Wife and I are doing an anniversary trip to Yellowstone this year. Week of Labor Day.
My thought was five nights at hotels in Yellowstone and then a couple of nights in Jackson and Tetons.
For the five nights in Yellowstone I was thinking two nights in the Canyon area, and either two nights in the Old Faithful area and one night in the Mammoth area or two nights in Mammoth and one night in OF.
First, before I forget. Make sure you visit Jenny Lake in Grand Tetons. It is beautiful, and can be very picturesque when the wind is calm.
Personally, I think that I would get a little bored spending 5 days in Yellowstone unless I was going to spend some of it hiking. You can probably see most of the popular areas in 2.5 - 3 days. If you want to spend a lot of time looking at wildlife, then that could fill 5 days.
Consider driving the Beartooth Pass from Yellowstone. You can roundtrip it in a day from Yellowstone to Red Lodge MT and back. https://www.yellowstonepark.com/road-trips/scenic-drives/beartooth-highway-scenic-drive/
Maybe 1 OF, 2 Canyon, and 1 Mammoth?
I’m not a big fan of staring at nature. So I’m going to be bored after two hours. 😀
This is more for my wife. I’m more of a beach/resort in the tropics or walking around a city and experiencing the culture and food kind of guy.
Buffalo Bill Center of the West is an amazing museum in Cody.
Yellowstone can be a lot of driving each day heading to a different direction so don’t think you’re going to knock out big chunks of the park each day.
That area of the world was a food desert in my opinion. There’s not a lot of good food choices. I remember a lot of mosquitoes too.
It’s worth waking up early to see wildlife or go for a walk at night with a flashlight.
Book early. The lodges/hotels are all relatively small and fill early. I like GT better than Yellowstone, which is just insanely busy. I would skip OF as a place to stay. It’s over rated and crowded.
Maybe 1 OF, 2 Canyon, and 1 Mammoth?
I’m not a big fan of staring at nature. So I’m going to be bored after two hours. 😀
This is more for my wife. I’m more of a beach/resort in the tropics or walking around a city and experiencing the culture and food kind of guy.
Yellowstone might change your mind.
It is a lot of driving, but Lamar valley and as far as you can up Beartooth pass
Don’t get too excited when you see your first bison. You will see more and they will be a lot closer. Just don’t be stupid. If you do plan on any actual hiking, bring bear spray.
Staying in the park is nice, but not necessary IMO.
You are going to need a car. And then once you are out and about, you are pretty much driving most of the day. I have been several times, summer and fall. Peak summer is busy, but still had great experience. Labor Day will be slower, and even better.
Can easily get Air BnB for 2-3 nights in West Yellowstone. Wake up, make your own coffee and breakfast. Pack some snacks/lunch/wine in a cooler. Not cause you’re cheap, but because it makes it easy to just adventure. We loved pulling off to have our own picnics. And then Guest Centers throughout the park are nice. Again, we did well even in peak summer when bananas. My favorite thing is driving the loops, in three hours you have been through hot springs, geysers and hot pots, wide open plains, and climbed high into the mountains… Yellowstone is big, but can easily see and do the whole park in 2 days. GyPSy travel guide phone app is a must.
Tetons is lot more driving and majesty, less stops. Boat ride across Jenny Lake and short waterfall hike totally worth it.
And then 2-3 nights in Jackson for nice restaurants and anniversary spa-y stuff.
Used to live in Red Lodge, and will echo WannaB. You don’t have to do everything in the park. First book early. I checked and availability is ok, but in some places you only have top price accommodations left. I if you are ok with 700-1000 per night, please write me into your will. Food at every lodge is identical. Cabins have been updated at most and are more affordable as sleeping options, and you still can access the lodge.
If I was doing it I would grab a night in Red Lodge. Do the beartooth ( seriously spectacular drive). Lamar valley is where the real herds are. Cut across and book a couple nights in Gardiner. Save yourself a grand. You have great access to the springs, norris, grand prismatic and the falls from there. Then I would do cabins at lake Yellowstone. Nice drives to of, canyon and don’t miss west thumb. It has become very active in the past few years.
