Seeing Yellowstone National Park in a Day

Visiting the amazing National Parks of United States has always been on my bucket list and at last I had the opportunity to visit one with my family in July 2016. The first national park on my list was, of course, Yellowstone National Park. Unfortunately I only had a day set up to see the park on a roadtrip I took from Chicago to California. Yellowstone National Park is an enourmous supervolcano with an immense expanse of land, geysers, lakes, rivers, waterfalls, valleys, mountains, and its wildlife. So how on Earth will I see it all in a day?

Don't expect to see everything in one day

The truth is that you can’t see all of Yellowstone National Park in a day. It’s just so immense that even in a week you can’t see it all. It’s a living supervolcano that is constantly changing the landscape and weather so be prepared for all types of weather and be alert at all times for your safety. Now comes the planning.

1. Entrances to the Park

There are five (5) main entrances to the park and getting there depends on which part of the country you’re coming from. You absolutely must drive into the park, it is the safest and fastest way to move around. You can drive your own car, a rental from the closest airport, or rent an RV.

These are the five (5) entrances to the park:

The Northeast Entrance at Silver Gate, Montana,
The North Entrance at Gardiner, Montana
The West Entrance at West Yellowstone, Montana
The South Entrance that connects to Teton National Park
The East Entrance which is approximately 53 miles west of Cody, Wyoming

Click Here to check out my detailed guide to deciding which entrance to Yellowstone National Park is best for your trip.

The two best entrances, in my opinion is the North entrance through Gardiner, Montana or the West entrance through West Yellowstone, Montana. I was driving from Chicago and the northeast entrance to Yellowstone, which is at Silver Gate, Montana, was the best option for us to enter the park, but it’s not the safest road to take during bad weather. During great weather, however, the northeast entrance route has spectacular views of the park and wildlife. At the time of my travel, during the summer, there were bad storms in the area with snow in higher elevations. I decided that even if it meant I would drive further, we were going to enter the park through a safer road because of the weather and so we entered through Gardiner, Montana (the North entrance).

2. What to See

Considering the incredible amount of natural wonders you can see at Yellowstone it was hard to narrow it down to a list of important things to see. There are key points to see, however, in a known route. It is known as the grand loop and it takes you to most major sites on the list.

Plan to see key important points in the park only

It’s best to decide on how much you want to do in one day, but in order to “see” Yellowstone in one day you have to make a list of the most important “attractions” you want to see. Your best mode of transportation will be your vehicle and you better wear your comfortable walking shoes as there are many walking trails. Some attractions are a walk away from parking areas. This list consists of the most important places to see:

Mammoth Hot Springs
Lake Yellowstone
Old Faithful Geyser
Midway Geyser Basin
Morning Glory Pool
Grand Prismatic Spring
Lower Geyser Basin
Fountain Paint Pots
Great Fountain Geyser
Steamboat Geyser
Lamar Valley
Tower Fall
Dragon’s Mouth Spring
Mud Volcano
West Thumb

3. How to See Everything

If you check out the map at the top of this article you can see that the road makes a couple of loops to form a sort of number 8. The route totals about 142-miles long and curves throughout the park. There are narrow areas of the road which cause problems during the saturated summer months. Your best bet to avoid the crowds is late spring or early fall.

We came into the park through the North entrance at Gardiner, Montana.

STOP 1: was the boiling river where the waters of a hot spring mix with the river to create warm waters. It is an area designated for swimming, unfortunately for us it started to rain so we kept driving.

STOP 2: We came onto the massive and spectacular Mammoth Hot Springs just about 5 miles into the park, where we saw the Libery Cap Spring and the Devil’s Thumb as well.

STOP 3: A little further down the road we stopped at Beryl Springs where you can hear the loud hell-like sounds of the hot gases and water vapor exiting the vents at the spring. As small as they are, it truly puts into perspective that you’re walking on an active super volcano.

