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This is a booking compare, not a scenery contest. Every number below comes from the live Yosemite and Sequoia pages on this site, which track the recreation.gov campgrounds we watch for cancellations.
Both are recreation.gov campgrounds on a rolling window, and neither is easy in summer. Camp.land watches 5 Yosemite campgrounds - Upper Pines (235 sites), Wawona (96), Hodgdon Meadow (105), North Pines (81), and Lower Pines (74) - versus 1 Sequoia campground, Lodgepole (201 sites). More campgrounds means more cancellation chances at Yosemite. No hookups anywhere at either park's monitored campgrounds.
Yosemite gives families five monitored campgrounds to work with: Upper Pines has 235 sites, Wawona 96, Hodgdon Meadow 105, North Pines 81, and Lower Pines 74. That is 591 sites across five separate booking pages, so when one fills you still have four more windows plus cancellations to catch. Sequoia runs through one campground, Lodgepole, with 201 sites: 77 standard, 53 tent-only, 52 walk-to, and 19 RV with no hookups.
Sequoia is the simpler logistics win. Lodgepole sits near the Giant Forest and General Sherman Tree, and its own page notes fall is quieter if summer dates are gone. Yosemite is the bigger payoff: the Valley campgrounds put waterfalls and flat biking within stroller distance, and Wawona tends to run less crowded than the Valley floor per its page. Neither park's monitored campgrounds offer hookups, so power-hungry families are packing batteries either way.
Both parks book on recreation.gov, and popular summer dates go fast at each. Set a free alert for your dates at any of the six campgrounds above and we email you the moment a cancellation opens. If nothing opens, privately owned cabins near Oakhurst (Yosemite side) or Three Rivers (Sequoia side) are the fallback.
Yosemite fills up fast — lock in a cabin nearby
Cabins and rentals on the Yosemite side near Wawona.
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Both are recreation.gov campgrounds on a rolling window, and neither is easy in summer. Camp.land watches 5 Yosemite campgrounds - Upper Pines (235 sites), Wawona (96), Hodgdon Meadow (105), North Pines (81), and Lower Pines (74) - versus 1 Sequoia campground, Lodgepole (201 sites). More campgrounds means more cancellation chances at Yosemite. No hookups anywhere at either park's monitored campgrounds.
Sequoia puts the General Sherman Tree close to Lodgepole, so the marquee sight is a short drive rather than a Valley traffic loop. Yosemite trades that for waterfalls, bike rentals, and a developed Valley floor kids can wander. Both are car-based trips; neither campground has hookups, so plan around battery power and coolers either way.
Yes. All six of the campgrounds compared here are recreation.gov campgrounds watched by Camp.land alerts. The first alert is free. Texas state parks are a different system and are not alerted.