I wanted to suggest that you bring some binoculars. It may help you get some great views of elk, bears or wolves. We were able to see mountain goats clearly ata a pretty good distance
Binoculars are a must. I wouldn’t worry about lugging around a long telephoto lens…there are plenty of photos of buffalo and elk out there already.
My favorite thing there is kayaking…more wildlife, less people, cover more ground than hiking. Buffalo and elk are everywhere so you don’t have to do anything to see those, although seeing the huge herds roam Lamar Valley is like going back 200 years.
I would rather just have one hotel for the whole stay vs moving several times. Mid-day is often crazy busy and it’s better to rise early, go back for lunch and a nap, and then go out late afternoon.
If it were me I’d transfer one day from Yellowstone to Jackson and have a day where you plan to just stroll around, splurge on a meal, check out some galleries, etc.
I can’t seem to get enough of Yellowstone and Grand Teton Nat’l Parks. I recommend staying in the park’s hotels and eating in their big dining rooms at least once. I love the park architecture. I’ve stayed in hotels outside the parks during our last trips. Mammoth/ Jackson= great.
One of my all-time favorite books is called Death in Yellowstone: accidents and foolhardiness in the first national park by Lee H. Whittlesey (second edition, 2014). It starts with chapters called “Hold fast to your children: Death in Hot Water†and “‘These Animals are Not Real’: the Myth that can kill you.†It’s a great book to read during a trip to Yellowstone. It scared/thrilled me. If you walk off the trails, there’s a chance you will step into a steam vent. The earth’s crust is verrrrrrrry thin in places there.
So I booked some shit.
Fly into Bozeman and stay overnight there.
Then I booked two nights at the Canyon Lodge. Drive from Bozeman to Canyon through Lamar River Valley to see those sights. Then two days checking out TBD things around the Canyon area.
Then one night at the Old Faithful Inn.
Then three nights in Jackson to eat/drink, stay at nice hotel, and visit Tetons.
Fly out of Jackson.
My only advice would be if you don’t like the crowds, get up early and see things early morning and/or be willing to walk more than about a quarter of a mile.
That Beartooth Highway was probably the best scenic drive I’ve ever done.
Maybe instead of staying in Bozeman first night we go to Red Lodge and drive the Beartooth Hwy to Canyon Village. Makes sense.
Maybe instead of staying in Bozeman first night we go to Red Lodge and drive the Beartooth Hwy to Canyon Village. Makes sense.
That would be a great plan.
One thing to note. Red Lodge is a small town and some of the hotel lobbies close at 10:00 PM, or earlier. So try to get checked in before then and then go out to eat if that is your plan.
Looks like it makes more sense to fly into Billings if Red Lodge is my first stop.
Looks like it makes more sense to fly into Billings if Red Lodge is my first stop.
I think there is only an hour of difference driving in from Bozeman vs Billings. And the drive from Bozeman is much, much prettier than from Billings as it goes over several mountain passes and along the Yellowstone River. For as pretty a state as Montana is - Billings is not a pretty city.
I think that Red Lodge is about an hour from Billings and 2.25 hours from Bozeman. If you’re flight is arriving late in the day, then that hour can make a difference, though.
Oh, and this is a must. You must stop at a local ice cream place and buy some Huckleberry ice cream. Don’t get the one that has chocolate in it. Huckleberry is the state fruit (or berry) so they use it in a lot of dishes. It tastes kind of like a blueberry, but sweeter.
I tried some one time because someone told me that I needed to. It was fantastic, and nobody needed to tell me to try it after that.
If you don’t get some and try it, I’m never giving you any advice again. 
Replying to last.
Billings, the magic yet tragic largest city in Montana, is kind of an acquired taste. It’s real. It’s not a glam town like Bozeman or Whitefish. It has good parks and great people. Billings has Big Dipper ice cream, which began in Missoula by two bike racers who knew that high fat ice cream is the best. Billings to Red Lodge to YNP is good. It provides a reality-based experience, including driving for hours and hours.
Flying to Bozeman is good. Bozeman has the pickle barrel sandwich shop next to the University, which has an ice cream shop selling Wilcoxson’s huckleberry ice cream (that huckleberry kind you love). Wilcoxsons is sold all over— not just there. It’s convenient to stop at the sandwich shop & ice cream shop. It’s our tradition now.