The ultimate Yosemite & Lake Tahoe 5-Day Bucket-List Experience

The ultimate Yosemite & Lake Tahoe 5-Day Bucket-List Experience

“This unique destination is a bucket-list vacation package for nature lovers- A world of wonders where dreams come to life”
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Day 1 +2 – Suggested Private Tour Itinerary
Your passionate and knowledgeable tour guide will meet and greet you in the lobby of your hotel in San Francisco Bay Area and then head east via San Francisco Bay Bridge towards Yosemite National Park or directly to Lake Tahoe. This will depend on factors like hotel availability, holidays calendars, weather and road condition. Either way, you will experience both destinations regardless of where you start and end the tour. We will let you know prior to the trip which route we will be taking.

If we decide to first visit Yosemite National Park and then Lake Tahoe, we will first drive through California’s Central Valley, the state’s agricultural hub, which is America’s top fruit and vegetable producer. Farming is a large part of the economy here and Central Valley has a family tradition of farming handed down from generation to generation. You will discover year-round harvesting activities, regardless of the season. The valley is always green, and you can stop at a fruit barn or a fruit stand to buy fresh produce. Or you can stop for breakfast in Central Valley, which is located only 2 hours’ drive from San Francisco. There are many interesting areas, towns and large malls in Central Valley where your driver will schedule a stop or two, for you to purchase items you may need for the trip. You can even find a pharmacy in the mall as well. Please let us know in advance if you suffer from motion sickness or have issues with heights and elevation.

Next, your guide will drive you through the winding roads along the Sierra Nevada Mountains toward Yosemite Valley. Yosemite Valley is home to some of the world's greatest natural wonders; among them Yosemite Falls, Ribbon Falls, Bridalveil Falls, and Cascade Falls, sheer granite towering cliffs like Half Dome, El Capitan, Cathedral Rocks, the Three Brothers, Cathedral Spires, Royal Arches, the Lost Arrow Rock, Sentinel Rock, and so many more hidden wonders.

Your experienced guide is educated about Yosemite and its abundant natural wonders, including the park’s stunning geology and biology. The 4-day Yosemite custom trip is sure to be a memorable experience as you embark on our unique adventure to explore Yosemite National Park’s beautiful and majestic wilderness.

Following lunch, which will be at a restaurant of your choice or outdoor area overlooking Yosemite Valley, you will have the chance to explore more of Yosemite Valley through hiking and walking along waterfalls and picturesque rivers. You can also choose to spend this free time at the visitor center, which is highly recommended if you want to learn more about Yosemite Valley. Please be sure to wear comfortable shoes that are suitable for hiking if you wish to do so. However, when you are on a Golden Horizon 4x4 SUV private tour, you have the option to walk, hike, or enjoy the views of the memorable and ever inspiring Yosemite National Park wonders and vista points as we drive you through Yosemite’s meadows and wilderness.

After an afternoon exploring and learning about this unique national park geology and biology, your guide will drive you to your hotel for the night. Though we do not take a commission on hotel rooms, we are happy to assist with reservations, because we value and appreciate our customers' business with Golden Horizon Travel. Nevertheless, we highly recommend that you book your hotel directly. Please see more information under the ‘accommodation’ section below.

Most hotels and resorts offer amenities including swimming pools and hot tubs (please bring your swimsuits). Surrounding the hotel, or within the same resort, there are restaurants and cafes where you can dine and enjoy your breakfast the following day (meals are not included in the tour price).

Day 3 Don’t be a passive observer of nature - experience it!
"We must go beyond textbooks deep into the wilderness, travel and explore and tell the world the glories of our journey." – John Hope Franklin

After breakfast, get ready for a truly fulfilling journey to the high country to visit famous and hidden natural wonders including the breathtaking Glacier Point overlook. As you head to Glacier Point, your tour guide will take you to a scenic hidden viewpoint located above Tunnel View. Take in Yosemite's breathtaking scenery with Yosemite’s granite monoliths as a backdrop including the iconic El Capitan and Half Dome. The Wawona Tunnel Viewpoint is also a meeting point for professional photographers in winter, which was also immortalized by the famous Ansel Adams’ historic photographs. Another hidden and commanding viewpoint is scheduled off Wawona Road to picture waterfalls and amazing alpine landscape. Our 4x4 SUV will take you all the way up to the Washburn overlook and then to Glacier Point. Once at Glacier Point, you will enjoy spectacular views of the Yosemite Valley floor, hanging cliffs, towering domes like Half Dome, stunning hidden waterfalls including Vernal, Nevada and Illilouette Falls. The road to Glacier Point is open in summer only, but our Yosemite National Park 4-day custom tour has a lot to offer instead, and we will substitute one sight with another wonderful one where required.

