Yellowstone Itinerary Ideas from 1 to 5 Days (+Map & Planning Tips)
This post may contain affiliate links, which means that we may earn a small commission, at no cost to you, for qualifying purchases. More info: Disclosure.
Planning a trip to Yellowstone National Park and wondering how much time you need to visit the park, how to plan your trip, or what’s the best Yellowstone itinerary for your vacation?
In this post, we share our experience-based advice for visiting Yellowstone National Park, essential tips for planning your trip, and a suggested Yellowstone itinerary for one to five days. Find out!
These planning tips, Yellowstone itinerary for 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 days, and handy maps will help you get the most out of your trip to Yellowstone, no matter how much time you have.
Good to know: Note that these are all summer itineraries only (approx. mid-May to mid-October). That’s the period when all the roads are open and you can explore Yellowstone to the fullest. In winter, most of the roads in Yellowstone are closed and you can only visit the Old Faithful and the Mammoth Springs areas.
TIP: If you want to visit Yellowstone, but are overwhelmed with all the planning, you can also easily see the park with an organized tour. There are day trips or multi-day tours available. Here you can find our selection of the best Yellowstone tours.
Below, you can find a detailed day-to-day itinerary for Yellowstone. I also included a map for each recommended Yellowstone trip itinerary. That way you have a better idea of where all those places are and how to best plan your time when visiting Yellowstone.
Of course, you don’t have to follow these itineraries precisely, but it gives you a good idea of the main landmarks and the time you need to see them.
TIP: You can jump straight to our Yellowstone trip itinerary suggestions. However, before going into the details of your Yellowstone itinerary and starting to plan your trip, there are some important things you should know! So I suggest that you read that information first. Take a look!
Yellowstone Itinerary & Trip Planning Tips – OVERVIEW
Important Info for Planning a Trip to Yellowstone
ACCOMMODATION: Your Yellowstone itinerary will depend so much on the location of your accommodation. Price-quality-location-wise, West Yellowstone is one of the best places to stay near Yellowstone. You can also see what’s available in this area for your travel dates via the map below.
Alternatively, check our detailed guide to the best places to stay in and near Yellowstone via the links below.
READ MORE:
Where to Stay In Yellowstone National Park
Best Hotels & Cabins Near Yellowstone
TIP: Using the map below, you can find the best deals for your stay. Simply insert your travel dates and group size, and you’ll see all the best deals for accommodation near Yellowstone.
DRIVING DISTANCES & TRAFFIC: Don’t underestimate driving distances in Yellowstone. The park is big and the traffic is busy in summer. On top of that, you may experience delays due to road works and wildlife traffic jams. Furthermore, parking spots at the most popular landmarks are scarce, so you may need some extra time and patience.
Important!!! Please always check the official website for up-to-date information on any road closures or planned works in the park when planning your trip! Also, things can change before your trip, so it’s always a good idea to check it again a few days before your trip.
HOW TO ESCAPE THE CROWDS: All that being said, we visited Yellowstone end of July, the busiest season of the year. It was only busy around the most popular attractions. Actually, it’s quite easy to escape the crowds in Yellowstone if you want to – just go for a walk.
I read somewhere that around 80% of Yellowstone visitors never walk further than 10-15 minutes from their car. We could definitely confirm that from our experience. Don’t be one of those tourists! If you have some time to spare and are physically capable, make sure to make at least several short walks in Yellowstone.
Of course, you have to see the main landmarks and attractions of Yellowstone, but it’s those unplanned experiences, hidden gems, and unexpected encounters that will make your trip more memorable.
WHEN TO VISIT: If you are not sure when to go to Yellowstone, please check our guide for the best time to travel to Yellowstone. If you are planning to visit in the peak season, please check out our experience-based tips for visiting Yellowstone in July and in August.
How much time do you need in Yellowstone National Park
When I was researching our American road trip itinerary, I quickly realized that one or two days are simply not enough for visiting Yellowstone. Not only is Yellowstone the oldest National Park in the world, it’s also one of the biggest and most diverse National Parks we ever visited.
After thorough research, we decided to spend four full days in Yellowstone. It gave us just enough time to see all the main highlights without having to rush. We did quite some hiking, went for a swim, spent time driving the scenic loop road and looking for wildlife…
Yellowstone is so big and so diverse that you could easily spend a week or two here and never get bored. However, if you just want to see the main landmarks of Yellowstone, three or four days is enough. You can also see a lot with just a day or two, especially if you plan your time well and focus on the ‘musts’ – our itinerary suggestions below will help you do just that!
TIP: Don’t pack your days too much and leave some space for unexpected wildlife encounters, bison traffic jams, a beautiful hike, a soak in the warm river, etc. Yellowstone is so much more than just the most famous landmarks!
LEARN MORE: Tips for Your First Trip to Yellowstone
Yellowstone Entrance Fee
You’ll need an entrance pass for Yellowstone. It costs 35 USD per private vehicle and is valid for 7 days. You can buy it at any entrance gate of the park.
However, if you are visiting several National Parks in the same year, it’s better to get an annual National Parks Pass. It’s called America the Beautiful Pass and costs 80 USD for the whole family traveling in the same vehicle. It is valid in all National Parks and 2,000 federal recreation sites across the United States for one year from the month of purchase.
TIP: If you only visit for a day, you can also opt for this day tour that includes all the fees. Also this popular 4-day tour includes entrance fee, so you don’t have to worry about any of that.
And now that you know all the practicalities, below, you can find our Yellowstone itinerary suggestions. Take a look!
Here are our Yellowstone itinerary suggestions for any trip duration:
One Day in Yellowstone National Park
If you only have one day in Yellowstone visit the Old Faithful and the Upper Geyser Basin, Grand Prismatic Spring, and drive at least part of the scenic lower loop road.
If you are short on time when visiting Yellowstone, I suggest driving the lower loop passing the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone (stop by Artist Point), Hayden Valley, and Yellowstone Lake.
Below is a map indicating all the main landmarks that you should be able to see in Yellowstone in one day.
One Day Yellowstone Itinerary:
- Old Faithful & Upper Geyser Basin
- Grand Prismatic Spring
- Grand Prismatic Overlook Trail (optional)
- Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
- Hayden Valley
- Yellowstone Lake
- West Thumb Geyser Basin
For more details and information for this Yellowstone itinerary, please see our 1-day itinerary via the link below.
READ MORE: One Day in Yellowstone
TIP: If you only have one day in Yellowstone, it might be wise to join an organized day trip rather than go on your own. Experienced local guides will make sure that you get the most out of your very short stay in Yellowstone. Here’s the best Yellowstone day tour (departing from Jackson Hole or Teton Village) that I was able to find. And here is a one-day tour from West Yellowstone.
Here is a map indicating all the best places that you should be able to see in Yellowstone in one day.
How to use this map: Use your computer mouse (or fingers) to zoom in or out. Click on the icons to get more information about each place. Click the arrow on the top left corner for the index. Click the star next to the map’s title to add it to your Google Maps account. To view the saved map on your smartphone or PC, open Google Maps, click the menu and go to ‘Your Places’/’Maps’. If you want to print the map or see it in a bigger window, click on ‘View larger map’ in the top right corner.
2 Days in Yellowstone
This is our suggested two day itinerary for the best of Yellowstone. Please note that to see all of this in just two days you will need to start really early and you won’t have much extra time to explore deeper.
This itinerary will make sure you get to see the very best of Yellowstone in 2 days. Take a look!
Two Days Yellowstone Itinerary:
Day 1: Old Faithful Geyser, Old Faithful Inn, and the Morning Glory Pool (Upper Geyser Basin). Grand Prismatic Spring. Norris Geyser Basin. Mammoth Hot Springs.
Day 2: Undine Falls and/or Wraith Falls. Lamar Valley. Tower Fall. Dunraven Pass. Yellowstone Grand Canyon. Hayden Valley. Mud Volcano. Yellowstone Lake. West Thumb Geyser Basin.
You can find our detailed 2-day Yellowstone itinerary and tips for your trip via the link below.
LEARN MORE: Two Days in Yellowstone
TIP: If you have 2 days in Yellowstone and want to see the very best of the park without having to do much planning, consider joining this highly-rated and very complete Yellowstone 2-day/1 night tour (departs from Jackson, WY).
Below is the map illustrating the 2-day itinerary suggestions for Yellowstone. The places indicated in red are described in the 1-day itinerary above, purple – day 2.
Yellowstone Itinerary for 3 Days
If you have three days in Yellowstone, you can explore all the main areas at a more relaxed pace. In addition, you’ll have some time for some lesser-known places that will make your Yellowstone trip even more special. Below is our suggested itinerary.
Three Days Yellowstone Itinerary:
Day 1: Old Faithful and the Geyser Loop Trail (don’t miss the Morning Glory Pool). Grand Prismatic. Norris Geyser Basin.
Day 2: Mammoth Hot Springs. Undine Falls. Wraith Falls. Petrified Tree (not a must). Lamar Valley. Tower Fall. Dunraven Pass.
Day 3: The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone River (Artist Point, Lower Falls). Hayden Valley. Yellowstone Lake.
TIP: If you’d like to do some hiking in Yellowstone, on day 3, you could go hiking along the rims of the Yellowstone Canyon. There’s also a very highly-rated hiking tour with a local guide that you can join in this area.
This Yellowstone itinerary for three days includes pretty much all the main landmarks that you really have to see in the park.
Below is the map showing suggestions for things to see when visiting Yellowstone in 3 days. Places indicated in red are the ones described on day 1 of this itinerary, purple on day 2, and yellow – on day 3.
4 Days in Yellowstone
We stayed four full days in Yellowstone with kids, but our trip itinerary can be used by all types of Yellowstone visitors. More adventurous travelers might want to do a bit more hiking, but if you want to see all the main highlights of Yellowstone without having to rush – this is it.
Here is my suggested four-day itinerary for Yellowstone based on our experience. We visited the Grand Prismatic and the Old Faithful area at the end of our trip and I think it was a good decision. It’s often better to leave the most impressive places for last; that way you appreciate the rest more.
We also spread the visit of three thermal areas (West Thumb Basin, Norris Geyser Basin, and the Grand Prismatic/ Old Faithful areas) over separate days. That way you have more diversity every day. Otherwise, it’s easy to get ‘geysered out’ in Yellowstone :).
Four Days Yellowstone Itinerary:
Day 1: Lewis Falls. West Thumb Basin. Yellowstone Lake. Storm Point hike. Mud Volcano area. Hayden Valley.
Day 2: Grand Canyon of Yellowstone (Artist Point, Lower Falls). Norris Geyser Basin. Firehole River (swimming, if possible – check here for up-to-date info).
Day 3: Mammoth Hot Springs. Undine Falls. Wraith Falls. Petrified Tree (optional). Lamar Valley. Tower Fall. Dunraven Pass.
Day 4: Midway Geyser Basin (Grand Prismatic). You can also hike to the Grand Prismatic Overlook. Lower Geyser Basin. Upper Geyser Basin (the Old Faithful Geyser, Old Faithful Inn, and the Geyser Loop Trail), also Biscuit Basin and/or Black Sand Basin.
TIP: If you are looking for the best guided tour option, check out this beautiful 4-day/ 3 night Yellowstone and Grand Teton trip with a focus on wildlife (departs from Jackson, WY).
Below is a map indicating each of the suggested places from our 4-day Yellowstone itinerary. Places indicated in red are the ones described on day 1 of this itinerary, purple – day 2, yellow – day 3, and green – day 4. The blue dots are the places that we mention in the 5-days Yellowstone itinerary further below.
5 Days in Yellowstone
If you have five days in Yellowstone, make sure you see all the main landmarks and highlights described in the four-day Yellowstone itinerary. In addition, you could hike to Mount Washburn. It’s a long hike (6-7 miles (10-12km) depending on the route you choose) and requires a good part of the day.
Another nice option on foot or by bike is Lone Star Geyser. It’s located about 3 miles south of the Old Faithful area and can be reached via a hiking/biking trail from there. It erupts every 3 hours.
Otherwise, you can find plenty of other nice hikes, go for a boat ride on Yellowstone Lake, go for a scenic float or rafting nearby, join a hiking tour, etc.
Take a look at the map above (4 days in Yellowstone) – the blue dot next to Dunraven Pass is Mount Washburn, and the blue dot south of the Old Faithful is the Lone Star Geyser.
So, these are my suggestions for the best way to plan your Yellowstone trip and see the main landmarks of Yellowstone. None of these itineraries are very detailed as they would require separate articles, such as the ones for 1 and 2 days that we linked to above. So if you have any specific questions, feel free to leave a comment below and I’ll try to help.
Please note that every trip and itinerary will be somewhat different because so much depends on the location of your accommodation. We have lots of information and detailed guides for visiting Yellowstone, so please check those articles for more suggestions on how to plan your Yellowstone trip.
Update: Since so many of our readers asked for suggestions on how to best combine Yellowstone NP with Grand Teton NP, Glacier NP, and also with visiting Mount Rushmore, we have published dedicated articles about those places as well. Take a look below!
- Here you can find info on the best places to see and things to do in Jackson Hole.
- Here you can read more about the best things to do in Grand Teton National Park in one day.
- Here you can find a suggested itinerary for both, Yellowstone and Grand Teton.
- Here you can find Glacier National Park itinerary suggestions.
- Here you can read more about visiting Mount Rushmore and things to do near Mt Rushmore.
More information for planning your trip to Yellowstone:
- Overview: Yellowstone Travel Guide
- What to see: Best Things to Do in Yellowstone
- When to go: Best Time to Visit Yellowstone
- What to pack: Yellowstone Packing List
- Accommodation: Where to Stay in and Near Yellowstone & Best Hotels Near Yellowstone
- For families: Yellowstone with Kids
- Must-see: Grand Prismatic Spring & Old Faithful Geyser
- Fun to do: Boiling River
If you found this post useful, don’t forget to bookmark it and share it with your friends. Are you on Pinterest? Pin these images!
What airport did you fly into? Also, how far was the drive from the airport to Canyon Lodge?
Hi Tracy, Yellowstone was just part of a much bigger road trip for us. We flew out of Salt Lake City after we left the park. That was like 6 hrs drive.
But there are plenty of smaller airports nearby (1-3 hrs). You can find this information in our Yellowstone travel guide.
We just returned from Yellowstone and I wanted to thank you for all the information on your website. It was invaluable for our trip. We could have never seen this much without your tips. THANK YOU!
Glad to help, Muryel.
Hi Jurga,
I’m planning a camping trip to Yellowstone NP for my family in early Sept 2024. We’ll be pulling a 30′ camper.
I like your 4-5 day Yellowstone itinerary and was wondering if you stayed at one particular camp site or did you move to different camp sites to cut drive times? Which one(s) would you recommend?
Thank you so much for your help!
Brent D.
Hi Brent, we do not camp so we stayed at the hotels – Canyon Lodge most of the time, plus the Old Faithful Lodge for a night.
You can find more info about Yellowstone campsites here.
hi jurga
i am thinking to come in oct end and thinking where ot fly from NY and with best price in mind where to stay and how to plan for 4-6 days total .
Hi Claudia, first, keep in mind that most roads in Yellowstone close for the winter season on November 1. End of October can also already be quite cold and snowy, so you have to be prepared for some uncertainty. Check the official site for the road conditions and planned closures.
For the rest, if you do indeed go in October, you should be able to visit most places as described in our itinerary suggestions, so please check our article for how you could plan your time.
As for where to stay, many accommodations inside the park will also be already closed for the season. Only Mammoth Hotel and OF Snowlodge remain open somewhat longer in October, but also not the entire month. So the best places to stay are likely West Yellowstone and/or Gardiner. Please take a look at this article for more information on the best hotels near Yellowstone.
Having said all this, if you can plan your trip somewhat earlier, even if just a few weeks, it will make a big difference. End of October is really the very end of the main season.
Hope this helps. Have a great trip!
We’re booked for 7 nights at Grizzly RV park in mid July. This will be our first trip to Yellowstone! We’re traveling in an RV with a tow vehicle, so we’ll have transportation for traveling around. Any thoughts? I’ve been looking at itineraries and it almost seems like we should have tried to stay in a couple of different places. We’re heading to Lava Hot Springs after that and making our way to Salt Lake City. Thanks!
Hi Mindy, this RV park is located in West Yellowstone which is really one of the best locations to stay for Yellowstone if you can’t find a place inside the park. My best recommendations would be to focus on different area each day so that you can explore deeper and drive a bit less. But yes, it’s quite inevitable that you will have to cover big distances on some days, for example, if driving to Lamar Valley. So yes, with a week, ideally, you would split your stay between several different areas in the park, but if you can’t change your bookings anymore, just make the most of it. With good planning and early start (to avoid the long queues at the park entrance), you can see all the best places using West Yellowstone as your base location.
Have a great trip!
We are coming in from jackson wy, I have booked day one at old faithful, for a sunday night, then I have booked Canyon Lodge for 2 nights, Monday and Tuesday, Then Wednesday will be our last day. I m tyring to see what to see when, without so much back tracking. Wednesday night I had booked back in Salt lake city, but I can change that, if needed we dont fly out till Friday so do we need to stay somewhere else wednesday night? some have said we will be ready to leave the park after 3 days. but this is our first time. we had no plans thursday other than to tour salt lake city, but is it worth doing or staying more close to yellowsstone ? any advice on the days and what to go where with our accomdations already would be great !
Hi Danielle, it all depends on your interests and if you do e.g. any activities or hiking in Yellowstone. But no, this is really not too much time in the area.
Here are some suggestions, mostly the main points to give you an idea of what could be done:
Day 1: Stop at a few places in Grand Teton on the way to Yellowstone (see our Grand Teton guide for some ideas). Stop at West Thumb Geyser Basin, Continental Divide, and Kepler Cascades. Old Faithful area (see our guide to Upper Geyser Basin) Stay at the OF.
Day 2: Quick stops at Black Sand Basin, Biscuit Basin. Grand Prismatic Spring + hike to the overlook, maybe Firehole Lake Drive area, and Norris Geyser Basin. Yellowstone Canyon area. Canyon Lodge.
Day 3: Dunraven Pass, Mt Washburn (if you want to hike, start early), Lamar Valley, Mammoth Hot Springs. Boiling River if open for the season. Make a loop back to Canyon Lodge. Or do this in the other direction. Wildlife viewing in Lamar Valley is best early morning or before sunset, but keep in mind that you need to get there from/back to Canyon Lodge.
Day 4: Hayden Valley, Yellowstone Lake, potentially a few other places in Grand Teton or Jackson Hole area. Sleep in Jackson Hole.
Day 5: Drive to SLC.
You can find more details for many of the stops along the Yellowstone South Loop here. In our Best of Yellowstone guide, you can find more information about the main places throughout the park.
This is just one of the many possibilities, so adjust based on your interests.
Have a great trip!
What area would be best to stay in for your three day itinerary?
Hi Angela, this depends a bit on where you are coming from/traveling to before/after Yellowstone. Plus, on the availability of accommodations.
Canyon Lodge is probably the best-located accommodation for this itinerary, but the chances of finding a room there for this summer are very slim at the moment.
Otherwise, you could stay either in West Yellowstone or in Gardiner. Both are just outside the park and have more accommodation options. You can find more information about all these places and hotel suggestions in our guide on where to stay in Yellowstone. In that case, try to start your days very early in order to avoid traffic congestion at the park entrance. This is a good idea anyway as it allows you to explore some of the most popular sites without the biggest crowds. You may want to read this article for more tips for visiting Yellowstone.
Hope this helps. Have a great trip!
This was SOOOO helpful!. I was feeling so overwhelmed about how & where to start planning. Thank you
Glad to hear that, Barbara.
Have a great trip!
Hello, I used your itinerary for my trip last year, it was perfect. Update: North Entrance is now open as of November 1, 2022. YAY!!
Glad to hear that and thanks for the update.
Happy travels!
We are planning to be in Yellowstone in mid July 2023. We will be renting an rv and have secured camping for 5 day. We are looking at your 4 day itinerary. Would you suggest renting a vehicle while in Yellowstone or just travel day by day in the Rv?
Hi Sherri, I don’t think you can rent cars in Yellowstone. At the airports of Jackson Hole, Bozeman, etc. but not in the park. So I think you’ll have to travel in an RV.
@Sherri, could you share your rv rental information?
Thank you so much! We just used your 4 day itinerary and felt like we got to see the whole park! Unfortunately there are a few sites closed like Lamar Valley and Uncle Toms Train but we stopped at other places along the way to make up time. This was my family and I’s first time to Yellowstone and it was absolutely breathtaking. Loved every minute of it and got to see so much wildlife. Thanks again!
Glad to hear you had such a great time in Yellowstone, Alesa. Taking into account the situation just a month ago, I think they did a great job reopening most of the park already. It’s actually amazing that you could see and do almost everything mentioned in our itinerary (and more)!
Happy travels!
Wow, you are amazing for making these guides!! They’ve been a quick, concise, and extremely helpful guide to plan our trip! The effort you put into this is amazing and I will definitely look to you for more trip planning guides in the future! Thank you!
Glad you found this useful, Keisha. Have a wonderful time in Yellowstone!
