Casey

Where to Stay in Yosemite National Park

Yosemite is a gorgeous place to see and should be experienced at least once in a lifetime! Especially if you’re an outdoors person or love hiking. There’s nothing better than getting a few blisters from a long day of hiking. Ok, the blisters part isn’t fun… but hopefully you have good boots and that’s not a problem.

Regardless of blisters or not, after a day at Yosemite and all the outdoor adventure, it’s nice to have a comfy place to lay down and relax. That’s what this article is for! I’ll help you find the best lodging for you and give you an introduction to what accommodations are available in Yosemite Valley.

To start, what kind of lodging are you looking for? Luxury hotel? Budget Airbnb? Maybe a campsite? Lodging depends on what you prefer and thankfully Yosemite has plenty of diverse options on where to stay.

Hotels in Yosemite

Mammoth Mountain Inn

This is a great option if you’re on a budget but can still afford a decent place. They have lower-priced rooms and all the amenities are still there. Depending on your reason for being in Yosemite, Mammoth Mountain Inn also offers packages for weddings and events. It’s also conveniently located near a ski and snowboard area.

Tenaya Lodge

A slightly more pricey option, the Tenaya Lodge is a beautiful place to stay if you can afford it. It’s also a good place if you’re looking for a one-stop shop for exploring Yosemite, as they also offer tour packages and other outdoor activities!

AirBnb’s in Yosemite

There are TONS of options for AirBnb places in Yosemite, so I won’t go into any specific here. I just want to point out that the average seems to hover around $230/night for houses or cabin-type lodging. The first hotel mentioned earlier is cheaper so if you’re trying to save money I recommend that and not go with AirBnb.

Cabin Rentals in Yosemite

Evergreen Lodge

A slightly more costly option, the Evergreen Lodge has a very comfortable setting and wonderful amenities. There are also plenty of cabins to rent so it should be easy to find an open time.

Evergreen Lodge is really the main place where there are a collection of cabins to rent. There are still more options than the one provided, so if you’re deadest on a cabin but want more options, you’ll need to use search engines for finding them such as Glamping Hub or going to Yosemites website.

Camping in Yosemite

Yosemite has a total of 13 possible campsites to choose from, these include tent camping and RVs. Also depending on where you want to be in the valley, there are campsites north of the valley, south, and right in the valley.

If you want to make a reservation, the contact information and instructions are provided here. If you want to see the individual campgrounds in the valley, they’re listed here .

Don’t forget if you’re camping in Yosemite you’ll need a lightweight sleeping bag! Exploring Yosemite requires a fair amount of hiking and you’ll need a sleeping system that won’t weigh you down.

Finally, don’t forget to add some nice nature Instagram captions and Yosemite Instagram captions to the beautiful pictures you take there!

Recap

There are plenty of options for lodging in Yosemite for all budgets and preferences. Just make sure you make reservations in advance for whatever your preference and also be aware of the time of the year you’re going and pack accordingly! If you’re looking for hikes to do while you’re out there, check my list of Yosemites best hikes here!

There are tons of things to do in Athens Greece! And Linn and I took advantage of as many of them as possible. Don’t stay too long though, we ended up spending more time in Athens even though we had seen everything we wanted to see, much faster than expected. Below is a nice list of our trip, summarizing the main points. If you’re just interested in things to do and sites to see, then feel free to skip the “Arriving to Athens” and “Lodging and AirBnb” sections.

Things To Do In Athens Greece:

Arriving to Athens

Getting to Athens Greece is really a matter of preference. It’s not a secluded city that is hard to reach, so there are plenty of options to choose from based on your preferences. We personally try to settle for something budget friendly, but not so inexpensive that it takes us days to get there. That perfect in between for us was to fly into the Athens International Airport or “Eleftherios Venizelos”. As with most flights from anywhere, try to book early with at least one to two months in advance.

After flying in, we had some trouble getting around the airport since there was construction and the detours weren’t the easiest to navigate. Thankfully, we eventually reached the taxi area and took a taxi to our Airbnb as it was the fastest. Like most foreign countries, there may be a language barrier (if you’re American like us) between you and the driver, so it’s best to be prepared with the address and map to show the driver.

Also! Don’t fret too much about how they drive in Athens. Yes, they fit 4 cars into 2 lane roads, but it seems to work for them. Personally, I was on the edge of my seat, but we never had any issues with any taxi drivers.

Lodging and Airbnb

Once you get to Athens, it’s obviously best to have a place to stay. Linn and I have pretty much fully converted to staying at Airbnb’s instead of hotels. We’ve found you have a much wider range of options regarding our budget, proximity to the sites we want to see, and proximity to cheaper public transportation. I also recommend getting some place close to a local restaurant since Greek food is amazing! We managed to find a perfect place that wasn’t exactly city center but did overlook the city, and it was right up the street from the local tram station. That was perfect as we’ve come to notice that trains and tramways are the cheapest option for local travel.

The view from our AirBnb.

That’s my opinion on lodging, as there are options for hotels, they were a bit too pricey considering we were only going to be in them to sleep. But it’s all a matter of preference and if you’d prefer a hotel closer to syntagma square, then there are a few nearby.

