Yellowstone is 2.2 million acres and spans across three states! Of all the national parks in the United States, Yellowstone is the most diverse. From wildlife, waterfalls, canyons, and geysers visitors can spend a few weeks here and still not see everything.
I’m Cheryl and I live just 4 hours away. I have been to Yellowstone over 30 times and write travel guides to help people explore the West. Every time I visit, I do something new. Read on to learn more about the classic favorites of Yellowstone as well as some lesser-known, yet awesome, things to do! In no particular order…
Tower-Roosevelt is an area on the northern part of Yellowstone on the upper loop. The most popular thing to do here is to look at Tower Fall. It’s an easy, paved walk to a viewpoint and right next to a little gift shop. As a kid, my parents always took me here to get an ice cream whenever we visited Yellowstone.
Not only is there a great waterfall in this area, but it’s also a great place to look for black bears. Last summer when we visited, we saw 5 black bears just driving around. It was magical!
FUN FACT: Tower Fall gets its name from the rock spires that are next to the waterfall.
HANDY TIP: The main viewpoint is the best one. I don’t think it’s worth it to hike closer to the Tower Fall.
Built in 1904, Old Faithful Inn is the largest log cabin in the world! Most of us can’t afford to stay here (over $300 a night!) but the public is welcome to explore the lobby, restaurants, and shops inside. They often have live music in the lobby. We love to grab an ice cream from the deli and eat it while we watch Old Faithful erupt from the balcony.
If you have an extra hour, we love the free historic tours that are given. Guides discuss the Inn’s construction, its architect Robert Reamer, and the influence of the “parkitecture” style that blends with the natural surroundings. It’s usually offered several times throughout the day and no reservations are required.
If you are going to visit a visitor center, this is the best one! There are actually 9 within the park and each visitor center in Yellowstone has a different theme. We love the Old Faithful Visitor Center because it has great big glass windows where you can see Old Faithful, a wonderful children’s area, interesting displays, and geyser prediction times.
GOOD TO KNOW: Old Faithful is not the only predictable geyser in Yellowstone. There are actually 5 other geysers at the same geyser basin that are predictable.
Download our Free Quick and Easy Guide to Yellowstone’s entrances!
Want to see a powerful waterfall up close with hardly any effort? The Brink of the Upper Falls is a short 5 min walk, some of it accessible, down to the brink of the powerful Upper Falls. We never miss this stop because it is so easy and the sound of the falls crashing over 300 feet is something you’ll never forget.
This is one of the many waterfalls and viewpoints in the Canyon area of Yellowstone. There are other great places to stop that I’ll talk about later.
Want to see a geyser in a lake? West Thumb Geyser Basin is really special because it sits right beside Yellowstone Lake. Not only are there a couple of bright blue springs to look at, but there are actually a few geysers in the lake.
The most interesting features are Abyss Pool and Black Pool. Both are deep blue hot springs that allow you to stare down into them.
FUN HISTORY: There is a geyser in the lake called Fishing Cone. The stories are that fishermen used to catch fish and boil them in the spring.
I once tried to go on a kayaking tour to get a closer look at the geysers in the lake but was aced out by a thunderstorm. As an alternative, we discovered the next fun thing to do.
The food at Yellowstone is nothing to write home about, but we like this place for its awesome location and affordable prices. The Grant Village Lake House Restaurant is located right on Yellowstone Lake and has tons of big windows so you can look over the water while you eat. It is really fun and beautiful. Plus, they sell $5 fish tacos and nachos, and no reservations are required.
Located in the town of West Yellowstone, the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center is a sanctuary for grizzlies, wolves, otters, and even squirrels that would have otherwise been euthanized. What is really neat is that they only show 1 grizzly at a time and when they come out, they are looking for their food. The last time we went, we saw a grizzly climb a tree. It was so cool! The wolves are separated by packs and we saw a mom and dad with their pups. They were so cute! It’s open 365 days a year and it’s a great way to see some of these amazing animals up close.
GOOD TO KNOW: Your ticket is good for two consecutive days. It’s nice to just stop in for an hour and see what is going on. Because they only bring one grizzly out at a time, you’ll most likely see a different one each time you go.
Lamar Valley is often called the American Serengeti because it is the best place to view wildlife in the Lower 48. It’s an open prairie with beautiful streams running through and home to so many species of wildlife including birds, bison, coyotes, bears, and… wolves.