Thank you for all your suggestions. It has been very helpful. I would love it if there was a printer friendly version of the itinerary (without photos/ads/to nicely print on a few pages). Thanks again!
Hi Maranda, unfortunately, we don’t have .pdf printables of all our articles (updating as much as possible on the site already takes so much time). You should be able to print the parts that interest you straight from your browser (Ctrl+p), but indeed, it will be with pictures and everything. You can also print/ save the maps.
Have a great time in Yellowstone!
Hello Jurga,
Thank you so much for posing these great itinerary options.
I am planning a trip to Yellowstone with your suggested 4 to 5 days itinerary on this site, which is really helpful to organize my trip.
I am thinking about starting at the West entrance.
My question is;
Do most people change the hotels to visit these places like 1 night here, 2 nights there?
Or is it better to stay at the same hotel and come back, and start the the 2nd day, 3rd day and 4th day from the same hotel with this 4 to 5 days itinerary?
Yellowstone is huge and I am just a little bit overwhelmed how to visit all these places effectively.
Thank you.
Hi Hiro, in the perfect world, yes, it would be nice to stay at a few different places and limit the driving. However, depending on when you travel and which accommodations are still available, the reality will likely force you to stay at one place outside the park and take day trips from there.
We ourselves booked our trip a year in advance and stayed at the Canyon Lodge for the biggest part of the trip, plus at the Old Faithful Inn just for the experience. But if you are looking at traveling this summer, it’s very unlikely you’ll find anything available inside the park, and even the best places nearby will likely be selling out quickly already.
In that case, it’s best to stay in West Yellowstone or Gardiner as these two locations are the best ones nearby for exploring all the best places in Yellowstone without having to spend more than half a day in the car.
Please see our guide on where to stay in and near Yellowstone and also the best hotels and cabins near Yellowstone.
Once you have your accommodation, see how you can best group the places you want to visit per day, so that you limit driving time. I think that our 4-5 days itineraries will work from both – Gardiner or West Yellowstone without having to adjust much.
Hope this helps.
We are staying at Headwaters campground which is located centrally between Teton NP & Yellowstone (south entrance). We can stay there the whole 9 days; OR spend 4 days at Headwaters for Teton, and then move on to West Yellowstone for 5 days. But by doing this, we lose a day of site seeing while we travel with our RV from one campground to the other. I don’t know which is the wisest way to go. I do understand by staying at the south entrance to Yellowstone, it really makes seeing Mammoth Springs & Lamar Valley almost impossible. But since there is so much to see & hike, I figure we can’t to it all anyway. Please advise.
PS: We are coming from Illinois, so to stay at Headwaters also saves us travel miles on our return home. Don’t know if I should consider this or not.
Hi Linda, it’s really difficult for me to give you advice as you already listed all the pros/cons yourself. 🙂 My initial thought is to split it between the two places, and also make the best of your ‘moving’ day so that it’s not lost. Why not visit some places along the way, or go to the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone, or so…
But I think you should first decide what it is that you absolutely want to see and do and then see how to best make it happen.
Yes, of course, you can fill a week or even two in one area and you’ll find plenty to do. But if this is your first trip and you’ll not be able to see some of the highlights, maybe you’ll regret it afterwards… Or maybe you can still see everything by staying in the same place, if you just plan things a bit differently or wake up earlier on a few days (starting early in the morning is always a good idea in Yellowstone/ Grand Teton, anyway).
As for your return home, it’s such a far and long trip anyway that I don’t think that half an hour drive more or less will make that much difference in the end…
Good luck!
Hi, I really find your blog helpful!! I am planning to stay 3 nights on the last week of September in the Canyon Lodge and I’m having a hard time understanding how the road closure between Canyon and Tower will affect my planning. I definitely want to hike the Canyon Trails and go to Lamar Valley. I am also staying 2 nights in the OFI. Any information and suggestion will be appreciated. Thank you, Tony
Hi Tony, the road closure makes it a bit more difficult to visit Lamar Valley from the Canyon area since you have to drive all the way around (via Mammoth), but it shouldn’t have much influence for you exploring the rest of the park.
For Lamar, if you absolutely want to do it, you could either start very early and drive there first thing in the morning before visiting the rest of the northern side of the park, or do all the other attractions along the way first, before going to Lamar Valley in the late afternoon before sunset – that’s when animals are most active. But if you then stay too long, you’ll probably have to drive back to your lodge in the dark, so be careful as there might be wildlife on the roads!
Have a great trip!
Do you have any recommendations for some longer hikes like you alluded to under your ‘Four Days in Yellowstone’ section? I wanted to get some more nature time in and less car time. Thank you so much for this- it’s been so helpful!
Hi, sorry for the late reply – we were traveling and I’m just catching up on all the comments. So I’m not sure if this question is still relevant or you already left Yellowstone.
There are many hiking possibilities, but so much depends on how much time you have and what you want to see. The way the itinerary is suggested, you’ll not have much time for longer hikes if you want to see everything. And many geyser basins already involve quite some walking to see all the highlights (Norris Geyser Basin, Upper Geyser Basin in particular). On the other hand, there are some shorter hikes that are perfectly doable and will make your trip more special. Here are a few suggestions:
At the Yellowstone Grand Canyon, you have lots of hiking trails and could spend a few hours or even a few days hiking there. So that’s a good place to look, depending on the interests/time you have. A popular trail is Point Sublime, a bit less than 3 miles if starting at Artist Point.
Another somewhat longer hike is Lone Star Geyser in the OF area. It’s about 5.5 miles in total and quite easy (many people even do part of the trail by bike), but ideally, you check the predicted eruption time and time your visit so that you can (hopefully) see the geyser in action.
Normally, Mount Washburn is a nice longer day hike, but this year, the road there is closed and so it’s not possible to get to it.
Hope this helps.
I am planning a June trip next year to Yellowstone. We had planned to fly into Jackson Hole, but the airport is going to be closed. It looks like my other options for flying on Delta are coming into West Yellowstone. Can you give me tips on how to manage this? We had planned on staying in Jackson Hole coming and going, and now I am a little confused how to make this work. Thanks!
Hi Teresa, flying into West Yellowstone will make it very easy to visit Yellowstone NP – it’s much closer than going from Jackson. As for how to make it work, it all depends on how much time you have and what you want to see/do. If you take a look at the map and our suggestions above, it will become clearer how to plan your time. You can still drive to Jackson and/or Grand Teton if that interests you. But if you are mostly interested in Yellowstone, you could just stay in West Yellowstone (or in the hotels inside the park if available – see our guide to Yellowstone lodging) and visit everything from one place.
There are so many ways to do this. Good luck!
How many miles of hiking total if we didthe full itinerary you outlined for 5 days?
Hi Zem, it’s really your choice how much (if any) you hike in Yellowstone. While there are lots of hiking possibilities, all the major landmarks don’t require much walking at all.
Our itinerary suggestions show you the options of what can be done and which areas to visit, but the rest is really up to you. If you read the article in detail, you’ll notice that we recommend a few hikes here or there, but you can do just a few of them. We also include a choice of several different hikes or activities for day 5, so also there, it all depends on what you decide to do.
PS If you want to do some hiking, but are not sure where to start, Yellowstone Canyon area is a nice place for that. You can hike along one or both rims, potentially go down the staircase of Uncle Tom’s Trail, and you can make your hiking adventure as long or as short as you feel like. There is also a highly-rated hiking tour in that area if you prefer to go with a local guide.
Good luck with the planning and have a great trip!
Modeled my itinerary after your incredible one in Google maps…but how do I get to print the detail I included in each stop (e.g., mileage to next stop, how long at each stop)? Google has instructions for printing the map but I couldn’t figure out how to print the list of stops & detail for each day. Concerned I won’t be able to access the file on the Internet while we’re inside the park and I entered tons of info before I realized I didn’t know how to print it! Thanks for any help you can offer.
Hi Faith, you are right about not having internet in Yellowstone, so it’s definitely a good idea to print out the info you may need.
That being said, when you are in Google Maps, you see three dots on the left side of the screen, to the right of the map name. There, you can choose to print, then choose print to pdf. At least for me, it shows all the stops and the map this way. I’m not sure if it shows all the additional details you have added, but I think it should. Give it a try. I really wouldn’t know any other way to print these maps with all the info.
Hope it works for you. Have a great trip!
@Jurga,
Thanks so much! Appreciate your prompt reply. Your instructions worked and I was able to get both the stops and the map to print. True, none of the detail but I don’t mind adding that info manually since the key points are already in the title of the stop.
You are a wonderful resource. Thanks again!
Faith
@Faith O, would you mind sharing some of your itinerary/accomodations/airports in and out with me? We’re planning on going the last week of September. Thanks in advance.
Franca
Thank you for all this valuable information. I enjoyed reading all about what to see in Yellowstone. My question is for the 4 day suggestion in Yellowstone, can one do this on their own or do we need to be guided? It seems like one would have enough time to have a map and figure it out. Thanks for your response.
David Zeimer (bay area)
Hi David, yes, you can do any of these itineraries on your own. Yellowstone is easy to visit on your own.
What makes it challenging is finding well-located accommodation, especially if you are planning a trip for this summer still… So a lot will depend on where you stay. For that, please take a look at our guide to the best places to stay in and near Yellowstone.
If you find all the planning overwhelming, there is a nice 4 days/ 3 nights tour that includes lodging already. This tour starts and ends in Snow King Resort in Jackson, WY. It visits Grand Teton as well.
Hope this helps. Whatever you decide, you really have to book asap if you are planning a trip this summer. I’m hearing from so many people that it’s very hard to find accommodation already.
Thanks for the suggested itinerary! My current plan is to fly into Bozeman and stay for 5 nights at the beginning of July. I was able to secure a hotel room for 3 of those nights in West Yellowstone (Yellowstone Park Hotel). There are other hotels in the same area that I can get for the remaining 2 nights. Would you recommend doing that or should I stay on a different side of Yellowstone to get a variety? My plan was to follow your 4 day itinerary pretty closely. I’d like to minimize the amount of driving time I do as I’ll be travelling with my kids.
Hi Nicole, if you want to visit the northern side of Yellowstone, then it might be nice to stay in Gardiner for the remaining two nights. From there, you can take a day to discover the north and drive all the way up to Lamar Valley. It’s also just next to Mammoth Hot Springs and Boiling River (not sure if it will be open for swimming beginning of July (or in 2021 at all), so check it when you’re there). If you want to limit driving, this would be a good place to stay.
PS You may also want to check our article on Yellowstone with kids as well. In West Yellowstone (if you have time), check out the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center as well.
Have a great trip!
I am looking at the 3 day itinerary as a possibility for my wife and I the first of June. We will be staying at the Old Faithful Snow Lodge on June 6th, so I assume that we will do Day 1 on that day. We will be coming back from Cody on the 9th heading for West Yellowstone. I guess we would do Day 3 of the 3 Day Itinerary on that day. I know that we will have to get up pretty early that day to get from Cody to the Park early also. On the 10th, we will do Day 2 of the Itinerary to the Mammoth Area. What does that sound like to you? Am I even close? Also, feel free to give suggestions for each of those days. Thanks.
Rick
Hi Rick, all this sounds quite logical to me based on what you described. If you need more suggestions on what to see/do at each of these places, please take a look at our other articles for more info. Here’s one that has some detail for all the musts: Best things to do in Yellowstone. It also links to many other guides about different areas all over the park.
Hope this helps. Have a nice trip!
Hi Jurga – thanks for your useful articles!
I’m looking for an itinerary to combine Jackson, Yellowstone and Glacier NP. Some that I’ve seen recommend stops in Bozeman, Helena, Great Falls etc – in your opinion should we just use these to break up the travel and instead maximise time in Yellowstone/Glacier, or do you think it’s worth spending a couple of days in these places?
Also how does Whitefish compare with Glacier NP? Is it worth adding that to the itinerary or sticking longer in Glacier?
Thanks!!
Hi Megan, I don’t think I can help you much as we haven’t been to most of these places ourselves. It’s really all a matter of how much time you have – if you have a few days extra, you could probably make a few extra stops between Yellowstone and Glacier, but most people just drive between the two and try to maximize their time in the parks. If you have time, I think it’s always worth it to visit a few lesser-known places along the way. Both – Yellowstone and Glacier – are very busy, so you might actually enjoy some quieter places for a change.
As for Whitefish, I always hear how great it is in winter, but no idea how it is in summer. It seems that Glacier NP is usually listed as the best thing to do near Whitefish in summer, so I guess it’s probably better to just spend more time in Glacier. But this again depends on how much time you have there to start with.
Good luck with the planning and sorry I can’t help you more.
I have NO clue what I’m doing! We will be coming from Sheridan WY, then from reading your directions: The best would be to stay in Gardiner the first night then the second night, we are staying in West Yellowstone. Doing two full days then driving back home to MN on day 3. Does this sound right?
Hi Meghan, if you are coming from Sheridan, WY, it seems that the best entrance for you is actually in the southeast, close to Yellowstone Lake. So staying in Gardiner isn’t ideal at all. It’s really hard to suggest something not knowing which accommodations are available for your travel dates and when exactly you’d be traveling. If you can drive from Sheridan towards Yellowstone in the evening before already, you could potentially stay in Cody or in Wapiti first. From there, you could move on to West Yellowstone visiting various places along the way that day. Then visit other places on the west side on the last day on the way to Gardiner, from where you can continue your trip north to wherever you are going in Montana.
On the other hand, if you leave Sheridan very early in the morning (so not the evening before), then it makes no sense to stay in Cody. In that case, you could also just drive to Yellowstone Lake, and potentially visit Hayden Valley and Yellowstone Canyon before driving to West Yellowstone for the night (see the map of this route – it would be quite a drive, but possible). Then next day, visit the Old Faithful area, Grand Prismatic, etc. and stay in West Yellowstone again or drive on to Gardiner.
Everything really depends on how much time exactly you have on which day and where you can still find accommodations. If you could somehow stay at Yellowstone Canyon or Yellowstone Lake, that would probably make things easier, but finding accommodation inside the park for this summer won’t be easier at this point anymore.
My best suggestion is to use Google Maps to see which route makes the most sense for you based on your exact schedule each day.
If I use your 4 day itinerary for Yellowstone, can we stay at the same hotel in West Yellowstone for the entire trip? Thank you for this wonderful information. Also, if we stay in West Yellowstone, is the Bozeman airport the best one to fly into?
Hi Carol, yes, you can pretty much follow our 4-day itinerary from West Yellowstone. Just on day 3, driving to Lamar Valley and back will be quite a trip, and also the Dunraven Pass and – up to now also Boiling River – are closed this year. But for the rest, it’s definitely doable. If you want to limit the driving, you can also skip Lamar Valley altogether and just focus on the places that are not as far. You could visit the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone instead.
For all the days – be sure to start as early in the morning as you can and head to the most popular place first – it will be very busy everywhere, so try to beat the crowds.
As for the airport, Bozeman is one of the best choices indeed. Alternatively, Billings, MT might have good connections as well, but it’s about 2 hours drive further.
Good luck with the planning and book asap if you are planning to travel this summer!
This is a great guide! I will definitely refer to it while planning my Yellowstone trip!
Glad to help and have a great trip to Yellowstone, Steffi! Just book everything asap if planning a trip this year – I hear from many readers that affordable accommodations are hard to get for this summer.
Hi Jurga. I’m so glad I found your invaluable sight! We are attending a wedding Sept 18, 2021 just south of Livingston Montana. Sept 19-Sept 28 we are planning on visiting Yellowstone, Grand Teton NP, Jackson Hole then North to Glacier Park which we will fly out from to home. Could you please advise our best itinerary?
Hi Linda, it’s hard for me to help you with more details as a lot will depend on the accommodations that you can still find. While September isn’t as busy as July-August, it is still the peak season for all these parks. So be sure to book asap!
Since you start in Livingston which is north of Yellowstone, you could try to visit the northern side of the park first and then move on south. You can then either stay in West Yellowstone for a few days or just go on down to Grand Teton and Jackson and then visit Yellowstone as you drive back up to Glacier. Once again – so much will depend on where you’ll be staying, and also a bit on what you want to see/ do the most.
In general, you could plan 1 – 3 days for Grand Teton and/or Jackson Hole, at least 3 full days in Yellowstone, 1 full day for driving to Glacier, and the rest of the time in Glacier NP.
For more suggestions and also accommodations between Grand Teton and Yellowstone, please see our Yellowstone Grand Teton itinerary. For Jackson, see this guide to the best things to do in Jackson Hole. For Glacier – see Glacier national park itinerary suggestions.
I think you should first try to decide what you absolutely want to see in each place – that will give you a better idea of how much time to spend where. Then see if you can find hotels to suit this plan and adjust as needed.
Good luck!
Lots of great information here… obviously you’re well versed in this area.. My wife and I are planning a trip this summer to Yellowstone, Grand Teton… and reading your site with great interest… We planned on 4 days..and you’re itinerary is setup to accommodate that.. or some version.. Our plan was to fly into Salt Lake City…rent a vehicle.. Any suggestions on how to adapt to your plans based on coming from the south.. We’re thinking to traveling and staying in Idaho Falls.. ONLY because the price of hotels in or near the park are way out of our budget. We’re from NY State…and you can stay in Manhattan near Central Park or 5th Ave for $300 a night.. were not prepared for those prices..
Hi Gawaine, Yellowstone has a very short season when people can visit, so almost everyone goes between May and September. In addition, accommodations inside the park are scarce and there are just a few towns nearby. High demand + low supply = high prices. There is really no way around it except booking your Yellowstone accommodation well in advance when you have more availability and better deals.
That being said, I really think that you should try to get a hotel closer to the park, even if just for one or two nights. See our Yellowstone accommodation guide for more information on the best places to stay near the park. Insert your travel dates in the maps that we provided, and you’ll be able to see what’s still available. Once again – try just a few nights instead of the whole stay – that might give you more options. You could stay in West Yellowstone for a night or two and also in Gardiner if you want to visit the northern side of Yellowstone.
If you look at the map, Idaho Falls is about 140 miles, 3 hours drive from Old Faithful, over 3h15 to the Canyon area, and almost 3 hours to Grand Teton. This is not even taking into account busy traffic or delays at the park entrance. So if you are planning on visiting Yellowstone as a day trip from Idaho Falls, you’ll have at least 6-7 hours of driving per day just to get there and back. That will just leave you frustrated and you won’t have much time to see/do much. It’s doable if you start very early, but I wouldn’t want to do that several days in a row… I mean, you can get up at 5 AM and go to bed at midnight one day, but if you do this on 3-4 consecutive days, that’s really no fun…
If you already fly all the way from the other side of the country, renting a car, and making this trip, try to make it worth all the trouble.
Having said all this, I really don’t know how I’d plan an itinerary if you do indeed stay in Idaho Falls. I think I’d just go to Yellowstone for one very long day following our one-day itinerary visiting all the main sights of the Lower Loop. Then the next day, I’ll just stay by the pool and maybe visit something closer to the hotel. The day after, I think, I’d head to Grand Teton (also VERY early). But I don’t think this is the trip you had in mind…
So really try to find an alternative accommodation somewhat closer. Or head to Jackson Hole – also not cheap, but there is more accommodation choice, so prices should be somewhat more affordable. From there, you can take a day tour to Yellowstone (still long but not too bad), a day tour to Grand Teton (much closer already), maybe go rafting one day, etc. – this would at least feel somewhat like a vacation.
Good luck!
Jurga, thanks for the honest input.. I talked to the Tourist Center in Idaho Falls and they seemed to suggest they were the “entrance”.. to Yellowstone and I was suspect after checking Google Maps… Now noting your comments.. I’ll focus more on Jackson Hole area… or rethink doing Yellowstone until we can visit during more offseason dates and rates..
Many places like to market themselves taking advantage of the famous destinations nearby, so this is not unusual. :))) A place where you have to drive 3-4 hours one way every day is really not ideal as a ‘base’ for visiting Yellowstone.
At least in Jackson Hole, there are lots of activities nearby and Grand Teton is much closer. But for Yellowstone, it’s also only ok if you visit for one very long day and focus on the southern part of the park. I wouldn’t want to drive to Yellowstone from Jackson and back every day either… But with a day trip to Yellowstone, a day or two in Grand Teton, some rafting, and a big range of other activities, you could have a really nice vacation by staying in Jackson Hole.
If you go, let us know how it turns out!
Hi, thank you for the wonderful information. If we only do half it would be great.
Finally going may 19-26 2021. Avoiding crows after memorial weekend! Any updates would be appreciated. Concer about what is not open including roads.
Thank you.
Hi Al, I might be wrong, but Memorial Day is on May 31 this year. So you’ll be there just before the weekend, which – hopefully – means that it won’t be too crowded yet.
As for what’s open or not, by mid-May, most roads and facilities should be open, but a lot depends on the weather. The road between Canyon and Tower will remain closed this year, but for the rest, there shouldn’t be major closures. However, since you are traveling very early in the season, some roads will be just opening up at that time.
Here you can see all the dates when each road is expected to reopen.
Here you can check what’s open or closed at the moment and check this website a few days before your trip again. I don’t see any major closures foreseen for the season, except the swimming areas that are closed due to covid and will likely not reopen soon.
Here you can see which facilities (shops, campings, etc.) are open with expected opening dates for the season.
