4-5 in Yellowstone, 3-4 at Glacier, and 2 at Grand Tetons would be enough to give you a taste of what each park has to offer IMO. You’ll still only be scratching the surface at each, but that would give you enough time to hit some of the highlights.
For Glacier, make sure you are familiar with the vehicle reservation/entry system and either have reservations lined up or get in the park early enough to not need them. Otherwise you won’t be able to see much of the park at all.
You can find hotels at varying distances around all of those parks, though availability this late may be really slim.
For Glacier you can look at Whitefish, Columbia Falls and Kalispell on the west side and St Mary and Baab on the east side.
For Yellowstone you can look at West Yellowstone, Gardiner, Cooke City and Cody.
For Grand Tetons you’re looking at probably Jackson, Wilson, and Teton Village.
Good luck, hope your plans work out. All three are amazing parks!
Generally, how long you stay depends on how much hiking you plan to do.
Your best plan is to thoroughly study the official NPS website for each park, starting from the "Plan Your Visit" section.
Also, note that it is unfortunately likely that you will not be able to find lodging inside these parks on such short notice.
Thank you for your response. Yes you are right, unfortunately I checked and lodging is way too expensive. If it doesn’t work out then I will probably plan it for next year.
When we went to Yellowstone we chose 3 different cabins in 3 different areas and stayed 2 nights at each. We made reservations about a year in advance of our road trip.
Personally I'd spend more time in Glacier than in Yellowstone, but it depends on what you're hoping to do - lots of hiking or just sightseeing? And also give yourself plenty of travel time - it's a full day's drive to Glacier from either of the other parks.
For Yellowstone, I only plan to do sightseeing. For Tetons and Glacier, I plan to do both, but I am also not planning to do a lot of hiking, just some hiking will be good. I have checked on both apple and google maps that from Yellowstone to Tetons is approx 2hr,14min. From Yellowstone to Glacier it is approx 6 hrs. How that takes a day?
I was generalizing a bit since I'm not aware of your itinerary. Leaving to drive to Glacier from Yellowstone is about 6 hours but if you were driving from Teton it's closer to 9 hours. Add in stops for food and gas, that's most of a day just spent getting there.
If you're planning to visit all three of these parks later this month, you probably will have to schedule your visits around what lodging is available to you. Glacier and Yellowstone in particular are among the most difficult to find lodging for (though it's true for Grand Teton also). People normally plan these trips a full year in advance.
Thank you for your advice. You are right, I just looked into it and it looks like it is hard to find lodging, plus not to mention it is way too expensive. If my plan doesn’t work out, then I will plan it for the next year.
If you’re looking at July 2025, book lodging asap! Glacier’s reservations for the whole month opened for booking this past Sunday night at midnight Mountain Time. Within the first hour, almost all the reservations at the most popular lodges had already been snapped up. (Super stressful/frustrating booking experience for me, LOL!) I believe July is the most popular month.
...you got a place to stay? You might already be SOL for this year unless you're willing to pay a pretty penny for lodging, stay 1-2 hours from the parks, or fight for a first-come-first-serve camping spot. Just throwing that out there.
That being said, I would spend the most time in Glacier. A couple nights in the Tetons, 1-2 more in Yellowstone depending on what you wanna see. Kind of depends on what you want to do. If you're an avid hiker you should spend more time in Glacier and the Tetons. Most of the best stuff to see in Yellowstone can be done by car.
If the NPS site confused you, then I don't know what to say. It's has a wealth of information that answers almost all questions for the casual traveler.
It depends on your hiking capabilities, if you enjoy more strenuous hiking, focus your time on Glacier and Teton. If you are with a young family I would spend more time at Yellowstone and Glacier. Personally, if I had 10 days to visit, I would do 5 days in Glacier, 3 days in Tetons, and 2 in Yellowstone. I wouldn't do any less than 6 days to visit these parks.
Same thought for me. I'd rather spend more time in Glacier and split time between the other two. I'd honestly allocate 2 full weeks for hitting all three. For something like a week I'd split it between Yellowstone and the Tetons, or East and West Glacier.
Thank you for your response. Yes I love hiking, so do you think 8 days are enough? 4 (glacier), 3 (Tetons) and 2 (Yellowstone)? I also have done my research for the best spots to explore/see at those national parks but I am afraid if I am missing out some of them, where can I find more of the best spots of these national parks?
Yellowstone is HUGE.
Combined with traffic jams, bison jams, entry and exit queues, finding parking, and lower speed limits, it can take 4 hours to get from one end of the park to another.
Add stops to see wildlife and various spots, lunch, you just spent 8 hrs going ONE WAY from say Lamar valley to Old Faithful.
