Travelling to Yellowstone this summer
 

Hi. Hoping for some advice. My wife and I will be traveling to Yellowstone National Park this summer in July. Would love some help in planning the trip. We have 7 nights. We will be flying in from Boston. Based on my research, I thought we would fly round trip to/from Jackson Hole, WY. Our goal is to explore Yellowstone, Grand Teton (to a lesser degree), enjoy scenery, and relax. So, with that said, and with limited knowledge of Wyoming and Montana, I am tentatively planning the following: Arrive in Jackson Hole airport; drive to West Yellowstone and stay 3 nights; visit Yellowstone NP for 3 days; drive to Jackson Hole for 4 nights; visit Grand Teton, and simply relax for the next couple of days. From those familiar with the area, any suggestions or comments? Looking for a nice place to stay in West Yellowstone. So far, the best I find online that has availability during our stay is either the Comfort Inn, Yellowstone Park Hotel, Three Bears Lodge, Holiday Inn, or Clubhouse Inn. Familiar with any of these? Our thought was to stay in West Yellowstone because they had lodging close to YNP. Everything within YNP is already sold out. Is 3 nights enough? Also looking for recommendations to stay in Jackson Hole. The Lodge at Jackson Hole looks nice online. But again, looking for suggestions. Why 4 nights in Jackson Hole...only because by the time we get there from West Yellowstone and check in 1 night is gone. Then want to go to Grand Teton for 1 day, explore the town and nearby attractions for 1 day, and simply relax the last day at the hotel. Again, any advice would be greatly appreciated. I should have made this much simpler by probably just asking, what would you recommend we do and stay if we have 7 nights this coming July. That would be helpful as well. Thanks so much.

Which airport do you transfer planes? Boston-?-Jackson Hole.
You may find it somewhat cheaper to fly to a larger airport and rent a cheaper car. Many people fly to SLC and drive from there to Yellowstone.
Do some more research to find the cost of the flights plus the rental car.
The town of Jackson is 6 miles south of the Jackson Hole airport.
I'll let others answer your questions about West Yelowstone.
Keep calling to see if you can get to spend at least 1 night at the Old Faithful Lodge. People do cancel and you might get lucky.

Snake River Lodge favorite in Jackson Hole. Choice of regular hotel rooms, condos and cabins all modern and newish. (Used to be a Rock Resort.)Very nice Spa restaurant get good reviews and a indoor/outdoor pool with boulder motif.

I would stay "in park". I like Old Faithful Inn and Roosevelt Lodge. In park, puts you where the action is.

Stay in park if at all possible, just call every day to check on cancellations. Many people book way ahead of time and cancel later so you will have to call and keep calling until you get something inside the park. Too much time wasted by driving back and forth to West Yellowstone every day.

You need more nights in Yellowstone than Jackson, Yellowstone is huge and deserves more time.

"Why 4 nights in Jackson Hole...only because by the time we get there from West Yellowstone and check in 1 night is gone."

Using that same logic, by the time you get from Jackson Hole to West Yellowstone after your flight and check in, one night is already gone. So that leaves you only 2 nights in Yellowstone which is not at all adequate, not when you have 3 or 4 nights in Jackson.

I would spend more time in Yellowstone because it is amazing and there is a lot of slow driving once you are in the park.

Go ahead and make some reservations and keep trying to get lodging in the park. We usually end up with a couple of days in the Old Faithful area and a couple in Mammoth. It just depends on availability.

If you can score a reservation at Old Faithful Inn (not the lodge) -- it will be worth the effort. It is historic and has a vibe like no place else. Plus, you can sit outside on the deck and watch that famous faithful geyser erupt just as people have done for over 100 years.

The drive from Jackson to W.Yellowstone after a day in planes from the east coast does not sound very wise to me. It might be better to use one of your Jackson days at the beginning, then enjoy the entire northbound drive to Yellowstone in daylight; use the outer road and make stops at Mormon Row and other scenic pull-offs. Then four nights in Yellowstone (in the park, for sure)-- Yellowstone has at least four distinct regions each worth a day of exploring. Back to Jackson, with a full day in Grand Teton NP en route, for your final two nights

Great advice everybody. You're all right. We need more days in YNP and I will check constantly for availability. Someone today mentioned Xanterra. I assume it is an online agency. I'll try it. Are there any lodging facilities within the park that you wouldn't stay? So, ok, I'm now planning on arriving at Jackson Hole around 1pm. Still prefer to drive to YNP directly. Since it is early enough I thought there would be plenty of time. Prefer to end the vacation in Jackson where we can simply relax. Any specific driving routes? Oh, yeah, reason I would fly into Jackson Hole is because Salt Lake is further away and I prefered not to have to drive from Jackson to Salt Lake again for the return flight. Too expensive to fly into Salt Lake and then return from Jackson. Less expensive if I do a round trip from the same airport. Regarding lodging in Jackson/Jackson Hole, I agree with the reference for Snake River Lodge. I was checking others last night after I posted the original and saw that one as well as others that caught my attention like, Rusty Inn and the Rusty Parrot. Thanks again for all of your advice as well as any further. W

Xanterra is the company that operates all the lodging inside Yellowstone. Use the phone, not web, for inquiries.