Hope this helps. Have a great trip!
Im planning an itinerary for my sister and her family who are visiting yellowstone in June, they will be staying in Island Park. I’m looking at your 4-5 day itinerary, can you tell me which day is represented by each color. I’m confused lol
Also, about how much time should they be expecting to spend in the park each day according to your itinerary?
Hi Karly, I understand that it can be a bit confusing. To make it easier for everyone, I now edited the article and explained which color belongs to which day for each of the itineraries above. You can see the explanation above each map. Hope you can figure it out. 🙂
As for how much time to plan each day, it’s really hard to say. A lot depends on how busy it is (start with the most popular places first thing in the morning or leave them for late in the day – so before 10 AM or after 4 PM. Ideally, you start at 8 AM). Also, do you hike or do you just stop for a quick photo stop. Do you plan to have lunch at a restaurant or pack a picnic. Are there bison traffic jams or other wildlife sightings that might delay your trip. Etc etc. All these factors, as well as the driving time from your accommodation, will determine how much time you need. It’s really hard for me to say this.
We did quite exploring at all these places, we hiked a bit, went swimming, and stopped at the lesser-visited areas quite often too, so we usually filled an entire day from around 8.30-9 AM to 6-8 PM. But you can definitely spend less time each day if you only visit ‘the musts’.
Good luck with the planning!
We are planning to visit the park for a week from June 20, 2021. I am not sure if would be ideal to rent a smaller type of RV for 2 people and travel the entire park than camp in different spots or rent a car and spend two nights in several different locations with accommodations such as hotels/motels.
your input would be greatly appreciated!!!
Thanks in advance.
Hi Alec, I don’t really know what to say – I guess this highly depends on your travel style and what you prefer. It might be easier to get around in a car and parking should be easier too, but it will be busy either way.
Also, no matter what you decide, you should reserve either campsites (if still available) or accommodations asap. You can’t really count on finding a campsite inside Yellowstone upon arrival in high season. There are several camping areas that operate on a first-come-first-served basis, but from what we saw when we visited, all the campings were full every single day and there was no way to find anything available. So you can’t just show up there without prebooking and expecting to stay at a different campground every evening… And if there’s already no availability at the campsites that you can prebook, this could answer your question in itself – finding accommodations in West Yellowstone or Gardiner should probably be easier than finding campings for June inside the park at this point…
Good luck!
Hi! I was looking at your 4 day itinerary. Do you stay in one place the whole time when following this itinerary? We will be coming from Denver and are going to go to Grand Teton for 2 nights then we will head to Yellowstone for 5 nights. Do you recommend that we try to stay inside the parks or are gateway towns good too? What is the best town to stay in when visiting Grand Teton? Also, I read that West Yellowstone is a good place to stay. Could we stay there the whole time we are visiting Yellowstone or should we move around? We have two boys and I know we will be driving a ton but I would like to stay in a good location so that we are not spending ALL of our time driving back and forth. We have never been to the area and there is so much information.. My main questions are about lodging. We are planning a trip for June 2022 so I am trying to get an early start.
Hi Tacy, we have a very comprehensive article about where to stay here: where to stay in and near Yellowstone. There, you can read about our experience, where we stayed, and what we recommend.
In short, we stayed in Canyon Lodge for 3 nights and at the Old Faithful Inn for one night and it worked well, but the OF Inn was really not worth all the fuss, we found. If you can stay inside the park, it’s always great as it will save you some driving. But the park is huge, so no matter where you stay, you’ll be driving a lot. In addition, the lodges inside the park cost A LOT more than those outside, some are quite dated, and they don’t have any facilities like tv, wifi, or pools, which might be great for families with kids.
So for better facilities, more restaurants, and cheaper prices, you are better off in West Yellowstone (which is indeed quite centrally located) or potentially Gardiner for the northern side. But to have less driving, it’s definitely nice if you can stay centrally inside the park. One of the best locations for that is the Canyon area, which is quite central to everything. However, this year, there are road closures to the north of Canyon which make it much less attractive as a place to stay. I’m not sure if that road will be open in June 2022 yet, and if it’s not, then Canyon Lodge would not be that much better than Lake Lodge or the lodges at the Old Faithful area…
But you are still nicely on time for 2022, so if you want to stay inside the park, be sure to reserve your accommodation as soon as they open the bookings (should be in May this year for summer 2022).
I think I’d recommend two locations anyway – maybe Canyon for a few days and then West Yellowstone or Old Faithful or Gardiner if you want to spend more time exploring the north. Or West Yellowstone and Gardiner if you decide to stay outside the park.
As for Grand Teton, there are some lodges inside the park as well – book those as soon as reservations open. Alternatively, Jackson is a good place to stay, also cheaper and has more restaurants and activities. But if you want to be in nature and avoid lots of driving, staying inside the park will surely save you a lot of driving. You can find more information on where to stay in Grand Teton in our Yellowstone – Grand Teton itinerary, look under day 1.
Hope this helps a bit. It’s really your choice as there are advantages and disadvantages of staying in or near the park.
Hi Jurga, thank you for all of your helpful information on visiting Yellowstone!
We are flying into Spokane on 7/30 to attend a friends wedding in Clark Fork ID on 7/31. Our plan is leave Idaho on 8/2 and drive thru Yellowstone to get to my brother’s home in Rapid City on approximately 8/6 and fly out from there. In your opinion is that doable? We realize Yellowstone is so big that we unfortunately won’t have time to see it all. I read your comments on how lodging is booked a year in advance. Will that & places to eat be an issue if we are just “winging it”? I also thought about renting a smaller RV instead of an SUV just in case we can’t find anywhere to stay. Just trying to research and learn as much as I can, make reservations, etc before we get there and be prepared to make sure that all will work out. I just ordered the visitor guides for Idaho & Wyoming. Your thoughts and any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Hi Lynn, I just looked at the map and all these places are really far from each other. You’d have a full day drive from Clark Fork, ID just to reach Yellowstone – it’s about 7-8 hrs without any stops. After that, you’d have a similar drive to Rapid City (8-9hrs). So that means that you would have two very long days of driving in order to spend 3 days in Yellowstone. It’s doable, the question is if it’s worth it for you…
And, indeed, you would have to look at which accommodations are still available for those dates. I think you should be able to find something in Gardiner or West Yellowstone still, but I definitely wouldn’t wait until you get there. The same with RV – if you don’t book your camping in advance, the chances are very low that you’ll just find something upon arrival. I think that all the campings inside the park that allow advance bookings are long booked-up as well. And those that are first-come-first-served, will be extremely hard to get in August. I wouldn’t count on it.
The restaurants inside Yellowstone will be busy, but that wasn’t really a problem when we visited (we usually only ate dinner and had to wait a bit, but it wasn’t bad). It’s actually better to pack a picnic for lunch so that you don’t have to waste your time during the day.
Anyway, if you decide to go to Yellowstone, with three days, you can still see the main highlights. You could drive to West Yellowstone and stay there for 3 nights (see accommodation availability here). Visit the Old Faithful/Grand Prismatic/ maybe Norris Geyser on day 1. Then visit Yellowstone Canyon, Hayden Valley, and Yellowstone Lake on day 2. Then on day3, visit Mammoth Hot Springs and the northern side of the park, drive through Lamar Valley, and maybe stay in Cooke City before continuing to Rapid City. Cooke City has very limited accommodations (see here), so you could also drive to Cody (it has a bit more accommodation – see here), but that means an extra long drive that day (but less driving the day after when you go to Rapid City).
If you don’t mind changing hotels every day, then you could also turn things around a bit, so this is just one of the ways to do it. You could also visit the Northern side of Yellowstone on day 2 and then leave the Canyon, Hayden Valley, and the rest for day 3, and drive to Cody from Yellowstone Lake. That would save you some driving afterwards.
Either way, whatever you decide, be sure to make your travel arrangements asap. National Parks will be very busy this summer. And if you go, be sure to start your days very early (6-8 AM) and visit the most popular places first thing in the morning.
Good luck with the planning!
@Jurga, thank you so much! I am not feeling as overwhelmed now with your experienced insight, accommodation links & very helpful information.
I am looking at your 4 day itinerary, I am wondering if all of these places are close in area. Should we look at staying at one place the whole time, or do we find a different place to stay each night? We would enter YNP by Jackson.
Hi Terri, if you are traveling soon, then it’s not really a matter of choice as most accommodations inside the park are usually fully booked a year in advance. So if you are visiting Yellowstone this summer, you’ll likely have to just take what’s still available.
If you are looking for one somewhat centrally located place to stay near Yellowstone, West Yellowstone is the best option just outside the park. Otherwise, Gardiner is good for the northern side of the park.
Please also take a look at our Yellowstone accommodation guide for more explanation on where to stay.
Have a nice trip!
Hi,
Thanks for putting all this information in one spot! We are going in August for three nights four days. Our plan is to fly into Bozeman and spend a night there, and then come in through the north entrance. We are staying at the Yellowstone Lake Hotel the whole time. Do you think the road closures will be an issue? If we can find a an available room somewhere else would it make sense to stay in more than 1 location? Our plan is to drive out and end up in Jackson Hole.
Thank you!
Hi Maggie, this sounds good except that the road closure between Tower/Roosevelt and the Canyon area will make it a bit tougher for you to visit the northern side of the park. So if you absolutely want to go to Lamar Valley, you could potentially add a night extra and visit it on the first day and also visit Mammoth Hot Springs and – if open – Boiling River on that same day. Stay in Gardiner or in Mammoth Hot Springs hotel (if available) for a night.
After that, make your way to your hotel at Yellowstone Lake, visiting Norris Geyser Basin and maybe the Grand Prismatic Spring and the Old Faithful on that day. You can then have a more relaxing day visiting Yellowstone Canyon, Hayden Valley, and Yellowstone Lake on the next day.
So – if you can add an extra day – maybe do the following:
Day 1: Arrival and stay in Bozeman
Day 2: North Yellowstone and stay in Gardiner
Day 3: West Yellowstone and stay at Yellowstone Lake
Day 4: Yellowstone Canyon, Hayden Valley, Yellowstone Lake, West Thumb Geyser Basin – stay at Yellowstone Lake
Day 5: Move on to Grand Teton NP/Jackson Hole. You can then visit some of the nicest place Grand Teton in a day on your way to Jackson Hole.
Otherwise, if you only have 4 days, I think you’ll have to skip Lamar Valley (day 2), and potentially very quickly visit Mammoth Hot Springs before driving more south and you might have to skip Norris Geyser Basin if you’re running short on time and rather go to Grand Prismatic Spring and Old Faithful before driving to Yellowstone Lake.
Good luck with the planning!
Hi, we are planning a trip to Yellowstone this July and we were thinking about flying into Bozeman and out of Jackson Hole (arriving Friday and leaving the following Friday). I am trying to utilize the 5 day itinerary you posted but rearranging the order as follows:
Itinerary Day 3 would be our Day 1 (stay in Gardiner)
Itinerary Day 2 would be our Day 2 (stay 2 nights in West Yellowstone)
Itinerary Day 1 would be our Day 3
Itinerary Day 4 would also be our Day 4 (stay 1 night in Yellowstone)
We would then plan to drive to Jackson Hole to spend remaining time and visit Grand Teton from there.
Does this order make sense, would you suggest any changes? We are too late to book Old Faithful Inn. Is it best to stay in West Yellowstone for days 2-4 or would you suggest at least the one night in Yellowstone. If yes, what is best alternative lodging for that location?
Thank you in advance..
Hi KC, your plan sounds good.
On your day 1, you can indeed visit the Northern side of Yellowstone, except Dunraven Pass (it’s going to be closed this summer). I’m also not sure if Boiling River will be open, so check that a few days before your trip. Staying in Gardiner is perfect for that side of the park.
The rest should be just fine. And if you can indeed get accommodations in West Yellowstone, it should be ok for the rest of the trip. Your chances of finding anything anywhere inside the park for July are very slim at this moment. Old Faithful Snow Lodge is a good alternative for the Old Faithful Inn, but I really don’t think that you’ll find anything for this July (or you’d have to be extremely lucky).
After day 4, you could also opt to drive to Jackson Hole already and on the next day visit Grand Teton from there. Or you stay in West Yellowstone, get up very early on your last day, then spend a day in Grand Teton before driving to Jackson Hole in the evening. Please also check our Yellowstone-Grand Teton itinerary. Under 2-day itinerary, after day 1, you can find some accommodation suggestions for that area. But there are very few accommodations in Grand Teton (and they are likely booked-up by now as well), so going to Jackson would probably be the best option after you leave Yellowstone.
Hope this helps. Be sure to book your accommodations asap. Your entire itinerary will highly depend on the lodgings you can still find for your travel dates.
Enjoy your trip!
Hi there! Your site has very good informations. This is my first time to visit Yellowstone, plans for early May, for 5 days. I would like to include Mt Rushmore and the Grand tetons in our itinerary. We will be driving in from Salt Lake City. Suggestions on how to get these trip running, I’m actually very overwhelmed with all the nice places to see and would hate it if we missed the places that are popular.
We are in our mid-60’s. If you can please suggest how we can get started. Or tours we can join when we get there. Thank you very much.
Hi Revelyn, it’s really hard to help not knowing where you start and end your trip and how much time you have in total. If it’s just 5 days total, then I’d just drive straight to Grand Teton/ Jackson area from Salt Lake City, spend a day in Grand Teton, and the rest of the time in Yellowstone before heading back to Salt Lake City (if that’s where you end your trip). With just 5 days, I wouldn’t drive to Mt Rushmore – it’s much too far away.
If you find planning a trip to Yellowstone overwhelming, take a look at this 4-day tour that covers all the ‘musts’ in Yellowstone and Grand Teton. This tour will pick you up from Jackson Hole and also ends there, so I suppose you could leave your car there somewhere if you decide to do that…
If you have more time, you could first spend a day or two in Jackson Hole, maybe take a day tour to Grand Teton if you like that, then go to Yellowstone for 3-4 days, and then drive to Mount Rushmore. The trip from the northern side of Yellowstone and Mt Rushmore is over 500 miles and takes at least 8-9 hours, so you’d need to plan an entire day of driving without any stops (see map). Here you can find our guide to Mt Rushmore and things to do nearby. Also there, the possibilities are endless as there are so many nice places to visit in that area (Mt Rushmore, Custer State Park, Badlands National Park, etc.)
Hope this helps you a bit, but it’s really hard to give you more details based on the info you provided.
Enjoy your trip!
Hi! We have a wedding in Red Lodge, MT at the end of June and thought we would do Yellowstone before then. We live in North Dakota so do you have any recommendations on where we should start at in Yellowstone so we end up on the side of the park that is closest to Red Lodge, MT at the end of our time in Yellowstone? We would like to spend 3-4 days in Yellowstone. Thanks so much!
Hi Gina, looking at the map, it looks like the shortest way from North Dakota to Yellowstone passes Red Lodge. So you could just start and end your trip by entering/ exiting the park the same way. Alternatively, you could first drive down to Cody and start there, visiting all the places along the Lower Loop first, before moving up to the north and exiting the park via Lamar Valley.
Your exact itinerary will highly depend on where you stay. Accommodation options are limited and everything inside the park is usually sold out long in advance for the high season. So depending on where you stay, you’d have to adjust your itinerary.
You could try to stay in Cody before entering the park (or between Cody and Yellowstone). Then visit Yellowstone Lake area, Hayden Valley, and Yellowstone Canyon before moving on to West Yellowstone. Stay there for 2 nights. On your one free day, you could visit the Old Faithful area, Grand Prismatic, and potentially a few smaller places in that area. Then move on to the north visiting Norris Geyser Basin, Mammoth Hot Springs, and a few other places on that side. Boiling River will likely be closed. You could then stay in Gardiner for 1 night. On the last day, drive to Tower and through Lamar Valley before exiting Yellowstone on the east.
One thing to keep in mind if traveling this summer – the road between Canyon and Tower will be closed, so you’ll have to drive via Mammoth Hot Springs.
Here you can find our recommendations on where to stay in and near Yellowstone.
Have a great trip!
Hi! I am planning a trip to Yellowstone for this summer (possibly June). We will have 5 days and will be coming in from Cody and would like to exit on the last day at the northeastern entrance through Cooke city. We also want to spend one of those days at Grand Teton. My question is what would be the best route to do this and have enough time to see everything and also where would you recommend staying each night. We are looking to stay somewhere outside of the park and realize we may need to stay in different places during the trip. I’m just trying to figure out how much we could actually cover each day and what parts of the park will take more time.
Hi Miranda, you’ll really have to figure it all based on which accommodations are still available. There’s not that much lodging in the southern part of Yellowstone and Grand Teton, so if I were you, I’d check what you can get for your travel dates and then plan based on that. You could probably start in Cody, visit the Yellowstone Lake area, West Thumb Geyser Basin, and head to Grand Teton. Stay there for maybe 2 nights, and visit Grand Teton for a day (the linked article has suggestions for some places to stay – the best would be the area around Moran). If you only stay one night here, you could try to see some places on the day when you arrive and some others in the morning. Depending on your interests and whether you are planning to do any hiking, you could make it work with just 1 night as well.
After Grand Teton, head back to Yellowstone and visit Hayden Valley and the Canyon area. You could sleep in West Yellowstone after that for 2 nights. If you still have the energy, you could visit Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone. Next day, visit the Old Faithful area, Grand Prismatic, maybe Norris Geyser Basin, and a few smaller places nearby. Sleep in West Yellowstone again.
On the last day, visit Mammoth Hot Springs, the Tower area, and drive through Lamar Valley on your way out to Cooke City.
Of course, you’ll have to adjust this to fit your accommodations and the rest of the trip, but this is more or less how I’d do it. Just be sure to book your accommodations ASAP.
Have a great trip!
Hello –
This site has been very helpful. Just a few questions as we are planning our 4 days in Yellowstone.
1. Eating.
We are thinking about bringing some groceries with us to our hotel so we can make picnics. Not sure if keeping food in the hotels will be easy though.
– What is the eating situation – are there restaurants there? Are they expensive? We also have a Celiac in our family.
– Can you bring in your own picnic food?
– If you stay at a hotel IN Yellowstone, do you have to eat IN Yellowstone or can you leave the park at night and come back?
Lodging:
– If we cannot stay inside the park, do you feel staying outside the park near the same gate is Okay or will it limit us too much?
Restrooms:
– Are there restrooms around the park – easy to find?
thank you!
Hi DJ, I suggest you do a bit more research. First, Yellowstone is huge. Depending on where you stay inside the park, the nearest restaurant outside the park can be a few hours drive away…
For the rest, yes, there are plenty of restaurants and also stores/delis in Yellowstone. And you can also bring your own food when you arrive. You should only be careful with what you pack/eat if you go hiking in ‘bear territory’. You can find more information about restaurants and eating in our Yellowstone travel guide – see section “where to eat”.
Lodging – I think you’ll have to take what you can find at this point. Yellowstone lodging inside the park usually books-up a year in advance, especially for the summer months. The best alternative is staying in West Yellowstone (great facilities and close enough to most areas of Yellowstone) or in Gardiner (good location for the northern side of the park). Please see our complete guide with where to stay in and near Yellowstone for more detailed information.
Restrooms – yes, there are plenty of restrooms at all major points of interest and also at some picnic areas. We never had an issue finding a restroom in Yellowstone.
Hope this helps.
PS If you are feeling overwhelmed with all the planning, take a look at the organized Yellowstone tours. There are many great options, from 1 to 4 days, and multi-day tours take care of all accommodations, etc.
Hi! I love your tips! It is great information. I live in Florida and have never been to Yellowstone. It is overwhelming to plan a trip. I was thinking that my family and I could fly into Bozeman and stay n that area for the first night, then drive to Jackson Hole and start working our way back up. That way, we would be back near Bozeman at the end of the week to fly back out from there. I just wanted to get your thoughts.
Hi Karen, this could work, but would be a long drive on the first day. Just a suggestion – maybe see if you can fly into Bozeman and out of Jackson or vice versa. That would save you some driving, but I don’t know what the flight availability is that suits you and you’d also have to pay one-way fees for a car rental. Still, we often do this on our trips as it’s usually cheaper and more relaxing. And you also have more time for sightseeing and spend less time in the car.
If you still decide to do it this way, you could definitely make it work if you plan well. The first day would be a long drive (at least 4-5 hrs without stops). Then stay in the same hotel for 2-3 nights, so that you can take it easier and don’t need to pack/unpack every day. You could even visit Grand Teton from Jackson if you don’t want to change accommodations too often (there’s also much more availability of places to stay in Jackson than in Grand Teton). Then move on to Yellowstone for 3-4 days, before going back to Bozeman.
We now have a new guide with things to do in Jackson, so check it out for some ideas as well!
Good luck!
