How to See the Best Sights of Yellowstone National Park in One Day
Yellowstone is the second largest national park in the continental United States, and it is massive! The park is like nowhere else in the world, partly because it sits on top of a supervolcano. This creates fantastic geothermal features such as spewing geysers, boiling mud pots, and steamy hot springs. Because the park is so big you need to have a plan before you visit in order to see the top sights. Read on for our tips to get the most out of your day in Yellowstone National Park!
How to Get to Yellowstone National Park
96% of Yellowstone National Park is located in Wyoming, with the northwestern corner also sitting in Idaho and Montana. The closest regional airports are in Cody or Jackson, Wyoming, and the closest international airport is in Salt Lake City, Utah.
You will need a car to experience Yellowstone, there are no shuttle services currently running throughout the park. There are outside tour companies that offer guided day trips to see the best of Yellowstone if you don’t have transportation, or if you only have one day to spend in the park.
Where to Stay When Visiting Yellowstone
In order to see the absolute most of Yellowstone National Park in one day, you will need to stay either in or very close to the park. Lodging inside of Yellowstone fills up quickly, so the best thing to do when planning your trip is to book your stay first. But don’t fret if you can’t find anything inside the park, there are plenty of options just outside of the park entrances that are just as great!
Where to stay inside Yellowstone National Park
The Old Faithful Inn is the most popular lodging area in the park, and books up to 13 months in advance. Nearby there is also the Old Faithful Lodge with cabins for rent if you are traveling to Yellowstone with a family group. Mammoth Hot Springs has a hotel and cabins for rent in the northern part of the park.
On the east side Lake Yellowstone Hotel offers nearly 300 rooms overlooking Yellowstone Lake, plus exterior cottages for rent. Lydia from Lost with Lydia breaks down in detail the lodges in Yellowstone National Park to help guide your decision!
If camping is more your style, you are in luck! Yellowstone has 12 campgrounds inside the park. Most sites are available from June to the beginning of October. For those with an RV, Fishing Bridge RV Park is the only campground offering water, sewer, and electrical hookups.
Surrounding towns to stay in
- Jackson, Wyoming – You can read about the Jackson Airport and the little town of Jackson in our post about Grand Teton National Park. Jackson Airport is actually the only the only commercial airport in the U.S. located inside a national park. Jackson has tons of hotel options, and staying here means you would enter Yellowstone from the south entrance. This is a great place to stay if you also wanted to visit the Tetons on your Yellowstone trip!
- Cody, Wyoming is a close place to stay when visiting Yellowstone with plenty of hotel options, bringing you nearest to the east entrance of the park. We’ve stayed here before when we made a road trip from Colorado through Yellowstone and on to Glacier National Park. Cody (also called Cody Yellowstone) has that old “wild west” town vibe with a Buffalo Bill Museum and a re-created log cabin frontier town. In the summer there are rodeos and old fashioned gun fight reenactments. Kids love it!
- West Yellowstone on the Montana side has the typical lodging options, but you should definitely check out Under Canvas Yellowstone. Highly recommend if you haven’t ever experienced “glamping”, we stayed here on a Yellowstone road trip and had a fantastic time! Staying here brings you through the west entrance of the park.
The Best Places to Visit with One Day in Yellowstone National Park
The main road going through Yellowstone is Grand Loop Road, dividing the park into two loops: Upper Loop and Lower Loop. Each loop takes about 2.5 hours to drive without stopping. Ideally you would spend at least a day traveling each loop, but with only one day in Yellowstone plan on hitting just the highlights of both loops. Don’t worry, there are plenty of gas stations inside Yellowstone so you can continue your travels without having to leave the park. The best sights for a one day itinerary through Yellowstone are below.
Note: The speed limit on the main road is 45mph but several areas that have popular stops have a lower speed limit.
The Old Faithful Area
As this is one of the most popular parts of the park, it is the perfect area to begin your day before it gets too crowded. Start at the Old Faithful Inn, a historic structure built in the 1900’s and said to be the largest log building in the world!
