Yellowstone National Park

Best time to visit Yellowstone

When deciding when to visit Yellowstone, you’ll find each season has its own character and benefits.

Spring has abundant wildlife, roaring waterfalls and wild weather and changeable weather means it can snow or be over 20°C. Summer is when you’ll be guaranteed the best weather, and all the animals will be out of hibernation – but it also comes with the most crowds. Get up early and eat breakfast on the road for your best chance to experience Yellowstone without the crowds in summer. 

The foliage changes in autumn and there is a sense of urgency in the air as animals busily prepare for the coming winter. Keep a close eye on the National Park Service website which will update you on weather conditions and what park entrances are open during your visit.

During the winter months, Yellowstone transforms into a magical winter wonderland, blanketed with snow and ice, snow covered forests and howling wolves. With fewer visitors, you can get up close and personal to the steaming geysers and enjoy skiing, snowshoeing, and snowmobiling whilst being on the lookout for wildlife. Visitors can only visit the park in the winter by booking a tour through an authorised company who will expertly guide you through the park on specially adapted vehicles.

Discover Yellowstone

The world’s first national park, Yellowstone’s two million acres of virgin wilderness, are almost encircled by the surrounding Rocky Mountains. It is this huge size and the diversity of landscapes from the plateau to the mountains that help to make the park special. Of course, the most spectacular feature safeguarded within Yellowstone is its geothermal activity. The volcano beneath Yellowstone is hidden, its power only visible through the force of the steam and boiling water which have helped to shape the landscape. The volcanic plateau is home to more than 10,000 hot springs and geysers – more than half of the entire world’s total.

The variety of pools in Yellowstone is astonishing. The famously colourful pools of Morning Glory and Emerald Pool have vivid yellow outskirts with brilliant blue-green centres, the contrast between the scalding water at the middle and cooler, bacteria-rich water at the edges. Grand Prismatic Spring is the largest and most colourful of them all, with hues ranging from blue to turquoise to orange. Away from the hot springs and pools, the park is teeming with innumerable rivers and lakes, the largest of which is Yellowstone Lake with a beach at its shore. Of course, the best-loved feature of all in Yellowstone is the famous Old Faithful Geyser, whose precise eruptions can be timed by the clock and those hundred-foot-high plume of steam has become emblematic of the park itself.

If it was possible to upstage the spectacular geology of Yellowstone, it would only be by the park’s unrivalled wildlife. Free-roaming animals living a truly wild existence teem through the park, and it is common to view black bears, elk, moose, bighorn sheep and  bison on your visit. More elusive wildlife hides in the remote reaches of the park such as wolves, Grizzly bears and bobcats, Yellowstone is a paradise for wildlife and its watchers.

Things to do on holiday in Yellowstone

Old Faithful

This is the park’s icon. It takes its name from its precise 90-minute cycle, meaning every visitor to Yellowstone will have the chance to see its spectacular eruption with minimal planning ahead. Not all of Yellowstone’s geysers are so obliging – many of them have intermittent eruptions which are difficult to predict. The steaming flume of Old Faithful shoots 120-180 feet into the air and can spurt around 32,000 litres of water per eruption, so make sure you hang around for Mother Nature’s grandest display.

Grand Prismatic Spring

Located in the Firehole River area near Old Faithful, this huge hot spring is one of the largest in the world and one of the most iconic images of the park In the scalding centre of the pool, the water is a clear, startling blue stretching into the deep. Towards the edges of the pool, the cooling water is home to a range of bacteria which produce a rainbow of colours radiating outwards as the temperature changes.

Swipe left or right for more.

Things to do on holiday in Yellowstone

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

The dramatic plunging falls of the Upper and Lower Falls that make up the canyon rush into the Yellowstone River. The canyon carved out by the Yellowstone River is 20 miles long, 500 feet deep and is one of the most incredible sights within the park. Make sure to take in the views of the Lower Falls from Artist Point and from the Brink of the Upper Falls, an overlook perched on the crest of the Upper Falls.

Mammoth Hot Springs

This huge complex of hot springs deposits its mineral-rich sediment into fascinating shapes which solidify over the springs. Delicate curtains of marble-like travertine drape over cascading stone terraces, creating beautiful shapes and structures. Minerva Terrace is one of the best examples of the stunning patterns these mineral deposits can make. It has been described as “a limestone cave turned inside out”.

West Thumb

This is a caldera within a caldera. The “boiling pot” or “cauldron” occurred hundreds of thousands of years ago when a volcano collapsed and filled with water. This bubbling geyser basin of West Thumb sits within the larger Yellowstone Lake – itself within the greater Yellowstone caldera. Yellowstone Lake is shaped like a human hand, and it is the thumb where you’ll find great views of the steaming underwater geysers.

Top tips for Yellowstone holidays

• Grand Loop Road

The Loop presents one of the easiest and most accessible ways to get around the park, taking in visitor centres, museums, boardwalks, and scenic side roads along the way. Shaped like a figure of eight, the road is around 140 miles long and is a great way to travel independently through some of the park’s best areas. Allow anywhere from 4 – 7 hours to drive the full loop or depending on if you get caught in a Bison jam!

• Take your time

Yellowstone is without doubt one of the most incredible places to visit in America, and perhaps in the world. Don’t rush your visit to the park, we recommend spending a minimum of three days exploring the park, its hiking trails or by taking a guided tour by led by an experienced guide.

• Where to stay in the park

There is a good choice of accommodation options when visiting the park, some within the park itself or near to the park’s five different entrances. West Yellowstone offers more moderate hotels and a small-town vibe and is strolling distance of the west entrance. Cody is located one hour from the east entrance, whilst Gardiner, is close to the north entrance, For a special treat or occasion visitors can stay at hotels, lodges and campgrounds within the park, close to attractions such as Old Faithful and Mammoth Hot Springs – these are very popular, so early booking is recommended.