Cascade Canyon | Yellowstone and Grand Teton Itinerary. Within the Salt Lake area, there are lots of fun things to do. The closest airport is the West Yellowstone airport. If your flight is not until late in the day (and you are flying out of Jackson), you can spend the morning canoeing on Jenny Lake or hiking another trail in Grand Teton. Save. If the fee is too expensive, consider planning your trip as a round trip to avoid this extra fee. Basically, it is the reverse of the Yellowstone and Grand Teton itinerary. They can be visited in either order, depending on the route that you are traveling through the country. It has a beautiful view of the lake, the second-largest lake in Utah. Park City was home to the Olympic Games and is a really fun mountain town. We have had great experiences at the Wyoming Inn and The Lodge at Jackson Hole, but the Wort Hotel and Cowboy Village Resort both get great reviews. Yellowstone is very busy on the weekends, especially over holiday weekends. We would have no problem staying at this property again. Here are our favorite things to do in Yellowstone: Read More: 21 Best Things to Do in Yellowstone National Park. We stayed just a few minutes from Teton Village at the Fireside Resort, and we were really happy with this location. After you pass Rexburg, Idaho you can turn off and take the Mesa Falls Scenic Byway which is really pretty. When we visit Grand Teton National Park, we stay in Jackson, because we love hiking and exploring the park in the morning and having dinner in town at night. Our family travels throughout the United States in our RV visiting beaches, national parks and everything in between. Can I stay in one location to visit Yellowstone and Grand Teton? The visitor center is beautiful and it was the first property in Wyoming to be certified in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, the highest accolade for environmentally friendly building practices. Bear Lake has a beautiful turquoise color lake and is famous for its raspberry milkshakes. Crowds are enormous during the summer months, peaking in July and August. The South Rim, however, is well worth the time. Grand Teton National Park sits to the south of Yellowstone. Pets are only allowed in developed areas (basically, in parking lots and campgrounds). Continue south on Grand Loop Road. This is an awesome road trip and so far, we have done it twice. The route from Salt Lake City to West Yellowstone traverses northern Utah and eastern Idaho, only to eventually enter Montana, the state where our destination town is located. Another fun thing to do is drive the Mesa Falls Scenic Byway. There is a long list of things to do in Yellowstone, but the top experiences include: Just outside of Yellowstone is Beartooth Highway. After Afton, be sure to enjoy the scenic views of the Snake River. We have stayed at a few in this area and always enjoy having a kitchen and multiple bedrooms. The drive time from Salt Lake City to Glacier National Park is 10 hours. Where to start your trip is one of the biggest decisions you will make. 8. The afternoon and early evening is prime time to be here for wildlife spotting. Map-a-City. It is about 5 hours away and 321 miles. Point Sublime: 3-mile round-trip hike that heads into the canyon, away from Upper and Lower Falls. RoadsideAmerica.comYour Online Guide to Offbeat Tourist Attractions . Old Faithful erupts every 60 to 110 minutes, which is about 16 to 17 times per day. There are lots of bison in this photo (they are tiny specks in the grassland) and as you drive farther into the valley, there is a good chance you will drive past (or even through) several herds of bison. Itinerary SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH CACHE VALLEY STAR VALLEY GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK PINEDALE, WYOMING FLAMING GORGE VERNAL PARK CITY, UTAH WebAttractions. However, you will have a rental car drop fee. YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK: Read our Yellowstone National Park Travel Guidefor important travel information, sample itineraries, and how to plan your visit. This is a bypass of Route 89 that went originally traveled through the North Entrance. Salt Lake City is a great place to start a road trip to Yellowstone. The Salt Lake City to Yellowstone road trip is a lot of fun with amazing views. Sometimes, shifting travel days to the weekdays lowers flight costs and gives you more flight options, particularly if you are planning your trip at the last minute. We would recommend spending some time in the historic downtown area along Main Street, grabbing some lunch, and visiting the Olympic Complex here before finishing your drive to Jackson. Your shortest route from SLC is straight up I-15 to Idaho Falls, and then east via the Swan Valley to Jackson Hole. Other great restaurants include Caf Genevieve, Bin22, Liberty Burger, and Blue Lion. Jackson has almost anything document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Earth Trekkers is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn advertising fees by advertising & linking to Amazon.com. The Aerial Tram is in Teton Village. Wild Bill Cody Scenic Byway | Yellowstone and Grand Teton Itinerary. It is a good idea to be prepared with warm clothing. 