Yellowstone/Grant Teton best places to stay

Rent and RV and stay in the parks.

Blacksford RV

Stay as close as possible. Yellowstone is huge and takes some time (days) to see. You don’t want to spend an hour just getting there. Yellowstone and Gallatin rivers are worth just sitting on the bank and chilling out.

Wort Hotel Jackson Hole

Stay inside the park at Yellowstone- move around each night if possible. Grand Canyon area is the most central.

Jenny Lake Lodge for Teton

they are all expensive
cost of doing business

we stayed at mammoth, at the canyon and at the lake. Six nites, 2 at each place

If you’d rather stay in one place the canyon is centrally located. They are all nice enough and will save you much time and effort

Yellowstone is huge

A couple things to know OP, May is mud season the snow is melting and things are muddy. Mid June is really the very beginning of their "summer". If you go before mid June you could very well run into snow and mud the same week. So be leery and understand that.

People think of southern summers where nice weather starts in April and its hot as hell by June, their only real summer in Yellowstone is July and August.

As said, you ideally want to move around. Everything is expensive because its remote. I would spend 3-4 days in Jackson Hole and then a couple days or more in Yellowstone.

You want to move around Yellowstone though because its huge and the road is basically in a figure 8 circle and there's no reason to backtrack really except for lodging. There's bison all over and traffic and mountain roads so its just slow going.

ETA: I'm bias because my FIL had a place there but I really like staying in Teton Village. Yes its a ski mountain, but the location is very good at the back gate of GTNP less than 1 mile away. You can take the Gondola up (check the calendar) to the top of the mountain to hike and enjoy the views and have a beer and appetizer when its open. Then as said its the back gate of GTNP.

I'd suggest 3 nights Teton Village to explore Jackson hole town, Teton Village, and south GTNP. Then drive north and see the northern part of the park and stay in Colter Bay or Jackson Lake Lodge. Jackson lake lodge has a great restaurant location.

Then hit up Yellowstone for 2-3 days working either clockwise or counter around the park slowly.

Bring binoculars

ETA; There's tons to do, you can easily spend 2-3x that amount of time.

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essentially two full days

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the4n prioritize your time, research the park and decide what you really want to see. but be comforted by the fact that there are no wrong answers

i would focus on the lamar valley, canyon and the norris geyser basin. if you stayed 2 nites at canyon village you'd be well set up for that.

quote:

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the4n prioritize your time, research the park and decide what you really want to see. but be comforted by the fact that there are no wrong answers

i would focus on the lamar valley, canyon and the norris geyser basin. if you stayed 2 nites at canyon village you'd be well set up for that.

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Thanks for the feedback grand.

We rented a condo at Snow King Mountain for 3 nights that was absolutely beautiful and relatively inexpensive for the Jackson area. From there we did the Tetons and Jackson Hole. A half-day trail ride up the mountain is a great way to see the Tetons if the weather is good.

IF you can get a spot in Yellowstone it is expensive for what you get but as many have said Yellowstone is huge so being at a basic "park hotel" at the Old Faithful, Lake, or Canyon area has its advantages in saving time and allowing you to visit more of the park.

Anyway you slice it, while the GT is indeed spectacular, Yellowstone is one of the most unique, diverse, and largest parks you will ever visit. Enjoy.

Did this same trip in 2021. Cannot reiterate enough what folks have said about staying IN the parks when visiting them. You don't want to waste time driving in and out of the parks and dealing with that TRAFFIC.

In Grand Teton, we stayed at Signal Mountain Lodge and had our own cabin with a front porch overlooking Jackson Lake. Real nice. I'd recommend it.


Yellowstone, we stayed the whole time in Old Faithful Inn-- the original, old-timey one.


The 1st night after arrival and last night before leaving we stayed in Jackson at the Spring Hill Suites. You can walk to downtown, town square, restaurants, shopping from there very easily.