Lunch may take place anywhere you wish to enjoy it − as an outdoor picnic lunch overlooking waterfalls, in the Yosemite Valley’s casual restaurants and cafes, or treat yourself to a culinary dining experience and enjoy the Ahwahnee dining room’s distinctive cuisine. You can also bring your own picnic lunch and enjoy these amazing and marvelous sceneries from Glacier Point, where you can really connect with nature.

Sentinel Dome and Taft Point hiking trail: For hikers, we can add this 2.2 miles (3.5 km) round-trip which takes about 2 hours from Glacier Point Road to Sentinel Dome or Taft Point. This exciting loop will take you to a magnificent rock towering at 8,100 feet (2,470 meters) high and offering breathing views of the Yosemite Valley and outlying area. You will also picture the famous fallen Jeffrey pine tree leaning on the granite surface that became an icon for photographers and postcard pictures.

When Glacier Point is closed in winter, we offer a number of alternative sites, including a hike or an easy wake Mirror Lake (available in spring only) or Hike with your experienced tour guide on the Mist Trail to marvel at breathtaking hidden waterfalls including Vernal and Nevada Falls.

You may also challenge yourself and hike up to Emerald Pool that forms on the ‘step’ between Nevada Fall and Vernal Fall downstream. Not a hiker? Then you can choose to relax, and your personal tour guide will drive you to iconic sights without any need to hike. This will include places like Hetch Hetchy Valley, located on the Tuolumne River. John Muir called this picturesque valley the ‘Second Yosemite Valley’. In Hetch Hetchy Valley, you can admire picturesque waterfalls and the impressive O'Shaughnessy Dam which was founded in 1913 to supply the San Francisco Bay area with water. The Yosemite national park is incredibly big, and you will not have a moment without something to see or do.

We will see you off at your hotel in the Yosemite area, and your personal driver will meet you the next day at your preferred time in the lobby of your hotel (9 am is ideal, but anytime you want would be fine with us), we will also help you with checking out when you have booked through us. A credit card is the only requirement for incidentals, as the room(s) charge, resort fees and taxes are already covered.

Day 4 – Suggested Private Trip Itinerary

After breakfast (not included in the tour price), get ready for a truly fulfilling journey from Yosemite National Park to Lake Tahoe. Some attractions within the Yosemite National Park are seasonal like Tuolumne Meadows, Tioga Pass, Glacier Point and the Yosemite groves of sequoias, they are open an accessible in summer. These sites are closed in winter due to heavy snow falls on such high elevation, so we use alternative routes offering additional attractions and side trips to other locations and sights in Tahoe and Yosemite. For instance, when Tioga Pass and Glacier Point are closed, we offer our clients alternative sites that may include a driving and walking tours to places like Mirror Lake loop (seasonal mostly in spring). This is a fairly easy family-oriented hike – the lake offers beautiful reflections of surrounding rocks and cliffs in the water. This is one of the best meadows of Yosemite wilderness to spot wildlife like bears and is a mecca for photographers. Take a hike to one of Yosemite’s majestic falls and enjoy spectacular views.

Marvel at the ancient sequoias. After leaving Yosemite Valley floor heading to the high country, we will head to one of the Yosemite groves of giant sequoias (the largest known trees living on earth), unless this has been already done on day 1.
These massive and ancient giant sequoias live in three groves in Yosemite National Park. The largest is known as Mariposa Grove which has been closed since 2015 for renovation and restoration, but it has recently opened to the public but with many restrictions which makes it less accessible, and it is a longer drive to get there from Yosemite Valley. Merced Grove is the least busy of these three groves of giant sequoias, however, the Tuolumne Grove is everyone’s favorite’s grove of giant sequoias because it’s much closer to Yosemite Valley than Mariposa grove and offers more trees of sequoias than Merced Grove along the hiking trail. Please leave it to your expert tour guide to customize the trip itinerary based on factors like weather and road conditions, opening or closure of groves and parks that can occur at any time and deposing on the season.