Hi! This post has been the most helpful I’ve found so far – thank you! I’m so overwhelmed at all of the decisions for planning this trip and have a couple questions. We’re road tripping in an RV from Minneapolis and I would like to drive the scenic road (296?) from Cody to Cooke City and then start your itinerary from there, but maybe in a different order. We’re thinking 4 days, 3 nights – so day 1 would be Cody to Cooke City to either Gardiner or West Yellowstone (with your landmarks on that northern path – which overnight locale would you recommend?). And then onto the rest of the 4 day itinerary with the other 2 overnights in West Yellowstone, likely with the lake stops on day 4 as we head back out to Cody and back home, although I suppose another option would be up north and then to Billings and home via North Dakota. This will be mid-June… Also would love your thoughts on the RV situation – I feel like it’s 50/50 – 50% are passionate that RVs are the worst in yellowstone and the other 50% say it’s totally fine. So mostly I need to decide on the over night situation (Gardiner/W Yellowstone or just W Yellowstone) and the car situation. Thank you for any advice you can offer
Hi Laurie, I can’t comment on visiting Yellowstone in an RV as we have no personal experience. The parking situation can be problematic and also campings are best booked in advance. Driving itself shouldn’t be an issue. We saw quite a few RVs during our trip.
As for where to stay with an RV, you should check which campsites are open (most should be open by mid-June) and which ones allow advance bookings. You can find all this information on the official website.
Since none of the campings in the northern side of Yellowstone seem to be taking advance reservations, your best bet would be to stay in Madison during the entire trip or split your stay between Madison and Canyon areas if that seems better. I’m not sure if I’d risk going to campgrounds that operate on the first-come first-served basis, as mid-June is already high season and it would be quite stressful I think.
If you decide to drive by car, you have more accommodation options. You could then explore the northern side of Yellowstone on day 1, stay in Gardiner for a night. Then drive down to the OF area exploring the sights along the way. Stay there or in West Yellowstone which is a good location for most of the park. And then on the last day indeed visit the Yellowstone Lake are and drive on to Cody.
For accommodation suggestions for all these areas, please check our guide on where to stay in and near Yellowstone.
Hope this helps a bit. Only you can decide what type of travel suits you best.
Good luck with the planning and have a wonderful trip!
Jurga, thank you for this site! It has been so helpful! We are going in July. Are these itineraries available in a pdf version to print and take with us? Thank you!
Hi Tiffany, glad you found this helpful.
We don’t have pdfs available, but you can save/print to pdf straight from your browser.
Try these instructions: Open a page in Chrome, press Ctrl+P to open the Print dialog. Change the destination printer to “Save as PDF” and hit the “Print” button to download as a PDF.document.
I’m not sure how it will look like format-wise, but you can see if this works for you.
You can also save our maps in this itinerary to your Google Maps account. Simply click on the little star next to the title of the map.
Hope this helps.
Have a great time in Yellowstone!
We are planning to visit YNP in May of 2021. I called and got reservations at Mammoth for our first night and the next 3 nights at OF Snow Lodge. Which itinerary should I follow, and do you think this is a good plan as far as location? The reservation clerk recommended this. We will go from there to see the Tetons for a day and will be flying into Jackson Hole is our plan at this point.
Thanks so much.
Hi Teresa, if you are flying to Jackson Hole, then you could see Grand Tetons from there or on your way between Yellowstone and Jackson Hole, instead of going there for a day from Yellowstone. That would save you some driving.
If I were you, I’d try to stay in Grand Teton for 1 night on the way back from Yellowstone. There are several lodging options in Grand Teton NP. Hotels near Moran have the best location in between – perfect for all the highlights in Grand Teton.
It’s also strange that you start in Mammoth if coming from the south, but it’s definitely doable. The Old Faithful area is quite central and is good for exploring most of Yellowstone, so that’s a good choice for the other nights.
As for the itinerary, we have so many details in our articles – so please check this and other guides on our blog for suggestions. My best tip is to simply take a map, indicate everything what you want to see, and you’ll quickly figure out how to best plan it all.
Just one thing to keep in mind is that not all the roads are open in May (this depends on your travel dates and the weather). Also, the road between Canyon and Tower will be closed the whole year, so that is important to consider when planning where to go when. See the official site for up-to-date information on what’s open when.
Good luck with the planning!
Your tips are fabulous! This summer we will be entering the park via Cody. We were able to get a reservation for the first night at OF, the next night at mammoth, then the third night at Canyon. We will be exiting south into the Tetons. Is this too much? My thinking is it would be a less driving if we stayed at the different points along the way? Thank you for your tips!
Hi Jamie, normally, this would be a very good plan. Not so sure about this summer because the road between Tower and Canyon is closed for construction and will be closed until 2022. So driving from Mammoth to Canyon will have to be via the same way as when you go there from the OF area. It also depends on what you are planning to see on which day.
If you can still change it, it might be better to do it a bit differently. You can either drive from Cody to the Mammoth area on the first day, followed by the OF area, and then Canyon. Or you can start in Canyon, then Mammoth, and then end in the OF area before heading to Grand Teton. Either way, it will be a lot of driving, but you’ll be able to see a lot. The first option – Cody – Mammoth Hot Springs – OF area – Canyon is probably best as you can see most parts of the park this way.
See this map – in the summer, the drive from Cody to Mammoth Hot Springs via Lamar Valley would take about 3 hours, stops not included. So you could explore the northern side of the park on that day already.
Then next day drive from Mammoth to the OF area, stopping at the main sights along the way.
Then from there, you go to Canyon, followed by the Grand Teton. Or you can simply stay in the OF/ West Yellowstone area and visit Canyon from there for a day.
Good luck with the planning!
This is great information, Thank you! It’s a bucket list thing for me. We are thinking either the motorhome with our motorcycles in a trailer…would put us at 40′. Could just tow a truck, would be about the same. The motorhome is 32′.
Want to give the kids, grandkids & us an eye candy adventure ?
I may have missed what time of year you took the 3 day adventure?
Hi Shaun, we were in Yellowstone in the summer (July-August). You can read more about how it is to visit in summer and useful tips here – Yellowstone in summer.
Also, make sure to reserve your campgrounds in advance and 3 days is about the minimum time to truly enjoy it. We had almost 5 days in Yellowstone and it was a good amount of time to explore all the highlights at a leisurely pace and do some short hikes. Plus, also visit Grand Teton if you are there anyway!
I love your tips and I also love that you respond to people’s comments and give suggestions. We will be entering from the Cody Entrance. We have 1 night reservation at OF and then 2 nights at Canyon and will be exiting to the south . Since we will be coming from Cody, should we explore the OF area that first day before checking in and then maybe the mammoth area after checking out of OF. We will be checking into Canyon that 2nd night. Trying to make it all flow since we will be exiting south. Thank you!
Hi Jamie, if you are coming from Cody, then you could indeed start with the OF area and then check-in at your hotel. Then, you could potentially also visit Grand Prismatic Spring and maybe even Norris Geyser Basin on that same day. If you can get all this done, that will already be a lot. It also depends on how deep you actually explore every place. Otherwise, just do the OF and Grand Prismatic.
I think I’d leave the Mammoth area for the next day, followed by Lamar Valley and other sights in the north, arriving at the Canyon area towards the evening.
However, this might not work at the moment as the road between Canyon and Tower will be closed this summer. So you have to see if you find Lamar Valley worth the long drive because you’ll have to drive back via Mammoth and Norris Geyser Basin to Canyon after that… Which is a long detour, but doable. In that case, maybe start with the Lamar Valley first and visit Mammoth after that.
Day after that, get to the Canyon as early as you can to avoid the crowds. Afterwards, you can do some hiking in the area if that’s your thing. Depending on what your plans are, you could then cover some other places nearby on that same day – Hayden Valley is a good option. Leave the Yellowstone Lake and the West Thumb Geyser Basin for when you leave as it’s on your way out anyway.
This is just a suggestion and a lot will depend on how much time you spend at every place.
Have a nice trip!
We would be coming from Texas in May 2021, so we would enter the south entrance. I plan on following your 4 day itinerary; where do you sleep on each night? Is there lodging nearby for each night?
Hi Monica, you can find all the information in our guide to the best places to stay in and near Yellowstone. You also have to see what’s open on your travel dates as some places inside the park are just starting to open up in May.
Ideally, you stay somewhat centrally (Yellowstone Canyon, OF area, or outside the park – West Yellowstone) and travel around from there, but if you prefer, you can also stay at a different hotel every night and make a road trip, but that means more hassle with the bookings and hotel reservations.
Hope this helps.
Hello!
This has been Helpful! I have some questions. We live in Utah and I have heard that it is best to drive a little bit and stay and then drive a little bit more and stay. We probably have about 4-5 days and thinking we might go over Memorial Day. I know we for sure want to go to Jackson Hole, but how would you suggest we do it? I don’t even know where to start planning it.
Hi Jenn, we also drove to Jackson Hole from Utah. We were in Moab, UT and made a stop half-way in Vernal to break the drive. You can find more details in this itinerary, starting from day 8.
From Jackson Hole, you can drive to Yellowstone and continue your trip, staying in or near Yellowstone for a few days.
Alternatively, you can book a day tour to Yellowstone and a day tour to Grand Teton if you find all the planning overwhelming. There is also a very nice 4 days/3 nights tour from Jackson that covers the main places of Yellowstone and Grand Teton. It’s a good option if you want to see all the best places without having to plan much yourself.
Hope this helps.
Hi Jurga,
We are a family of 5 adults and planning to finalize our stay/visit and itinerary for West Yellowstone so that we can visit most of the places. I like your 4-day plan and think we can see the most. Our plan is to reach there Thursday evening and leave Tuesday morning sometime around May 13-17 2021 which could be 5 nights and 4 days. My question is how do we plan our stay so we do not waste a lot of time driving in the hills and forests. Do not want to waste time in traffic jams. I am thinking to divide our 5 night stay into 3 nights in one place and move out to another place for the remaining 2 nights. In this way we do not waste time in travelling and maximize sightseeing. Please let me know what would be the two places to stay you could recommend me. May be 3 nights at Canyon Village and 2 nights at Mammoth/Gardiner? Would appreciate your response very much!
Salil Mishra
Hi Salil, a few things. It’s hard for me to advise on accommodation not knowing where you’re coming from and going after visiting Yellowstone. In general, the Canyon area is one of the most centrally-located places to stay in the park, so if you can get accommodation there, it’s always a good choice. As for Mammoth, it might be ok if that’s the direction where you have to drive afterward. Otherwise, try the Old Faithful area or West Yellowstone. See also our guide on where to stay in Yellowstone for more details and hotel suggestions.
All this being said, you might need to do a bit more planning and also keep some flexibility because of your travel dates. Some roads aren’t open that time of the year yet or are just about to reopen (weather permitting).
Here’s what the road opening schedule looks like in Yellowstone for 2021 (source):
Conditions permitting roads will open at 8 am on the following dates:
April 16: West Entrance to Madison Junction, Mammoth Hot Springs to Old Faithful, Norris to Canyon Village.
May 7: East Entrance to Lake Village (Sylvan Pass), Canyon Village to Lake Village.
May 7: Tower Junction to Calcite Springs.
May 14: South Entrance to West Thumb, Lake Village to West Thumb, West Thumb to Old Faithful (Craig Pass), Tower Junction to Tower Fall.
May 28: Beartooth Highway
Please note that the road between Tower Junction and the Canyon area (Dunraven Pass) will not open at all in 2021.
Just got back from a last-minute trip to Yellowstone, and all of your content was so helpful! I used your site to do some quick planning, and was able to see everything I wanted in two days without feeling rushed. The drive to Lamar Valley was totally worth it, even though the road between Tower and the Canyon was closed. Bison, elk, wolves, bears, mountain goats, pronghorn, coyote…wow!
Wow, seems like you were lucky to see a lot of wildlife! Glad to hear that you had a great time in Yellowstone, Luke, and thank you so much for taking the time to leave this feedback.
Happy travels!
Hi there! I love reading your information. I am hoping you can help me with this. We are flying out from Indy 6/26 to Rapid City. Right now we have 4 nights in Rapid City/Deadwood then 1 night in Cody. Next – drive Beartooth Highway to YNP. We have 4 nights booked in park -1 at Mammoth , 2 at Canyon and 1 at Old Faithful. The first night I am guessing we won’t get to park until mid afternoon?? So won’t get much done. Also have the covered wagon supper booked that night. Then we have 2 nights in GTNP and 1 in Jackson Hole. Fly out of there.
Questions – do you think I should cut one night out of Rapud City area and add one night to YNP? I am starting to think I don’t have enough time to in YNP? Thoughts ?! If I did that – what location would you add the night to stay ?
Also – is 2 nights in GTNP a good amount ?
Traveling with family – 3 teenagers.
Thank you so much for any input on this. I’ve been debating it a while and any help is appreciated!
Hi Jenny, sounds like an amazing trip!
It looks like you have enough time in Yellowstone. My first idea was that you could add a night in the Mammoth area if you want to visit Lamar Valley and the northern part of the park. But you can probably already see all of that while driving to Mammoth from Cody. You don’t have to rush through or get to your hotel at noon, so use that day for the Lamar valley, stop at the Tower Falls, maybe also visit Petrified Tree, take a short walk to Wraith Falls, and stop at Undine Falls (can be seen from the road). Boiling River will probably still be closed at that time of the year, so you don’t have to foresee time for that I think.
Then next day, keep in mind that the road between Tower and Canyon will be closed this summer, so you’ll have to drive via Norris Geyser Basin and from there to Canyon.
If you do add a night somewhere, it could be in Grand Teton (if you want to do more hiking or maybe rent a kayak on the lake for a few hours) or in Jackson which is great for some fun activities like rafting or hot air balloon ride or similar. Rafting tours are very popular in that area and that’s something teens would probably love more than an extra day exploring every single geyser area in detail in Yellowstone…
Good luck with the planning!
Thank you so much ! So- with my schedule I’m thinking we will have 3.5 days in Yellowstone. Adequate ? I have first night at mammoth and planned that covered wagon dinner through the park. Do you know anything about this ? Ever done ? Worth it?
Also planning to do white water rafting in Jackson. Any company buoy would recommend ! Never done hit air balloon but sounds so fun ! My 50th is while we are at Tetons. Any special place to go that day ?!!
Thanks again so much. Your trips look amazing !
Hi Jenny, with 4 nights in Yellowstone you have 3 full days, plus your arrival day and half a day on the departure day. On the day of arrival – as already said – visit the northern side of the park. With 3 days after that, you should be able to cover all the musts. If you feel like you need more time, leave the Yellowstone Lake – West Thumb Geyser Basin for the day of departure.
We haven’t done the wagon dinner, but I heard good things about it.
Tetons – so many nice places. Please see some of our suggestions in these guides: Grand Teton in one day & Yellowstone – Grand Teton itinerary. Maybe find a nice restaurant in one of the nicer lodges for dinner or so… I’d definitely go for that hot air balloon ride if I was you. 🙂
We have no specific recommendations for tours because our kids were too young for all of those really nice ones when we visited. If you click on the links in my previous reply, you’ll be able to find the best tours, read more details, and also find customer reviews. We use (and highly recommend) GetYourGuide for all our tour bookings because of their unparalleled cancelation policy and customer service. You may also find similar tours on Viator. I’m a bit reluctant with direct bookings these days, because so many local providers don’t give you much flexibility in terms of cancelation. These tours aren’t’ cheap, definitely if you go with the whole family, so make sure to book with the reputable company that gives you the best terms and conditions.
Hope this helps.
Thank you so much for sharing your valuable tips! I do have a silly question. I have never been to Yellowstone before and was wondering how are the restroom situations? Are they abundant in different areas?
Hi Annie, it’s not a silly question at all.
There are good facilities in all the major areas in Yellowstone, such as the Old Faithful, Mammoth Hot Springs, Canyon, Lake Village, and Grant Village. So there you’ll find everything – tourist info, shops, dining options, and also bathrooms. In addition, there are bathroom facilities in many other areas of Yellowstone. You can download this map of Yellowstone for more details. Bathrooms are not indicated on it, but you can see picnic facilities. Big majority of picnic facilities also have restrooms. Usually, they are quite well maintained. I can’t remember any bad experience.
Hope this helps.
Thank you so much for the map! Will have to download it before our trip.
If I’m going to stay in West Yellowstone at a Hotel outside the park, and am going for only 3 days. Of the Itineries listed which should I start at?
Hi Vida, if you have 3 full days, try our 3-day itinerary as listed above. You may have to adjust it a bit depending on where exactly you’re staying. If you have 2 full days and a bit, you can also check our 2-day Yellowstone itinerary – there, you’ll find many more details for each place that we suggest visiting. So it’s probably worth checking it anyway.
Hope this helps. Have a great trip.
I was wondering what you did about food each day. I know there are places you can get grab and go food and wondered if they were nearby all the places you visited each day.
Hi Cortney, we like to take a picnic with us for lunch and in the evenings, we just dined at the restaurants close to our accommodation. There are plenty of options, although it might be busy at peak times and sometimes you might have to wait a bit to be seated.
You can find a bit more info and some other tips in our Yellowstone travel tips article.
Hi Jurga! First and foremost, thank you so much for all the information you have included regarding traveling to Yellowstone! We are headed there in late July for a near 2-week RV trip. I have a couple of questions, we plan to spend 4-5 days in Yellowstone, then 3 days in Grand Teton.
1. Do you have recommendations for RV parks?
2. In regards to your 4-day itinerary, would it make sense to switch days around so we do day 1 itinerary last, and then head south towards Grand Teton?
Thank you so much! All your information, links, and information are MUCH appreciated for those of us who are headed to Yellowstone!
Regards,
Yonnie
Hi Yonnie, glad to hear you found this useful. Please also check our other Yellowstone blog posts for more info and tips.
To answer your questions:
1. No, I do not have any personal recommendations or experience with RV parks. Except that if you want to stay inside the park, you really should book in advance or – where it’s first come, first served, arrive as early as possible and hope you find a spot. When we visited in July, all the campings were full. Please check the official NPS website for more info about Yellowstone campgrounds.
2. Yes, sure, you can easily switch the days around. These tips are just to give you an idea of what’s possible and how to plan your time. If you are heading to Grand Teton NP after Yellowstone, then yes, definitely, you can visit that side of the park last. There is just one thing (I think I mentioned it somewhere in this article) – some places in that side of the park are less impressive than let’s say the Grand Prismatic Spring or the Upper Geyser Basin, so you may not appreciate them the same way after seeing the WOW-places first. But for the rest, it’s really your choice how to structure your days. A lot depends on where you are staying too.
Hope this helps. Enjoy your trip!
Hi Jurga, if we have just one day in Yellowstone arriving from the Grand Teton and sleeping in Gardiner, how do you recommend to plan our day? Thanks!
Hi Tara, this one is a bit tough. I guess you could choose one of the following options for a day in Yellowstone:
Option 1 – A quick stop at the Yellowstone Lake, drive through the Hayden Valley, visit the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River. Then head to the Old Faithful and the Grand Prismatic Spring. After that, drive to Mammoth Hot Springs and on to Gardiner.
Option 2 – Head straight to the Old Faithful area, then visit the Grand Prismatic Spring. From there head to the Canyon Area. Then drive to Lamar Valley and from there – via Mammoth Hot Springs – to Gardiner.
Somehow I think that the first option would be better, but it’s really up to you. If you don’t want to try to squeeze all the highlights, you can also just visit the Old Faithful, Grand Prismatic, and Mammoth Hot Springs area – that would be much more relaxing, but you’d have to skip the Canyon and the Hayden Valley, which is amazing for viewing bison…
P.S. Whatever you decide, make sure to start your day early! Enjoy your short trip. Yellowstone is amazing, even if only for a day!
Hi
I have no idea if this will make sense but we are planning on going to Yellowstone early this summer but wanted to also see Glacier National Park while we were there. Is this a crazy idea? Do you have any recommendations on the best way to see both parks? Is there an middle city that is close to an airport?
Thanks in advance for any advice
Hi Renea, it’s not a crazy idea at all – many people do this and some people even drive between Yellowstone and Glacier National Park in one day. It’s about 6hrs drive non-stop, so doable.
That being said, you could potentially fly to Jackson Hole (JAC airport) or Bozeman (BZN), visit Yellowstone, then drive to Glacier NP, visit there, and fly out of Glacier Park International Airport (FCA). It’s located in Kalispell, West Glacier area.
P.S. If you are looking for ideas on where exactly to go, please check our suggestions for Glacier National Park itinerary.
Good luck with the planning and make sure to do it asap, because accommodations at both parks are really hard to find for the summer.
Would love your thoughts on adapting your 4 day plan as follows, given half way through will be to Jackson Hole, then back to Yellowstone , and that I’ve booked lodging.
Day 1 – arrive in Bozeman, stay night
Day 2 – up early enter West Yellowstone : Midway Geyser Basin (Grand Prismatic). Lower Geyser Basin. Upper Geyser Basin (the Old Faithful Geyser, Old Faithful Inn, and the Geyser Loop Trail), also Biscuit Basin and/or Black Sand Basin – (stay night at Snow Cabins)
Day 3 – Mammoth Hot Springs. Go swimming in the Boiling River. Lamar Valley. Tower Fall. Dunraven Pass. – (stay night at Snow Lodge Cabins)
Day 4 – up early for GT for three nights
Day 7 – leave GT – back to Yellowstone Lewis Falls. West Thumb Basin. Yellowstone Lake. Storm Point hike. Mud Volcano area. Hayden Valley. (stay in Roosevelt Cabins)
Day 8 – Grand Canyon of Yellowstone (Artist Point, Uncle Tom’s Trail, Lower Falls). Norris Geyser Basin. Firehole River (swimming). (stay in Roosevelt Cabins)
Day 9 – drive to East Glacier
Hi Martha, it looks ok at first sight, but looking at your accommodations, it might be better to switch days 3 and 8 around. So visit the Canyon area and the Norris Geyser Basin when you’re staying at the Snow Cabins and visit Mammoth and Lamar Valley when you’re staying at Roosevelt. This should save you quite some driving and will allow you to either start or end your day at the Lamar Valley (animals are most active early morning and around sunset) without having to drive for hours.
