The Awhanee opened in 1927 as people began to flock to our country’s magnificent public lands and wanted accommodations that matched the splendor of those natural places.

Nestled into Yosemite Valley, its stone exterior blends seamlessly into the surrounding granite cliffs. Glacier Point and Half Dome tower above the hotel, while the Yosemite Falls roar just a mile up the valley in the spring and summer.

A classic example of National Park Rustic Architecture

Designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood, the same architect who drew up the plans for Zion Lodge and Bryce Canyon Lodge, this National Historic Landmark is a magnificent example of National Park Service Rustic architecture. It’s a beautiful hotel and one of our favorite national park lodges.

Yosemite All-Year-Round Hotel was its original name, but the developers changed it to Ahwahnee Hotel before it opened because they wanted a name that evoked the Native American heritage of the valley.

Due to a legal dispute between the U.S. Government and the previous hotel concessionaire, the National Park Service changed the name in 2016 to Yosemite Majestic Hotel, only to change it back to the Ahwahnee in 2019 once the dispute was resolved.

Staying there was a thrill

In 2010, we stayed at the Ahwahnee for one night; that’s all we could afford. The room was four times more expensive than the motels we were used to staying in at the time. Just the same, it was a thrill to spend the night in this national park gem.

Despite having 123 rooms, the architect’s first plans were for a much larger complex. The dining hall, for instance, would have held 1,000 people. The scaled-down version that the developer built has a capacity of 350.

Ahwahnee eating options

We didn’t eat in the main dining room the night we stayed there primarily due to the dress code; hiking pants and t-shirts don’t cut it. The dress standard is more relaxed today than in the past; for decades, the hotel required men to wear jackets at dinner.

Instead, we opted for the bar that had good food and a patio outside, which was more to our liking anyway. In 2018, we revisited the hotel and saw that the bar had been remodeled and is now more upscale than before, but still looked comfortable and casual.

The year it opened, the hotel began hosting lavish Christmas dinners in the dining hall. Called the Bracebridge Dinner, guests are encouraged to dress in formal attire while a cast of actors stage an Old-English, seven-course feast complete with plum pudding. Ansel Adams, no less, was the director and cast member the year the tradition began.

As popular as the Bracebridge Dinner was, the hotel took a five-year break from holding this annual holiday tradition—in part due to COVID. But they could only hold back tradition for so long and resumed the dinner in 2024 at a price of $500 per person.

The original fire fall

Another only-in-Yosemite event used to occur very close to the Ahwahnee: the nightly fire fall. For nearly a century, it was a tradition to build a fire each night at the edge of Glacier Point, 3,000 feet above the Ahwahnee, and at precisely 9:00 pm, shove the glowing coals off the cliff so spectators below could see the cascade of embers flow to the valley floor.

Fire falls began in 1872, long before The Ahwahnee was even a concept, and they continued long after the hotel opened. As you can imagine, pushing a bonfire off a 3,000-foot cliff in the middle of a national park was not something everyone approved of.

The practice started and stopped several times over the years when, finally, the National Park Service ended it for good in 1968 because it wasn’t a natural event. The park service also struggled with managing the crowds that would come to watch the spectacle and minimizing the wear and tear that came with those hordes trampling the meadow each night.

A kinder and gentler fire fall

While there are no more fire falls, something that looks similar happens almost every year, also in Yosemite Valley. Just east of El Capitan is Horsetail Falls. Compared to the other falls in the valley, it is not particularly remarkable, except for a couple of weeks in February.

During that time, when the sky is clear, the setting sun shines on the falls for a few minutes each night. The orange glow from the sun causes the waterfall to look like it’s on fire. And it’s a natural event, so the National Parks Service approves. There’s another item to put in our wish bucket; we will need a bigger bucket soon.

However, the February fire fall event has become so popular in recent years that the park began requiring permits to enter the park to witness it. Check the park’s website for the latest requirements if you plan to visit this rare sight.

The Ahwahnee is a must-see site

Yosemite’s Ahwahnee is a must-see site if you’re ever in the valley. Even if you don’t have reservations to stay at the hotel—they’re hard to get despite being pricey—you can hang out in the common areas in the hotel. Because the hotel is in a national park, the first floor is open to the public regardless of whether or not you’re staying there.

We love sitting in the great room; through the two-story, stained-glassed windows, we can see the mottled silhouette of Half Dome while relaxing on the over-stuffed sofas. It’s a perfect place to take a break after a long hike and sort through the wish bucket to decide where to go next.