to Yosemite Valley, which is at a little under 4000 feet, and Yosemite West, which is at a little under 6000 feet.
You sleep better at lower altitude
I tend to sleep better at lower elevations, as my home base is only a few hundred feet above sea level.
At altitude, your body tries to compensate for the lower oxygen density in the air by breathing faster. But when you fall asleep, your body tends to slow your breathing, meaning less oxygen is getting delivered all around your body. Then as your body realizes this, it naturally wants to wake you up, so that you start breathing faster to get more oxygen. This can make for lower quality and quantity of sleep at altitude.
If you have to be at altitude, it’s best to retreat from altitude to sleep. Hike high, and camp low. That technique minimizes risk of altitude sickness, and maximizes sleep.
I slept pretty good at Yosemite Cedar Lodge. I always woke up relaxed and rested. So I think this lower elevation helped my sleep.
Related: See my article on all the ways your body responds to the lower oxygen density at altitude.
The temperature is warmer at Cedar Lodge
Another feature of the lower altitude at Cedar Lodge is that it’s warmer down there. Even in June, when you could get a little chilly, up on the hiking trails above Yosemite Valley, I noticed once I got back to Cedar Lodge, it was a pleasant, t-shirt friendly temperature. Likely there are more months out of the year, that you can use their outdoor pool, than there are at Yosemite Valley Lodge.
Yosemite West on the other hand is much colder. I remember getting up in the morning from Yosemite West and it would be (subjectively) freezing at that point in the day. This might be good for those times in August when Yosemite Valley is hot, or when a heat wave strikes, but not as fun during the other months. There are no pools in Yosemite West, for good reason!
There are close by food options at Yosemite Cedar Lodge
If you want to just come back to your hotel after a full day at Yosemite, take a shower, and find an easy meal, the Cedar Lodge has you covered. Same deal with breakfast. They have a breakfast restaurant, and a bar and grill on site, so you don’t have to drive anywhere for food. Just step outside your hotel room, and 3 minutes of walking later, you’re at a place to eat!
You can also elect to drive 10 or so minutes down the road to the Yosemite View Lodge and eat at their restaurant, if you get bored of the Cedar Lodge options.
Or a few minutes past Yosemite View Lodge is the El Portal Market, which has fresh sandwiches, salads, fresh produce, your favorite processed food snacks, juices, bottled smoothies, and a small heat-lamp section of pre-made warm foods, like chicken, corn dogs, pizza, etc. The El Portal Market also has a good selection of wine and beer.
Lastly if you bring a cooler from home, and some charcoal, there are a few BBQ grills on site at Yosemite Cedar Lodge, in their park across the road, next to the river. The hotel does have ice machines, to replenish your cooler. And the rooms have dorm sized fridges as well. And I did see people making hamburgers one night when I was walking in their mini park by the river.
Cedar Lodge Bar & Grill
The Cedar Lodge Bar and Grill is the hotel’s dinner spot. (The Cedar Lodge Restaurant only serves breakfast.) They have American style dishes or the option for a small soup and salad bar. The appetizers and dinners are in the $12 to $16 range. Non-alcoholic drinks and juices are in the $2 to $4 range.
One night, I ate buffalo wings with BBQ and Honey Dijon sauce, and another night I had chicken strips and fries, with those same sauces. You can get these to go and just eat at one of the several gazebo tables or uncovered tables around the grounds of the hotel.
They also had burgers (one was a ‘California Melt’ with melted cheese on sourdough), fried cod, fried cod tacos, a nacho plate, a grilled chicken sandwich, pulled pork sandwich, and similar comfort foods. The sides were basically fries or onion rings. Not really the healthiest options, but you can do what I did and just get the wings, which come with fresh carrots and celery.
Comparison of food options to Yosemite West
There are no restaurants or food options in Yosemite West. If you want food, you’re going to have to drive to Yosemite Valley Lodge 50 minutes away, or the Wawona Hotel, 30 or so minutes away. Of course at Yosemite West, most, if not all of the houses have full kitchens, so it’s best to just make dinner at home when staying over there. The only places I know of in Yosemite West, with reduced sized kitchens, are the condos, but you can still make simple dinners there.
The only advantage Yosemite West has, food-wise, is it being 30 some minutes from the restaurant at the Wawona Hotel. That place has nice, upscale food in a fancy setting.
The only upscale restaurant near the Yosemite Cedar Lodge is 40 minutes away at the Yosemite Valley Lodge.
Scene
The grounds of the Yosemite Cedar Lodge are nestled up against rolling forested hills, and directly across the road, there is a long but narrow park the hotel has made, right next to the Merced River. It has a ‘hotel out in the middle of nowhere, in the wilderness’ feel to it.
There are many different hotel room buildings generously spaced apart, around the grounds. And there’s plenty of parking and spacious driving lanes around the spaces.
There are scenic walking areas around the buildings that have seats and tables, park benches, gazebos with seats and tables, a small footbridge over a stone cobbled drainage creek, old-timely porch swings, weathered wooden bear carvings, park trees, ornamental trees, Edison lights, grass yards, etc.
Rooms
Quality and cost
The rooms are nothing fancy, but they get the job done. For the interior design and quality of the furnishings of the room I was in, I’d say I felt like I was in a $125 to $175 per night room. In reality the fee I paid was $219 per night for weekday nights, plus tax and expenses, so the total on the invoice was $504 for two nights. I booked several months in advance too. Basically you’re paying a premium to be this close to the park.