Enjoy your trip!
Great post! How much driving is required for each day on the 5 day itinerary? Thank you so much for the great information!!
Hi Amanda, driving times and distances will depend on where you are staying. Please check our guide on where to stay in and near Yellowstone for more information.
I think we usually drove 3-5 hrs each day (total), but with so many stops in between, it never felt like much driving.
The north park entrance at Gardiner Montana stays open most of the year. West Yellowstone entrance tends to open in April. East, south and northeast entrances open in the second week of May. Apart from the highlights mentioned, Abyss Pool in West Thumb Geyser Basin and Sapphire Pool in Biscuit Basin are fantastic. Apart from wildlife and beautiful scenes, Yellowstone and Grand Teton Parks have histories related to tectonic earth movements and glaciation which took place ages ago.
Thanks for sharing this, Moses. I’m sure it will be very useful to our readers. As for Abyss Pool and Sapphire Poom, they’re nice, but I wouldn’t go out of my way for them unless people are passing these areas anyway.
Jurga, you are a God-send. Thank you. I am a seasoned trip planner but the scope of all there is to see on our Yellowstone trip had my eyes glazed over. You have brought clarity.
We are a family of 5, three teenage children. We are driving up from Jackson and plan to start day one of your itinerary on our way in from Jackson to Canyon Lodge. First night at Canyon Lodge, then check out and do day 2 of your itinerary, making our way up to Mammoth Cabins. Second-fourth nights at Mammoth Cabins. We will have to backtrack to do the itinerary for day 4, but that’s okay.
My question is if we want an “OFI experience,” would you recommend having lunch or dinner there on day 4, knowing we will be driving back to Mammoth Cabins that night?
I appreciate your help so much and no rush in responding. Our trip is June 2020.
Lesli
Hi Lesli, glad to hear that you found this useful!
As for the Old Faithful, we stayed there and had breakfast and lunch at the OF Inn, and I honestly, haven’t found dining there that special. I don’t really know why they make such a big fuss about it. I mean, it’s a nice hotel and a big old dining room, but you don’t see the geyser from there. For that, we recommend the bar on the 1st floor where you’ll find some benches overlooking the Old Faithful. To us, that was much more special than eating at the restaurant.
So to sum up, I wouldn’t go out of my way for dinner at the OF Inn and if lunch fits your itinerary better, I don’t see why it would be any lesser experience than dinner… If not, just get a drink at the bar and you can also take a free guided tour of the OF Inn if you are interested.
Happy travels!
We celebrated my in-law’s 50th Anniversary at the end of July with a trip to Yellowstone. Our group of 14 used your 4 day itenarary for our trip. I wanted to let you know how very helpful it was to have your guidance. Thank you so much for all the research and thought you put into this post. We had a great trip and saw so much beautiful nature and wildlife because of you.
Thank you so much for taking the time to come back to our blog and leave this feedback, Erin. I’m really glad to hear that you had such a great time in Yellowstone!
Happy travels!
I’m sorry if I missed or but food you say you started out in Jackson everyday?
Ho Joshua, no, we stayed inside the park. We stayed in Jackson first, then Canyon Lodge in Yellowstone for a few nights and then the Old Faithful Lodge for one night before going back south to the Grand Teton NP for a few nights. Jackson is ok if you are only doing a day trip to Yellowstone or Grand Teton and that’s it, but for daily commuting to Yellowstone and back, it’s really much too far.
In our Yellowstone accommodation guide, you can find more info and advice on where to stay.
If you are interested in our whole trip itinerary that Yellowstone was part of, you can find it here.
Hi Jurga: this is excellent information! thanks so much for posting it.
We are thinking of doing the 4-day trip. Do you recommend staying in one hotel for the entire time, or switching along the way? If so, any specific suggestions as to where and when? thanks!
Hi Wayne, here you can find our suggestions for Yellowstone accommodation. If you are booking long in advance and have the choice, I recommend splitting the stay between the Canyon Lodge and the Old Faithful area, as we did. If Yellowstone accommodations aren’t available, then West Yellowstone is a good alternative and is also cheaper.
PS Book your accommodations asap!
Hi Jurga,
Thanks for sharing lot of details and information on your website which is really helpful.
I am planning to visit Yellowstone in the month of late September 2019 (last week) through West Gate for 3 days and will be travelling with my wife and 2 kids (1 & 5 yrs old). Flying to SLC and then driving to West Yellowstone will be a good option or any flight to any other airport will be good. I’ll be flying from PIT. Your 3day itinerary is very helpful in getting the details, but it will be great if you help me in planning out the itinerary which can be achievable with 1yr old too either in 2-3 days itinerary.
We’ll not be opting for hiking option but a walk & stroller ride will be fine. Mainly looking for drive option with hop on hop off.
Secondly, which can be the good option for accommodation with family and more exploration to the park. Should we plan to take some accommodation inside the park or looks outside. If you have any recommendations on it then please suggest.
Third, we are vegetarians and is the options for vegetarian food or restaurants available in/outside the park.
Thanks
Vikrant
Hi Jurga,
I have gone through your blog and others also, looks like flying to BZN will be a good option. Can you suggest whether we should accommodate in North or West Entrance
I am planning for 2day as :-
Day1:-
Norris Geyser Basin
Artist Paint Pots
Madison Area
Lower Geyser Basin
Midway Geyser Basin
Upper Geyser Basin
Old Faithful
Day2:-
Mammoth Hot Springs
Blacktail Plateau Drive
Lamar Valley
Grand Canyon of Yellowston
Hayden Valley
Do you feel this can be achievable with kids (1 & 5yr) to cover these in 2 days or should I divide them into 3days. If yes, please suggest how can it be divided into 3 days. We’ll not be opting for hiking option but a walk & stroller ride will be fine. Mainly looking for drive option with hop on hop off.
Thanks,
Vikrant
Hi Vikrant, I think this looks like too much for two days, with or without the kids, so if you can, make it at least 3 days. Please check our recommendations for a 3-day itinerary on how to best plan your time.
As for where to stay, I think that West Yellowstone is better located for most places, but maybe you could spend the first or the last night at the North Entrance if that suits your trip better. Here you can find our suggestions for where to stay in and near Yellowstone.
Hi again, I just saw now that you left two similar comments. Hope my other post answered your questions.
As for vegetarian food, I really have no idea, but there are so many dining options in Yellowstone that I would think it shouldn’t be a problem.
Excellent !! This is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you sooooo much.
Glad to help. Enjoy your trip to Yellowstone!
This was super helpful thank you!!
Glad to hear that, Natalia. Enjoy your trip!
I would llike to confirm that the interactive 4 day map will work while driving in Yellowstone. Will poor cell connectivity be a problem?
Thank you
Hi Catherine, you can best download Yellowstone map offline if you want to use it, but even then it’s not certain it will work. Yellowstone has very poor cell coverage if I recall well and we had no internet connection there at all. Why not just print it out to, to be on the safe side.
Enjoy your trip.
Thank you so much for your clear and useful information! I used the Google Maps you created also! Really appreciate your insight!
Glad to hear that, Alyssa. Enjoy your trip to Yellowstone!
Hello Jurga,
Thank you so much for all your articles on YP and GTNP I’ve downloaded and printed all of them. i am using your 4 day itinerary to help figure out where we should go in YP. We are driving in from South Entrance and leaving from South entrance as we will be spending two nights in GTNP upon arrival from Jac airport and then spending 4 nights in YP and then doing three more nights in GTNP area. We are spending two nights in OF and two nights at Canyon lodge, in that order. Based on your 4 day itinerary should we stick with the order you have everything or should we switch things around? Thank you so much. Your blog is amazing and so helpful!
Hi Vandana, it seems that you have it all very well planned. I don’t really have the time to suggest any other itinerary for you, so please just take a look at the suggestions on the blog and at all the maps that we have, and I’m sure you’ll figure out the best way to do it. Enjoy your trip!
Hi jurga thanks for putting this together. We are going to YS park July 19-24. Flying in and out of Bozeman. We get half a day on our first day there. We also thought to do GT on 23rd. Staying at OF inn. With 2 kids and elderly mother. Do you think seeing GT in 1 day gets us good exposure to both parks or we might be rushing it? Thanks for your help.
Hi, we also spent just one day at the Grand Teton NP and it was enough for us. I mean, you can always see more and hike more, but somehow it didn’t left the same impression on us as Yellowstone and we thought one day was enough.
Here you can find our suggestions for the best way to spend one day in Grand Teton NP.
Hi Jurga,
Great suggestions.. thank you !
based on your suggestions, I have come up with following itinery for 3.5 days in Yellowstone. Could you please take a look and suggest if doable. We can skip few to make it more relaxing –
Day 1:
Start by 7 after having breakfast
Mammoth Hot Springs.
Boiling River (swimming).
Lamar Valley.
Tower Fall.
Dunraven Pass.
Norris Geyser Basin.
Checkin OF, night stay
Day 2:
Old Faithful and the Geyser Loop Trail
Lower Geyser Basin
Midway Geyser Basin /Grand Prismatic.
Old Faithful Geyser
Upper Geyser Basin
Morning Glory Pool
Biscuit Basin
Black Sand Basin
Return to OF for night stay
Day 3:
Check out from OF
The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone river
Artist Point,
Uncle Tom’s Trail,
Brink of Lower Falls
Inspiration Point
Hayden Valley
Yellowstone Lake
Check in to Grant Village for night stay
Day 4:
Checkout from Grant village
West Thumb gyeser basin
Lewis Falls
Drive thru grand teton np
arrive at SLC by 6:0/6:30 PM
Hi, I have no time to check it into detail, so just a few observations.
Day 1 – looks like it would be too much for a day, but then you can decide to spend less time at Norris Geyser Basin (it’s huge and you can spend half a day just exploring it).
Day 2 – ok
Day 3 – ok if you don’t do too much hiking at the canyon
Day 4 – ok
Enjoy your trip!
we are from Colombia and plan to visit Yellowstone for 5 day, could any of you advise us where is the best town to stay in?
Hi Jhony, we have a whole article explaining the best places to stay in Yellowstone and near the park. It really depends when you travel, however. If it’s this summer, you won’t find anything inside the park anymore, so in that case, the best town to stay nearby is West Yellowstone.
If you still find anything for your travel dates, book asap!
Jurga,
We are visiting Yellowstone for 4 night 5 days this Aug and staying at the Canyon Lodge. My group includes kids 7- 11 years old and grandparents and visitors from overseas. I am also thinking whether spend an extra days in Jackson hole or Salt Lake City. My kids would love fishing. My visitors would enjoy natural beauty. We will be traveling from San Francisco (Bay Area). What is the best airport to fly into? I am not a big fan of small airplane. How should I plan the entire itinerary. Where should I start? Your thoughts are great appreciate.
Jasmine
Hi Jasmine, the best airports for Yellowstone are Bozeman or Jackson. I think it’s high time to book your flights for August, and also a rental car and all the rest. It’s going to be very busy in that area.
As for the itinerary, we have all our suggestions on the blog. As much as I’d like to help every single one hundreds of thousands of people who read our blog every month, I just don’t have the time for personalized itineraries… I think that you should try to stay in Grand Teton NP for a few days as well – plenty of natural beauty and fishing should also be possible. Once again, it’s very busy there in summer, so trying to find accommodation at this point won’t be easy. You can find more information and accommodation suggestions in our post about visiting Grand Teton.
Good luck with the planning and enjoy your trip!
Hi! Your blog is the most helpful travel blog I have found!! I have been looking for a Yellowstone itinerary and these are perfect! I was wondering if you have a Glacier National Park itinerary anywhere? I couldn’t find it on your blog but saw it listed as one of the best parks for families. We are planning to visit Yellowstone and Glacier Parks on our trip and I’m trying to figure out how many days to set aside for Glacier. Do you have any advice on that? Thank you so much for all your help!!!
Hi Summer, thank you for the kind feedback. Unfortunately, we ourselves haven’t been to Glacier Park. We considered it, but it was just such a long drive from Yellowstone and there was a major fire there just as we were booking our trip, so we decided to pass on it.
One thing I remember from my research is that you really have to drive the Going To The Sun Road. I think I was planning on 2 full days there for the main highlights, but I’m sure you could spend more time too. Enjoy your trip!
UPDATE: We found someone who’s been to Glacier NP multiple times and they wrote a very detailed post with suggested Glacier National Park itinerary. Take a look!
Thank you, Jurga! You are SO HELPFUL!! We are flying into JAC late one night so we are just going to stay the night there and hit the road the next morning toward Yellowstone. We’ll have that day and 2 more full days before we head to Glacier. Would you recommend we drive through Grand Tetons on our way from JAC to Yellowstone and have less time in Yellowstone, or should we just go straight to Yellowstone so we can have about 3 full days there? Thank you again!!!
If you take the I-191 from Jackson to Yellowstone (see map), you’ll pass Grand Teton NP. The scenery is really nice, so at least you can enjoy that. If you want a more scenic option, take the road that passes by Jenny Lake (see this map), but note that this short detour will add 1,5hrs to your driving time AND it’s actually more scenic in the other direction, so you’d have to look backwards for the best views.
But in general, yes, if you only have 2,5 days in Yellowstone, I would rather just go to Yellowstone and explore there to the fullest.
Enjoy your trip!
Great article! We plan on using the 4 day itinerary. We are from San Diego and will be coming from Park City late at night(due to my daughters soccer tournament), staying in West Yellowstone. Afterward Yellowstone, we plan on going to GT for 1 day then towards Rexburg, ID. Should I still plan on doing the same 4 day itinerary or plan it out differently?
Hi Stephanie, I suggest you take a look at the map (use Google maps for driving times and distances) to figure out what to do on which day and what makes most sense for where you’re staying. You can easily switch the suggested itinerary days in the way that suits you best.
Enjoy the trip!
hi Jugra,
I love your article on Yellowstone. It is marvelous. We are also plan to visit with two family at the same time as yours. What is the good time to start the day in Yellowstone everyday. Some people said you need to start by 6 AM. Let me know your opinion and experience around this.
Hi Ritesh, I suppose any time is good, as long as it fits your travel style and expectations. Starting that early definitely has many advantages – more chance to see wildlife and almost no people in the first hours of the day, also better light for photography… If you are up for it and can do really early days, my suggestion would be to go to the busiest places first thing in the morning and then do some hiking or visit less known places during the day.
That being said, that’s not what we did. We were there with three young kids and so we would just wake up when the kids were up (usually at around 7am), then quietly get ready, have breakfast… I think we hardly ever started sightseeing before 9 am and it was ok. The hours before 10.30am or so are still quiet at most places, but we never really felt that a place would be annoyingly busy. Even at the Old Faithful, where it was really crowded by the geyser, it was so much quieter on the boardwalks just 10-15min walking from there. Hayden Valley is another crazy busy place, but we just made the best of being stuck in the bison traffic jam and took many pictures of them instead of getting frustrated about not being able to move.
It’s not about the hours of the day, more about your own expectations and reactions to what you experience. So make the best of it!
Hi Jurga,
How long did you typically spend in the park? If you started at 9 when what time did you end?
Hi Kayleigh, I had to check my pictures to see what time it was 🙂 Indeed, we usually started at around 9 AM sometimes at 8.15-8.30 AM (waking up at around 7-7.30 am, having quiet breakfast, etc.). We were back at the hotel at around 7-8 PM. One day it was past 9 PM, but the next day the kids were already in bed at 9 PM, so it really depends on what we visited each day.
Also, because we stayed inside the park and usually went to the most popular places first thing in the morning, even starting at 9 AM usually gave us at least an hour of quiet time to explore before it got too busy.
Very nice article and useful.. thanks much…
Glad to hear that. Enjoy your trip to Yellowstone!
I know you mentioned not knowing much about camping, so this may be out of your wheelhouse, but I assumed I’d ask… We are coming through with a travel trailer. We are staying north in Gardiner (already booked). Because we have the trailer and can’t stay inside the park we have to return north every time. We have three days and a basic itinerary… however our trip home has not been planned. I was going to skip on GT bc of the insanity of trying to navigate there with the 35ft. camper… but we’re all the way there from the NE that it seems a shame. Any idea of “easy” ways to get from Gardiner with the camper to GT and then head back East? Is it even worth it?
Hi Amanda, yes indeed, I don’t have any experience with campers. But I can imagine that being so close to the Grand Teton National Park, you’d like to visit it as well.
On the website of the National Parks service website you can find more info on Grand Teton NP camping. I assume that the main roads will be ok with a camper, but – once again – I don’t know. Most main roads (road #191) were quite straight and easy to drive and we saw quite some campers there.
If you go to GTNP just for one day, I suggest you visit Jenny Lake area.
Hope this helps.
Your itinerary for 3 days to Yellowstone National Park is very informative .FYI We are staying at canyon lodge and cabins for 3 nights. we are reaching on May 25th afternoon so what would you suggest on that day from your itinerary considering our location?
Also please suggest how we can spend 1 & 1/2 day in Glacier national park ?
Hi Meghna, it depends where you come from. If you come from the south, visit Lake of Yellowstone and the West Thumb Geyser Basin on the first day before heading to your accommodation. That way you won’t have to return there.
Just note that you’ll have to pass Hayden valley, so plan for possible delays due to bison on the road.
We haven’t been to Glacier NP, but you can find some info in this post: Best National Parks in the USA. From my research, I remember that Going to the Sun road is not to be missed.
Hope this helps.
Jurga,
I’m loving the three day Yellowstone itinerary. Where do you suggest staying for 2-3 nights? (We were thinking of staying in West Yellowstone for the 1st night (from airport), but really have no idea!)
Hi Maureen, here you can find our suggestions on where to stay in Yellowstone.
Good Afternoon Jurga,
Thank you doing this, it’s a great service for us YNP novices.
We are coming in August 2020 for a trip. We want to incorporate as much as possible with a touch of hiking. If possible, we would also like to incorporate the Chuck Wagon Dinner. Here is a route I am considering. Is it too much!
Day 1 – From Cody, WY do the SE Quadrant ending at the OFI.
Day 2 – OF area ending in Canyon.
Day 3 – Canyon to Lamar Valley (Chuck Wagon Dinner) end in Mammoth.
Day 4 – Mammoth to Jackson
We also plan to hit GT for 1.5 Days.
It’s just a bit overwhelming. It makes Disney seem like child’s play
Hi Chris, I think your itinerary is quite packed, but should be doable. Day 1 and day 4 will be very long. Also, why are you driving to Jackson if you are planning to visit Grand Teton NP as well. It would be better to just stay there if you can find accommodations. I have some suggestions on GTNP in this post.
There are so many ways to do this, a lot depends on accommodations. But you are nicely on time for next year, so I’m sure you can make it work. If you need guidance on where to stay, you can find more info here: where to stay in and near Yellowstone.
Happy planning!
Jurga,
Thank you very much. I appreciate your response.
Regards,
Chris
Hello! I am planning to follow your 2 day itinerary. We are going June 18-20 and will be tent camping. We will enter from West Yellowstone and exit out the south to go to Grand Teton NP. I am wondering where you think we should try to camp to eliminate all the driving/backtracking. If we follow your 2-day itinerary, where does it make sense to plant ourselves for the night? Would we enter, go south, then go back up north and stay by Mammoth so we could continue the other direction heading South the next day? Then camp in the south somewhere that night? Thank you!
Hi Rachel, I’m not really familiar enough with camping locations in Yellowstone to help you much. I think it’s more a matter of where you can still find a place at this time.
Just as all Yellowstone accommodation, campings are usually fully booked. I know, they allow some people on first come first serve basis, but I wouldn’t count on that. If you do, I think you need to be there very early in the morning to try to get a spot.
Here you can find more information about camping in Yellowstone.
Hope this helps. Have a great time in Yellowstone!
My son (now 21 and in college) has wanted to make this a family trip and it is on our plan for this year. What itinerary would you suggest for 2 parents and 2ea – 21 year old young adults? When is the best time of year to come? We are totally flexible on how many days that we stay and would like to see GTNP as well…?
Hi Melinda, if you are not obliged to come during school holidays, then I would say beginning to mid-September (after Labor Day Weekend) would probably best. The weather is still nice enough, everything is open, and there will be much fewer tourists than in July or August.
As for how many days to spend in Yellowstone, I think that 3 is an absolute minimum, ideally 4 or 5. If you are planning to also visit GTNP, you could add a day or two there. It really depends on what you want to do – just see the highlights, or also do some hiking or other activities like rafting or similar. I have this post about visiting Jenny Lake in Grand Teton NP, maybe it’s helpful as well.
