Yellowstone in One Day
Why you can do Yellowstone in One Day… This is probably going to be the most controversial article on this site… but here it is Yellowstone is the Disney World of National Parks, and will suck up your money just as quick. So I am going to give you some not so traditional advice on how to see the parks, especially with all the surges of people seeing them right now. Visiting Yellowstone National Park can be stressful and you could easily spend a week, or even a month exploring, but should you?
How many days in Yellowstone, is a question that is critical to think about when planning your trip. With all the things to do in Yellowstone, you could easily spend longer than a day. You can also truncate the visit down to one full day. The hiking in Yellowstone is nice, but honestly Glacier National Park or Grand Tetons National Park offer more strenuous options. Yellowstone offers unique and interesting opportunities, but after you see the sites, you might want to head on to other parks and get your hiking fix there.
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We have created the perfect packing list to get everything you need for your small town getaway into one lightweight personal item. Flights are getting more expensive, and carry-ons have become a charge for almost every flight. Getting everything you need into the perfect personal item is one of the best tricks to keep costs low.
Table of Contents
Planning a Trip to Yellowstone
Planning a trip to Yellowstone in One Day is both difficult and overwhelming, at 2.2 Million acres it is such a huge National Park, and as the First National Park it deserved to be protected for a reason. There are so many options to making it an amazing adventure.
You have 3 options for paying to enter the park, you can pay for a week long pass which is $35 or you can buy an America the Beautiful pass that costs $80 and allows you access to all National Parks for the whole year. Even better, if you have a 4th grader, they can fill out the paperwork to get a free park pass their 4th grade year! You must do the paperwork in advance, print the pass out and bring it to the gate, the 4th grader must always be in the car to enter the park with the Every Kid in a Park Pass.
Things to Consider when you begin Planning
- What Month is ideal for visiting?
- What sites are most important to see?
- How much time will be spent hiking or fishing?
- Do you want to stay in Yellowstone?
- How much time can you spend in Yellowstone?
What month is best for your needs?
- High season is May-August as most if not all roads are open
- Fall and Spring are wonderful times to see wildlife and are quieter for number of visitors
- Winter, only one road is open, all other travel requires snow coach or a snowmobile tour
What Sites are important to see?
- Old Faithful is iconic, and you probably shouldn’t miss it, although honestly a little anticlimactic
- Grand Canyon of Yellowstone is a must hit
- Yellowstone Lake
- Norris Geyser Basin, but you can probably skip the Back Basin and focus on the Porcelin Basin
- Pay for a Guide and go wolf watching in Lamar Valley
- Lake Yellowstone Hotel is worth a visit, and if the rest of the park is really crowded this may be a good spot to grab souvenirs, and lunch
- Grand Prismatic Overlook, don’t bother with the actual boardwalk you can only see steam coming off the Spring
How much time will be spent hiking or fishing?
There are many options to convene with nature in Yellowstone National Park, most people are looking for fishing or hiking. There are many hiking options, you could spend weeks or just pick a couple for a day or two. People come from all around for the fishing options in Yellowstone.
Hikes in Yellowstone- there are tons here are a few options
- Natural Bridge- 2.6 miles roundtrip
- Bunsen Peak and Osprey Falls- 4.2 miles roundtrip
- Mount Washburn- 6.4 miles
- South Rim Trail to point Sublime- 5.1 miles
- Specimen Ridge- 3 miles
Fishing in Yellowstone
- Get a fishing permit at any visitor center
- Rent a boat and fish for trout (all lake trout must be killed as it is invasive)
- Fly fishing in the Yellowstone River
Do you want to stay in Yellowstone?
Yellowstone National Park hours, There are 10 major options to stay in Yellowstone, and the location will certainly save time when getting to other areas of the park. There are 12 camping locations in Yellowstone with tent camping or RV sites.