Every day, dozens of wolf-watchers arrive at Lamar Valley before dawn, set up their scopes, and wait for something cool to happen. Last winter we rented a scope from Optics Yellowstone and were able to watch a couple of packs of wolves. It was an incredible experience.
When we would visit Grand Prismatic Hot Spring as kids, we could only view it from the boardwalk and oftentimes, the steam would cover up the turquoise blues, greens, and oranges in the water. A few years ago, the park created the Grand Prismatic Hot Spring Overlook Trail where you can walk the paved, moderate climb to get a better view of this iconic Yellowstone site. The hike up the hill is well worth it.
CRAZY STORY: In 2014 a tourist accidentally flew their drone into Grand Prismatic. With the spring being over 100 feet deep, it has never been recovered. No one knows if it will someday block the water flow and change the way this spring looks or if the acidic water has disintegrated it.
We are both history geeks so humor us on this one, but just outside of the North entrance, is the Yellowstone Heritage and Resource Center. It’s full of old books and documents relating to Yellowstone Park. We checked it out once and loved seeing the old travel guides people used to visit and the posters made to advertise the park.
We were so excited when they asked us for a copy of the guide that we wrote for Yellowstone National Park. It’s one of Matt’s most special accomplishments.
GOOD TO KNOW: Admission is free. If there is something special you want to see, you may want to give them a call before you visit.
While you are in the area, grab a bowl of wild game chili at the Wonderland Cafe. The Wonderland Cafe is located in Gardiner, MT, just outside of the North entrance. We kid you not, Matt once made us go back for seconds on the same day. The chili has a nice kick and comes with jalapeno cornbread.
While you are at the North Entrance, check out the Roosevelt Arch. This decorative arch was built by Chittendom to welcome visitors to Yellowstone and got its name because Teddy Roosevelt was in Yellowstone vacationing and spoke at its dedication. Roosevelt was our conservation president and did so much to preserve much of the land that is now our national parks.
GOOD TO KNOW: The Roosevelt Arch is not IN Yellowstone and you don’t even need to drive through it to get into the park. But, if you are in the area, it’s worth a stop and a great photo op.
Our next best thing to do also has to do with Roosevelt and is the Old West Dinner Cookout. Visitors can go in a horse-drawn wagon or ride their own horse to the secluded Paradise Valley where they are served a chuck wagon dinner with all the fixings including steak, potato salad, and watermelon. We loved listening to the country singer and making up our own cheer for our wagon. You can read all about it at Old West Cook Out: Our Review.
HOT TIP: Try to snag a seat in the first wagon to avoid the dust! Also, book your reservation as soon as you know your travel dates. These spots fill up fast!
Next up is to see the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. We love to see it from Artist Point where the famous artist, Thomas Moran, created his famous painting. Moran visited in 1871 with an exploration group and they weren’t sure an artist who rode with a pillow on the saddle could make the trek, but he proved them wrong and his painting inspired thousands to see this yellow-rocked canyon for themself.
Next is Porcelain Basin at Norris Geyser Basin. This is literally the hottest basin within the park. We love the turquoise pools with the stark white in the background for contrast. This is a popular basin with a small parking lot so get there early.
GOOD TO KNOW: Norris is one of the largest geyser basins, and it contains 4 of the 5 major geothermal formations:
Fumaroles. These are steam vents. Steam vents are just like hot springs, except that the water burns off before it gets to the surface. Because Norris is so hot, there are a lot of steam vents.
Geysers. Geysers are like hot springs, but they have a constriction in the plumbing underneath. This causes the hot water to build pressure and eventually blow.
Hot springs. These are just hot pools of water. Similar to geysers, but with no constriction, the water is free to gradually rise and fall.
Mud pots. These are boiling pots of mud, caused by the acid melting the surrounding dirt and material.
Travertine Terraces. These look like inside-out caves. You can see these at Mammoth Hot Springs.
We have a few ideas of night life activities for you but next we want to share one of our favorites: the Playmill Theatre of West Yellowstone. This has become a yearly tradition for us the past 3 years. Besides the acting and costumes being great, what makes this place special is the pre-show sing along and the delicious snacks the actors serve at intermission including dole whips, hot fudge sundaes and root beer floats.
These plays are all family-friendly. We’ve seen Singin’ in the Rain, Beauty and the Beast, and Anastasia. There is also the Yellowstone Playhouse of Island Park that we have heard good things about but haven’t been to yet.
If you want more ideas of fun things to do outside of Yellowstone, check out our blog post 11 Things To Do Outside of Yellowstone.