One thing to consider is that it’s really late to book accommodations for this season, so depending on when you travel, Yellowstone lodging might not be available. There are some nice alternatives outside the park, but even there I’d advise to book asap. Here you can find more information about where to stay in Yellowstone.
So much GREAT information!! I’ve been reading through everything for the last two days. We started planning a last minute road trip for this summer to Yellowstone with my 11 and 14 year old. I realized after reading that most people plan this a year in advance but was able to find a hotel in West Yellowstone. We will arrive late afternoon on July 2nd stay in West Yellowstone for 4 nights (3 full days) and check out on July 6th. We will have July 6th for sightseeing as well since we are just staying in Bozeman that night. You mentioned West Yellowstone is pretty centrally located for all the sights. Looking at your map would it make sense to keep the order similar if we are leaving towards Bozeman on that 4th day/night? When I looked at mileage it might be about the same whether we leave from the north or the west entrance.
I’m just super grateful you put this together 🙂 saves me a lot of stress!
Hi Jessica, glad to hear you find it helpful!
If you have 4 days including your last day when you’re driving to Bozeman, I think you can use our 4-day itinerary. Just maybe leave the Northern part of the park that we described on day 3 (Mammoth and Lamar valley) for the last day. I’d say start your last day with the drive to the Lamar Valley (via Dunraven Pass) and then work your way back to Mammoth Hot Springs. End your day with a relaxing swim at the Boling River. From there it’s just 1,5 hrs to Bozeman.
This is just a suggestion, of course. Enjoy your trip!
This is a great resource! We will be traveling this summer with our kids 8/10. We are aiming for the 4 day itinerary and staying at Canyon Village BUT entering the park via West Yellowstone on day 1 and exiting south on day 4. Which of the day’s itineraries do you recommend we begin and end with?
Hi Kirsten, if you have 4 days in Yellowstone, I suggest you do our 4-day itinerary as described above, but change days 1 and 4, so start with the Midway Geyser Basin and the Old Faithful area and then leave the Yellowstone Lake area for the last day.
This means, however, that you’ll be starting with some of the most impressive natural features first, so some other geothermal areas might look somewhat less impressive to you afterwards…
But this is the most logical way to do it that also means less driving.
PS if you are visiting Yellowstone with kids, you may want to check out the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone first. We have much more information on Yellowstone on our blog – take a look here.
Enjoy your trip!
First trip and with kids ages 10 and 14. Spending 3 nights in park. Aldready staying 1 night mammoth and planning to also make our way to Lamar valley during that time. Is it worth moving from Canyon (1 night) to Old Faithful inn (1 night) or stay in Canyon 2 nights. We have to opportunity to switch and get a room last night in OF, not sure it’s the best idea but would save drive time for sure. Also wouldn’t mind staying in CL 2 nights and not having to move! Lol Thank you so much in advance for your opinion!
Hi Charissa, it’s really your personal preference I suppose. We really liked Canyon Lodge, because it’s very recent, the rooms are beautiful, and the location is good for sightseeing. Still, I enjoyed being able to see the Old Faithful area without having to rush, see the geyser go multiple times during the day, at night, and early morning. The OF Inn is more about the authentic lodge, but you can see it without staying at the hotel as well. The rooms in the lodge are quite dated (we had one of the most expensive ones, with a view over OF, and it was quite poor).
Probably not helping, I know. For us it was more a matter of ticking the bucket list I think, so I know I would have regretted if we haven’t stayed at the OF Inn for that one night, but purely for accommodation – Canyon Lodge wins all the way. Maybe you can do two nights in Canyon and one at the OF, instead of Mammoth? You can easily visit Lamar Valley from Canyon area as well.
Thank you for your quick reply! After talking with family we decided to stay at CL to have more time to visit the valleys and canyon and will get up early to take advantage of OF and surroundings! Thanks again! Charissa
Hi
I want to know about accomodation. U said u stayed at canyon lodge, do thy have airconditioners? And do u really need it at night?
No, as far as I know none of the Yellowstone accommodations have air conditioning. While the days can get really warm in summer, it cools down at night; we never really missed it.
Thank You for the very detailed itinerary. I am planning to visit late April and planning for the 4 or 5 YT itinerary. If coming from Bozeman, would you advise I use Gardiner or West YT as my base? Since none of the in-park accommodations are open as yet, I will need to stay outside the park. We are planning to visit Grand Teton before heading back home. Should we do Grand Teton in the beginning or at end of our trip? Also, independent of using Gardiner or West YT as our base, is it still OK to follow the 4 or 5 itinerary you have shared?
Hi Akshay, end of April is just about the earliest that you can visit some parts of Yellowstone; the roads are now closed for the winter. Most roads are scheduled to reopen on April 19 only (this might change, depending on the weather – here you can find up-to-date info on Yellowstone road closures). So – basically – a lot depends on how the situation is and where you can or cannot drive at that moment.
North entrance is the only one that is also open in winter, so you could in any case start there. Maybe stay in Gardiner for a day or two and then move on down to West Yellowstone, which is in any case much better located for most other parts of the park.
As for itinerary, I really don’t know – what you can or can’t see will depend on the roads.
Hope this helps.
Hi there! I just wanted to say thank you! We are traveling from Chicago with our 3 kids and driving first to the badlands and then to Yellowstone. We have decided to stay near the Lamar Valley for 3 nights based on what I read on your site! Your itinerary ideas are great and are really helping us plan what to do to make the most of our time there!! I look forward to reading your ideas and planning our July National Park trip! Thank you so much!!!
Glad to hear you found this useful, Casey. I’m just not sure about staying near the Lamar Valley… You mean, outside the park? It’s going to be a really long drive to most places. It’s fine for some parts of the park, but if you have to do it every day, you are going to be driving a lot…
Not sure if you have seen it, but you may want to check our Yellowstone accommodation guide. I know it’s hardly impossible to find accommodations inside the park for July, but there are better options nearby. If you can still amend your bookings, I think I would do just one night near Lamar and then 2 nights in West Yellowstone.
For more ideas on where to go and what to see, please also check our guide to Yellowstone with kids.
Enjoy your trip!
Hi, thanks for the reply! Finding travel times in the winter is almost impossible which makes planning this trip to a place we’ve never been a little challenging! I appreciate the advice! This is something I should’ve planned last year so finding lodging has become difficult, we do have a cabin reserved in Cooke city, for the 3 nights, but I might make changes. The owner said it’s a 1.5 hour drive to old faithful and some of other other attractions! We really just want to see some wildlife, go on hikes and I’d like to visit the Prismatic Springs, and waterfalls! Trying to find a location to see it all! Your blog is super helpful!! Thank you!
Hi Casey, I think the owner of the place is seriously exaggerating – no way you can get from Cook City to the Old Faithful in 1,5 hrs. I just checked Google Maps (departing in July) and it shows me 2h30 – 2h50. Take a look at the map here. It’s about 1,5hrs to Canyon Village or Mammoth Hot Springs. Which still means at least 3hrs driving (+ bison traffic jams) just to get there and back.
When using Google Maps for directions for another season, you can find a place where it says ‘Leave now’ – there you can change the date by clicking ‘depart at’ and then input July to see the real situation for the summer months.
Hope this helps.
Ačiū, Jurga 🙂
Hi there! Great article. I am going to GTNP and Yellowstone for 6 nights in a camper van at the end of May. Do you know much about campgrounds and how to incorporate that into your itinerary? Appreciate any info you may have to share.
Thank you!
Hi Lisa, we don’t have experience with campgrounds, but you can find all the information here, on the official Yellowstone NP website. If available, I’d choose either camping at Madison or at the Canyon. These are both open end of May (so depends a bit on when exactly you are going) and they are both pretty centrally located so that you can probably just stay at one campground for the whole trip.
Make sure to book in advance. Maybe May isn’t that busy, but still – better be sure.
Hope this helps.
Thank you! I have been checking out the campgrounds. That’s helpful information – I was assuming I should stay somewhere different each night. Appreciate people like you providing guidance and suggestions on your blogs. The van rental place charges $100/day, not including reservations at sites, to help with planning. I don’t have an extra $600 for that service. Happy to pay for some help, but that’s a little out of my league:)
Glad to help, Lisa. Planning a trip is a lot of work, so I understand that people charge for it. But Yellowstone is really quite simple to visit and yes, you can definitely do it from one place. No need to stay at different campgrounds, unless you don’t like driving back to the same place and rather stay somewhere else for a change…
PS I have just created a printable top-10 list of places to see in Yellowstone. If you’re interested, you can get a copy by filling up one of the forms inserted in the article.
Hope this helps. Enjoy your trip!
Hi Lisa!
We are heading to GTNP & Yellowstone as well, in a Class A motorhome in early-mid June. We are staying a couple of nights in GTNP then 3 more nights near the West entrance to the park. When are you going?
Lisa (yep, I’m also a Lisa!)
Hello Jurga,
I will echo others and thank you for sharing your experience in such a terrific blog. We’ve been thinking to visit yellowstone as a family (road) trip for years and decided 2019 will be the year (summer). We plan to go mid-July and dedicate 4 full days. We also plan to camp (tent) ideally in the park. Entering from the North, we will add a 5th day for Grand Teton. I’m looking at the campground in Madison (West). Do you think it’s ok to stay all nights in Madison being centered North/South and do the 8 loop in 4 days or would you recommend to change campground (I’m not keen on dismantling the tent every morning). Thank you for your help/answer. I guess I can figure out all the rest with all you shared (itinerary etc…). Thank you again.
Sabine
Hi Sabine, I just checked the map and Madison Campground seems to have a great location. I think it’s central enough that you don’t have to worry about moving around and can easily make day trips from there.
Just make sure to book it asap. When we were in Yellowstone in summer, all the accommodations (including campgrounds) inside the park were fully booked.
Planning a family vacation this summer 2019. Either end of June or end of July. No idea where to begin on planning hotel accommodations…. your information is helpful. Did you stay in one place all week or move around? Where do you suggest flying into? We are coming from Illinois.
Hi Jen, please also check our related articles on Yellowstone, where you can find more information. This article covers the best places to stay in and near Yellowstone NP; you can also read about our personal experience.
The problem will be at this point to find any accommodation inside the park for this summer (it’s usually fully booked moer than a year in advance). Anyway, check the article for suggestions where to stay.
Best airports for Yellowstone are probably Bozeman (BZN) or Jackso Hole (JAC). If you read other people’s comments on this post, I think you’ll find plenty ideas where to fly and how to best plan your trip.
Please also check the following posts: Best things to do in Yellowstone with kids. Boiling River – a real hidden gem in the park. Also, what to pack for Yellowstone in summer. And, if you are planning to visit Grand Tetons, you may find some inspiration here – Jenny Lake and other places to visit in GTNP in one day.
Hope this helps!
In regards to your 4 day itinerary for Yellowstone, Day 1 seems to go in order locationwise, but Day 2 does not. Am I reading this wrong?
Hi Melanie, I don’t see anything strange on day 2. We first visited the Canyon area, then went to Norris Geyser Basin since we had a few hours left and that area is quite big and needs more time to explore. Firehole river is nice to relax at the end if you still have time over after all the sightseeing.
Do you maybe mean that on day 4 I listed Midway Geyser Basin before the Lower Geyser Basin which is more to the north, then heading back down south to the Upper Geyser Basin?
The reason for this is that Midway Geyser Basin (the one with the Grand Prismatic Spring) gets crazy busy during the day. So it might be wise to go there first thing in the morning. The distances between these three areas aren’t big, so it’s not like you are wasting too much time driving up and down.
But in the end it really doesn’t matter in which order you do it. You can shuffle the days and the locations around the way it makes most sense for you. These itineraries are just here to help you to get a better idea of what you can do in any given day.
Hope this helps. Enjoy your trip!
Hi Jurga,
Like many have said previously, your website is terrific. Thank you for all of the outstanding information. One question- if we have 2 full days (8AM-8PM) for Yellowstone and are staying in West Yellowstone, would it be possible to do the northern loop one day, and the southern loop the other? We would anticipate briefly stopping at most sites for 15-30 minutes, with time for a “longer” stop (30-60 minutes) at 1 or 2 key landmarks. Is this approach realistic and practical?
Thank you!
Hi Mike, yes, I think you can definitely do the whole ‘8’ loop in 2 days, especially if you are prepared for such long days of sightseeing. Try to concentrate on the main landmarks and make just short photo stops along the other places.
Is it the best way to see Yellowstone? No, 2 days are definitely not enough. But if that’s all you have, I’m sure you can turn it into a great experience and make the best of it. It’s good to plan in advance indeed, so that you know where you need more time and which places are ok to skip.
Enjoy your trip!
if you are staying 3 days in the park do you need your own car to get around in the park or are their shuttles?
Hi Rebecca, I really don’t know how you could visit Yellowstone without a car, unless you’d join one of the organised multi-day tours.
There are some local day tours inside the park here and there, but you’d still need to get to the starting point of them somehow. So yes, you definitely need a car for Yellowstone. It’s a huge park!
Thank you for the helpful information. My family is planning to travel to Yellowstone, flying into SLC and staying night 1 and 2 in Jackson, then driving on day 2 to West Yellowstone. We have five days before we fly home out of Bozeman. My question is whether we should stay in West Yellowstone three days and somewhere north (looking at Gardnier) for two night? Or stay in West Yellowstone for four nights and Gardiner for 1? Any help is much appreciated.
Hi Emily, I think that West Yellowstone is a bit better located for most main landmarks of Yellowstone than Gardiner. On the other hand, you have 5 nights in total which is plenty of time to see all the main places, so depends on how you plan your itinerary, I think that both options would work well. Maybe see which hotel you like more or which place fits your budget better and decide based on that?
If I’m not mistaken, West Yellowstone has many more accommodation/ dining options. Please check this guide to Yellowstone accommodation, I have some of the best options listed there.
This is a great site – thank you…this will be my 7th trip to Yellowstone, but most have been as a young kid, now I’m taking my girls – 13 and 11 in July of 2019…we have a friends time share for a week – July 20th to the 27th in Jackson Hole and plan on spending a few days exploring the Tetons and Southern Yellowstone from there,..
Any suggestions on best plan of attack for lodging and hitting Yellowstone park from the Southern entrance, we have 4 nights outside of Jackson before leaving from Jackson Hole airport again on the 31st…thank you for your time and great site!!!
Hi Jason, I’m afraid it’s already much too late to try and book something inside the park for July, so your best option is probably staying in West Yellowstone. Please check this post for best Yellowstone lodging suggestions in and near the park.
You could definitely stay in Grand Teton NP for 1-2 nights for visiting that park – here are some ideas on what to see in Grand Teton NP in a day and also suggestions on where to stay there.
In any case, I’d not stay in Jackson or in Grand Teton NP for visiting Yellowstone as it’s much too far and would result in more driving that sightseeing, but I think you realise it yourself already.
Hope this helps.
Thank you so much for all the info! We are planning a trip to Yellowstone in May 2019! (May 26-June 1). We are flying in and out of Bozeman airport. Can you tell me what you think of the following layout? We are planning to start at the West Entrance and staying in the Explorer Cabins right outside the West Entrance.
Arrive late on May 26th- Possibly just stay in Bozeman this night
May 27 & May 28: Stay in the Explorer Cabins outside the West Entrance.
May 29 & May 30: Stay in Canyon Lodge
May 31: Is there anywhere up north you recommend to stay?
June 1: Leave to fly back home
We are still very open. So feel free to make any suggestions you think would be best!
Hi Erika, your plan looks ok to me at first sight. If you are flying out of Bozeman, then indeed it’s probably best to stay north of Yellowstone the last night. Gardiner is probably the best option. It allows you to still spend the whole last day in Yellowstone and from there it’s just 1,5hrs to Bozeman. You could also stay in Mammoth inside the park, but I don’t think it’s worth the price difference for that last night.
Hope this helps
What a great blog post! We are going toward end of September 2019. Flying into Bozeman and driving to Grand Tetons first for 4 nights and then on to Yellowstone for 4 nights. We’re staying at Lake Hotel Sandpiper Lodge all4 nights. Will your 4 day itenerary work, or are we too far away from the areas you suggest to do everything you listed?
Hi Laurel, yes, Yellowstone Lake is also a great location to stay in Yellowstone. The only thing you’ll have to deal a bit more with are the bison of Hayden Valley that you’ll have to pass when driving north. But if you keep that in mind and are prepared for some bison traffic jams, I’m sure you can do everything I suggested in the 4 day itinerary, maybe even more if you’re willing to get up early and fill your days.
Enjoy your trip!
HI Jurga,
Planning an early May 2019 and your blog has been a huge help! We’re staying at Old Faithful Inn as none of the other places are open when we arrive. Will definitely go through your itineraries and suggested hikes.
My son is a huge dinosaur buff and am looking for an easy tack-on trip for a dig site or museum (or both) as my wife and daughter would not be as happy spending the extra driving time. Would you have an idea if we’d be able to fly in/out of an accessible airport and stop by before or after for say a Montana or Utah or Wyoming dinosaur-centric site? BTW not so familiar with mid-western geography! Many thanks!
Hi Allen, we actually visited a dinosaur place on this same trip – Dinosaur National Monument, on Vernal,UT side – here you can see our trip itinerary. It was really interesting, not just for the children.
However, it’s 7hrs drive from Old Faithful Inn, so it’s really far to just go there ‘on the side’. We stayed in Vernal on our way from Moab to Jackson Hole, and only then we moved on to Yellowstone, which meant less driving per day.
I’m not familiar enough with the area so I don’t know if there are any other dinosaur places closer to Yellowstone, sorry. You’d have to google it all, to see if there is something closer by…
Good luck!
Thanks for all the great info! So glad I found this site!
I do have a couple of questions.
My wife and I will flying in from California. We plan on doing your 4 day Yellowstone itinerary plus a day at Jenny Lake in GTNP and a day in Jackson Hole to go river rafting on the Snake River. Which airport should we fly into and in what order would you go to the three locations – Yellowstone, GTNP (Jenny Lake), and Jackson Hole?
Do you have any lodging locations you would recommend for the Jenny Lake area and Jackson Hole?
Hi David, I think you can either fly in and out of Jackson Hole airport (JAC), or fly into Bozeman airport (BZN) and leave from Jackson (or vice versa).
Here you can find our recommendations on what to do in Grand Teton NP in one day.
As for accommodations, for Yellowstone please read this Yellowstone accommodation guide. For GTNP: the nicest lodges are Jackson Lake Lodge and Jenny Lake Lodge (probably the nicest location). In Jackson Hole we stayed at The Lexington. Another really nice option seems to be Wyoming Inn, just a bit outside of town. Here you can find more accommodation options in Jackson Hole – the choice is quite big there.
Your blog is beyond amazing! Thank You for taking the time to not only provide a day by day itinerary but for providing the interactive map as well! It has made planning the Yellowstone/Teton portion of our NP 2019 trip so much easier! That said, I do have just a few questions. 1. Was the pace doable for your younger children? 2. About how long were your days? (start at 8 end at 5, etc.) I realize this will vary based on the amount of time we spend at each site; however, a general idea of the amount of time you spent would be helpful in finalizing our lodging. (i.e. will our lodge/hotel/cabin need a pool or other nearby activities to keep the kids busy in the evening, etc.)
Thanks Again!
Hi Carrie, thank you for your kind feedback. Happy to hear this helped you with the planning of your trip to Yellowstone. If you haven’t seen it yet, read also our post about the best things to do in Yellowstone with kids.
To answer your questions, your Yellowstone itinerary can be as relaxing as you choose to, but yes, all the suggestions in this post are based on our trip with our three children (5, 5, and 7 at that time).
We didn’t do any long hikes, just a few shorter ones, and they were all relatively flat and easy, nothing the kids couldn’t handle. We never felt rushed and there was plenty of time for the kids to rest in the car when driving in between places. The days were nicely filled with so many great activities in the park, we went swimming in the Boiling River one day, then played by the river building dams the other day – it really felt as a vacation and kids enjoyed it just as much as we did.
As for how long our days were, I don’t even remember for sure, but I can tell you – we never left the hotel at 8am. That’s probably about the time we would start to think about going for breakfast. In the evening we were usually back at our accommodation around 6 or 7pm, and then went out for dinner, and the kids were in bed somewhere around 8.30-9pm.
We stayed inside the park, so no pools or playgrounds to keep the kids busy, but we didn’t really miss any of that, also because we just filled our days with activities, rather than head back to the hotel at 4 or 5pm. However, if you have more time in Yellowstone and are there for holidays and not just sightseeing, you could of course take it easy and make your sightseeing days shorter. I’m sure the kids would love a plunge in the pool (or one of the warm river of Yellowstone) in the afternoon.
My family and I are planning to drive to Yellowstone from South Carolina late April 2019. Do you think everything will be back open during that time? It is my son’s spring break. Thanks.
Hi Leslie, you can check Yellowstone NP official website for information in regards to road closures. From what I see, some roads that are closed in winter are scheduled to reopen mid April (April 19: West Entrance to Madison Junction, Mammoth Hot Springs to Old Faithful, Norris to Canyon Village), but quite some other roads will only reopen in May (you can see all the details on the website).
So it looks like you can visit Yellowstone late April, but plan your itinerary and accommodations based on which roads are open.