The best places to stay in Yellowstone are any of the options honestly, you just want to make sure you have your groups needs covered, it is good to think about if you want to camp and cook food, or if you want more hotel style and then buy meals. Meals can get very expensive on property so you may want to keep that in mind when going the hotel route.
You can book all of these through the National Park Service Website. It is important to plan ahead, as these hotels and campsites get booked out a full year in advance. Login to the website 366 days before you are wanting to go, so that you can get the hotel or campsite and time frame you are looking for. Increase demand in the past couple years, has made it very competative to get a room, the best way to achieve the room you are wanting is to book a year in advance.
The best lodging in Yellowstone, by far is the Lake Yellowstone Hotel. It is beautiful, historic and absolutely luxerious. It provides many lovely amenities, like upscale dining options, a beautiful soft yellow facade and the traditional bell hops. This is also the most expensive option in the park, so keep that in mind when booking.
There is tons of RV camping near yellowstone. The exact locations of the Yellowstone RV hook-ups really depend on which entrance you are staying by. For the West Yellowstone location there is a KOA right outside the park entrance. We stayed there, and it was servicable, and had a lot of bathrooms and showers, but when the entire park was full there was a wait in the evenings for showers. The pancake breakfast they offer every morning, was a nice change to have someone else cook, and get on the road without having to clean up the mess.
Under Canvas Yellowstone is also located just outside the West Yellowstone entrance. Glamping Yellowstone is a great option, if you want the mix of amenities, but still want to feel connected to nature. This really looks very cool to do, and the location is great if this is in your budget.
There are also cabins in Yellowstone National Park, they all can be booked through the NPS website and their approved affiliates. There are six different areas inside the park that give you the option to stay in a cabin. Please note though the cabins in the park are all very basic and do not have tons of amenities. Yellowstone National Park cabins options are Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel and Cabins, Roosevelt Lodge Cabins, Canyon Lodge & Cabins, the Lake Lodge Cabins, The Old Faithful Lodge Cabins, The Old Faithful Snow Lodge and Cabins.
These are all good options for staying in the park, and with the popularity of this park, you may have to take what you can get, but if you can stay in the more southern area, you will be closer to the most of the major sites.
There are tons of places to stay near Yellowstone. The best places to stay near Yellowstone, depends on which entrance you are using, if West Yellowstone then there are tons of hotels and RV spots. The KOA was a great option for RV hook-ups. If staying near the South Entrance you will have to drive through Grand Tetons National Park to get to Yellowstone, this is a beautiful drive, but adds costs (you have to pay to enter Grand Tetons, and Yellowstone) and extra time to get to Yellowstone, which in the morning is not ideal.
Northern Section of the Park Hotels
- Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel and Cabins
- Roosevelt Lodge Cabins
- Canyon Lodge & Cabins
Southern Section of the Park Hotels
- Lake Yellowstone Hotel
- The Sandpiper Lodge
- The Lake Lodge Cabins
- The Old Faithful Inn
- The Old Faithful Lodge Cabins
- The Old Faithful Snow Lodge and Cabins
- Grant Village
Lake Yellowstone Hotel is the most grand and the most expensive option. The Old Faithful is the most popular, and closest to their namesake Old Faithful. The hotels are beautiful and the locations can’t be beat.
Northern Section of the Park Campsites
- Canyon Campground
- Mammoth Campground
- Tower Fall Campground
- Slough Creek Campground
- Pebble Creek Campground
- Indian Creek Campground
- Norris Campground
Southern Section of the Park Campsites
- Bridge Bay
- Fishing Bridge RV Park
- Grant Village Campground
- Lewis Lake Campground
- Madison Campground
What makes Yellowstone so important?
Yellowstone was the first National Park, established in 1872, it protected an amazingly diverse area for visitors for years to come. The area is so diverse and unique because of a Supervolcano lying at the heart of Yellowstone. This supervolcano has not erupted in over 631,000 years. The heat powering those eruptions still fuels the geysers, hot springs, fumaroles, and mudpots.
