Hello everyone, hope you are doing well. I'm here to ask about a little suggestion from you all. As i'm planning a month long tour to USA, along with my cousins. One of them has been there but she is kind of boring and prefers work over holidays (as she loves bonuses). So what i wanted to ask is when i get to USA, should i go for Grand Canyon National Park firstor Yellowstone National Park and why. All are welcomed for replies. Thank you. Have a good day, everyone.

Moved to the United States Forum

It might depend on the dates of your visit & what else you have planned. So when will you arrive? And where else do you plan to go?

Welcome reeenaewan, As has been mentioned, the time of your visit will make a difference. If you come here in the summer, both parks will be fully open and which to visit first depends on what else you plan to do. Yellowstone has limited visiting in winter because many of the roads are closed due to snow and much less in terms of services and lodging. it often snows there from the end of September until June, although road closures will be less of a problem in the fall and spring.

Yellowstone is very large and could take several days to explore. Grand Canyon south rim is open year round and unless you plan to do a lot of hiking can be explored in a couple of days. Grand Canyon north rim has road closure in the winter and no services.

Both parks are Wonderfull. Go to www.nps.gov. and navigate to each of the parks to find out about what is available at each time of year.

Unless you hike below the rim down one of the 2 main trails (Bright Angel or S. Kaibab) there is actually very little to do at the Canyon that would take you more than 1 to 1.5 days there.
"Nearby" (less than 1/2 day drive) to GC are several wonderful National Parks in southern Utah, among them Bryce and Zion and several other great sights in AZ/UT. The 3 of these parks can make a nice 5-7 day loop starting/ending in Las Vegas (good place to lose that bonus).

Yellowstone has many different areas ranging from wildlife, to canyons, to geysers. It can take at least 3-4 days just to see all the highlights of Yellowstone.

Snow can close access to many of those highlights beginning in late September. So, really, no advice we give now will necessarily be useful until we know the dates of the OP's visit.

Within two months, hopefully

Possibly too late then for a comprehensive visit to Yellowstone. So maybe the more southern parks, Grand Canyon, Utah or? Do you have any others on your wish list? Maybe shift to the West Coast?

Since you will be traveling "within two months", you are probably too late to visit Yellowstone. Many of the lodges and camping areas are already closed and most will be closed by mid October. Go to the nps.gov site for Yellowstone and look at the "plan your visit" pages.

Here is a map that was posted ages ago by another fodorite that shows some parks you could visit.

Southern Utah Map - OhioHick's Travel Tips

You could plan a nice trip and visit many National, State, and Native American parks. In a month I would suggest Grand Canon South rim, Antelope Canyon, Monument Valley, Arches, Canyonlands. Capitol Reef, Bryce, Zion, Valley of Fire, Hoover Dam, Lake Meade, etc.

To stay in the National Parks, you should try to get lodging now.

I haven't been in Yellowstone myself so I can't say much about it, but you should definitely visit a Grand Canyon at least once in your life! It's really an amazing place. Sadly I didn't have enough time to do a hike in a Grand Canyon, though it was amazing to see the sunrise over the canyon!

Here are the road closing dates for Yellowstone https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/parkroads.htm

Intermittent weather closures start in September and roads can close for the season prior to the scheduled hard closure dates.

It also might help to know more about your overall plans--where would you fly into the US. Are you concentrating on parks or are you doiong cities alos
For you it seems Yellowstone isn't going to work
But there are other incredible parks such as Yosemite which might work into a trip to the Grand Canyon.
And the Utah parks from the GC would be a possibility.

Here is a current thread about some of the Utah parks.
Input re: Oct. Utah (and AZ?) Parks trip, please. Thank you!