If you are sat wondering where to go on holiday this summer, we have a great idea for you. Why not head out to Yellowstone National Park? We have made it our destination of the month for April to help inspire your summer holiday planning.
View from Artist’s Point, Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone is an incredible place. It is filled with things to see and do. There are amazing geysers, like the famous Old Faithful, shooting steaming water high into the air, pools of bubbling (occasionally malodorous) mud, and beautiful brightly coloured hot pools. There is a wide variety of wildlife to watch. We have seen bison, elk, moose, bears, coyote, eagles, osprey and all manner of smaller mammals. Yellowstone is also home to wolves, you can hear them at night and spot them at dawn and dusk. You can go horse riding, fishing, boating and white water rafting. The hiking is amazing. There are hundreds of miles of trails and the views from Mount Washburn or Bunsen Peak are wonderful. As is all this isn’t enough, Yellowstone is also home to some fantastic scenery. The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is a brilliant spectacle, complete with roaring waterfalls and awe inspiring scale.
Grand Teton National Park
In terms of practicalities, my favoured way to visit Yellowstone is to fly into Jackson, Wyoming and combine it with a trip to the stunning Grand Teton National Park. Jackson Hole is a great place to visit in its own right, with interesting shops to poke around, great food, fun bars and a shoot out in the Town Square every evening in the summer.
Go hang out in Jackson
There are no direct flights from the UK to Jackson Hole Airport, but British Airways has a range of options that connect through Dallas and Chicago. If neither of these options appeal we like Expedia and Skyscanner for a good listing of all the operators running flights. For more information see our how the get there section in our Yellowstone guide. We also have lots of information about where to stay, both within the Park and in the gateway communities in the vicinity of Yellowstone.
You can also include a trip to Yellowstone as part of a bigger road trip. A really fun itinerary could include a trip to Mount Rushmore and the Black Hills in South Dakota.
If you like the idea of visiting Yellowstone but would rather not travel independently, you have several good options.
Kuoni will arrange an epic 15 day self-drive tour of Colorado & The Rockies. In addition to Yellowstone, this tour includes visits to Denver, Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, Arches National Park in Utah and Vail.This is just a suggested itinerary, and Kuoni will happily tailor make a package for you. You can web chat, e-mail, call or visit them to get help and a quote.
If you would rather not drive yourself, but join an escorted tour, we particularly like the options that Exodus Travels run.
Firstly, we really like the Yellowstone Wildlife Walks trip. This is a 15 day adventure, taking in a day in Grand Teton, 3 days in Yellowstone including time with a wolf and geology guide and 2 days in Glacier National Park. Get those boots packed…..
If you have a hankering to see a wolf in the wild, your best time of year is the winter. The Yellowstone Wolves In Winter trip is a 7 day trip that includes 3 full days tracking wolves with a wildlife specialist. The landscape of geysers and hot springs combined with snow and ice is stunning.
Finally, their National Park Lodges tour gives the opportunity to explore several of the US National Parks including Yellowstone, on an 8 night tour staying in various park lodges.