STOP 4: As you keep driving you come onto the Norris junction where you can see the many geysers of the Norris Geyser Basin. Of course there’s so much to see, but since we only have one day we drove and parked at the museum and walked on trails to the closest natural attractions. We saw the following: Porcelain Basin, Black Growler Steam Vent, Ledge Geyser, Sunday Geyser, Hurricane Vent, the Emerald Spring, and the Steamboat Geyser. The area by the Steamboat is huge and we just didn’t have the time to see the other areas. We decided to use the restrooms by the museum and kept driving south from the junction.

STOP 5: Further south on our drive we come to another junction at the Madison campground. It’s a perfect place to camp, close to West Yellowstone (to the west) and Old Faithful (to the South).

STOP 6: As we keep driving further south we come unto the Grand Prismatic Spring area. This by far was one of my favorite sites. The Spring is so massive and colorful that it really leaves you breathless. During cool days as it was mid morning for us with cool temperatures, you can see the steam everywhere. It truly is a spectacular site.

STOP 7: We kept driving South to the Old Faithful Visitor’s center. Probably the most popular of all the sites to see. Here there are a few lodging options and a few other geysers, but of course we had to see the most famous of them all: Old Faithful. The name comes from how predictable the times are when we can see the geyser’s steam and water flow out. At the visitor center you can see the approximate times of each eruption. Get to the best viewing area early enough as it tends to get super crowded and busy, specially at the time we saw it around lunch time.

STOP 8: It’s lunch time and since Old Faithful did not disappoint, it was time to eat to keep going. Since there is a variety of dining options by Old Faithful, we ate at the Geyser Grill at the Old Faithful Snow Lodge. It has a variety of fast-food that is delivered fast and hot for those that don’t have reservations for the other lodge restaurants or you can make your own food at the many picnic areas in the park. Running low on gasoline? This is the best place to pump more gas.

STOP 9: We drove east towards the West Thumb area and Yellowstone Lake area. There are so many springs/geysers to see at West Thumb that we spent only a couple hours in the area. There’s a lot of walking involved in the area so wear your good walking/running shoes. And then there is the huge Yellowstone Lake, surrounded by wildlife. Here is where we experienced seeing the buffalo.

STOP 10: Our last stop for the day before we go rest at a hotel at West Yellowstone, Montana was the Grant Village area. It is a beautiful campground by Yellowstone Lake near a Visitor Center, bathrooms with showers, laundry site, a post office, an amphitheater, picnic areas, and a lodge.

4. Where to Eat

Just because you’re visiting a national park and also a supervolcano does not mean you have to rely on packed lunches or sandwiches as your only food source. There a few options of where to eat when you’re in the park and plenty more on those entrances which have a town nearby such as West Yellowstone, Montana to the west or Gardiner, Montana to the north.

Inside the park you have the following options:

Old Faithful Inn Dining Room
Lake Lodge Cafeteria
Lake Yellowstone Hotel Dining Room
Roosevelt Lodge Dining Room
Old Faithful Snow Lodge Obsidian Dining Room
Canyon Eatery
Old Faithful Snow Lodge Geyser Grill (We ate at this location)

Grant Village Lake House Restaurant
Canyon Village General Store
Mammoth Terrace Grill
Old Faithful Inn Bear Paw Deli
Mammoth Dining Room
Tower General Store
Old Faithful General Store Grill
Fishing Bridge General Store

5. Where to stay

If you plan on spending the entire day at Yellowstone and you would like to rest before heading home or if you plan to stay more than one day because you absolutely fell in love with Yellowstone, then you’ll need a place to stay close by.

Whether you’re staying for more days or leaving the park after a full day of sightseeing, here are your options:

Staying Inside Yellowstone National Park

Camping:

Yellowstone offers a variety of lodging options within the park. If you love camping, there are many campgrounds inside the park along many of the routes entering the park, but mainly near the north, west, northeast, and east entrances. There is also the Madison Campground, Norris Campground, Canyon Campground and more.

RV:

If you prefer to stay in your car or RV there are also some park and camp locations within the park.