1.6-mile out-and-back walk to the viewpoint. The view of Grand Prismatic Spring from the Midway Geyser boardwalk trail. Day 1: Arrive in Yellowstone Day 2: Yellowstone: Mammoth Hot Springs, Norris Geyser Basin & Lamar Valley Day 3: Yellowstone: Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone & Hayden Valley Day 4: Yellowstone: Old Faithful, Grand Prismatic Spring & Geyser Basins Day 5: Drive to Grand Teton National Park Day 6: Grand Teton: Jenny Lake, Inspiration Point, Cascade Canyon Day 7: Grand Teton: Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve, Phelps Lake, Jackson Day 8: Fly home, Yellowstone and Grand Teton Itinerary Map. If you like hiking, you can combine the Grand Prismatic Spring Overlook trail with Fairy Falls. Here are some great hotel options close to the Salt Lake City airport. If money was not an issue, this is the best way to plan your trip. To do everything on this list, you need a minimum of three days, and even then, they will be very busy days. If you want to do more hiking and relaxing, you could easily spend four to five days exploring Yellowstone National Park. Read More: Best Time to Visit Yellowstone National Park. It is a very small regional airport with limited flight options that you may find are very expensive. However, if you live in Boise or youre coming from the Pacific Northwest, there are a lot of really cool things to see as you make your way towards Yellowstone. Teton Park Road in Grand Teton National Park usually does not open until early-May. Additionally, a 500 Internal Server Error All rights reserved Earth Trekkers. This airport is the most convenient on this list because of its location. The Dyrt Pro has amazing resources that really simplify trip planning: We have arranged with The Dyrt to give the CS Ginger viewers a FREE-30 Day Trial using the code csginger. Normally the trial is 7 days! If so, you could very easily spend a week here, hiking a different trail every day. WebIf there is an interesting town on the way to Salt Lake City we could potential stay there in stead of Jackson Hole. You can click the check marks to hide or show layers. The road runs along beautiful Yellowstone Lake before arriving at West Thumb Geyser Basin. This is the most popular hike in Grand Teton National Park. Visitors will now travel on Old Gardiner Road to enter through the North Entrance, which connects Gardiner, Montana to Mammoth. I would not say the drive is especially pretty after leaving the beautiful Salt Lake Valley mountains until you reach about Idaho Falls if you are traveling on I-15. Route 1 has the advantage of driving past the Shoshone National Forest and passing between the Grand Teton National Park and the Bridger-Teton National Forest on the way to Yellowstone. The best time to be here is at sunrise, when the sunlight illuminates the historic barns and the Teton Range. You can also use the second half of this day to explore the northern areas of the park, like Mammoth Hot Springs and Norris Geyser Basin. Your drive time will be much shorter going through Jackson or Bozeman, but your flight time will be longer, and flights may be more expensive. Roundtrip, your driving time will be at about 10 hours. You can visit Badlands National Park, Mount Rushmore, Custer State Park, the Black Hills, and Devils Tower before arriving in the national parks in Western Wyoming. First question have you been in early June? We stayed a little outside town so we wouldnt have quite as long of a drive to get to the hikes in the national park but then we had a bit of a drive to get into town. Old Faithful gets its name because of its reliable eruption schedule. This is like Cascade Canyon but much better, in my opinion. For example, if you are planning a one week trip, do you need to go Saturday to Saturday or can you go Tuesday to Tuesday? Below are several different ways to plan your Yellowstone and Grand Teton itinerary. SCENIC DRIVES IN WYOMING: Beartooth Highway is located along the border of Montana and Wyoming, near Yellowstone, and is one of the most scenic drives in the USA. Here is an overview of the North Rim viewpoints as you will get to them on North Rim Road: South Rim Road is two-way so you can visit the viewpoints in any order you like: Yellowstone Lake and West Thumb Geyser Basin, Day 4: Old Faithful, Grand Prismatic Spring & Geyser Basins, Day 5: Drive to Grand Teton National Park, Day 6: Mormon Row, Jenny Lake & Cascade Canyon, Day 7: Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve, Phelps Lake & Jackson, Optional Detour: Phelps Lake Overlook & Death Canyon. Jackson Hole Airport (JAC) is the nearest airport to Yellowstone, it is located within the Grand Teton National Park. If you click the icons on the map, you can get more information about each point of interest. Old Faithful is part of the Upper Geyser Basin, where 150 geothermal features are packed into 1 square mile. How To Plan A Salt Lake City To Yellowstone Road Trip - Where This can be very expensive, particularly if you are flying in or out of a smaller regional airport. Jackson Hole From here, it is a 1.6-mile out-and-back walk to the viewpoint. Salt Lake City to Jackson - 4 ways to travel via bus, car, and plane Welcome to CS Ginger! Colter Bay Village is also a good place to refill your gas tank and grab a bite to eat. The drive from Grand Teton National Park to Yellowstone is short, especially if you are entering through the south entrance. If you have any questions about routes or things to see along the way, please let us know in the comments below or you can always reach out to us on Instagram. 