Local Transportation

Options for transportation in Athens are similar to most places, there are taxis, ubers, metro, trams, and buses. While the buses did reach a few places we wanted to see, the trams usually got us there with only an extra 5 minutes of walking. So it was our preferred way to get around the city as we were able to get week long tickets (ahead of time online that were very affordable and all major sites are near a station.

If there are specific sites that you want to go that are a bit too far for your walking distance, the taxis are easy to call and aren’t expensive for short rides.

Things To Do

Now we get to the meat of the trip, the reasons we went. I’ll show a map below of all the sites we visited on where they are in relation to each other. You’ll notice that they are all close in proximity and that’s why we were able to see so much and had days to spare. The places are also listed in chronological order that we visited them but we didn’t see them in this order for any particular reason, so feel free to explore in what every order you prefer.

Map Legend:

Dark blue – Ancient Agora

Pink – Hadrians Library

Orange – Acropolis, Parthenon, and Theater of Dionysus

Green – Mount Lycabettus

Light Blue – National Garden

Red – Temple of Zeus

Yellow – Panathenaic Stadium

White – Syntagma Square

1. Theater of Dionysus

This was a part of the Acropolis, so we were able to see it before walking up the acropolis to the Parthenon. I highly recommend booking your tickets in advance, as we didn’t and were stuck waiting in a long line on a hot day for roughly an hour! The theater itself is a short walk around as are the grounds around it. It’s a nice place to snap a few shots and prepare for the short trek up the hill.

2. Acropolis and Parthenon

The main site of Athens, the central point with so much history and such a beautiful site! The Parthenon was a perfect start to our trip in Athens as we’re serious buff’s when it comes to historical sites and this is one of the best. Sadly it was a bit cloudy when we went, but that didn’t stop us from taking it all in and enjoying a 2,400 year old architectural relic! It was also pretty crowded even for what was supposed to be the low time, but thankfully there is plenty of room on top of the Acropolis, so it wasn’t cramped while we were up there.

There are also plenty of smaller sites scattered around the Parthenon with their own rich history and placards oh what their significance is.

3. Ancient Agora of Athens

The agora was the gathering place in Athens and later became a commercial place (marketplace basically). It’s also very well preserved so you get a much better sense of the architecture. On top of that, it was very spacious and much less crowded, we walked around the agora and barely ran into anyone and weren’t rushed at all while we were trying to take photos.

Also, there was a small museum and rest area located in the Agora. It was a large building with pillars lining the front and inside containing relics from multiple time periods.

4. Temple of Zeus

The temple of zeus was a mix of astonishment and slight disappointment. Looking back I would still go see it and still highly recommend it, but it’s a little upsetting how much is left. I can’t complain as it’s been standing for over 2,000 years, but quite a few pillars are missing as it has taken a beating over that time.

That being said, there are still smaller ruins around the site and even the 10 or so pillars of the main structure are still standing and still have such amazing craftsmanship.

INTERMISSION:

I want to stop and take a second to mention that after all of the sites I’ve listed so far, it only took about 2 days to visit them (including lunch breaks and taking it slow). These historical sites in Athens are very close together, which makes sense as 2,000 years ago people didn’t really have cars to “get to the other side of town”, so it helped making the main points close together. I just wanted to point that out though so you know that to visit all of the sites in here will only take 4-5 days MAX.

5. National Garden

We decided to visit the national garden in Athens as a spur of the moment thing. It actually wasn’t on our list on the way there but I’m glad we decided to go. It wasn’t as extravagant as the Acropolis or Ancient Agora, but we’re both avid lovers of hiking and nature walks so it was a nice break and there was no stress in getting around.

6. Panathenaic Stadium

This was a happy accident we stumbled on. We were actually just walking around outside the national garden and saw a large stadium. We kind of decided to check it out and see what it was. As we got closer it got bigger, and not only was it a stadium, but we got a quick intro to its rich history and how it once hosted the Olympic games.

I think one of the best parts was that you were allowed to walk around the track, in the stands, and even go underground where the athletes were (which was now converted into a small museum of sorts).

7. Mount Lycabettus

This was another spur of the moment decision. We had a day left in Athens with no plans so we decided to go for a hike to get a nice view of the city from a different angle. Honestly it was a great hike and I loved the view, but if you’re not into hiking then this isn’t something that you have to see.

8. Hadrians Library

This was our last destination but it was interesting to walk through and experience. I’d recommend doing this one during your Acropolis trip as it’s not too far from there. It’s also a quick visit with some nice history and would be a great site to see to end a day.

Athens Overall

Athens was a phenomenal trip! The only thing I think we could’ve improved about our trip is if it wasn’t as long. Not because Athens wasn’t a great city, but because we were still going to two other places and it would’ve been better to have more time in those places since we were able to see everything in Athens in the first few days.

Overall though, I highly recommend you visit Athens at least once and especially if you’re into rich historical sites!

Just a nice collection of some awesome photos I found on Unsplash of the beautiful New York City!