Air conditioner
My room had a normal, hotel style, wall mounted air conditioner. You are able to have just the fan blowing, on high, low or auto, and my favorite feature is that you could press a button just to keep the fan blowing constantly to drown out the sound of the noise of everything outside the room.
On top of that, there was a air conditioning cooling option, or a heating option, with a thermostat, so the room would cool to your desired temperature, the A/C would kick off, but the fan would keep going. That way I had white noise going all night long, to ensure random outside noises wouldn’t wake me up.
No A/C at Yosemite Valley Lodge or Yosemite West Condos
I’ve watched several Youtube videos of Yosemite Valley Lodge, and none of the rooms in the videos even had air conditioning. At best, one room had a wall mounted heater with no A/C or fan option. That same room didn’t seem to have an option to even open a window with a screen. I have seen at least one room there, though, that did have the option to open a screened window. And they did all seem to have plug-in fans available.
When I stayed in a condo in Yosemite West, which I believe is in the only condo complex in that development, there too was no A/C. Incidentally I did stay in a house in Yosemite West and it did have central A/C; the name of the house on the Yosemite rental page may have been called Quail Crossing, or something like that; I can’t remember.
Pillows
You get two, half-pillows per bed. I found them rather small but have seen this trend happening at other hotels as well. I ended up just bringing my own pillows from home anyway, because I like what I like when sleeping. Scroll down the room pictures below for shots of the pillows.
Noise
I called the hotel directly to book my room, because all the modern apps – Priceline, Booking, Expedia, etc. – don’t let you pick whether or not you want a first floor, or second floor room. I wanted to be on the second (top) floor because I sure as heck didn’t want noise, from people walking on the floor above me, interrupting my sleep. The hotel staff was able to get me the room I wanted, so no problems there.
There was a tiny bit of noise when I wanted to sleep at 10pm. Every once in a while I would hear an low level, undefined thud from some activity in an adjacent room. I couldn’t tell if it were from a hotel door being shut, or someone getting into bed, making the headboard of the bed hit the wall, or something else. It however did not bother me once I was asleep, were it at all happening at that point.
At 6:30am or so, my adjacent neighbor would turn their shower on, or flush the toilet, and the sound of the water rushing through the pipes did wake me up. It actually got me up and ready to hit the trail my second day (and only full day) so it kinda worked out for me. The next morning when it happened I did momentarily wake up, but then just went back to bed. So I would bring ear plugs, just to minimize sound from adjacent rooms waking you.
I also noticed there was no weather stripping on the bottom of the door and light and sound could come through that point. See picture below:
Lighting
Lighting in the room was adequate for what I used it for: to sleep and take a shower. One nice feature though was that I could close the curtains completely and block light from the window from coming in at 5:45am and waking me up. It also kept guests from peering in at me and my sweet, sweet hiking gear!
Sink, bathroom and shower
The water pressure for the shower was high. It felt like I could recreate the massive water flow coming off Nevada Falls and Vernal Falls if I turned it all the way up.
The toilet was an old-school, non-water saving toilet that flushed slowly.
The sink’s aerator was weird in that it shot small streams of water out in all directions, like it were a shower head. Because it didn’t have a concentrated downward stream, it was hard to clean my toothbrush off after brushing my teeth. And it tended to splash water in all directions over the sink counter if you turned the water on too high, what with the high water pressure of the building. The backsplash to the sink looked like it had been recently repaired, likely due to water damage from this odd fixture shooting water everywhere. But the repair was only half-complete, and I could see nail heads sticking through drywall mud.
You do get fancy soaps and shampoos
Because I was trying to minimize bringing fragrant toiletries, that could attract bears to my car, while I hiked the first day (before I had checked into the hotel), I didn’t bring shampoo. So having 3 or 4 shampoos ready for me to use in the bathroom area was a welcome site. They were fancy, vegan shampoos and soaps.
Security
You get the normal deadbolt that all hotel doors have. Then there was also a chain linked door stopper, but in my room it was missing a screw. Not sure that chain lock does much anyway, if someone really wants in your room.
Is there Wi-Fi at Yosemite Cedar Lodge?
Yes, there is Wi-Fi available in the guest rooms at Yosemite Cedar Lodge. But don’t get fooled by the Wi-Fi availability mentioned on all the hotel apps for Yosemite Cedar Lodge. You have to pay $10 per 24 hours to have Wi-Fi in your room, and it’s administered by a third party.
Is there cell service at Yosemite Cedar Lodge?
No, there was no cell service at all for me at Yosemite Cedar Lodge. I have AT&T and had zero coverage at this hotel. I ended up using my Zoleo Satellite Communication device to text people.
Related: Check out my review of the Zoleo Satellite Communicator and get links on where to buy it, if you need to communicate with people when staying at this hotel.
Pictures of my room at Yosemite Cedar Lodge
Other Features
Other features of the Yosemite Cedar Lodge not yet mentioned, include a lounge area in their lobby, a fairly large gift shop that also has cold beverages and alcohol, and an indoor pool I didn’t take a look at.
They also have a bus stop on their grounds but I didn’t see what the bus schedule was.
Cedar Lodge FAQ’s
Is the Cedar Lodge in Yosemite Still Open?
Yes the Cedar Lodge in Yosemite is still open. Indeed as of 2023, they’re renovating some of their rooms in hopes to be in service for years to come.
Further Reading
Thanks for checking out my review of the Yosemite Cedar Lodge!
Next check out my Yosemite National Park page, for info and links to articles pertaining to my experience with the park, be it hiking, lodging or food!