6. West Thumb Geyser Basin | Yellowstone and Grand Teton Itinerary. Its more time on the road but that could be worth saving the money or finding a rental car company with cheaper prices. Hot, steaming water spills out over travertine terraces, making this one of the most unique geothermal areas in the park. Please do not stop in the middle of the road. We hiked the Cirque Trail, a 1.8 mile mostly downhill trail to Bridger Gondola and then rode this back into town. 12:40 pm Boysen Reservoir. Yellowstone is the second largest US national park outside of Alaska. Miazgas has a wide range of food. Cell coverage in the parks is very limited so you shouldnt plan on being able to use your Google maps for directions when navigating the park. Ride the Jenny Lake Shuttle across the lake to the trailhead for the Cascade Canyon Trail. The drive from Yellowstone National Park to Salt Lake City is about 4.5 hours. Just be aware that this will add a lot of driving on to the day and it is only worth it if you spend the night in Cody. Drive down Teton Park Road to Jenny Lake, and if you want another nice view of the park, drive Signal Mountain Summit Road to Jackson Lake Overlook. From here, you can ride the tram back down to Jackson Hole or hike to one of the other chairlifts or gondolas on the mountains. However, you can turn around at any point. Yellowstone is primarily located in Wyoming, although a small part of the park crosses the border into Idaho and Montana. That gives you one day in each park. Here are some of the best hotels to stay at in downtown Salt Lake. The second itinerary is an 8-Day Grand Teton and Yellowstone itinerary (this itinerary starts with Grand Teton and ends with Yellowstone). Cheers, Julie, Your email address will not be published. If you havent seen enough wildlife, you can stop at Yellowstone Bear World. Get lunch in Old Faithful Village before moving on. Brink of the Lower Falls: This short, strenuous hike (0.6 miles out-and-back with a 600 foot hike back UP to the rim) takes you to a viewpoint perched on top of Lower Falls. Place worth stopping between Salt Lake City and Jackson Hole Much more time is better, especially if you want to truly experience what both parks have to offer. Old Faithful | Yellowstone and Grand Teton Itinerary. There are swimming pools, hot tubs, waterslides, and diving boards. Read More: 25 Memorable Things to Do in Park City. Look into Bozeman, Jackson, the smaller regional airports, and Salt Lake City. If accommodations are full in the park, West Yellowstone is a great place to stay. In the morning, head south to Grand Teton National Park. Tourists love to snap photos here standing under the famous elk antler arches, or gliding around the tiny ice-skating rink. You can stay inside the park at one of the lodges or campsites. The end of September is our favorite time to visit Yellowstone and Grand Teton. Note: if you plan a point-to-point trip, you will have an additional rental car drop fee. The Jackson to Salt Lake Adventure Lets start this adventure with the destination youre taking this trip for, Jackson Hole, WY. Sunset Point: Easy, 0.6-mile round trip walk to another view of Upper Falls. We try to enter the park by 7 or 7:30 am to avoid this line. Idaho Falls Regional Airport, Yellowstone Regional Airport in Cody, Wyoming, and Yellowstone Airport at the West Entrance of Yellowstone are also worth a quick search. The town has lots of fun things to do and is surrounded by the Wasatch Mountains and the Great Salt Lake. This is the time when all of the park roads are open. This is one of the best spots to see moose. The Tetons are much quieter, and the weekend crowds are much smaller. Traveling point-to-point (for example, from Bozeman through Yellowstone and Grand Teton, ending in Jackson) saves you time, since you dont have to drive back to your starting point. But along way keep an eye out for wildlife. 4. Phelps Lake | Yellowstone and Grand Teton Itinerary. As you come through Logan Canyon, be on the lookout for the Bear Lake Rest Area and Overlook. You can easily spend the day in Salt Lake City. Hike, climb, and mountain bike, enjoy white-water rafting, or discover bird and wildlife watching around the state. The best time to visit Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is in the morning, before it gets crowded. One thing to be aware of is that finding a parking space midday can be a challenge. Steamboat Geyser, which is in Back Basin, is the worlds tallest active geyser but you have to be very lucky to see it in action (eruptions are very unpredictable). Just set the travel time to June, because right now some roads are still closed in Yellowstone so the time estimates and route wont be accurate. It starts near the northeast corner of Yellowstone and ends in Red Lodge, Montana.