I am trying to figure out the best city to fly into -- in order to travel down the Beartooth Pass and find a place to stay just outside of Yellowstone w/o having to backtrack. I thot I had read the Beartooth Pass alone could take 3 hrs. to drive. I'm considering Cody since my last stop is the Tetons. From Cody, there is an alternate route north to Red Lodge and from there go down the Beartooth - could I do all this & make it to Gardiner in one day? i.e. would prefer to stay outside Yellowstone Park. Thanks for any help or suggestions!

Yes, it is very doable.

Do you plan to stay in Gardiner the whole time you are visiting Yellowstone? It is a LONG way from the southern end of the park, which has most of the attractions. You might consider relocating to West Yellowstone after a night in Gardiner.

Connie--

Gardiner was just going to be a nite or two - then I was planning to move to West Yellowstone area.

Cody right now is a viable option because of airline pricing. I have two suggestions, one is to fly into Cody and take your suggested route,which is doable in a day.

I have not done the exact route you describe, but I did this route easily in one day. We left Old Faithful mid morning, no crack of dawn departure, and drove past the lake and out the East Gate Cody. We followed the Chief Joseph Highway all the way back into the Northeast Gate of Yellowstone and drove down the Lamar Valley to Roosevelt Ranch. There we reversed our steps and drove back the Beartooth Highway and continued over the Pass to Red Lodge. We got there in time for the afternoon rain. Not bad driving at all and very scenic.

My second suggestion is to fly into Billings, MT. Drive down to Red Lodge, MT. Stay overnight there, leave the next morning and drive over the Beartooth Pass to the other side.
When you reach the Chief Joseph Highway, you have a choice. Go east toward Cody and then turn west to Yellowstone and come in the East Gage.l
Or, turn west and enter Yellowstone by the Northeast Gate.

There motels in those little towns just outside the Northeast Gate, but they never caught my eye enough to stay there. If you want to go on to Gardiner, follow the road to Tower Junction at Rossevelt Ranch and turn west and follow to Mammoth, and then exit the North Gate to Gardiner.

If you come in through the East Gate, you drive to the Lake, go north to Canyon, take the connector over to Norris Geyser Basin, and then turn north to Mammoth. The road over Dunraven Pass north of Canyon Village to Tower Falls is closed this summer for extensive road work.

Another option would be to fly into Bozeman. Right now, May 30, tickets to Cody from Denver are cheaper than tickets to Billings.
But check rental car prices out of Cody as compared with Billings before buying your final tickets.

Bob -- thanks also, for all the road travel info!