Your tour guide will drive to one of these groves of giant sequoias based on road and weather conditions (weather permitting) and will hike with you to marvel at these ancient sequoias. This hike is usually a 1 to 2-hour round trip loop of around 2.1 miles (3.1 km). The difficulty rating is about 6 out of 10, which makes it accessible to most visitors who can walk or hike. It can be a bit challenging to some visitors, with a steady climb at the end on the way back to the parking lot.

Mariposa Grove Road is closed to vehicles from November to April or May, and the two other groves of sequoias may be closed for safety considerations in winter as well. The road closure depends on weather and road conditions, but some groves may close occasionally for restoration and renovation the entire season.

Mariposa Grove is surreal and seems more like a scene from a different planet. John Muir once called these trees the ‘king of all conifers.’ and John Steinbeck called them ‘ambassadors from another time.’

The Mariposa Trail leads you to this astounding grove where there are over 500 giant sequoias. Your fully-escorted and guided tour will start with a photo stop at Fallen Monarch tree, then Bachelor and the Three Graces—one of the most remarkable sequoias, weighing an astounding 2 million pounds and standing over 29,000 cubic feet tall, enough to build more than 18 homes. These giants are often targets of lightning: The Grizzly Giant was once hit six times in a single lighting storm!

You will also see many other amazing sequoias including the California Tunnel tree, where a tunnel was carved and cut in 1895, to allow stagecoaches to pass through it. This is the only living sequoia tree with a tunnel in it since the fall of the Wawona Tunnel Tree in 1969 − but don’t forget the giant tunnel trees in Redwood National Park and State Park, these coastal redwoods are the sisters of the sequoias.

If you wish to see more sequoias in a shorter amount of time without walking, you can ask your guide to take you to see the Big Trees Tram Tour, a 75-minute audio tour of the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias. This seasonal open tram tour is usually available in summer based on a first come, first served basis (tickets are not included).

California Gold Country: When Tioga Pass road is closed due to heavy snow (located between Yosemite and the Eastern Sierra where a major highway leads to Tahoe) that may start as early as October and remains closed until June or July, we will drive you through the infamous, yet legendary, California Gold Country on day 2 of your adventure.

California Gold Country’s main back road is Highway 49. It is guaranteed to satisfy your wanderlust with a Western and Wild West spirit – a true gateway to exploring many historic mining communities of the 1849 California gold rush. Let us take you back in time to the days of California Gold Country era and show you the most authentic gold mining towns and villages along the way as we head north to Lake Tahoe. This back road is a great road trip that will take you to the warm sunny side of California’s lush valleys, pristine meadows, green hillsides at the Sierra foothills, a picturesque winding road through hills dotted with oak trees, farmhouses and vineyards. We will drive for about 4 hours before we get to South Lake Tahoe area before sunset (depending on weather and traffic conditions), where we will drop you off at your Lake Tahoe hotel.

Experience Lake Tahoe nightlife and enjoy one of the many venues available at your hotel or in the area, including diverse shows catering for all tastes, or elegant restaurants for dining with views of Lake Tahoe. There are all kinds of entertainment and venues in Lake Tahoe’s casinos and ski villages and resorts.

Your personal driver will meet you the next day at your preferred time in the lobby of your hotel (9 am is ideal but anytime you want would be fine with us), we will again help you with checking out when you have booked through us.

Day 5 – Suggested Private Tour Itinerary

Lake Tahoe - California Gold Country - San Francisco

What can you expect from this trip on day 5? After your breakfast, your tour guide will meet you in the lobby at any time you may choose. The last day of your private tour will be organized and customized, based on your preference and special requests. The tour guide will suggest various options. Some activities may require reservations in advance, kindly ensure you discuss that on day one with your tour guide so that reservations can be made for activities such as snowmobile rental, a helicopter air tour, boat charter or booking a cruise ship tour on the Lake. For most other activities, such as skiing, or sightseeing, prior arrangement or reservation is not necessarily needed. Your tour guide will be on hand to assist you in this regard.

Regardless of the season, you will always enjoy a scenic drive during your private guided tour, taking you around Lake Tahoe. You will enjoy breathtaking photo stops along the way to capture beautiful landscapes, fantastic waterfalls, state parks, majestic alpine vistas, and spectacular sights.