Hi thanks for the detailed plan . We are planning to visit during November for a day trip. Please let know if all spots will be open or snow mobile can be used to see all places .
Hello, no, you cannot reach many places in Yellowstone in winter and many roads are closed. However, I don’t know what exactly is accessible and how to travel around. I have no experience with winter travel in Yellowstone and encourage you to contact park authorities for more information.
Thank you so much for this itinerary! Such a help at the park. We modified slightly, but overall great!
Good to hear that, Sydnei.
We are planning a trip next June and are looking into hotels. I was leaning towards the lake Hotel lodges since they are about $100 cheaper per night. Is Canyon lodge worth the extra $$?
Hi Cindy, I really cannot say because we only stayed at the Canyon Lodge and at the Old Faithful Inn. The reason we chose Canyon Lodge was because of its really central location for sightseeing (but of course it’s nice to stay in a newly built accommodation with the best comfort in Yellowstone, so that’s just a bonus). Even if the distance between Canyon and Lake Yellowstone doesn’t look like much, you need to drive through Hayden Valley, which can take a loooong time if bisons are hanging out on the road, and you may need to do it twice each day…
What you can do, is split your stay and spend a few nights in both places. Stay at the Lake for sightseeing in the southern part of the park and then move to Canyon for the northern part.
Thanks for all the info. We are flying into SLC on August 28th (1 night) drive to Tetons (2 nights) at Colter Bay, then 3 nights at OF Snow Lodge, 2 nights West Yellowstone and then return to SLC. We have looked at your 4/5 day itinerary but want to know of any suggestions for the Tetons and if you would have a different itinerary considering our lodging location and days. We will not be doing any strenuous hiking but are fine with mostly level walking.
Thanks in advance.
Hope this is not too close to travel time – we just found you!!!!
Hi Janice, sorry for a late reply. We are just back from a trip and I’m catching up on all the comments.
I really have no time to look into specific itinerary for you, but with 5 nights in Yellowstone I think you can do pretty much everything from this itinerary and possibly even more. Please also check this post for the best things to do in Yellowstone, and I really recommend going for a dip in the Boiling River.
We didn’t do much hiking either, just a few short walks. It’s great to get a bit off the beaten path in Yellowstone as there are more opportunities to see wildlife (maybe pack a bear bell or bear spray just in case – see our Yellowstone packing suggestions).
As for the Tetons, we also stayed 2 nights there. Here you can find our suggestions: Jenny Lake day trip in Grand Teton. Even if you don’t want to hike to Inspiration Point, at least take a boat and walk to the waterfall.
Hope this helps a bit. Enjoy your trip!
Thank you for your post. We are going to Yellowstone in late September for 5 days. This helped tremendously.
Glad to hear that, Allison. Enjoy your trip to Yellowstone!
Going to Yellowstone October 1st the first night we’re in Cody, night 2 lake Yellowstone, night 3-4 West Yellowstone and night 5 mammoth springs then we go down to the Tetons for two nights. What would the best itinerary look like.
Thanks
Hi Kayla, sorry for a late reply. We’ve been traveling a lot and I have no time to look into specific itinerary recommendations for your trip. I’m sure you can make your own itinerary based on all the information provided in this post, just shuffle the days around to fit your accommodation. Try to identify one specific area that makes most sense to visit location-wise for each day, then pick 2-3 highlights that you really don’t want to miss, and then add a few other places if you see that you have more time left. As for the Tetons, here you can find our suggestions on the best way to spend a day in Grand Teton NP.
Enjoy your trip!
Hi Jurga,
Loved your post, Very detailed and helpful.
We are planning to go there in a months time and we have around 3-4 days. Will definitely use your tips and itinerary,.
Do you know how we can plan it better if we enter and leave from Bozeman ( North).
Thanks in advance,
Vinaya
Hi Vinaya, it’s not that much where you enter or leave the park that determines the best itinerary for Yellowstone, but where you are staying during your visit. Are you staying in Bozeman the whole time? Then you’ll be driving a lot. Try to pick one area per day and explore it to the fullest and then visit another area each day. So let’s say one day Mammoth, Tower area, and Lamar Valley; one day Canyon area and Hayden Valley, maybe even up to the Yellowstone Lake; and one day the Old Faithful/ Grand Prismatic areas. Try to focus on the highlights first and then see how much time you have for the rest.
Hope this helps. Have a nice trip!
Thank you so much Jurga . We went there over he log weekend and we did exactly as you mentioned 🙂 .
Landed at Bozeman Friday night . Stayed here over nigh
Day 1 – old faithful and grand prismatic ( stayed night at west yellow stone)
Day 2 – Hayden valley , yellow stone lake and canyon village ( stayed at gardiner)
Day 3 – Lamar valley and mammoth hot springs ( stayed at gardiner)
It was the perfect itinerary without stressing much and we had plenty of time to relax at the same time covering all the must dos. We were two couple with one kid each. So this worked out best for us.
Thanks again !
Vinaya
We landed at Bozeman
Good to hear you had a nice trip and it all worked well, Vinaya. Thanks for sharing your experience – I’m sure it will be helpful to our readers.
Happy travels!
This brings back so many memories! I just love Yellowstone and the tip about not underestimating the time to get around is excellent! We stayed for one full week -taking a side trip as well to the Tetons which I recommend too – and I wished that we booked two separate campgrounds: one in the north and one in the south. It would have been a pain to take the trailer and set up twice (we borrowed a pop up for this trip) but it would have been worth it to save on time. We wished we would have planned an extra day or two to drive the whole length of Beartooth Highway – said to be the most scenic drives in America – on the trip. We drove half of it and it is pick-your-jaw-up-from-the-floor beautiful!
Thanks for sharing your experiences about Yellowstone, Angela. I agree with you about taking your time to explore Yellowstone and staying more centrally. In fact, you could have probably stayed in once campground if you had chosen one in the middle of the park. My research showed that Canyon area is one of the best locations to stay in Yellowstone and I can only confirm this after our trip. Good planning is so important for every trip, isn’t it?
Thank you so much for sharing all of this information! It is super-helpful! I keep getting an error message for the 4-day map. Any way you could send me a link or re-post the map?
Hi Laura, sorry to hear that you can’t see the map. It’s the second time someone says this… Will have to check if I can somehow correct it when I get back to my desk. In the meantime, please try this link, hope it works.
Thank you so much for all this helpful information! We will be spending 6 nights in the park this summer. Our first time there and we are quite excited. I was wondering if you have a guidebook recommendation for the park?
Hi Laura, no, I don’t really have any specific guidebook recommendations. Check this post, there I have more suggestions on what to see and do in Yellowstone; there are some guidebook suggestions for if you want to do some hiking, but not for Yellowstone in general.
Hope this helps. Enjoy your trip!
I MUST start by saying you are an absolute saint for sharing all of this information, and so thoroughly responding to the many questions asked. You have more patience than any blog I have ever read, and I can’t thank you enough for freely sharing your adventures and helping so many others plan theirs!
I just had an amazing adventure in an RV to the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Arches, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, and Zion this past June, and I have been officially bitten by the National Park bug! As a teacher, Summer is the only time I can really travel, but I have already moved onto Summer 2019, and will combine your 4 day itinerary with a few days in Grand Teton as well.
Thank you again for such great information!
Hi Jennifer, thank you for your kind words. Appreciate it. Also, really glad to hear our blog helps you to plan your trips. Enjoy Yellowstone and Grand Teton, both beautiful places to visit.
Happy travels and greetings from Tirol in Austria (our last stop of a 3-week trip visiting some of the most stunning mountain destinations in Europe).
Love your blog and thanks for such an informative post.
We can only see your map for the one day visit. The map underneath the four day itinerary is for the one day.
Any chance we can please see your four day itinerary map?
That’s really strange Jo, I guess it depends on the browser or the computer that you use. Anyway, here is the link to the itinerary map. Hope you can see it this way.
I can, thank you so very much!
Thank you so much for all this helpful information. We will be travelling from South Georgia to Montana on July 31st for 5 days. My son will be proposing to his fiancee while we are there. We will probably only get to spend one day in Yellowstone and who knows that might be when the big moment happens?? Do you have any tips for us?
Hi Renn, please check our 1 day itinerary for our best tips for what to see in Yellowstone if you only have one day.
Thanks for the Post!
We are staying 3 nights at Lake Lodge Cabin and 2 nights at Mammoth Cabin. So day 1 we will get half day and Day 2 and day 3 at Lake lodge and next 2 days at mammoth. So what can I cover on evening of first day and 2 full days when I am at Lake Lodge. Any Suggestions?
Thanks!
Muskan
Hi Muskan, I’d say explore the Yellowstone Lake area on the half day. Then spend one day at the OF/ Grand Prismatic area and one at the Canyon/ Hayden Valley. Once you move North, visit Noris Basin and Mammoth area one day and Tower/ Roosevelt – Lamar Valley on the next. For more details – please check the itineraries in this post.
Thank you for your suggestion ?
Thank you so much for this awesome post! Upon your recommendation, I tried getting reservations at Canyon Lodge and was able to get 3 consecutive nights for the end of July/beginning August. That’s only one month away, but like you said, seems that there are cancellations.
We hope to fly into Bozeman and will spend the first night (which we couldn’t get at Canyon Lodge) in West Yellowstone. We’ll be arriving late morning and I’m wondering whether to come in from the West entrance and head straight south to explore the Old Faithful area before retiring for the night in West Yellowstone (and then I think we’ll be done with the southern area of the park), or rather come in through Gardiner to see the Mammoth Hot Springs area before heading out through the west entrance for the night…
In either case, we hope to get to see both places, (as well as the Canyon area and Hayden Valley once we’re settled in the Canyon Lodge), but I’m just trying to figure out the smartest way to plan our first day. We’ll have to leave very early in the morning for our flight out of Bozeman, so we won’t get to stop anywhere on our way back to the airport.
Thanks again for this super, informative site!
Hi, a lot depends on your flight, i.e. how much time you have the first day, but the most logical route would be to enter through the Northern Entrance near Gardinier I think. You can visit the Mammoth Hot Springs area, maybe get a soak in the Boiling River after the flight. Then if you still have time, visit the Norris Geyser Basin. The nearby Artists Paintpot is nice if you have more time, but not a must. There is also a side road next to Firehole river with swimming possibilities there (although much more difficult to park your car and much busier than the Boiling River). And there is also a nice short walk at Harlequin Lake, close to the West entrance of Yellowstone. This should keep you more than busy the first day.
I’d leave the geysers of the OF area and the Grand Prismatic Spring for one of the last days in the park. It’s really impressive so it’s nice if you can explore it without having to rush, and as it often goes it’s better to keep the best for last. Otherwise you risk not enjoying the other beautiful places just as much because you’ll be comparing with what you already saw.
Have a wonderful trip!
Thank you so much for this detailed, prompt answer! I’m copying this information for my itinerary. You’re awesome! 🙂
This is so informative and perfect for what I’m trying to research for next year. One thing I think my boys would enjoy is a horseback ride. We are shooting for 4 full days (and hopefully staying at Canyon Village). Do you have any advice on where to squeeze that in, or what to remove in lieu of that? Many Thanks! kf
Hi Kirsten, from what I see there are two areas where you can do horse riding inside Yellowstone NP: Canyon and Roosevelt (there are more options outside the park). So if you are staying at the Canyon Lodge, it’s probably best to do it there. It only takes an hour or two, so I think you could do it any day, e.g. in the morning before you even do any other activities.
Hi Jurga:
I don’t know what we read but we made reservations a year ago and we are flying out on July 10th. We thought that by staying in Cody we would be closest to the East entrance of Yellowstone. We are, but we are staying there four days before driving to Jackson to go to Grand Teton for three days. Then we are driving to Billings to fly back to Florida. So each night we would be driving back to the Cody Hotel. Could you possible suggest a 4 day itinerary…we realize that it is about 54 miles to the East entrance and a three hour drive to the North Entrance? Any help would definitely be appreciated. Thanks, Phylis and Rob
Hi Phylis, my first reaction would be to see if you can cancel your hotel in Cody and check if by any chance there are any last-minute cancelations in Yellowstone, or look for a hotel in West Yellowstone (check our Yellowstone accommodation guide for best suggestions). Even if you could stay closer for just one or two nights, it would save you so much driving…
If it’s impossible to change accommodations, then try to make the best of the time that you have. You could try and visit Midway and Lower Geyser basins on day 1, Yellowstone Canyon + Hayden Valley on day 2, Lamar Valley and Mammoth Springs on day 3 (drive to the Northeast entrance straight from Cody for these areas), and maybe keep the closest, Yellowstone Lake area, for the last day (4).
Just keep in mind that you’ll need to cross Hayden Valley and Lamar Valley several times, so count some extra driving time for the bison jams. Whatever you choose to do, you’ll have very long days if commuting from Cody. So maybe try to see the areas that are a must to you first, so that if you get tired after a day or two, you don’t regret not seeing the Old Faithful geyser or the Grand Prismatic Spring… If it gets too much, just take a day ‘off’ – sometimes seeing fewer places is better than rushing from one place to another…
Also, driving in the dark isn’t safe in Yellowstone or Grand Teton areas, as there are many animals on the roads. So try to leave very early in the morning and take advantage of daylight.
Thank you so very much we are heeding your advice and the advice of others and changing our accommodations and itinerary….I so appreciate your time and response…thank you again!
Phylis,
I am interested to see how your trip goes. We are also from Florida and are planning a trip in 2021. I would like to spend about 2 weeks on this trip. We are interested in seeing as much as wee can without rushing to much. We would also like to go in a least busy season (May or September). Will you be flying or driving from Florida?
Thanks,
Christi
Hi Christi, I think the chances are low that Phylis will answer you as these comments don’t work like forums and readers don’t get notification when somebody answers to their reply.
I’d definitely not drive from Florida or you’ll waste all your vacation time on the road. Better plan a nice trip itinerary around Yellowstone and fly to the airport that makes most sense for that itinerary. There are airports in Jackson, WY; Bozeman, MT; also Salt Lake City, UT is doable from Yellowstone… Hope this helps.
This is so helpful! I love the 4 day itinerary you posted. We are planning to fly into SLC and drive to Yellowstone that same day.
Day 1 – Fly to SLC/Drive to Yellowstone for lodging
Day 2/3/4 – Yellowstone
Day 5 – Yellowstone – drive to jackson late afternoon
Day 6/7 – Jackson/Grand Tetons
Day 8 – Morning – jackson Drive to SLC in afternoon
Day 9 – Fly home
Based on that how would you adjust your 4 day itinerary or can I follow it the way it is? This is such great infromation!
Hi Kathleen, use this itinerary just as suggestion, not exactly as it is :). Depending on where you stay, how the weather or your mood is, it might make more sense to shuffle the days around a bit. We did Lewis Falls, West Thumb Basin, Yellowstone Lake, Storm Point hike, Mud Volcano area, and Hayden Valley on day 1 because we were arriving from Jackson that morning. So in your case it might be better to leave this area for the last day, so that you can continue to Grand Teton afterwards, and save some driving.
P.S. In case you didn’t see it, we just published a blog post about our day in Grand Teton NP – visiting Jenny Lake and hiking in that area. Check it out!
Hello,
I’m just starting to research Yellowstone! I liike ur ideas on the 4 day! What enterence did you guys go in and where did you stay thanks
Hi Elizabeth, we arrived in Yellowstone from the South (Grand Teton) and then left the same way after our visit. If interested, here you can find our US trip itinerary. Here you can also read more about our short visit to Grand Teton.
As for accommodation, we stayed inside the park, at the Canyon Lodge and also at the Old Faithful Inn. You have to either book a year in advance if traveling in high season or be lucky that someone cancels. Here you can find more tips on the best places to stay in and near Yellowstone.
Check also this post for some of our favourite things to do in Yellowstone.
Hi there-
We are headed west later this month! So excited. Thank you for this useful guide. There’s so much to see that it is hard to prioritize.
Would love your take on the following itinerary:
Day 1: Flight to Denver – land late, stay near airport
Day 2: Drive to Thermopolis, WY – dip in the hot springs there
Day 3: Drive to Cody – go to the rodeo!
Day 4: Get up super early, drive into park to visit Grand Canyon area, Artists Point, Uncle Tom’s Trail, Lower Falls. Back to Lake stay in Lake Lodge. (Too much driving??)
Day 5: Deciding on which direction to go here. Maybe Make it up to Mammoth HS and your Day 2 itinerary (of 3-day). We need to make our way back to stay at OF Inn and for dinner at 7:30.
Day 6: Explore Geyser Loop Trail and other Geysers in that area. Late day drive to Grand Teton. Stay in Signal Mountain Lodge
Day 7 – Jenny Lake, Inspiration Point. Horseback ride with cookout for dinner. Continued stay in SML
Day 8 – Open day – possible white water rafting on Snake River. Or one day to just chill. Dinner in Jackson. Stay in SML again- or should we stay in Jackson?
Day 9 – Long drive headed back. Stay in Cheyenne, WY
Day 10 – last leg to Denver and fly home.
Any pointers? I know you aren’t too keen on Grand Teton, but I thought I might be done with the crowds and cars by the end and want to get away. Thanks for your feedback!
Hi Elle, my first impression is that it’s a lot of driving, almost every day. But I know that we also do that on some trips, trying to make the best of the time we have. I assume your flights and accommodations are already set? Otherwise you could consider flying to Jackson or Bozeman instead and try to stay a bit longer in Yellowstone. Maybe there are good flights from Denver? It would save you all those driving days.
Anyway, back to Yellowstone:
Day4 – if you get up very early and don’t encounter bad traffic and too many bison jams in Hayden valley, it should be feasible. You probably won’t have much time to hike in the Canyon area, but you should be able to see the main viewpoints. It will be a very long day… Can’t you change your hotel to Canyon Lodge instead of the Lake? It would make so much more sense, also for the next day if you want to go North.
Day5 – Again, it’s a far drive to Mammoth area from Yellowstone Lake. Doable, but you’ll spend lots of time in the car instead of sightseeing. If you are tired of too much driving by that point, you could explore Southern parts of the park instead. Maybe go up to Norris Basin and Grand Prismatic area and make your way back to OF in time for dinner.
Day6 – See all the geysers near the OF and time permitting maybe some other areas nearby that you didn’t see the previous day.
Day 7 – sounds about right 😉
Day 8 – Depends on what you like to do. There isn’t that much to do at the Signal Mountain Lodge, but there is a lake, so if you like water activities and a quiet day doing nothing, then you could stay there. Otherwise if you prefer more action and bigger choice of activities, then Jackson is a better place for that. Or maybe you can add a day extra in Yellowstone instead, either at the Canyon or OF – that would give you more relaxed time to get to the Northern part of the park. But I know that finding accommodations inside the park isn’t easy. Alternatively, you could stay in West Yellowstone (check our accommodation guide). But then again, I don’t know what you already booked and how much flexibility you have.
It’s not that we aren’t keen on Grand Teton, but after Yellowstone (and many other beautiful mountains we had seen all over the world) it just didn’t impress us as much as we expected. There are beautiful areas and the trip on Jenny Lake with a hike to the Inspiration Point is nice to do. But in no way is it quieter than Yellowstone – make sure you get there early or you don’t even find a parking spot for your car. If you want to escape the crowds, then rent a kayak on one of the lakes of Grand Teton. Or spend more time in Yellowstone and go to the Lamar Valley or make some short hikes – there are hardly any people doing that and most of the time you’re pretty much alone.
In the end, it’s your vacation and you have to feel good about it. If you start to feel overwhelmed with driving, then try to slow down; it’s better to see fewer places and enjoy them than just tick boxes to say you’ve done it all. Have a great trip!
Thank you! The itinerary was borne out of doing this piecemeal over a year with what reservations were available. Your response inspired me to take a second look and we were able to book a pretty cheap flight to Bozeman on Day 1! That gives us two whole more days in Yellowstone. Not only that, but I was able to get rooms at the Canyon Lodge for those nights. So lucky with only 3 weeks until we go! Now we can spend come from the north and can really explore. D1 – Mammoth Hot Springs and Lamar Valley, D2- Canyon area to Norris Basin. D3 Hayden Valley to Yellowstone Lake. Stay in Lake Lodge. D4 Scoot over to West Thumb Basin and then start exploring all the geysers in that area. Stay in OF. D5 Whatever we didn’t get to in that region and then go south. We now have two nights at Grand Teton and one in Jackson which now seems just right. Thanks for this. I’ll let you know how it worked out!
Wow, that’s really well done, Elle. Your itinerary looks completely different now. I also heard that often Yellowstone accommodations free up as the date gets closer as many people who booked over a year ago cannot come for some reason and cancel last minute. So sometimes it can really work out well. Lucky for you! The way it looks now you’ll have plenty of time to explore Yellowstone to the fullest without having to rush. You may even have the time for a boat ride on the lake or a scenic floating trip, or just a really long soak in the Boiling River…
Enjoy your trip! And if you have a minute to come back and share your experience here, it would be great! I know that many people read not just our blog posts, but also all the comments when planning their trips, so it may help others who are thinking of making a similar trip.
PS Your questions about Grand Teton inspired me to finally write about our experience there. So I’m working on a new blog post as we speak.