Hotel/Lodge:

If you rather stay in a a warm cozy hotel room, then you have some options that get filled up fairly quickly during those peak visiting times throught the year, but specially in the summer. You have the Canyon Lodge & Cabins and the Moran Lodge going northeast, Lake Lodge and Yellowstone Lake Hotel heading east by Lake Yellowstone, and heading north is the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel. Grant Village is also an option heading south by Lake Yellowstone.

Lodge/Inn

Staying by Old Faithful has never been easier with the Old Faithful Lodge, the Old Faithful Inn, and the Old Faithful Snow Lodge.

Leaving the Park and Staying Outside

If you are returning home the next day, then you have to find a place to stay on your route home. Depending on where your home is (north, northeast, west, east, or south) will be where you are going to want to exit the park. Here are your options:

North:

The best places to stay if you’re exiting the parking going north is at Gardiner, Montana. With its great selection of affordable motels, inns, hotels, and cabins, it is the best place to find a room during the peak season. If you would rather stay in the park there is an option near the north entrance by Mammoth Hot Springs at the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel or Mammoth Campground.

West:

There is no better option, in my opinion, than staying at West Yellowstone, Montana, unless you’re sleeping in your car, RV or tent than staying inside the park is your best option. West Yellowstone, on the other hand, is filled with a variety of hotels, motels, inns and RV parks. Make sure you book ahead of time or find a hotel that morning before heading into the park during peak visiting times. The hotels in the area tend to fill up fairly quickly and if anything is available you will end up paying 5-star hotel prices for 2-star motel. There are, however, many options to choose from for every budget if you plan ahead of time, plus there are many dining options in West Yellowstone. It is also the closest town to all the major Yellowstone attractions, like Old Faithful Geyser.

Northeast:

If you’re exiting the park using the northeast entrance traveling home you can stay at the very few options Silver Gate, Montana has or continue down the road to Cooke City, Montana where you can find far more options than Silver Gate as well as some dining options. However, if you plan on coming back to the park the next day, then staying at Silver Gate or Cooke City should be your last resort since the lodging options are limited and the drive to those towns is not worth it. You’re better off staying in the park or driving to Gardiner, Montana or West Yellowstone, Montana. Otherwise you can stay in the park heading toward the Northeast entrance are the Canyon Lodge & Cabins, Moran Lodge, and the Canyon Campground. And don’t forget the Historic Roosevelt Lodge built in 1920.

East:

If traveling east of Yellowstone and are not planing on returning the next day, then you’re best place to stay would be about 53 miles east of the East entrance to the park at Cody, Wyoming. Founded by Buffalo Bill himself, Cody offers an array of motels, inns, suites, hotels, cabins, bed and breakfasts and more. There is also a great variety of dining options. Otherwise, just outside the East entrance heading towards Cody there are many option all along the highway such as the Shoshone Lodge & Guest Ranch, Crossed Sabres Ranch,Creekside Lodge, Elephant Head Lodge, Absaroka Mountain Lodge, Blackwater Creek Ranch, The Historic UXU Ranch and the Historic Wapiti Lodge.

If you’re coming back the next day then your best option is to stay in the park at the Lake Yellowstone Hotel, Lake Lodge, the Fishing Bridge RV Park, or the Bridge Bay Campground. All are by the beautiful Lake Yellowstone. Outside the East entrance heading towards Cody, Wyoming there is also the Shoshone Lodge & Guest Ranch and Crossed Sabres Ranch.

South:

Heading south to leave the park there aren’t that many options available since you have Grand Teton National Park that you’d have to cross to get to the first town. However, you can decide to stay by Lake Yellowstone inside the park at the Grant Village hotel or if you prefer to stay as far south just outside the South entrance to the park is Headwaters Lodge & Cabins at Flagg Ranch or continue south way into Teton National Park to stay at Colter Bay Village or the nice Jackson Lake Lodge. Otherwise it’ll be a far drive all the way to Jackson, Wyoming where you will definitely find a great array of hotels, inns, bed & breakfasts, motels, and more.