Two routes through the Tetons, outer road and Grand Teton parkway, so you can take one northbound and one on the return. Inside Yellowstone, there's only the figure 8 with spurs to the five entrances.

Xanterra is the official concessionaire for lodging in Yellowstone. Book directly with them, not a 3rd party vendor.

http://www.yellowstonenationalparklodges.com/

You can check the website for availability but you will need to be more aggressive and call them directly to ask if there any openings. People cancel all the time and that is not reflected in their online system immediately, so there can be available rooms that don't show up online. Call call call, there are plenty of threads and examples on here of people who called until they got the dates/rooms they wanted even when the online system said they had nothing available.

Thanks again for all the wonderful feedback. The more the merrier. Ok, I called YNP and they only had availability at Lake Yellowstone Hotel. I booked it. I'll keep trying constantly for others. Does anybody have an opinion on Lake Yellowstone? I will also book a place in West Yellowstone just as a backup in case your feedback is not good for Lake Yellowstone. Other feedback said the Snake River Lodge was nice in Jackson Hole. Looks great online. Thanks again.

We stayed one night there. This is a park that is fine to stay 1,2 or even 3 different places. Some people don't like to pack up, I know. But, I like staying at the different historic spots. Plus, its a big big park.
Do, be aware that not all rooms have private baths. Just wanted you to know. I think Lake Hotel probably does though. Also, these are old places, don't expect 5 stars here. Nothing like Old Faithful Inn though.
Do a Sunset Butte evening tour-Yellow Bus Tour from Lake Hotel.

You might check out Colter Village, Jenny Lake Lodge, Jackson Lake Lodge, and Signal Mountain in the Tetons.

I would try 3-4 nights in Yellowstone
2 nights in Tetons
maybe 1 night in Jackson.

Do understand that Jackson Hole is not Jackson the town. Jackson Hole is the entire area really. The airport is pretty much right between the town and the entrance to Tetons.

I would plan on a full day just Geyser Gazing around Old Faithful. Of Course, see it go once or even twice. Expect huge crowds at it, but if you can catch it like at 6:00am, you might have it to yourself. I really like Castle Geyser and Riverside Geyser. There are about 6 or 7 geysers acurately that they predict, the rest are all a crapshoot. Old Faithful is about every 90 minutes +/- 5 or 10 minutes. Riverside goes about every 5 or 6 hours +/- an hour or two. Castle goes about every 10 hours +/- a couple of hours. So, besides Old Faithful you need to plan on sitting 2 to 4 hours to catch the others go. They are totally worth it!!!

You will want to spend the better part of one day at Canyon area.

I like Black Dragon's Cauldron, not far from Lake Hotel

Be sure and see Fountain Paint Pots and Grand Prismatic Spring

Wildlife can be anywhere, but Lamar and Hayden Valley is a good place to try and catch some. Dusk and Dawn are best. Get up early and miss a lot of the crowds too.

Mammoth area is my least favorite, but you are almost guaranteed to see a ton of elk there. If you have time, certainly see this spot, but if you are short on time it might be one area to skip.

Tower Falls is pretty

Jenny Lake Boat ride and hike is good at Tetons, but it can get crowded.

You might want to float the Snake River(it's not white water). I haven't taken a tour on Lake Hotel, but that is offered too.

As others have said call, call, call!!!!

People make reservations a year out because they book up. Then reality sets in and they have to cancel.

There will be rooms. You just have to keep calling and beat others.

YNP is a large park. It takes 8 hours to drive the "*: without stopping and without traffic jams due to wildlife or road construction.

If you stay outside the park as some recommend you're not seeing what the park has to offer. Walking the Upper Basin late in the afternoon or early evening, seeing wildlife that are most active very early or late.

Also, you have to be very careful driving late in the day as you can hit animals.

Inpark without a doubt.

Thanks again for all the wonderful feedback. I have taken your advice and planning accordingly. So far, I have booked the Lake Hotel. I was fortunate. Apparently I called at the right time. The same day I called was the same day they released rooms that are currently under renovation. It is in the main hotel lakeside. I'm thrilled. Also made reservations at Snake River. Again, you were all great. Special thanks. W

Sounds like you are making great progress and are on your way to a great trip!

One point to note: Snake River Lodge is located in Teton Village which is home to the main ski area. There is plenty to do in the summer and it is a beautiful area, but it is about a 20-30 minute drive to the main Town Square area in Jackson. So if you are hoping to walk around the Square, shop, see the art galleries, or visit the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar, you may prefer to stay in the Town of Jackson. The Lodge at JH, Rustic Inn, and Rusty Parrot that you mentioned earlier are all options in Town. You can google map their addresses to get an idea.

Again, you don't necessarily need to stay in Town, but just wanted to be sure you understood where you were booking.

I think you want to determine your goals then try to execute.

I had little interest in the town of Jackson though we drove down on our last day after doing several hikes.

As a result, I made sure to book lodging in the middle of where we wanted to be.

We slept at OF lodge for 2 nights, Canyon for 3 and Signal Mtn Lodge for 3 nights (we got here in the evening and left on the last morning for a flight from Jackson - so really 2 days).