Hi there - I am planning a July 2025 vacation to Yellowstone for my family of 5 which includes me, my husband, 18 yo son, 16 yo daughter, 10 yo son.

Our itinerary so far looks like this:
July 2: Fly into Bozeman ( arriving around noon ) Explore Bozeman, eat. Stay in Bozeman or drive to Big Sky?
July 3: Whitewater rafting trip out of Big Sky. Explore Big Sky. Rodeo in West Yellowstone in evening Stay in Big Sky or stay in w.yellowstone?
July 4: Drive to Yellowstone, stay at Canyon Lodge in Yellowstone
July 5: explore, stay at Canyon Lodge in Yellowstone
July 6: explore, stay at Canyon Lodge in Yellowstone
July 7: Drive to Grand Tetons. Hotel in Jackson
July 8: Grand Tetons. Hotel in Jackson
July 9: Fly home

Questions:

• I'm having a hard time deciding where to stay our first two nights. I want to check out Bozeman but do I want to actually sleep in Bozeman? How much time do I need there? Should we explore, have a meal and then head to Big Sky?
• if I want to do the Rodeo in West Yellowstone on night #2, should I just stay in W.Yellowstone the second night? It's kind of a lot of moving around but also backtracking to head back to Big Sky after the rodeo.
• Lastly, my husband and 18 year old son would like to find an opportunity to fly fish. They would want a a few hours/half day with a guide. Where would this fit into our itinerary? Should I try for this in yellowstone park?

thank you in advance for your insight!

Absolutely stay in West yellowstone after the rodeo, you want to be in a good spot to get into the park. Also, you really don't want to drive after dark if you can avoid it--too many large animals on the road at night. West has plenty of decent lodging. I would head to Big Sky instead of a night in Bozeman and a night in Big Sky, but that's me.

Fly fishing is incredible in that part of the world--I grew up fishing those streams. Google guides in West Yellowstone or Island Park. Yellowstone has amazing rivers but the Henrys Fork is nearby and it is amazing as well.

I hope you already have the reservations in Yellowstone--you have to make those a year out, generally. If you click on my user name, you will find a trip report for young kids in Yellowstone but we saw most of the things you will want to see. Go the park's web page at nps.gov and find the summer newsletter--it will have all the info on road construction and what ranger talks are available when. (it might be a little early for the summer news paper now, but check it out in June before you go)

My son and I went to Yellowstone & Grand Teton last summer. Here is our Trip report
yk+tween last-minute trip to Teton/Yellowstone, August 2024 (1 week)

For Fly Fishing, check out snake River in Grand Teton. We did a float trip down Snake River but I know many outfitters also offer fly fishing trips.

Also, cannot stress the importance of avoiding driving at night. When we were there, the park ranger reported someone hit and killed a bufflo in the dark one night. You have up to about 30 minutes after sunset when it's still light enough.

Bozeman v. Big Sky: it depends on what you want to do. Big Sky is small and restaurants, shopping, etc are very limited. There isn’t a lot to do beyond hiking.

Bozeman has a vibrant downtown, a lot of great restaurants, and the Museum of the Rockies (incredible dinosaur exhibits; the T. rex at the Natural History Museum was found in MT).

If you stay in Bozeman, I would stay downtown so you can walk everywhere. Hotels are $$$ in the summer.

I went last summer and did this exact trip!! I found West Yellowstone to be perfect for easy and early access into the park - highly recommend. But if you are looking for a Montana experience first have you considered a ranch? I stayed at the 320 guest ranch which was very basic and nice. We were able to drive into Big Sky if we wanted to and went white water rafting. On the ranch itself we took fly fishing lessons and went horseback riding which were a ton of fun. There are also lots of guides to go fishing if you wanted. We toured Helena and Bozeman a bit before heading to the ranch and found it a nice mix. We then moved on to West Yellowstone for park days and did the rodeo while we were there - small but fun! Then drove through the park to the tetons!! Have a great time!

I would want to wake up in Big Sky for the rafting trip out of Big Sky.
What would be the point of returning to Big Sky after the rodeo in West Yellowstone?
From Big Sky you would go through West Yellowstone to get to Canyon Village.