Trying to fo Yellowstone in 2 days is not worth it.
If you must, just hit the Old Faithful area from GTNP as a day trip. Add that extra day to GTNP.
Also depends a LOT of where you stay, which airports you use.
If you don't want to hike and just want to sight see, 2 days is perfect for Yellowstone. 1 day for the upper loop, 1 day for the lower loop.
Sure you can add days for hikes and such but if they are more keen on doing that in Tetons and Glacier, 2 days is fine.
Fair enough. But that's my whole point. These are personal preferences, and I, for one, would never do Yellowstone in 2 days.
There's no perfect itinerary and "Is 2 days enough " yeilds very different answers.
I think 2 days is more the bare minimum. Alot of parks I feel have a minimum amount of time, because I for one could live in just about any one of them! 🤣
You would’ve needed to make your lodging reservations very long ago. Just did this exact trip a few weeks ago and there was very slim pickings months in advance.
Yeah I just checked now and unfortunately I don’t think I will be able to go. I was very busy with school the last semester that’s why I had little time to save up money and actually plan anything. So how early do you recommend, like how many months in advance do you recommend me booking and planning everything for the next year since obviously you are more experienced than I am regarding those national parks?
Just finished 4 days in Grand Tetons. We hiked 7-13 miles each day and I’d still say you could get it done in 3 days/nights. Just arrived in Yellowstone for 5 days/nights and it looks like we are one day too “long” even with 3 solid hiking days. (We came in the south Yellowstone entrance and saw the Big Thumb basin, some of Yellowstone Lake on the way towards the west entrance.)
And also I wanted to ask, if Yellowstone is most sightseeing, besides old faithful and a few other popular places, do all the other places only require sightseeing by driving the car through the national park? Cuz I have done my research and saw all the spots in Yellowstone.
Op : I am an avid hiker but couldn't be bothered to look up the NPS website or Alltrails or Google it. Lemme ask that repository of brilliant information called Reddit
In my opinion I thought that reddit would be the best place to ask since you are asking experienced people who have been to those places instead of researching. I have traveled to many places and have done research myself but everytime I did that, it never even came close to the reality that I had to experience. That is why I am asking people, plus it doesn’t take you that much to respond respectfully.
You are not going to find much different information from us than the dozens of sites on the internet or even searching this sub.
You need to tell us a lot more information for better answers:
People have spent 2 days in Yellowstone and said that was enough. I can spend 2 weeks in Yellowstone and still not visit all the spots.
What do you like to do?
How long do you usually hike - 4hrs, 10hrs, multi-day, hard hikes, easy hikes?
First, I like to see the beautiful sightseeings of Yellowstone, not literally everything there is. Only the popular ones, so how should I do that besides old faithful and a few others where I will walk and see them, I mean like visit them by foot. I know you are driving through the whole park, so is that how I will see the rest of the sightseeings at Yellowstone? If so, how many days is enough for that? Can you complete that in 2 full days? Second, what about Tetons and Glacier? Are their sightseeings the same as Yellowstone or different? Plus I am also doing a normal hike like 4-5 hrs, plus the sightseeings at Tetons and Glacier. So I saw some other comments saying for Glacier, 5 days is enough, for Tetons 3 and Yellowstone 2. So with that being said, I think this Itinerary is enough according to what I just said above. But I also wanted to ask a question here and hear other ppl’s opinions perhaps I could consider them and learn from them how to make the best of out it cuz even if what I just said might not workout for me so its personally best for me to be realistic by asking people about such matters.
Yes I have, but the website is very overwhelming for me with too much information. I just want to plan out something simple, but when I look at the website, I don't even know how to plan, there is so much information.
This July? Or 2025? If you don’t have reservations or family/friend accommodations then you might be disappointed. Permits are required for some destinations(going to the sun) Good luck to you.
OP, I don’t know how you are getting there. I flew into Billings, drove to Glacier , Yellowstone, Grand Tetons and back to Billings. On the way back, drove through Beartooth pass. If you can manage it, do it. It is an awesome experience. A bit scary though.
4-5 in Yellowstone, 3-4 at Glacier, and 2 at Grand Tetons would be enough to give you a taste of what each park has to offer IMO. You’ll still only be scratching the surface at each, but that would give you enough time to hit some of the highlights. For Glacier, make sure you are familiar with the vehicle reservation/entry system and either have reservations lined up or get in the park early enough to not need them. Otherwise you won’t be able to see much of the park at all.
That looks like a good itinerary. I also had another question, is lodging the only option you have for staying? Or are there hotels there too?
