Tenaya Lodge at Yosemite

Friendly and helpful staff, fun activities, plenty of food choices, nice amenities, and a beautiful location. Highlight: enjoyed a nice bike ride.

My husband and I stayed at Tenaya Lodge for two nights during a roadtrip. We booked the Contemporary Suite, and it was a great space. I loved having the separate closet/vanity area for our luggage. In fact, it was one of the main reasons I selected the suite. There were two luggage racks for our bags. The vanity was missing the bench from the booking photos, but I was able to use the chair from the desk in the main living area. The main living area had a couch, chair, and a dining nook area with a table, as well as the desk. My husband is a coffee drinker, and enjoyed the Keurig. The suite also had a mini fridge, which is quickly becoming a must have on our trips. The suite was located on rhe S level, which could be accessed by a specific elevator in the west wing, or a side door. There are approx. 7-9 steps to that door, if you don't want to use the bell service for your luggage (which we didn't). The suite is one of 5 or so on that level. Ours was right by the exit door, but we really only heard door slams from the living area, not the bedroom. Ice was available a short elevator ride away, on the 1st floor. We booked reservations at Jackelope's for both nights, and the food was quite good. My only complaints would be that the S level seems to be a little warmer/stuffy. The air conditioning didn't cool very well despite it being cool outside. The suite has a patio door which we opened while in the room during daylight hours that helped, but you wouldn't leave open at night. We chose not to mention this until check out. Also, if you would like to do laundry, the only facility is across on the far end of the east wing near the pools. The facility itself was easy to use with 3 washers and 6 dryers. Just a bit of a walk back and forth from the far west end.

Too many pot and cig smokers! Our room was in 3 rd floor facing the front of hotel. We like to open a window at night for fresh air but every evening there was pot smoke or cigarette smoke. I complained once but it happened two more nights before leaving. We spent a lot of money to stay here. Very disappointed the staff allow staff or guests to smoke cigarettes and pot in close (likely on walkway below or at one of the first floor rooms that have “patio” area). This overshadowed an overall nice hotel.

This is the second time we took our teenage grandkids to Yosemite and they chose to stay at Tenaya again. This time we stayed at the lodge instead of the cabins because of the indoor pool that we wanted to have available during this time of the year. The hotel is very nice and clean. It's decor is wonderful and they offer many amenities that our kids took advantage of and enjoyed. We took a 4 year old and the gold panning, pickle ball and indoor pool were fun for her! Really liked that the gold panning was not an extra charge. Negatives included perpetually malfunctioning elevators (we were on the 3rd floor). The design of the property requires a lot of walking if you are housed in the East Wing to get to the lobby and restaurants. We were always walking towards the closest elevator to our room, only to be disappointed when it was non-operational...yet again, which made us have to double back to another elevator. Yikes! We needed housekeeping a few times for new towels and to help with luggage at check-out...they were wonderful and very accommodating! My favorite thing this time was the 10 minutes I spent with the concierge. We were told about the full moon over the park by them which provided us with one of the highlights of our trip - full moon over Yosemite Valley! Nicely done, guys! Glad they are adding a pool and restaurant to the cabins!

Beautiful lodge with lovely accommodations. Friendly staff and great service. Close to everything in Yosemite. Would definitely stay again.