Here you can find a listing of times when Old Faithful is predicted to erupt that day. Check out the gift shop and visitor center, and if you are here for breakfast enjoy a hearty meal while overlooking the geyser basin from the large windows in the dining hall. In the evenings, grab a spot on the terrace outside of the bar and watch Old Faithful erupt with a cold drink in your hand!
Old Faithful is the most well-known geyser, but in actuality 25% of all of the geysers in the world are found in the Upper Geyser Basin. There is a 3 mile easy boardwalk loop around the basin to see the geysers up close. We recommend arriving at least 15 minutes before the predicted “start time” of Old Faithful to get a good viewpoint! Then meander around the rest of the basin, making sure not to miss the magnificent Morning Glory Pool.
Tip: For fewer crowds, walk around Old Faithful and watch it erupt from the back. We were the only people here and had a fantastic viewing point!
Grand Prismatic Spring
The Grand Prismatic Spring is the largest hot spring in the United States and is also one of the most photographed places in the park. With vibrant hues of orange and turquoise, it is even more breathtaking in real life. For the best colors, plan to visit the spring in mid-day when the sun is high in the air. This is also when it will be the most crowded so finding a parking spot can take a while.
Grand Prismatic Spring is located in the Midway Geyser Basin. It is easy to view the spring from the overlook, which is just a 0.7 mile stroll along a boardwalk.
Note: The colors of the spring are actually caused by thermophilic (heat-loving) bacteria and algae!
The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is a gorge over 1,000 feet deep and 20 miles long, initially carved out by volcanic eruptions over 630,000 years ago. The Yellowstone River flows through the center, further widening the canyon to 4,000 feet in places.
The Lower Falls of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is the tallest and most iconic waterfall in the park, falling 308 feet into the canyon. There are many trail heads here for differing views of the waterfall and down into the canyon, our favorite hikes are listed here. Plan on spending several hours in this location, especially if you want to visit both the north and south rims of the canyon.
Tip: The best viewing places for lower Yellowstone Falls and the canyon are Artist Point on the South Rim, and Inspiration Point and Lookout Point on the North Rim.
Yellowstone Lake
Yellowstone Lake is located in the West Thumb Geyser Basin. It is the largest high elevation lake in North America, sitting at 7,730 feet above sea level. The lake is so large that it creates its own weather!
Yellowstone Lake has 141 miles of shoreline and over 131 miles of surface area. There are hiking trails around this area, but to really explore the lake take a guided day paddle on a kayak. You can also rent a motorboat for up to 6 people or book a fishing excursion at the Bridge Bay Marina. These are really only options if you have more than one day in Yellowstone, but they are great ideas to bookmark for future trips!
The Lake Yellowstone Hotel has a dining area, and there is also a dining hall in Grant Village at Yellowstone Lake. For grab-and-go food items (and really good ice cream), check out either the Grant Village or Fishing Bridge General Stores.
Lamar Valley
Lamar Valley is in the northeast part of the park along the upper loop. This was one of our favorite parts of visiting Yellowstone as a family. There were no crowds and it was such a peaceful place to drive around. We spotted tons of wildlife such as bison and elk roaming the valley. We even witnessed a group of wolves running through the fields in the middle of the afternoon!
There are several parking areas to pull over in the Lamar Valley. We recommend spending some time here, possibly having a picnic or a snack while you quietly wait for the wildlife to show up- because they will!
Tip: The best time for wildlife viewing in Lamar Valley is sunrise or sunset, so aim to be here during these times to get the most bang for your buck!
When planning any trip to a National Park we highly recommend the America the Beautiful National Parks Pass. We visited Yellowstone and Teton National Parks during the same vacation, so the pass paid for itself on just one trip. If you are planning on visiting more than 2 parks a year, the pass is definitely worth your investment. At some parks it even saves you time entering the park, as you can bypass the normal lines and drive right in!
