Staying between Vail and W. Yellowstone
 

Hi

We are driving from Vail to West Yellowstone mid September. We will take Rt. 131 to Steamboat and stop for lunch and a look around. Then drive to Craig via Rt. 40. From there we take Rt. 13/789 to Rt. 80
Haven't decided which way to get to W. Yellowstone yet.

My question is where do we stay for the night? Go east on 80 towards Rawlins or west towards Rock Springs? Or north up to where? Don't need anything fancy, just good clean accommodations.

Thanks for any and all help.

I'd go west. Going east is going the wrong direction. Unless you are staying a long time in Steamboat Springs, you should be able to get further than Rock Springs.

Jackson is 8 hours according to MapQuest.

For basic highway hotels, we keep a few hotel catalogs in the car. Usually by mid afternoon we can tell how far we can get and I call for reservations.

There are plenty Holiday Inns, Super 8's, Ramadas, Best Westerns, etc along the interstate but once you turn north toward Jackson, there is much less. I think you will want to either stop at Rock Springs or go all the way to Jackson.

We went from RMNP to the Tetons and stopped overnight in Lander. We had orginally planned to stay in Rawlin but we reached Cheyenne so early we wanted to drive further out. Laramie would have worked out as well.

Lander was good. Stayed in the Best Western and had a great meal at the Hitching Rack.

Thanks! Had a feeling Rock Springs was a better choice. Will also look into Lander as well. Thanks again!

Lander really isn't a good direction for going to West Yellowstone, IMO. You'll miss going through Jackson, which is really a neat town.

Are you going west out of Jackson and then up to W.Y. through Idaho or through the Tetons and Yellowstone Park?

If you're needing to get there quickly, it would be quicker not to go through the parks, otherwise, it's a great drive--just slower.

Even if you go by way of Idaho, you get a great view of the Tetons from the west side.

Hi Connie

We are going to the Tetons after we visit YP for 4 days! We will visit TNP for about 4 days also. We are staying at the Spring Creek Lodge. Still undecided about our route up to YP and back down to TNP.

Since we are spending the night between Vail and YP we will take our time reaching Yellowstone.

What route do you suggest?

And thanks again :-)

We go from Craig to Rock Springs, to Jackson, west to Idaho and then north to West Yellowstone.

If you have any interest in Oregon Trail history, at Farson go east a little ways. You can see one of the few places where the trail is still visible.