Looking for inspirational travel quotes or captions for Instagram? Sometimes it’s nice to renew your interests and love for traveling with some inspiring words, or caption a post. Hopefully these travel quotes will give you that motivation and keep your spirit for travel ignited while giving you an awesome caption for your travel pics. If you have more poignant travel quotes you want to share, please leave them in the comments below!

Best Travel Quotes!

 1. Man cannot discover new oceans unless he is willing to lose sight of the shore. – Andre Gide

 2. “There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign” – Robert Louis Stevenson

 3. “Traveling’s not something you’re good at. It’s something you do. Like Breathing.” – Gayle Foreman

 4. “The world makes way for the man who knows where he is going.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

 5. Remember that happiness is a way of travel – not a destination. – Roy M. Goodman

 6. “A person susceptible to “wanderlust” is not so much addicted to movement as committed to transformation.”  – Pico Iyer

 7. “If we were meant to stay in one place, we’d have roots instead of feet” – Rachel Wolchin

 8. “Travel doesn’t become adventure until you leave yourself behind” – Marty Rubin

 9. Wanderlust: a strong desire for or impulse to wander or travel and explore the world.

 10. “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes” – Marcel Proust. T

 11.“Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”

 12. “Your imagination is your preview of life’s coming attractions.”

 13. “We travel for romance, we travel for architecture, and we travel to be lost.” – Ray Bradbury

 14. Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain. – Jack Kerouac

 15. “My favorite thing is to go where I’ve never been.”

 16. “I’m shaking the dust of this crummy little town off my feet and I’m gonna see the world.”

 17. “What you’ve done becomes the judge of what you’re going to do — especially in other people’s minds. When you’re traveling, you are what you are right there and then. People don’t have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road.” – William Least Heat Moon

 18. “People don’t take trips, trips take people.” – John Steinbeck

 19. “I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list.” – Susan Sontag g

 20. Blessed are the curious, for they shall have adventures. – Lovelle Drachman 

 21. “Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”

 22. “To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world” – Freya Stark

 23. “Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends” – Maya Angelou g

 24. “Don’t count the days. Make the days count.”

 25. It feels good to be lost in the right direction. 

 26. “The pleasure we derive from journeys is perhaps dependent more on the mindset with which we travel than on the destination we travel to” – Alain de Botton

 27. “Collect moments. Not things.”

 28. “A journey is best measured in friends rather than miles.” – Tim Cahill

 29. “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.”

 30. I’m in love with cities I’ve never been to and people I’ve never met. – John Green

 32. “We wander for distraction but we travel for fulfillment” – Hilaire Belloc

 33. “The gladdest moments, me thinks, is a departure into unknown lands.”

 34. “To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries” – Aldous Huxley

 35. “Travel is never a matter of money but of courage.” – Paulo Coelho

 36. “Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference” – Robert Frost

37. Traveling – It leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller. – Ian Battuta

 38. “A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.”

 39. “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”

 40. “Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.” – Terry Pratchett

 41. “The best dreams happen when you’re awake.”

 42. Jobs fill your pocket, but adventures fill your soul. – Jamie Lyn Beatty

 43. “It is better to travel well than to arrive.”

 44. “Never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.”

 45. “Do not dare not to dare.”

 46. “Life is short and the world is wide.”

 47. Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world. – Gustav Falubert

 48. Do you really want to look back on your life and see how wonderful it could have been had you not been afraid to live it?” – Caroline Myss

 49. “If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home.” – James Michener

 50. “Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer.” – Anonymous

 51. “Never let your memories be greater than your dreams.”

 52. “I travel a lot; I hate having my life disrupted by routine.” – Caskie Stinnett

 53. “Not all those who wander are lost.” – J.R.R. Tolkien

 54. “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” – Lao Tzu

 55. The most beautiful in the world is of course, the world itself. – Wallace Stevens

 56. “Travel far enough, you meet yourself” -David Mitchell

 57. “Don’t tell me how educated you are, tell me how much you have traveled.” – Mohammed

 58. “Fill your life with experiences, not things. Have stories to tell, not stuff to show.” –Unknown

 59. “A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.” Lao Tzu

 60. Better to see something once than to hear about it a thousand times. 

 61. “Actually, the best gift you could have given her was a lifetime of adventures.” –Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

 62. “Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.” – Gustave Flaubert

 63. “I always wonder why birds choose to stay in the same place when they can fly anywhere on earth, then I ask myself the same question.” –Harun Yahya

 64. “I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

 65. Take only memories, leave only footprints. 

 66. “We live in a world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” ― Jawaharial Nehru

 67. “Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow.”  – Anita Desai

 68. “This wasn’t a strange place; it was a new one.” – Paulo Coelho

 69. “We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls.” – Anais Nin

 70. The life you have led doesn’t need to be the only life you have. – Anna Quindlen

 71. Live your life by a compass, not a clock. – Stephen Covey

 72. “Surely, of all the wonders of the world, the horizon is the greatest.” – Freya Stark

 73. “I travel because it makes me realize how much I haven’t seen, how much I’m not going to see, and how much I still need to see.” – Carew Papritz

 74. “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” –Mark Twain

 75. “I am not the same, having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world.” – Mary Anne Radmacher

Also, be sure to check out these other captions and quotes for Instagram posts!

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