getting to yellowstone
 

it seems to be difficult to get to yellowstone
without a lot of driving. any suggestions??

I flew into Salt Lake City, Utah and all together it is a 6 hour scenic drive from there. I split that up into two days because I didin't want to drive that far the day I arrive. I split up the trip by staying in Idaho Falls,ID (a four hour drive from Salt Lake City and all 75 mph interstate), then going to Yellowstone the next day from there (2 hours). Everything was very scenic and the drive went fast. I also took the mesa falls scenic byway along the way from Idaho Falls. Very Scenic! From Denver, it is a longer 8 hours and not as scenic. This is all going to the West Enterence. Any other options would be Billings, MT and Jackson, WY which are much closer than Salt Lake. Jackson,WY is the closest. However, it is the most expensive to fly into since it is not a major airport. Billings, MT is second closest and is more of a major airport and not as expensive as Jackson,WY, but still very expensive. I would reccomend flying into Salt Lake City, it is much cheaper to fly there. I would not reccomend flying into Denver, it is much farther and the drive to Yellowstone from there is not as scenic.

And Yellowstone is big - to drive from one end to the other is several hours since it is one-lane in each direction and there are frequent "animal jams". There is no reasonable road circuit outside the Park. So there is a lot of driving within Park.

Ignoring cost, closest is to fly to Jackson, take scenic drive thru Grand Teton National Park and then continue north to Yellowstone.

I agree with gail. This is the route that we took, spending a couple of days at Signal Mountain Lodge at Grand Teton. Wonderful trip. Enjoy!

Depending on time of year (East Entrance is closed during Winter except snow trac tours) fly into Cody Wyoming one hour drive into yellowstone..greeat scenerary. Cody is served by Delta from Salt LAke and United from Denver.
(2nd choice would be fly into Billings with boring 2 hour drive into Cody)
P/u rental car at Cody Airport from Hertz or Budget or NAtional ...I use Hertz as they have always had a reliable low mileage SUV for me.
Depending on arrival time either stay in Cody at Holiday Inn next to Buffalo Bill Mueseum or my preferrence AmericInn with big rooms and micro/refridge a pool and jacuzzi suites and one REALLY BIG Buffalo head in the lobby sitting area along with other stuffed animals and pictures. Next door is Bubbas BBQ with nice salad bar and great BBQ. Down the street 2 blocks toward Yellowstone is WalMArt SuperCenter. Load up on camping gear or coolers and drinks.

Dont overlook Bozeman Montana, served nicely by Northwest and others. I would recommend a multicity airline trip, fly into one city and out of another. Bozeman/ Billing, Cody, Jackson are all reasonably close to the parks. Make sure you spend time in the Tetons

What time of year are you going? The roads and entrances to Yellowstone open and close at different times of year.

We just returned from a winter trip to Yellowstone. Flew into Bozeman and drove 1.5 hr to the north entrance. BZN is served by Delta, Horizon, Northwest and United.