Hi,

I have all of our Yellowstone lodging in place but now need to get GTNP reserved and looking for feedback. We are considering Signal Mountain Lodge or Jackson Lake Lodge, or thinking about taking a break from Natioanl park Lodging and staying in Jackson at the Rustic Inn. We are only staying, sadly, 2 nights in Jackson/GTNP and 6 nights in Yellowstone. Would you recommend in park lodging or would we be okay to say in Jackson and still close enough to see all we want to see in GTNP.

Thanks,

Beth

I'd stay in the park, especially if you only have 2 nights. You won't get the same views from Jackson and you'll spend more time than I'd want to traveling back and forth. Jackson could be a day trip but not worth staying there IMO.

Jackson Lake Lodge is very nice. The main lodge isn't your typical park experience - nothing fancy but more than adequate and the views from our room on the backside facing the Tetons had uninterrupted awesome views of the mountains.

Just to add - if your budget allows, check out Jenny Lake Lodge. It's definitely not your usual park lodging experience. It was our splurge on one of our trips and well worth. Really nice accommodations and staff. Excellent restaurant with great service. Beautiful location.

Thanks dfr4848... JLL does look really nice.

I need to add another question regarding the Yellowstone portion of our trip.

We currently have 3 nights at Snow lodge, 3 nights at Canyon and 2 at Mammoth. My DH wants to shorten our stay in YNP so we can add 2 nights in GTNP. So would 2 nights at each of the 3 YNP lodging plus 2 nights in GTNP be moving around too much or should we just drop the 2 nights at Mammoth and stay 3 at OFSL and 3 at Canyon and 2 at GTNP (in place of Mammoth), keep in mind we will be traveling with a 5 and 8 year old.

Thanks again for your input...

For just 2 nights stay in the park. You'll have a fair amount of travel time to/from Jackson each day, time you could spend in the park. Stayed in both Jackson Lake Lodge and Signal Mountain, prefer Jackson Lake Lodge, but both are OK.

I commented on the nights and moving in a different thread.

Here's a link to a trip report where we stayed for 2 nights at Jackson Lake Lodge. There's several pictures there as well.

http://www.alandsuejohnson.com/grand_tetons_2008.htm

The pictures may let you decide for yourself if its worth spending a couple of nights there. We don't see as much wildlife as in Yellowstone but its still a beautiful area.

Thanks for your feedback everyone... So I am getting the feeling that maybe we should cancel our 2 nights at Mammoth... I thought I had heard that is a great place to stay to see alot of wildlife, that is why we chose it, plus those cabins look so darn cute

Wow AlJ, your website is wonderful and the pictures were amazing... I think it looks like it would be well worth the exta $ to stay in a mountain view room. Were you in a cottage or the hotel room?

Thanks again,

Beth

We stayed at Jackson Lake Lodge in a room with a mountain view and really enjoyed it. But for us, it's all about the view and location. I think your kids would also enjoy the Snake river float trip that takes off from Jackson. There were children that age on the one we took.

I would think we were in a hotel room although I'm not sure. As you head down from the main lodge, you get to separate buildings with a few units each. We were in one of those on the second floor.

I went back to look at their website and am still not sure what they consider the cottages.

Mammoth was our least favorite area. We stayed in a cabin @ Colter Village while in GTNP. We really enjoyed it. I personally like Old Faithful Inn, Lake Hotel and Roosevelt Lodge best in Yellowstone. I like your original plan of spending the most time in Yellowstone and a couple of days in the tetons. You will probably want to do the Horse or haywagon ride @ Roosevelt. Snake river float would be nice as well. Your 8 year old will love it.