The best time to visit Yellowstone National Park
The summer months are the busiest time to visit Yellowstone National Park. Summer is so popular because the weather is great for hiking and exploring, wildflowers are blooming across the park, and kids are out of school. Also, the park is fully open so there are no road closures or traffic redirections to worry about.
While the weather in spring and fall is less predictable, these are great times to visit. Most facilities are open and you’ll avoid the crowds. But know that roads to some favorite spots don’t open until the late April and sites begin to close in mid-October.
Yellowstone National Park is open year-round, so winter is another option for planning a trip. But the park will only be accessible from the Northern Entrance. Also, many park facilities and roads are closed during the winter.
Yellowstone ranges from 5,300 to 11,000 feet in elevation and can have early or late snowstorms throughout the year. Because of this, Yellowstone weather varies dramatically from season to season and day to day. No mater when you visit, bring layers and of course, sunscreen!
If you have more time...
If you have more than one day to spend in Yellowstone, consider adding on a few hikes or getting out and exploring Yellowstone Lake.
Other popular areas in Yellowstone to explore with more time:
- Mammoth Hot Springs
- Fountain Paint Pots area
- Tower Fall
- Hayden Valley
With several days on your Yellowstone vacation, you should definitely consider adding a visit to Grand Teton National Park. One of our favorite parks, it takes about one hour to get from the south Yellowstone entrance to Teton National Park. The Tetons provide a completely different experience than Yellowstone, with a slower pace and less crowds.
Tips for planning a trip to Yellowstone
- Bring more water than you think you will need, Yellowstone can get pretty high in elevation. These hydration backpacks are great for hiking!
- Pack a cooler for the car to save time and money. There are places to stop and eat inside the park, but they can have long lines especially in summer.
- Plan a picnic in one of the parking areas in Lamar Valley and watch for wildlife while you eat!
- Start your day early to avoid crowds, and head to the most popular spots first thing.
- One exception: Grand Prismatic Spring is best seen in the full light of day, to get the most range of colors in the spring.
- There are several hikes that are very exposed with no shade, so sunscreen is a must! Also a hat and sunglasses are helpful.
- In the late summer the mosquitoes can be awful, so bring good bug spray. Also citronella candles or tiki torches are helpful if you are camping.
- Bring bear spray or a bear bell, which is a must when hiking in the Yellowstone and Tetons.
- Pack a few layers of light clothing in case the wind kicks up on any of the hikes. You are in the Rockies after all!
- A great item to travel with is a portable GPS navigation, we bring ours on every trip. This one is affordable and easy to pack! Keep in mind that there is very little cellular service in the park. If you are relying on your phone’s GPS, be sure to set your destination at one of the few spots in the park where you can get service, like Old Faithful or West Yellowstone.
- A set of inexpensive binoculars kept our kids busy on hikes for hours. They loved trying to look for wildlife while we were driving through Yellowstone!
- Allow extra time when driving through both Yellowstone and Teton National Park. You will come upon slow RV’s, traffic at the more popular viewpoints, and Bison Jams: routes being held at a complete standstill due to bison taking over the roads. They are big, they move slow, and they go wherever they want!
Spending one day in Yellowstone National Park is definitely something that can be done. If this is all the time you have, just hit these highlights we’ve mentioned above and make a note to further explore your favorite spots!
Other national parks you can spend one day exploring:
Safe travels!
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Great tips but there is alot of misinformation. The biggest being an airport in a park. Its in the national forest where u can camp, its not in teton national park.
I appreciate your fact-checking! However, according to http://www.NPS.gov: “The Jackson Hole Airport is the only commercial airport within a national park in the country.” So it is, indeed, inside the park. Have you been? It is so neat to watch the planes land in such a small space!
Just what I always wanted to do, spend the day in one of the largest caulderas on earth. s/
Have you been to Yellowstone? I think it is actually because it is on the caldera that it is so interesting! It is honestly like nowhere else on earth, I highly recommend you visit some time!