This is my personal happy place, Madison Valley. If you enter from West Yellowstone, you will drive right through it. We love the open plains with the streams running through. It often takes a back seat to Lamar and Hayden Valley, but we have seen plenty of wildlife here. On our last visit we saw a heard of bison stampeding across the plain and then swim across the river. It was so cool.
Madison Valley is also one of our favorite places to camp. It’s one of the more central campgrounds within the park, making it easier to get to all the cool things within the park. If you are curious about what it’s like to drive through Yellowstone, check out our blog post Driving in Yellowstone: 10 Things You Need to Know.
Next is to visit the oldest area of the park, Mammoth Hot Springs. The travertine terraces are a big draw. These geothermal features look like an inside-out cave and are huge! They are worth seeing for sure but what we really love to do when we visit Mammoth, is watch the elk wander around town and check out the Map Room at the Mammoth Springs Hotel. It has a giant map of the United States made of 8 different types of wood. We also like looking at the old buildings built by the US army when they were given the task to protect Yellowstone from vandals and poachers the first 5 years it was a national park.
The Horace Albright Visitor Center isn’t bad either. Its focus is on wildlife which is always fun to learn about.
PRO TIP: If you have someone willing to shuttle, you can have them drop your group off at the top of the Mammoth Hot Springs and meet you at the bottom.
My first visits to Yellowstone National Park revolved around Yellowstone Lake. We would take our 16-foot aluminum fishing boat out for hours and fish for trout. If you don’t have a boat, there are plenty of fishing opportunities, both fly and lake fishing through guides. There are strict limits on what fisherman keep so I don’t think that Yellowstone is the best place to fish.
But, I do think that Yellowstone Lake is beautiful and fun. Instead of fishing, you can just drive by it. It has 141 miles of shoreline and it’s great to watch a sunset or look for birds.
I have kayaked on Yellowstone Lake (my ride was cut short by a thunderstorm) and Matt has taken a scenic boat cruise.
GOOD TO KNOW: The average water temperature is 41 ° F. Don’t plan on taking a swim!
If you are itching to get in the water, we love the Yellowstone Hotsprings in Gardiner. This is a really nice facility. It was recently built in 2019 and we like that the mineral water is mixed with well water. It helps with the itching skin that you sometimes get after swimming in hot springs. There’s a few different pools with varying water temperatures and it’s open year-round. We visited the hot springs in the winter and can’t wait to come try them out in the summer with our kids.
Yellowstone is a completely different park in the winter. You can cross-country ski, snowshoe, ice skate and even ride a snowcoach into the park. We have a whole blog post on this that you might want to check out.
GOOD TO KNOW: Many Yellowstone roads are closed from November through April. They allow snow to accumulate so snowmobiles and snow coaches can use them. They begin removing the snow in March and it’s quite a process!
This may now be my favorite view of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone- the brink of the lower falls. Lower Falls is 300 ft tall and often has a rainbow. We love to look across the canyon and see the yellow walls and the other mini waterfalls running off the snowbanks in the spring.
It’s only 0.7 miles round trip but you do have to climb over 600 feet in elevation, through 12 switchbacks, to get back to the parking lot. It’s a butt-kicker but worth it!
By now you are probably aware that even though Yellowstone doesn’t have great food, it does have great ice cream. One of our very favorites is outside the park in West Yellowstone at the City Creamery. Their ice cream is handmade and you really can tell the difference.
We love the double chocolate orange ice cream. I’ve never seen that flavor anywhere else.
Not only is Hayden Valley one of the best places in Yellowstone to see wildlife, but it is also convenient to get to. It only takes 15 minutes to drive straight through but you may want to allow some extra time in case you spot an animal.
There is no singular attraction or large parking area in Hayden Valley. There are occasional pullouts and small parking lots with overviews of the valley and the Yellowstone River. It’s located near Yellowstone’s east entrance on the Lower Loop of the Grand Loop Road.
Old Faithful Geyser is Yellowstone’s most famous geyser. Every 60-90 minutes, you can expect an incredible show. Old Faithful is located on the Upper Geyser Basin and there are miles of boardwalks where you can see other geothermal features. I especially love to walk out to Riverside Geyser. It has predictable eruption times and it’s really neat to see a geyser go into a river.
GOOD TO KNOW: There are always geyser enthusiasts, nick-named Geyser Geeks, hanging around the Upper Geyser Basin. If they start telling you about geysers, listen. You can learn so much!