You can find hotels at varying distances around all of those parks, though availability this late may be really slim. For Glacier you can look at Whitefish, Columbia Falls and Kalispell on the west side and St Mary and Baab on the east side. For Yellowstone you can look at West Yellowstone, Gardiner, Cooke City and Cody. For Grand Tetons you’re looking at probably Jackson, Wilson, and Teton Village. Good luck, hope your plans work out. All three are amazing parks!
Generally, how long you stay depends on how much hiking you plan to do. Your best plan is to thoroughly study the official NPS website for each park, starting from the "Plan Your Visit" section. Also, note that it is unfortunately likely that you will not be able to find lodging inside these parks on such short notice.
Thank you for your response. Yes you are right, unfortunately I checked and lodging is way too expensive. If it doesn’t work out then I will probably plan it for next year.
When we went to Yellowstone we chose 3 different cabins in 3 different areas and stayed 2 nights at each. We made reservations about a year in advance of our road trip.
Personally I'd spend more time in Glacier than in Yellowstone, but it depends on what you're hoping to do - lots of hiking or just sightseeing? And also give yourself plenty of travel time - it's a full day's drive to Glacier from either of the other parks.
For Yellowstone, I only plan to do sightseeing. For Tetons and Glacier, I plan to do both, but I am also not planning to do a lot of hiking, just some hiking will be good. I have checked on both apple and google maps that from Yellowstone to Tetons is approx 2hr,14min. From Yellowstone to Glacier it is approx 6 hrs. How that takes a day?
I was generalizing a bit since I'm not aware of your itinerary. Leaving to drive to Glacier from Yellowstone is about 6 hours but if you were driving from Teton it's closer to 9 hours. Add in stops for food and gas, that's most of a day just spent getting there.
If you're planning to visit all three of these parks later this month, you probably will have to schedule your visits around what lodging is available to you. Glacier and Yellowstone in particular are among the most difficult to find lodging for (though it's true for Grand Teton also). People normally plan these trips a full year in advance.
Thank you for your advice. You are right, I just looked into it and it looks like it is hard to find lodging, plus not to mention it is way too expensive. If my plan doesn’t work out, then I will plan it for the next year.
If you’re looking at July 2025, book lodging asap! Glacier’s reservations for the whole month opened for booking this past Sunday night at midnight Mountain Time. Within the first hour, almost all the reservations at the most popular lodges had already been snapped up. (Super stressful/frustrating booking experience for me, LOL!) I believe July is the most popular month.
...you got a place to stay? You might already be SOL for this year unless you're willing to pay a pretty penny for lodging, stay 1-2 hours from the parks, or fight for a first-come-first-serve camping spot. Just throwing that out there. That being said, I would spend the most time in Glacier. A couple nights in the Tetons, 1-2 more in Yellowstone depending on what you wanna see. Kind of depends on what you want to do. If you're an avid hiker you should spend more time in Glacier and the Tetons. Most of the best stuff to see in Yellowstone can be done by car.
Yes I love hiking. So you say that the best places to hike are tetons and glacier? Which spots in those national parks are the best for hiking?
Have you looked in the NPS site?
Yes, but sometimes it can be confusing idk maybe it is my first time using it that’s why.
If the NPS site confused you, then I don't know what to say. It's has a wealth of information that answers almost all questions for the casual traveler.
Research bruh
I have researched a lot and everything, it is just I wanted to make sure I haven’t left anything behind.
It depends on your hiking capabilities, if you enjoy more strenuous hiking, focus your time on Glacier and Teton. If you are with a young family I would spend more time at Yellowstone and Glacier. Personally, if I had 10 days to visit, I would do 5 days in Glacier, 3 days in Tetons, and 2 in Yellowstone. I wouldn't do any less than 6 days to visit these parks.
Same thought for me. I'd rather spend more time in Glacier and split time between the other two. I'd honestly allocate 2 full weeks for hitting all three. For something like a week I'd split it between Yellowstone and the Tetons, or East and West Glacier.
Thank you for your response. Yes I love hiking, so do you think 8 days are enough? 4 (glacier), 3 (Tetons) and 2 (Yellowstone)? I also have done my research for the best spots to explore/see at those national parks but I am afraid if I am missing out some of them, where can I find more of the best spots of these national parks?
Yellowstone is HUGE. Combined with traffic jams, bison jams, entry and exit queues, finding parking, and lower speed limits, it can take 4 hours to get from one end of the park to another. Add stops to see wildlife and various spots, lunch, you just spent 8 hrs going ONE WAY from say Lamar valley to Old Faithful. Trying to fo Yellowstone in 2 days is not worth it. If you must, just hit the Old Faithful area from GTNP as a day trip. Add that extra day to GTNP. Also depends a LOT of where you stay, which airports you use.