In summer and the fall, visitors have the opportunity to sightsee both shores of Lake Tahoe in California and Nevada, and even stop along Lake Tahoe state beaches to swim, sign-up for water sports adventures, take a helicopter air tour over Lake Tahoe area, or any other outdoor activities you may choose.

In winter, Lake Tahoe offers endless activities and outdoor adventures including skiing, snowboarding, renting a snowmobile, at one of Tahoe’s top ski resorts like Heavenly, Sierra, Alpine meadows, North Star, or Squaw Valley Ski Resort. You may also take the famous gondola at Heavenly Ski Resort or the Aerial Tram at Squaw Valley, all the way up to the high country and enjoy stunning views of the entire Lake Tahoe area. Take in the sweeping views or play in the snow, take a snowmobile guided adventure, go tubing or sledding with your friends, kids and family, sign up for a ski lesson package with ski lift tickets and ski rental equipment, go to snowshoe, go shopping at the local charming boutique stores, or at one of the largest shopping outlets in Northern California.

Couples may enjoy a romantic getaway and go wine tasting, hit the slots or tables at the friendly South Lake Tahoe famous Casinos, or take a romantic cruise ship dinner on Lake Tahoe anytime of the year, with many more options your tour guides will be offering you.

As we head west to San Francisco or wherever you wish to be dropped off on the way back, an optional stop may be planned to visit the historic and charming old gold mining towns of Jamestown or Mariposa. From the indigenous Miwoks to Spanish and Mexican explorers, Mariposa old town was known as a stop on the way to the Sierra Mountains, and the name is Spanish for ‘butterfly.’ Those first explorers discovered a creek while they were meandering through a gentle valley where swarms of butterflies were seen. If you are interested in gold panning, ask your guide to show you a hidden camp where locals pan for gold.

Sit back, relax, enjoy the views and leave the driving and guiding to us. You will return to your hotel or home in San Francisco late afternoon around 6 or 7pm. When the pick-up and drop-off are outside of San Francisco, the time and length of the tour may be reduced accordingly as we are based in San Francisco.

Tips for visitors and hikers
– If you are subject to car or motion sickness, please consider asking your doctor for recommended medication. Some visitors underestimate this aspect and end up visiting only 50% of the tour as they suffer from this or altitude sickness and make an excessive number of stops along the way. Please consult your doctor and ensure you have the appropriate medication in advance.

– Consider leaving unnecessary luggage at your hotel and travel light so you have more room in the vehicle.

– Wear clothes and shoes suitable for walking and hiking (Snow shoes in winter are recommended, and a swimsuit to enjoy the hotel’s swimming pool and hot tub).

– Bring sunscreen, bug spray, extra memory cards, and batteries for your camera (if applicable).

– Warm layers for cooler weather and a raincoat for summer showers.

– Drink lots of water due to the high altitude and don’t hike alone, as we offer fully-guided tours.

– We are not responsible for injuries or accidents that may occur during this trip, in or out of Yosemite National Park and Lake Tahoe . Please read our terms and conditions for more information.

-Expect rugged terrain with narrow, steep, and very curvy hiking trails to the sequoias. Also, be prepared for a downhill hike and then back uphill to the parking lot. The trail is very steep right at the beginning on the way back up but mellows out as you get closer to the parking lot. It depends on the grove your driver will choose for you, but they all require hiking. The elevation at the trail head of both top groves is about 6,200 feet (1,860 meters). The most popular is the Tuolumne Grove of Giant Sequoias, the distance is about 2.5 miles (4 km) round trip and takes about 1.5 – 2 hours of hiking, and recommended for everybody who can hike including kids.

-California Gold Country: When Tioga Pass road (located between Yosemite and the Eastern Sierra where a major highway leads to Tahoe)is closed due to heavy snow that may start as early as October until about June or July, we will drive through the infamous, yet legendary, California Gold Country on day 2 and day 3 of your adventure.

-Please note that we may start in Lake Tahoe first, and then head to Yosemite National Park or vice versa. This will depend on the hotels’ availability, the season, the weather and road conditions. We do not work on commission, so you are welcome to book your own hotel, but if you don’t want to deal with these details, we can take care of that on your behalf when you choose the option ‘hotel included’ from our shopping cart.