Guide to visiting Yellowstone, the world’s first National Park, in only 3 days
This fun 3 day guide to Yellowstone National Park, will provide an itinerary of how to explore the unique features that are within the park.
From geysers to mud volcanos to amazing animals, visiting Yellowstone will provide countless opportunities to witness true natural wonders.
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Check out the guide below for a fun 3 day guide to Yellowstone National Park.
Day 1: Arrive in Bozeman, Montana
Logistics
When planning your trip to Yellowstone National Park, be sure to book a flight that will land in Bozeman during the morning hours. We recommend landing by 11:00 am to sightsee on your first day of vacation.
Flight
There are several airports to choose from when visiting Yellowstone National Park. For our vacation, we flew into Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport.
Bozeman airport will maximize cost efficiencies and is conveniently located to the North and West entrances of the Park.
Additionally, Bozeman airport is conveniently located about an hour from West Yellowstone, where we stayed during our vacation.
Rental Car
To maximize comfort during our long weekend vacation, we rented a mid-sized SUV. This ended up being an ideal choice since you can be in the car for longer than anticipated when visiting the park due to animal traffic jams (More on this later).
We had an amazing experience renting from Enterprise in Bozeman. It is important to note that this car rental location is not at the airport, and is a short 10-mile drive via a taxi.
Hotel
When visiting Yellowstone National Park in 3 days, the location of where you start is very important. You have a limited amount of time to adventure, and the last thing anyone would want to do is drive hours to get to the park. This is why staying in West Yellowstone is the best option and is conveniently located less than 1-mile away from the West entrance of the park.
There are dozens of hotels to choose from when staying in West Yellowstone; however, after our research and experience, we highly recommend staying at the Crosswinds Inn. This hotel offers a complimentary breakfast buffet and free fresh baked cookies all day long.
Activities
After you have arrived in West Yellowstone and checked into your hotel, head over to the West entrance of the park. Here is where you will purchase the park pass, receive a map of the park and a newspaper that includes the latest park news. This newspaper ended up being very helpful as you will mostly not have access to cellphone service in the park and the newspaper included the Park’s restaurant hours.
During your first afternoon in Yellowstone, following the road from the West entrance to the right towards Old Faithful. On this road, you will pass by several geyser basins to explore, the Grand Prismatic Springs, and finally end up at Old Faithful.
There are wooden boardwalks at each site that will allow you to get up close to each natural wonder. While on the boardwalks, you will come across many “danger” signs. It is very important to remain on the boardwalks to ensure no one is injured on your family vacation, as the thermal grounds are very dangerous.
Food
Lunch
After you picked up the rental car and before driving to West Yellowstone, get lunch at Foxtrot in Bozeman, MT. This restaurant was amazing and was a good way to start out the adventure.
Dinner
Once you have toured around the geyser basins, grab a pizza for dinner from Wild West Pizzeria & Saloon in West Yellowstone.
Day 2: Grand Canyon of Yellowstone & Hayden Valley
Activities
First Stop
The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone is an enormous waterfall that plunges 308 feet. Seeing the steep depth of the Canyon is truly a breathtaking experience. Over the centuries, hot springs have weakened the rock on the canyon walls, where you may be able to see geysers spraying into the river.
While you are exploring the Cayon, be sure to check out the Inspiration Point to experience an amazing view. Another fun trail to hike when visiting the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone is the Brink of the Lower Falls, where you will have the opportunity to stand at the top of the famous Yellowstone waterfall.
Check out the National Park Service website here for more information.
Second Stop
The next adventure is to drive through Hayden Valley, which is located south of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. The vast amount of fields and hills in this region of the Park, provide an excellent destination to view all sorts of wildlife. From Great Blue Herons to Bison, Hayden Valley was a beautiful stop.
Third Stop
Continue your journey south to Yellowstone lake. During the summer months, this lake offers various water activities that you can enjoy on your vacation; however, during our vacation in Mid-May, the lake was still frozen! Although it would have been amazing to see the Park by water, it was an incredible experience to witness the huge frozen lake.
Lunch
While you are exploring the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, have lunch at the General Store, which also includes a gift shop. This will be a good opportunity to have lunch and refuel before continuing the adventure.
Dinner
For a unique dinner experience head over to Taqueria Las Palmitas, which is an old bus turned into a food truck. After a long day of hiking and exploring, this restaurant was a perfect way to end the day.
Day 3: Mammoth Hot Springs & Lamar Valley
Activities
First Stop
Mammoth Hot Springs is true to its name – this location is truly mammoth in size. Pictures do not do Mammoth Hot Springs justice when trying to capture the size of this amazing natural creation. Spanning over an Upper and Lower Terrance, a boardwalk will lead you on a 1.5-mile walk. In addition to the amazing landscape, we had the opportunity to see a youth mule deer waking up from a nap.
Second Stop
Lamar Valley is an amazing location to view vast amounts of wildlife. While driving through Lamar Valley, we had the chance to see bison, coyotes, mule deer, and even a sleeping black bear! While driving through Lamar Valley there are many great pull-offs to explore to see more wildlife and amazing landscapes.
One of the most memorable experiences was going to see the Petrified Tree, which is a tree that was fossilized. To be very honest, the tree was not very exciting. However, off into the distance where trailhead began, we spotted a black bear sleeping under a tree! Luckily, no one had ventured down the trail and chanced to spook the bear. It was a truly incredible experience. Can you spot the bear? This is when all nature and wildlife photographers wished they had just a little bit more zoom capabilities.
Food
Lunch
While visiting Mammoth Hot Springs, be sure to grab lunch or a snack from the General Store. This will be a good rest stop before making your way over to Lamar Valley.
Dinner
On your last night of vacation, have dinner at Montana Ale house . We enjoyed having dinner at this restaurant as it was a good chance to enjoy a few local brews and cocktails.
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Need more convincing on why you should take a 3 day vacation? Check out our article here