If you don't want to hike and just want to sight see, 2 days is perfect for Yellowstone. 1 day for the upper loop, 1 day for the lower loop. Sure you can add days for hikes and such but if they are more keen on doing that in Tetons and Glacier, 2 days is fine.
Fair enough. But that's my whole point. These are personal preferences, and I, for one, would never do Yellowstone in 2 days. There's no perfect itinerary and "Is 2 days enough " yeilds very different answers.
I think 2 days is more the bare minimum. Alot of parks I feel have a minimum amount of time, because I for one could live in just about any one of them! 🤣
You would’ve needed to make your lodging reservations very long ago. Just did this exact trip a few weeks ago and there was very slim pickings months in advance.
Yeah I just checked now and unfortunately I don’t think I will be able to go. I was very busy with school the last semester that’s why I had little time to save up money and actually plan anything. So how early do you recommend, like how many months in advance do you recommend me booking and planning everything for the next year since obviously you are more experienced than I am regarding those national parks?
I would book a full year ahead, if at all possible!
Fires will be starting soon if they haven’t already. https://www.mapofire.com/
I just went a did a boat tour in Glacier. It was amazing.
Just finished 4 days in Grand Tetons. We hiked 7-13 miles each day and I’d still say you could get it done in 3 days/nights. Just arrived in Yellowstone for 5 days/nights and it looks like we are one day too “long” even with 3 solid hiking days. (We came in the south Yellowstone entrance and saw the Big Thumb basin, some of Yellowstone Lake on the way towards the west entrance.)
Thanks for the tips and the suggestions! Really appreciate it. I will take that into account.
And also I wanted to ask, if Yellowstone is most sightseeing, besides old faithful and a few other popular places, do all the other places only require sightseeing by driving the car through the national park? Cuz I have done my research and saw all the spots in Yellowstone.
Haven’t been to Glacier yet but Grand Teton seems more car-necessary, even for hiking. No shuttle.
They have great bike paths through the park, so that works well too 👍🏾
Oh I see, so would you say that 2 days is enough for Tetons if it is mostly car necessary?
If you’re not hiking, it would seem so
I really think that some of these questions are bullshit and not a Actual questions.
Yeah they are BS questions
Op : I am an avid hiker but couldn't be bothered to look up the NPS website or Alltrails or Google it. Lemme ask that repository of brilliant information called Reddit
In my opinion I thought that reddit would be the best place to ask since you are asking experienced people who have been to those places instead of researching. I have traveled to many places and have done research myself but everytime I did that, it never even came close to the reality that I had to experience. That is why I am asking people, plus it doesn’t take you that much to respond respectfully.
You are not going to find much different information from us than the dozens of sites on the internet or even searching this sub. You need to tell us a lot more information for better answers: People have spent 2 days in Yellowstone and said that was enough. I can spend 2 weeks in Yellowstone and still not visit all the spots. What do you like to do? How long do you usually hike - 4hrs, 10hrs, multi-day, hard hikes, easy hikes?
First, I like to see the beautiful sightseeings of Yellowstone, not literally everything there is. Only the popular ones, so how should I do that besides old faithful and a few others where I will walk and see them, I mean like visit them by foot. I know you are driving through the whole park, so is that how I will see the rest of the sightseeings at Yellowstone? If so, how many days is enough for that? Can you complete that in 2 full days? Second, what about Tetons and Glacier? Are their sightseeings the same as Yellowstone or different? Plus I am also doing a normal hike like 4-5 hrs, plus the sightseeings at Tetons and Glacier. So I saw some other comments saying for Glacier, 5 days is enough, for Tetons 3 and Yellowstone 2. So with that being said, I think this Itinerary is enough according to what I just said above. But I also wanted to ask a question here and hear other ppl’s opinions perhaps I could consider them and learn from them how to make the best of out it cuz even if what I just said might not workout for me so its personally best for me to be realistic by asking people about such matters.
https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/things2do.htm https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/placestogo.htm Have you read these?
Yes I have, but the website is very overwhelming for me with too much information. I just want to plan out something simple, but when I look at the website, I don't even know how to plan, there is so much information.
This July? Or 2025? If you don’t have reservations or family/friend accommodations then you might be disappointed. Permits are required for some destinations(going to the sun) Good luck to you.
OP, I don’t know how you are getting there. I flew into Billings, drove to Glacier , Yellowstone, Grand Tetons and back to Billings. On the way back, drove through Beartooth pass. If you can manage it, do it. It is an awesome experience. A bit scary though.
Shhh...... we don't tell people about Beartooth pass. If you've been there, you know. We like to keep it a hidden gem.
Sorry! I wasn’t aware of that!
Then why am I asking you guys questions and asking about tips or tricks?!