My husband and I just put a hold on air tickets to Salt Lake City, arriving June 18, 2007 and departing July 9. We plan to rent a car to see Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons and Glacier National Park (Montana). I'm trying to set up an itinerary, but I'm having a problem with allocating the right amount of time in each place. Also, I'm not sure if this is a good time, or would we be better off leaving earlier, like the beginning of June. I have the tickets on hold for the next two days, so I can change them, if necessary. Any information or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Just saw your post - still looking for help? If so, I think late June is better than early June as weather is more predictable. In terms of time allocation, it partly depends on what your preferences are (wildlife sightseeing vs hiking, doing activities such as rafting, museums, shopping, etc). For example, the Tetons themselves might take less time if you don't want to do any day hikes because there is basically one highway that runs along the side of the lake (with spectacular views of the mountains). If you want to get "into" the Tetons, you need to get on a trail (there are some nice short hikes). Of course, there is plenty of shopping and other sights/activities in Jackson and the surrounding area including you can take a tram to a peak at Teton Village). Yellowstone is more "driving friendly" with lots of places to stop and sightsee. Also, there are a plethora of places in between each of the three parks that may be of interest.

We booked a June 19th flight I've pretty much planned our trip and made most of the reservations, but everything is changeable. This is what I came up with. See what you think:
June 19. Arrive in SLC at 10:30 a.m. Picking up car at Alamo and check in at the Radisson Hotel SLC airport. Spend the day sight seeing.

June 20,21 Drive to Jackson. Stay two nights in the Wyoming Inn.

June 22,23. Stay two nights in the park in the Jackson Lake Lodge

June 24-25 Stay in Yellowstone Lake Lodge Cabins

June 26. Stay in Old Faithful Snow Lodge

June 27. Stay one night in Great Falls, Montana

June 28,29,30. Lake McDonald Lodge in Glacier National Park

July 1,2,3. Marina Cay in Big Fork. We're visiting with someone there.

July 4. Hampton Inn in Missoula, Montana

July 5. Village Inn in Challis Idaho

July 6,7. Sun Valley Inn, Sun Valley

July 8. Hampton Inn, Idaho Falls

July 9 Raddison Hotel SLC airport

July 10 Home

It's a lot of driving, but from what I've gathered in my research there are some beautiful sights to see along the way. We're open to suggestions and most of the reservations can be changed easily. We enjoy short hikes, float trips, and kayaking. My husband might even try his hand at a little fishing, so I think I've left us enough time for that sort of thing while we're in the parks. Let me know what you think.

I wouldn't stay at an airport hotel your first night in Salt Lake. If you're sightseeing in downtown Salt Lake stay there.

I agree with Barbara. Stay downtown in SLC. It's not far to the airport...some hotels provided a shuttle service if you need it. We stayed at the Red Lion Inn which has a shuttle but we didn't need it (it also has a small outdoor pool which we enjoyed in June 2005).

Hi Jacquie,

I agree with my friend Barbara. How about this instead?

Arrive SLC, stay either downtown SLC or Park City (on the way to Jackson, east of SLC by 30 minutes)

stay 1 night in Jackson (I think this will be enough, unless you want to do a rafting trip on the Snake River, then stay 2 nights)

Add a night to Yellowstone

I'm not looking at a map, so I'm not sure if it's really necessary for you to have these 1 night stays through MT and ID. Definitely no need to stay in Idaho Falls! Add a night to Sun Valley (there's lots to do there and it's beautiful) and just drive to SLC from there. It's about 4 1/2 hours. I do it often.

Sounds like a great trip. Have fun and be sure to go prepared if hiking.

Jacquie,
If you can add another day or two to Yellowstone - maybe stay in Canyon or Mammoth - that would be great. I would drop a night from Jackson and maybe even 1 from Tetons and add it to YNP. We recently spent 6 nights in YNP and wished we had more time there. It's simply amazing! I spent a summer in Glacier and it's gorgeous but Yellowstone is unique (and huge). If you click on my screen name, you'll find my trip report and link to pictures from our Sept trip. You'll have a great time - it's a beautiful part of the country.

Wow, thanks everyone for all the information and suggestions. I will definitely change the airport reservations and stay in town. That's no problem. I'll check and see what the availability is for Yellowstone and see if we can work another day in there. As for staying in Idaho Falls, the reason we've decided on that stop is because we wanted to spend some time at Craters of the Moon which is about 70 miles southeast of Sun Valley and also thought that we'd take some time to see a National Historic Landmark, an Experimmental Breeder Reactor which was the world's first nuclear power plant producing electricity in 1951. It's in the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory which covers abouat 1,000 square miles. I should mention at this point that my husband is an engineer. Anyway, this would use up quite a bit of time, I think, so I thought we'd just spend the night in Idaho Falls and leave for SLC the next day.
Once again, thanks for taking the time to give us your suggestions. I'll let you know how we made out.