Hopefully, now you have a good idea of some of the great things to do in Yellowstone. Keep reading for some other helpful information to help you pull off a great trip.
There are five entrances to Yellowstone. As you can see from the map above, the main portion of Yellowstone is located on the Grand Loop. That’s the figure 8-shaped road located in the center of the park. This loop can take 4-7 hours to drive around, without stopping! Each of the entrances varies in its distance to the Grand Loop. You can read more about the entrances in our blog post Which Yellowstone Entrance is Right for You?
Although the park is almost entirely in Wyoming, three of the entrances are located in Montana. The North Entrance, the Northeast Entrance, and the West Entrance.
Two are located in Wyoming, including the South Entrance, which is essentially (not technically) connected to Grand Teton National Park. The other is the East Entrance.
Download our Free Quick and Easy Guide to Yellowstone’s entrances!
We believe that 4 days is the perfect amount. This allows you two days for the Upper Loop and two days for the Lower Loop. If you aren’t interested in spending much time in Lamar Valley looking for wildlife, three days is doable. If you want a sample itinerary, check out our blog post How To Plan The Perfect Trip To Yellowstone: Everything You Need To Know.
If you want to do some outside-the-park activities like Earthquake Lake, Virginia City, or visit Cody, give yourself an extra day or two.
One other thing to keep in mind is that Grand Teton National Park is just two hours away. Grand Teton has some of the most stunning mountains you will ever see, great whitewater rafting and scenic floats, and similar wildlife viewing to Yellowstone.
We often tell people instead of spending a week in Yellowstone, spend 3-4 days in Yellowstone and 2-3 days in Grand Teton.
People visit Yellowstone from all over the world. When I was kid, I used to play a game where I would try to find a license plate from every state in Yellowstone, and some years, I was able to get all 50!
If you are driving, there is no shortage of road trips you can make. We love to visit Yellowstone as part of a larger national park road trip. We will often combine it with Glacier, Grand Teton, and/or the Black Hills.
If you are flying, check out our blog post Flying to Yellowstone and Grand Teton? Here’s What You Need To Know
There are 9 lodges and 12 campgrounds within Yellowstone National Park. Norris, Madison, and Canyon are the most central areas of the park. We prefer to try to stay in one of those if we don’t want to have to switch locations midway through our trip or not have to drive a long way every day.
There are also lots of lodging and camping options at the gateway towns, especially West Yellowstone and Gardiner, MT. We have thoroughly covered this in our blog posts and videos listed below:
-Lodging within Yellowstone can be booked 13 months in advance. Book here
-Lodging can range from rustic cabins for ~$150 a night (Mammoth and Roosevelt cabins) where you share a bathroom to more luxury accommodations, starting at $300 a night (Canyon, Lake Hotel, Old Faithful Inn)
-Camping within Yellowstone can be booked 6 months in advance. Book here
-Fishing Bridge RV Park is the only campground with hook-ups
THE TRUTH ABOUT FOOD IN YELLOWSTONE: It’s mediocre at best. Google is filled with terrible reviews about the food in Yellowstone. Keep in mind that Yellowstone is remote and it’s hard to get fresh food there. Don’t make the same mistake I did and order a salmon burger at the Geyser Grill!
We have a whole post about Where to Eat in Yellowstone if you want to know more. We’ve also included a map below of all the restaurants within Yellowstone by area.
Yellowstone is simply amazing! I hope that this blog post has been a good resource to help you start planning your trip.
One of the biggest challenges of visiting Yellowstone is that it is so big, with so many things to see and do, that it’s hard to be efficient and prioritize. We have created a Yellowstone Guide to make your trip planning a breeze! We have sold over 4,000 copies of this guide and our customers say that it allowed them to see more of Yellowstone and saved them at least 10 hours of planning time. Check it out to see if it’s a good fit for you and thanks for letting me share my favorite things about my favorite national park.
Itinerary includes:
How to Plan the Perfect Trip to Grand Teton: Everything You Need to Know
14 Great Things To Do When Visiting Mount Rushmore National Memorial
The Quick Guide to Visiting Custer State Park
9 ABSOLUTE BEST Things to Do in Badlands National Park (+ Quick Guide)
12 Things You Shouldn’t Miss When You Visit Glacier National Park
This site is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. We are compensated for referring traffic and business to Amazon and other companies linked to on this site.
Receive weekly newsletters updating you on the Best of the West including: essential travel tips, park updates, stories, and our favorite things to see and do.