Update: here you can read about our day in Grand Teton: Jenny Lake boat ride and hike to Hidden Falls, Inspiration Point, and Cascade Canyon.
Jurga, what great information, thank you for sharing! We are flying into Bozeman and spending two nights in MHS, then driving down to Old Faithful Inn for two more nights, then Signal Mountain Lodge for the last two nights, flying out of JH the next day.
Do you have any suggestions on how to maximize and enjoy our time in each location? It sounds so wonderful! We are arriving in Bozeman on June 14, so any suggestions for clothing, etc., are also much appreciated! Thanks!
Hi Sue, sounds like a nice trip! I’d suggest to stay in Yellowstone as long as you can. So if you have 2 days at the Signal Mount Lodge, maybe stay in Yellowstone till late afternoon and only then drive there. In Grand Teton you can go on a boat ride to the other side of Jenny Lake, make a hike to the Inspiration Point (and possibly further), and then either hike or take a boat back.
As for Yellowstone itself, when you are in Mammoth, try to see that side of the park first, go for a swim in the Boiling River, make sure to drive to Lamar Valley. Then when you move down towards OF, you can visit the Canyon Area and the Hayden Valley from there. And maybe leave the Yellowstone Lake area for the last day, on your way to Grand Teton. I guess a lot depends on how much time you spend at each place…
For some more ideas on what to see in Yellowstone, check this post: best things to do in Yellowstone with kids (but also for adults of course).
As for clothing, here you can find our Yellowstone summer packing list. June is probably much colder than what we had in July, so just to be on the safe side make sure you have a sweater and a rain jacket as well.
Have a nice trip!
There are so many great ideas in this post! Thank you for taking the time to write them up.
Many people just stop to see Old Faithful, but to us that was such a small part of the enjoyment in Yellowstone National Park. We especially loved hiking around the falls and the Upper Geyser Basin, as well as Mammoth Hot Springs.
Thank you for the great iterary suggestions!
We will be coming to Yellowstone during the 2018 Labor Day weekend.
I was wondering if you could help me with the best route when pulling a 30 foot travel trailer. We will be coming from Custer State Park in South Dakota and will be staying at Fishing Bridge.
We are thinking of entering the park through the north entrance. Would you advise this? I am concerned about the road grades and tight turns on this route. Would this be our best choice? We have a limited amount of days and the South entrance seems like a better route but will take an additional day of travel to reach.
I would appreciate any suggestions.
Thank you!
Hi Lori, unfortunately I really can’t tell you anything about driving in Yellowstone with a trailer. None of the roads struck as being very steep or difficult to drive, but then we were driving in a minivan and not a trailer. Maybe check the official Yellowstone website for the road information. If they don’t say that it’s forbidden, then it’s probably ok.
Hi Jurga,
We are planning a family vacation to Yellowstone from June 22 to June 30. We are driving an RV and parking for 3 days in an RV park right outside the east entrance and then moving to the west entrance for a few days and then back to the east for our final 3 days. We are renting a car from Cody, WY and will be driving that through the park. We are trying to decide the best hikes and sights to see while making the most of our time. We are planning to drive up to Lewis and Clark Caverns one day and White Water rafting one day. What would be your suggestions.
Thanks
Hi Daisy, in more than a week you can see much more of Yellowstone of course. Please check this post for more ideas on what to do, hikes to take, etc. – best things to see and do in Yellowstone with kids (but it really applies to everyone, not just families with kids of course, and I listed some hikes there as well).
Hello. I am traveling from NC, where do we fly into? You said it’s about a 3 hour ride, so do you usually drive right to the hotel? Did you stay at the Canyon Lodge for the first 3 nights and the Old Faithful Inn the last night?
Thank you for your help.
Hi Nadine, the closest airport to Yellowstone is probably in Jackson (JAC) or Bozeman (BZN) which seems to have more flights. From Bozeman to the Northern gates of Yellowstone is just 1,5hrs drive. Afterwards, it depends on where you are staying. Check Google Maps for driving distances and times.
Ans yes, we stayed at the Canyon Lodge and also one night at the Old Faithful Inn.
Hope this helps
This is an awesome post! My girlfriend and I planned a last minute trip to Yellowstone/Grand Teton/Jackson Hole from May 23-28. We are flying into Salt Lake City, and unfortunately have to make the long drive back to fly out. Do you have any suggestions as to how to best allocate our time between all three places? We are looking to spend the most time in Yellowstone. Thanks.
Hi Dylan, depending on your flight times here’s what I’d suggest. On the first day (23/5) drive to Jackson Hole area (it’s some 5hrs drive from SLC) and stay there. Then the next 3 full days (24-26/5) you could visit Yellowstone (see Yellowstone accommodation guide here). The next day (27/5) you could come back to visit Grand Teton. The most popular day trip there is taking a boat on Jenny Lake and then hiking to the Inspiration Point. It’s a half day trip, so you could afterwards drive to Salt Lake City for your flight out the next day. There is plenty to see and do in Salt Lake City to fill a few hours of your time. If your flight is late on the last day you could opt to spend a bit more time in Yellowstone or Grand Teton and then drive straight to SLC from there. Hopefully this gives you some ideas on how to plan your time in the area. Enjoy your trip!
Thanks for the great itinerary and tips. Appreciated.
We’re planning a mid-Sept 2018 trip to Yellowstone, arriving in Salt Lake City, then onto Grand Teton NP( 1 day) – then 4 days in Yellowstone NP and then leave from Billings MT / Bozeman MT. So, starting south and then traveling north till departure airport.
This allows us to avoid a long drive back to Salt Lake City for the return.
With this in mind, would you still recommend staying in Canyon Lodge area (3 nights) and Old Faithful area (1 night), if we want to follow your 4-day itinerary? Should we make any changes to your 4-day itinerary?
Thanks in advance.
Hi Gary, yes, you can use pretty much the same itinerary as we did, maybe just switch some days around to better fit your accommodations. You could start at the OF (if you find accommodation, alternatively stay at West Yellowstone for that area) and then move to the Canyon area (again, assuming you can find accommodation there, otherwise West Yellowstone or Mammoth area might be good alternatives), then finally go North to Billings. Depending on your flight time, it might be best to stay in Billings the last night – it will definitely be cheaper than staying in Yellowstone, and you can leave Tower/ Mount Washburn/ Lemar Valley area for this last day.
Please also check our Yellowstone accommodation guide for suggestions on where to stay if Canyon Lodge and the OF turn out to be fully booked.
Thanks for the feedback. Appreciated !
UPDATE: We’ve decided to make it a round trip from SLC.
Our itinerary currently –
Day 1 – From SLC, drive to Grand Teton, Reach late afternoon/evening. Stay in Grand Teton. NP.
Day 2 – Jenny Lake and Inspiration Point. Stay in same place.
Day 3 – Drive into Yellowstone NP. Staying 3 nights in Canyon Lodge.
Day 6 – Staying in West Yellowstone. This is so that I could save some time on my return drive to SLC.
Sightseeing Itinerary is open as of now for days 3,4,5,6. Thinking of following your 4-day itinerary suggestions.
Question –
1. For Day 1 and 2, I’m staying in Moran,WY, around two hours from OF, but I’ve Grant Village accommodation availability also on Day 2. Considering the relatively short distance to OF from Moran and no need to check out, should I ignore Grant Village for Day 2? Or will traffic be bad that I’d be better off staying in Grant Village on Day 2? Part of the appeal is that the accommodation option(Signal Mountain) is better in Moran compared to Grant.
Any suggestions/comments will be appreciated. Thanks.
Hi Gary, this looks ok to me. One thing – you really don’t need the whole day for Jenny Lake and Inspiration Point. Unless you do some other hiking or plan to do something else, or are ok with a very relaxed day. We also stayed 2 nights at Signal Hill and felt that we had too much time with not much to do. So maybe prepare another hike or something else (kayaking?) to keep yourself busy. OR indeed drive to Yellowstone in the afternoon. If you do the Jenny Lake trip early, you’ll have the whole afternoon free. So I would even say that you could go all the way up to the Canyon Lodge and stay there 4 nights instead of 3, or try if you can get 1 night at the Old Faithful (this is all based on availability of course). I don’t assume traffic will be that bad (even in July it was ok). You may have some bison jam in the Hayden Valley though, so count some extra time for that. All in all, if you can get out of Grand Teton by 2-3PM I think you can easily get to the OF or Canyon area that same day.
This post is immensely helpful!! Thanks so much – We’re planning a trip mid to late June – and yes, I’m unfortunately doing the late planning and haven’t booked lodging yet. Hoping to get something via airbnb if possible at this late date. Is staying outside the park doable? We are driving up from Salt Lake City and planned to work our way up from Grand Teton (maybe just an afternoon because we want to devote most of our time to Yellowstone) and Yellowstone and fly out of Bozeman MT, We have 4 1/2 days total for sightseeing and your itinerary is perfect so I’m definitely going to use it for our planning purposes. So, since we’re driving from SLC, we had planned to stop at Teton first and spend the night in Jackson. From there I suppose we will work our way up and stay somewhere near the west entrance before finally ending up the last night at the north entrance.. Does that sound reasonable?
thanks Lisa!!
Yes, Lisa, it should be doable. Please also check my guide to Yellowstone accommodation for the best suggestions on where to stay near the park.
In Grand Teton you could just take a boat on Jenny Lake and maybe hike to Inspiration Point from there – that’s about half a day indeed. You could try and look for accommodation closer to Yellowstone (Grand Teton area) instead of driving back to Jackson for that one night, but indeed it’s a bit last minute.
Hi jurga,
I saw your itinerary and we are planning to go on may 28,29,30 just for long weekend trip. can you suggest any hotels and do we need to rent a car or else can i fly there, and is there any local transportation from one place to another to travel.
As we are planning to go in may, is it a good time to go to see all types of animals and lakes and other stuff.
Hi Manu, Yellowstone is all about nature, so yes, any time is good to see the animals and stunning landscapes. Keep in mind that it’s a huge national park so indeed you do need a car to get around (unless you join a tour). It’s actually really last minute for hotel bookings for May, but it’s not yet high season, so I guess you’ll be able to find something. Check this post for all Yellowstone accommodation suggestions.
The closest airport as far as I know is in Jackson Hole and you can rent a car from there. It takes another 2-3hrs to drive to Yellowstone through Grand Teton (I assume that road is open end of May, but maybe best to check ahead).
If you don’t know where to start with all the preparations for this trip, it might be well worth looking into booking a tour.
Hope this helps. If I were you, I’d start making the arrangements asap.
We have planned our trip for July this summer, I have been reading as many blogs as I can but yours is the first to be so helpful about an itinerary, thank you. I booked reservations in West Yellowstone for the week but wondered if we should split the week and stay some of it near the north gate. I think we are planning to fly in and out of Bozeman Mt. My basic plan because it is high season is get up early drive to farthest point of the days itinerary and work backwards ( I am hoping this alleviates some traffic and crowd congestion. Also did you do any hiking, all I keep reading about is bears. Again thank you for the info, it’s greatly appreciated.
Hi Nancy and thanks a lot for your feedback. I think West Yellowstone is in general one of the best places to stay near Yellowstone. Mammoth Springs area might be indeed a bit easier for the Northern part of the park and maybe also for Lamar Valley. Here you can find more information and tips for Yellowstone accommodation.
It’s a good idea to start early in the morning. I’d go to the most popular places first and do the quieter areas and hiking during the day.
As for hiking, we did some hiking and didn’t run into any bears. But we are hiking with three kids, so make plenty of noise to scare all the wildlife away :). You may want to buy a bear spray and a bear bell if you plan to do longer hikes where fewer people come. You can also rent a bear spray in the park (just two locations), but it’s a hassle and not that cheap. Here you can find more tips for what to pack for Yellowstone.
Here you can find some of the hikes we did and other tips for places to visit in Yellowstone. It’s a guide to exploring Yellowstone with kids, but most places and hikes will appeal to everyone.
Hope this helps. Have a great time in Yellowstone!
Hello Jurga, I very much appreciate the time you have invested in posting your experiences and the itineraries. My daughter and I are planning a trip to Yellowstone (West Entrance) over Columbus Day weekend. The trip is 2.5 days. Arrive Sat., 10/11 Bozeman @ 12:15 p.m., drive to Yellowstone. I want to follow your 2 day itinerary (Old Faithful, Grand Prismatic Springs, Lamar Valley, Monmouth Springs, etc.). Our return trip is Tuesday morning 10/13 at 8:30 a.m. My questions are: 1. Lodging – where do I stay? Do we travel to a central location to accomplish the itinerary? Or do we spend one night in two different hotels? Also would you suggest I travel to Bozeman on MOnday night to catch the early flight on Tuesday? We could have a full day on Monday in the park and head to the airport at 5 or 6 pm. Also we can do the trip ourselves or would you recommend a tour?
Hi Anna, that’s a really short trip or something isn’t correct with your days. Maybe you meant 10/10 Saturday?
Anyway, if you have 2.5 days in Yellowstone, you can indeed best follow our 2-day itinerary as it will bring you to all the main highlights. And I think you better opt for a self-drive trip as it will not be easy to find a tour that fits your schedule exactly. Also because mid-October is already the end of the season in Yellowstone.
Keep in mind that you probably won’t be able to do that much on day 1 of your trip – by the time you get your rental car and drive to Yellowstone, it will be quite late already. If you stay in Gardiner, maybe you could visit Mammoth Hot Springs on your first day.
Also, keep in mind that the days are shorter in October, so plan your days well. Also, make sure to check the most up-to-date information about the road conditions. In principle, everything is still open at that time of the year, but I see that there are some long-term road closures between Tower Junction and Canyon and between Canyon and Yellowstone Lake. That makes some things a bit more complicated so you’ll have to change your itinerary accordingly.
If you are coming and departing from Bozeman, you may want to simply stay in either West Yellowstone or Gardiner for 2 nights and head back to Bozeman on the last evening. Or you can stay in Gardiner and West Yellowstone (1 night each), and then Bozeman at the end. In any case, I would definitely drive back to Bozeman for the last night and stay close to the airport. Your flight is really early and it will be much more relaxing that way. Here you can find the best deals for Bozeman accommodation. And check out this Holiday Inn just next to the airport; from what I understand they have a free shuttle to the airport and you could probably return your rental car earlier if you want to.
Hope this helps. Dress warm and enjoy your trip!
Thank you for the itineraries, we will be going in mid September and plan to spend three days there.
We wil also be going to Grand Teton and Jackson Hole.
Have a great time in Yellowstone, Rebekah! In Grand Teton take a bot on Jenny Lake (go early) and you can make a nice hike to Inspiration Point (or even a bit further) on the other side of the lake. It makes for a nice day trip.
Thank you for the advise.
I am wondering what your thoughts are about taking tours in Yellowstone? I want to see all the things you mentioned, but curious if it’s best to do it on our own or book something.
Thanks again
I have mixed feelings with tours, Rebekah. Some are great, some – less. In general, our rule is to take tours to places that you can’t visit on your own (boat trips, activities like glacier hiking, winter tours where driving would be too dangerous, etc). You can easily visit Yellowstone on your own and if you have three days, you can see a lot. On the other hand, I know that many people are averse to planning their own trip and they would be stressed the whole time, so the individual trip would be a nightmare for people like that. Or if you go to a place where you only have one day and you want to make the very best of it, then taking a tour might be the best solution as you can benefit of all the experience and knowledge of the tour guides.
It’s really up to you to decide what works best for you, but once again – in three days you can see a lot in Yellowstone also on your own. Thus these itinerary suggestions – to make sure you see the very best of Yellowstone in the time that you have.
Thank you for the feedback, I think we will just do it on our own, that way we can stop when we want and for how long we want. My husband isn’t a hiker, so we won’t be doing any hiking, although I would love to.
Thanks again for the feedback.
Hello I have one more question, we are staying in West Yellowstone. I’m wondering if that will be a good place to stay and still be able to do all the things in 3 days, or will that be too much driving?
Hi Rebekah, I think that West Yellowstone is one of the best places to stay at for exploring Yellowstone outside the park. It’s pretty central to everything, so if you plan well and start your day early you should be able to see and do a lot. No matter where you stay, there is always quite some driving involved as Yellowstone is really big. So try to concentrate on one or two areas every day.
Hi there – this is really helpful…thanks! I am travelling to the area with my teenage son from the 25th May – 4th June but we’re flying to and from Denver (from England) and hiring an RV…so we probably have about 5 days in Grand Teton & YNP. My son is really keen to visit Shoshone National Forest too (he loves the video game Firewatch). Any suggestions on must-see places and hikes would be fabulous.
At the moment we are thinking of driving from Denver via Dubois into Shoshone and then over to Grand Teton and up to Yellowsone…then back via the Red Desert to Denver…sound reasonable?
Hi Colin, I have to admit that I don’t know these places at all, so I’m afraid I can’t help you. We also flew to Denver (and out of Salt Lake City), but made a very different trip. Here you can find our American trip itinerary, maybe you’ll find some inspiration in there (but then again, very different route).
Jurga
We are hoping to visit Yellowstone this next Summer. Relieved to find your suggestions.
We’re looking at the 4 day.
Regarding housing….we’ve been looking at Airbnb in Cody.
How difficult or is it feasible to base out of Cody and accomplish your itinerary?
Or should we base somewhere else?
Thanks,
Doug
Hi Doug, you could stay in Cody just before and/or after visiting Yellowstone, but it’s really too far to commute every day. Yellowstone is huge and in summer it’s really busy in the park, so you will quickly get frustrated having to spend so much time in the car. Here you can find our suggestions for the best accommodation options in and near Yellowstone NP. Keep in mind that most places inside the park will probably already be booked, the best alternative in that case is West Yellowstone.
Hi! First of all thank you for taking the time to research and post this. It is saving me so much time and headache.
I have a question on getting into the park. What are the pass requirements? Do you buy a day pass each day or is there a week pass? Where do you have to present your pass? Just once to get inside then you are good till you leave? Any info you have about this would be so very helpful. Thank you again!
Hi Amie, you can buy the pass at any entrance gate to the park. That’s where they check them when re-entering too. It’s usually valid for a week, per car, for all people in it. You can enter and leave as many times as you want.
Tip: If you are visiting more National Parks in one year, consider buying a yearly pass for all parks – it’s just 80USD for the whole family (in one car) all parks, valid the whole year. You can buy this pass at any entrance station of any national park, no need to buy in advance.
Here you can find more info about Yellowstone park pass and here about America The Beautiful Pass (annual pass for all parks).
Thank you for this itineray suggestion! We plan to visit Yellowstone with kids and your post weel resume the highlights. This plan will help us to organize our days… Thank you so much!
Good to hear that, Isabelle. Enjoy your trip to Yellowstone.
Absolutely! 🙂
Hi this is a great itinerary. We are planning on visiting Yellowstone next September. Can you please let me know where you stayed? Was it all at the same place?
Hi Lynda, we stayed at the Canyon Lodge (3 nights) and at Old Faithful Inn (1 night). Here you can find all information in regards to the best Yellowstone accommodation options.
Great tips! I grew up not too far from Yellowstone, but sadly never spent nearly enough time there. I definitely hope to visit again next time I go home!
It’s sadly often the case with places close to us. The new and the unknown of the far places is somehow often more appealing, isn’t it? I once wrote a post about it: Why in the world do you have to travel so far! 😉
We did the exact same thing as you suggested, spending 4 days in Yellowstone. So agree with not packing too much in a day because you will have moments of unexpected amazing encounters. It is by far my favorite National Park because of the incredible diversity you get to see in the park. Beautiful photos 🙂
Thank you, Richa. It’s one of my favourite National Parks too – every part of Yellowstone is unique in its own way.
This post is insanely useful. Thanks for providing multiple itineraries. Taking the time to visit the more remote areas in the park is worth it
Absolutely, Carol! The main landmarks are not to be missed of course, but we really loved going a bit off the beaten path – you are completely on your own then and it’s a totally different way to experience Yellowstone.
Your Guide is top notch and the photography .. just wow !!!
I’ve never been .. Yosemite I have but not here! Now I really wanna go !
I went to Yellowstone a long time ago with my family but I don’t remember much. Guess it’s time to go again! This was definitely helpful!
Love your pictures! Great idea to make custom maps too. Will pin for a later visit ❤️
Yellowstone is such a goal in 2018! I love your images
Your photos are unreal! Love them!
Thank you.
Loved your tips! We are retired couple traveling to Yellowstone in fall, want to see “color”. Like getting off beaten path & seeing little known spots. Time is not an issue but easy accessibility is. (husband not a big walker) Any area you didn’t get to but wish you had or where would you have allowed more time?
Hi Marcia, one place I wish we had more time was the Lamar Valley. For the rest, if you don’t like much walking, maybe spend more time by Yellowstone Lake. You can take boat trips from there as well, or some short walks.
One place we didn’t visit and many people say is nice to see is Grizzly and Wolf discovery center in West Yellowstone (outside the park), so maybe something if you have more time. I have some info about it in best things to do in Yellowstone article.
Enjoy your trip.
Very useful, clear and detailed post. Thanks for this. We are headed to SFO next summer, still figuring what else to do from there for a week to 10 days.
Yellowstone is always a good idea! If you go that way, definitely plan at least 3 days in the park.