The park has a range of ecosystems, from near-desert vegetation at the north entrance to forests on Mount Washburn. The park supports many wildlife, likely on your list to see while here including the bison (buffalo), elk, grizzly and black bears and wolves.
There are tons of things to see and do in Yellowstone this includes the 8 major areas in the park:
- Mammoth Hot Springs
- Norris Geyser Basin
- Midway Geyser Basin
- Old Faithful
- West Thumb
- Yellowstone Lake area
- The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone area
- The Lamar Valley
Bear Safety- from experience
- Make noise while hiking, putting a bell on your pack is a good idea
- Hike with a group and do not separate
- Keep space at least 100 yards, or 5 school buses
- If you see the bear, do not make eye contact and do not run, move sideways to get out of the area
- Clap your hands, wave your arms and make noise
- Keep your food in your pack, and always take your pack with you
- Bring Bear Spray (or rent it), watch a video on how to use it, but really if you get to the point where you need to use it you have probably not read the above safety tips and therefore did not watch the video on how to use it so best of luck
One Day in Yellowstone
First off, everyone is going to tell you to get there early, by early they mean before 7am… While this is good advice, especially if you are a morning person, this is the advice everyone is following. So, instead of doing that you should arrive to the north entrance around 2pm, eat lunch before you go, sleep in it will still be a long day. You will have light until 9:30pm at least, and you can split you time into two 1/2 days.
Yellowstone in one day is an ambitious feat, but you can totally do it if you are motivated. Start by entering the park at the North Entrance, and view the Roosevelt Arch. You have done it, you have entered the park, I suggest making a loop of it First Stop the boiling river, we went during Covid so this was closed, if it is open when you go it is worth a stop to put your toes in the water for sure.
Then make your way to the Mammoth Hot Springs. This is one of the world’s best protected examples of travertine depositing hot springs. The temperature of the water reaches 163 degrees Fahrenheit/ 73 degrees Celsius. These are thermal springs, and the ground is very fragile, make sure to stay on the boardwalk to see the springs. You get different angles from the walk up versus the walk back down, so I suggest taking the hike both ways.
It is likely very hot, both because it is warm out and because you are walking over thermal areas, so be prepared bring your water with you and apply the sun screen. Walk the boardwalk around the Main Terrace Area, and see the top of the palette spring. Then get in the car and drive the Upper Terrace Drive as it is a one way scenic drives that loops around for 1.5 miles
Then drive for 18 miles, to the petrified tree that is almost 50 million years old! Make your way to the Yellowstone Forever Institute, and find out if they have seen any wolves out in the Lamar Valley. You are now in the Lamar Valley so you can get out and walk some trails or go to the overlooks.
Next up, make your way the 19 miles south to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. There are multiple lookouts you must visit, Inspiration Point, Grand View, Artist Point, Lookout Point, Brink of Upper Falls, and Brink of Lower Falls. There is also a South Rim Drive and a North Rim Drive. If you are crunched for time, drive the north rim and south rim, and get out at Artist Point and Inspiration Point.
If you have time, pick one of the hikes and truly enjoy your time in the canyon. Grand Canyon of Yellowstone the coloration of the rock from years of erosion is epic. The waterfalls on both ends of the Canyon are straight gorgeous. The hike between the two waterfalls was incredibly lovely, and if you catch it in the evening you may even see an Elk sitting regally in the field just loving life. Or you may make friends with a bison, that thinks you have snacko’s and maybe gets a little close for comfort.
Next, drive 16 miles south to the Lake Village Area. The Yellowstone Lake Hotel is here and is a great option for lunch. You get to eat with a view of the lake, and maybe even some bison hanging out nearby. If you feel like hiking afterward, the Natural Bridge trail is just a short drive away.
This path is mostly paved, but is a lovely trek along a stream to a bridge carved out of rhyolite rock and stands 51 feet high. It is an amazing little trek through nature, but it is frequently closed in spring, as the bears like to fish in Bridge Creek, make sure to look for signs and always follow Ranger instructions.
