Finally Experiencing the Best of Yosemite with Some Help

Like many people, visiting all of the country’s 63 National Parks is a lifelong ambition that I sincerely hope to complete someday. There’s just something special about an American National Park that is hard to describe and impossible to quantify; you have to experience it in order to truly understand. Within the pantheon of parks though some, through personal preference or history, certainly rise to the top and for most visitors Yosemite is one of those elite-level parks. Prior to 2021 I had never set foot in this most revered of parks, yet the year had me visit this California treasure not once but twice. It gives me the unique position of comparing two different travel styles and to share why I ultimately preferred one over the other.

My first venture into Yosemite was on my own, an experience I described in greater detail here. This second adventure though was part of a longer Globus tour experience around Northern California. Although certainly one of the highlights for many guests, the national park was in fact just one stop among several others.

Globus family of brands traces its history back to 1928, when founder Antonio Mantegazza started using a boat to take commercial goods across Lake Lugano in Switzerland. Since then the company has grown and evolved into what it is today, one of the largest travel companies in the world with more than 30 tourism and aviation business under its umbrella. I’ve actually traveled with Globus family of brands before both on Monograms independent trips as well as luxurious river cruises on Avalon Waterways. This trip though was with a part of the company that was new to me, but which serves as the company’s backbone – Globus. Tours offered by Globus are fully escorted and take many different forms in every corner of the world, including one of America’s great natural treasures.

One aspect I love of visiting any National Park is how accessible they are, even if your time is very limited. In most cases the National Park Service has created short driving loops showcasing the best of the park in as little as half a day. I know that it may sound slightly sacrilegious to only devote a few hours to any National Park, but in my experience I’ve always walked away thrilled with my National Park adventures. The same holds true in Yosemite, where it in fact possible to self-drive and see many of the park’s highlights. There is a problem here though that greatly affected my first…