Hi all. We are planning a trip to Yellowstone and GTNP flying in the Saturday before Labor day and staying that week. I am looking to stay the first part of the week in West Yellowstone and then a few days in Jackson Hole. Need some recommendations for nice clean motels in both locations.We don't really want to stay in the park (hubby has to have his TV!). We usually stay at Hampton Inn or something similar. Please help!Thanks,Karen

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As for Yellowstone, I see from my journal of the time that we stayed for three nights in the perfectly adequate Grant Village, if you don't mind no coffee facilities, (but this was in 2001). It is more central than west, perhaps, but it's right next to the lake where I photographed a spectacular sunset. There are walking trails nearby that are either open or closed for your safety, depending on the proximity of bears. I mention this not because I'm particularly fond of walking trails but because there's an opportunity to photograph some rare wildlife and the state of the trails is an indicator that you might be lucky to see some.

In Jackson Hole, I highly recommend The Wagon Wheel Motel. The rooms are arranged one up, one down in attractive log cabins by a small creek where we watched a beaver at work. The rooms were very clean, quiet and spacious (my journal says "mammoth") with all mod cons. It's on the edge of the compact downtown area and well within easy walking distance of it. As we didn't stay anywhere else in the town I have no idea how it compares with other places, but frankly I would go back there in a heartbeat, this time with a digital camera to take hundreds more pictures of the scenic beauty all around.

Thanks for the info Driver
Anyone else?

That is a great time of year to go -we saw incredible wildlife during our week in the park. I'd suggest staying in the Tetons instead of Jackson. We loved Signal Mtn Lodge - gorgeous scenery and lots of wildlife nearby, especially moose! Jackson is just a tourist town filled with shops and restaurants; nothing special. As for Yellowstone, we stayed at 3 locations throughout the park during our week and loved it all. Staying in the park is truly part of the experience. Our cheap little cabin in Canyon may have been our least favorite location, but we'll never forget the chorus of bugling elk and howling wolves that serenaded us through the night. It was a highlight. Also, taking a pre-dawn walk through the geysers in Old Faithful was surreal! We'll never forget it. If we hadn't stayed in the park, we would not have seen the grizzly feeding on a carcass in Hayden at dusk or mornings spent spotting wolves playing together in Lamar. So I can't recommend staying outside of the park but there are plenty of motels in West Y and Gardiner to stay. You'll have a great trip!

Hello artnkar

Without knowing your budget, it is hard to recommend a hotel. In both Jackson and West Yellowstone, there are so many in all different price ranges.

In Jackson, we have stayed in the Best Western and also the Quality Inn Suites. The BW was much nicer, but had a higher price tag. The QIS had a great location in the middle of town, which was nice for walking about.

In West Yellowstone, our hotel of choice is the Holiday Inn Sunspree. This is a lovely hotel, large conference style, great rooms. But also in town is a Days Inn, Comfort Inn, and many others.

Happy travels!

My family and I travelled to Yellowstone and GTNP a few years ago and stayed in the lodges (Old Faithful Inn and Lake Yellowstone Inn, I think) in both parks. It was truly a great experience. Tell your husband that there is nothing on tv that can compare with the scenery in the parks. Staying in the parks gave us greater "ownership" of the experience. If I left the parks at the end of the day and drove to a local motel, I think I would have felt more like a tourist. (I have driven through Jackson Hole and it is a tourist town.) Also, staying in the parks will let you take an extra little hike or attend a ranger presentation that you would otherwise miss. I have visited many parks in the U.S., and it is certainly worth leaving the TV behind for these two. Enjoy!

We most always stay in Cooke City, most times at the Hoosier Motel, spartan but clean and you can park in front of your door, we like that when traveling... Cooke is not as touristy or expensive as the other two gate way towns of Gardiner or West Yellowstone. Cooke City is an old mining town and small, you can walk to anyplace in town from where every you stay...

http://www.cookecitysinclair.com/webcam.htm

I would totally agree to stay inside the park, although it isn't bad to retrace steps here, it is much better to stay in the park. West Yellowstone and Jackson aren't that special, just somewhere to waste your money.

Trip Advisor ranks the Alpine Motel in West Yellowstone very highly, and we've actually booked our stay there. I need my TV as well and the park lodgings are quite a bit more expensive.

Seems like nothing fancy, but a good, clean place to base out of. If you were planning on staying at the motel for long periods of time, I'd probably pick somewhere else, but as a base for visiting the park, it looks fine to me.

We stayed at Quality Inn in West Yellowstone - it was one of the many moderately priced chains in area. It was fine - clean room, decent service (including helping us to receive fax of passport - long story). Because of non-availability of in-Park lodging, teens who were with us, and need for some creature comforts at lower cost than Park, we stayed outside Park in 3 locations (Jackson, Gardiner, W Yellowstone) - unlike other National Parks, these towns are very close to Park entrance, so you are not spending a lot of time in transit.