Cody or West Yellowstone?
 

Hi,
We are headed to Yellowstone mid July. I have a vegetarian husband and two girls 8 and 10. We would llike to have a base in either West Yellowstone or Cody. Any recommendations on where to stay? Other than going into the park we would also like to do a float trip and maybe horseback ride. Recommendations on these would be great too.
Thanks.

Why not stay in the park and save a lot of driving? You'll drive enough from within the park.

In fact, if you're going to Yellowstone and Grand Tetons (highly recommended) most on this board will recommend two bases in Yellowstone and one in GT.

I don't know what your interests are but wildlife is usually most active early and late and driving an hour or two will put a crimp in your day.

Also, I haven't checked the NPS web site but have they released their road construction schedule for this summer? You'll want to plan around that where possible.

It's quite possible that all inpark lodging is booked but that changes as you get closer to the travel date. People book a year in advance on spec and then begin to cancel a couple of months out.

I did a quick check.

West Yellowstone to Old Faithful is 45 minutes and from Cody it's 2 hours. The times are about the same to the Canyon area.

Are there cabins in the park or just hotel rooms? I'm just starting to look. Thanks.

Cody is my vote if you don't find lodging in park...you can fly directly into Cody (Delta or United higher fares and smaller planes) or Billings (competitive fares and bigger jets)is a 2 hour boring drive (will see antelope if you keep your eyes open and not too many cars..watch your speed limit tho...police like tourists) from the north to Cody...

Cody has a Walmart Superstore & Walgreens for provisions, nice hotels AmericINN is one I like with indoor pool, (there is a new all suite hotel being built toward Walmart too..forgot name)decent am continental breakfast, lots of little shops on the main street, cowboy shows and you can book float trips and horses.

Personally we liked staying in the Tetons better as a base..acomodations seemed better run, food better and the lodges seemed to have fewer people.

Jackson Lodge was our favorite with the giant viewing windows of the Tetons, some rooms in the lodge: mostly efficiency cabins around the lodge and lots of wildlife and walks in the meadow. Day drives in Yellowstone were easy or we could drive south into JAckson & JAckson Hole.

One thing to be aware of, rental cars are very expensive if you do a one way...we found flying into Billings or Cody, p/u rental, drive to Cody stay 1st night hotel and provisions,cooler, sandwich/picnic/ campfire and drinks stuff
2nd day drive into Yellowstone stya at Yellowstone (we stayed at Old Fathful,, madhosue with kids and people everywhere)
3rd day drive to Tetons base at JAckson Lodge cotages or
4th day drive to JAckson either base at JAckson (JAckson Hole)Snake River Lodge is very nice.
Then we loped back to Cody to avoid rental car fes.

There are some ranches with cottages also on the Cody side.

http://www.flyyra.com/

http://www.yellowstonenationalparklodges.com/

http://www.nationalparkreservations....FckZQgodozn3nw

http://www.grand.teton.national-park.com/map.htm

Cody is a bit far to access Y-stone every day, with a fairly long drive to get to a junction where the road splits. West Y-stone is right on the border of the park and sets up nicely to do loop drives. I'd definitely pick West if seeing Y-stone is your main goal.

<b>Other than going into the park we would also like to do a float trip and maybe horseback ride.</b>

I'd go to the Jackson area (Tetons, south of Y-Stone) for a float trip on the Snake River, the scenery is incredible here for a float compared to, say, Madison near West Y-stone, with the majestic Grand Tetons as a backdrop. I think Jackson/Tetons NP is a better base than Cody for visiting Yellowstone too.

You can find good horseback riding in most all of these locations, including inside the park (which is probably what I'd choose): http://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/horseride.htm

I agree to stay in the park. There are lots of options.

While I like Cody more than West Yellowstone, it is, as other have said, a lot of driving if you go into a different area of YNP everyday.
Staying in West Yellowstone for you time in YNP and then shifting you base to GTNP, say one of the lodges on Jackson Lake makes a lot of sense.

My family and I visited Yellowstone and Grand Teton NPs in June 2010. Here's a link to my trip report: http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...d-gorgeous.cfm

We stayed in cabins at Old Faithful, Canyon, and Mammoth Hot Springs. As others have mentioned, call daily to see if anything opens up for your travel dates. It's really worth staying in the park.

If you are also planning to visit Grand Teton National Park on this trip, Triangle X Ranch does a really nice float trip down the Snake River. www.trianglex.com

Lee Ann

If staying inside the park is not an option then Weat Yellowstone is a matter of minutes to the main entrance. the Three Bears Lodge is a good accommodation choice and it has a restaurant. There did not seem to be a high number of other eating establishments though

There are lodge/inn rooms, semi-detached back-to-back cabins. Some with private bathroom and others with shared community bathrooms.

Obviously, the price dictates what you get.

As I wrote above. Call, call, call.

We stayed at Old Faithful, Canyon and Signal Mountain in Grand Tetons.

Thanks so much for the great advice. I am now going to see where we can stay in the park for at least a few days. Also, is it worth spending the whole time in Yellowstone or also trying to do Jackson Hole/Tetons for a day or two?

<b>is it worth spending the whole time in Yellowstone or also trying to do Jackson Hole/Tetons for a day or two?</b>

I would split it up, a couple of days in Jackson/Tetons would be great.

I don't know about Jackson but the Tetons are beautiful and different from Yellowstone.

Defintely spend a couple of days there.

You can see my photos at:
www.travelwalks.com

Here is the link to my trip report from last year--kids were 6 and almost 9.

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...ellowstone.cfm

We started in West, stayed in the Park, spent a day in Cody, and went to Jackson. As a base for Yellowstone, West is much better. Even better-stay in the park. You can horse back ride in the park. Jackson is the best place for float trips.

I think the minimum age for horseback riding in the park is 8 years old.