From there, it is about 20 miles to West Thumb area, an area with geysers and trails. If you have time, some of the trails may be nice to see and walk about on. As you maybe a bit pressed for time, you may need to move on and skip this area.
Its a quick 17 mile drive to the Old Faithful area, beware this is a time sucking area. Try to time it so that Old Faithful will erupt shortly before you arrive. This ensures you will not be waiting for long (NPS.GOV has the projected eruption times). In all honesty, this is not a hugely exciting experience, it kinda shoots water out of the ground, gets a bit higher and then it is done.
Not sure, other than its predictability why it is so popular. The area has a restaurant, and it has visitor center, and it even has an art exhibit. Remember you are on a limited time schedule, if you want to spend more time hike up Geyser Hill for a better, less crowded view of Old Faithful.
Another short 16 miles up the road, and you are in the Midway Geyser Basin, with the Grand Prismatic Spring. It is lovely, but lets be honest, the overlook is the only way to really see it. Don’t make the mistake of walking the boardwalk, just skip right to the overlook path. You will get the iconic view of the spring, without the steam blocking your view.
This one day itinerary for Yellowstone, is a bit exhausting, but you are almost there. Next up is the Norris Geyser Basin. Inside is 2.1 million year old caldera (or Super Volcano). This is the very active earthquake area, with rare acidic geysers. The Steamboat Geyser is the tallest active geyser eruption in the world.
The Back Basin area is full of so many more geysers, walk to the Steamboat Geyser and see if you can be lucky enough to catch it. It is unpredictable when it will erupt, so you just never know.
Once, you hike that far turn around, and hit the Porcelain Basin, it has a constant eruption going off on one of the many geysers in this area. It is a boardwalk, but has a steep climb back up to the parking area so bear that in mind when making the climb down.
Head south again, and stop off at Gibbon Falls it is a great little spot for some pictures with a lovely little waterfall on your way out of the park.
One day Yellowstone, was your mission and it is now complete!
Yellowstone National Park nearest airports
When you travel to Yellowstone you have several options for airports. The airports near Yellowstone National Park depend highly on which entrance you are staying by. If staying by the south entrance, then flying into Jackson Hole Wyoming Airport (JAC) will be the closest. If staying by the north entrance, the largest and easiest Bozeman International Airport (BZN) is about 2 hours from Gardiner Montana and the north entrance.
If staying by the northeast entrance Billings Montana (BIL) 126 miles from the park entrance. If staying by the east entrance, the Yellowstone Regional Airport (COD) is just minutes from the entrance. If staying by the west entrance, West Yellowstone Airport (YWS) only about 35 miles from the entrance.
Yellowstone National Park Entrance
There are 5 Yellowstone entrances, all but one entrance is closed during the winter.
- Yellowstone Northeast entrance is located near Cooke City and Silver Gate Montana. It is open seasonally, late May through mid-October.
- Yellowstone West entrance is located in West Yellowstone Montana. It is open seasonally, late April through early November.
- Yellowstone North entrance is located in Gardiner Montana. This is the only entrance that is open year round.
- Yellowstone South entrance is on the border of Grand Tetons National Park, and is 50 miles north of Jackson Wyoming. It is open seasonally, mid-May through early November.
- Yellowstone East entrance is located 53 miles west of Cody Wyoming. The entrance is open seasonally early May to early November.
Yellowstone and Grand Teton
Grand Teton to Yellowstone National Park is a 31 mile drive and it is both scenic and beautiful, and has many beautiful overlook areas to stop and explore the park.
This site contains affiliate links to products. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links. This commission is at no additional cost to you.
We have created the perfect packing list to get everything you need for your small town getaway into one lightweight personal item. Flights are getting more expensive, and carry-ons have become a charge for almost every flight. Getting everything you need into the perfect personal item is one of the best tricks to keep costs low.
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