melanie8

If my family of 4 (boys 12 and 16) goes to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons this summer, how should we divide our time between the two places? We will probably have 7 to 8 days total. Also, of all the gateways to these places, which are your personal favorites and why?

tovarich

The north entrance from Gardiner brings you directly to the Parks headquarters and Mammoth hot springs.
The Northeast one has great wildlife viewing opportunities.
The west entrance brings you right in the middle of the 8(The park is in the form of an 8)and brings you in the centre of the geysers and olf Faithfull.
The South entrance is the way to G.Tetons.
The East entrance is the beautiful road to Cody.The kids wioll love visiting the 4 Buffalo Bill museums there.
Time division would be 5 for Yellowstone and 2 for G. Tetons.Greetings from Belgium. Paul

gail

And stay at least 2 different places in Yellowstone - too big to try for a central location.

Take them to Boiling River (do a search here with complete instructions from my previous posts) - only place in Park where hot spring and river merge and you can sit in a natural jacuzzi.

vahiker1

2-3 Tetons (depends on # of activities)
4-5 Yellowstone
You might want to go white water rafter or rock climbing while in the tetons. Our boys loved them.
My kids favorite things:
- rafting
- rock climbing in Grand Tetons (this is also great fun but takes a full day and should be reserved well in advance).
- all the animals in Yellowstone
- Swimming in the boiling river north of Mammoth
- staying in Old Faithful Inn - great place to hang out.

Our kids least favorites: enjoying the "smells" of yellowstone's features.

utahtea

My favorite entrance to Yellowstone is the Beartooth Highway on Hwy 212 from Red Lodge, MT.

I'd spend 5 days in Yellowstone and the rest at the Grand Tetons.

Utahtea

Bob_KY

Ditto on the Beartooth Highway - the top of the drive is by far the prettiest place I have seen in America. Depends on where you are coming from if it is worth driving, but if you can fit it in, you won't be disappointed.

mrt

What about time in the town of Jackson

gail

I would start in Jackson, spend 1-3 nights there, depending on whether or not you will use it as base for GTNP. We rented a condo for a summer visit and that worked great (Teton Village).

Then head into Yellowstone. Road configuration is in form of figure-8, so stay a couple of nights in south and a couple of nights in northern part. We were not able to stay in Park and had hotels in West Yellowstone and Gardiner - both less than 1/2 mile from Park entrance.

The entrance at Gardiner has the traditional Yellowstone stone arch that I had often seen in photos.