Spending about a week in Yellowstone is ideal for catching most of the geyser eruptions, exploring all the visitor centers and museums, and wildlife viewing. However, I understand that not everyone can dedicate a full week to the park—or may choose to spend some time visiting Grand Teton National Park, just south of Yellowstone (a great decision, too!).
To help you make the most of your trip, I’ve highlighted my favorite spots so you can prioritize the stops and hikes that excite you most.
This itinerary assumes you're arriving from Bozeman and have at least six full days to explore Yellowstone. Personally, I love a jam-packed schedule, so I’ve added optional sections for each day with additional must-see destinations if you're up for the challenge!
Throughout this post, you’ll find slideshows featuring photos I took during my visit and, at the end, a comprehensive map that includes all the places mentioned (and more) to guide you in trip planning.
Day 1: Travel into Bozeman
Day 2: Mammoth
The Mammoth area is a historical area of the park with very unique thermal features. The area has many amenities.
Head down from Bozeman to Mammoth (2-hour drive)
- You can pick up a bear spray rental from the Gardiner TrailQuipt locker. I had a great experience using this company. For an 8-14 day reservation you can rent one can for just $28.00!
- Gardiner is a great place to grab coffee, breakfast, or groceries for your trip.
- Stop at Roosevelt Arch and the Yellowstone NP sign. Right before you arrive at the arch, there is a small center with coffee, breakfast, souvenirs, and sporting goods.
Albright Visitor Center and Mammoth Historic District
- Albright is a beautiful historic building and the exhibits inside were great! If you are short on time, I would skip Mammoth Hot Springs Historic District. It was cool to see the historical buildings and Fort Yellowstone, but I felt I learned just as much about the history of Fort Yellowstone inside of the Visitor Center.
Mammoth Terraces Loop (Easy, 2.5 miles)
- This hike is a must do Yellowstone Hike in my opinion. The thermal features were uniquely different from the features across the rest of the park.
Drive the Upper Terrace Scenic Loop (1 mile)
- This is a short, one-way road with pulls offs featuring hydrothermal features like Orange Spring Mound.
Stay at Mammoth Campground, Indian Creek Campground or Mammoth Lodge.
Optional: Beaver Ponds Loop Trail (Moderate, 5.6 miles)
Day 3: Lamar Valley
The drive from Mammoth to Tower Junction has some of Yellowstone's most popular waterfalls; the road leading to Slough Creek Campground is the best place to spot wolves; and Lamar Valley is the best wildlife viewing area in the park!
Drive east from Mammoth towards Tower Junction
- Hike Upper and Lower Undine Falls (Easy, 1.8 miles)
- Hike to Wraith Falls (Easy, 0.9 mile)
Lamar Valley
- The Lamar River hike is over 30 miles long, so hiking in Lamar really means walking as far as you want and turning back.
- The number of Bison you will see on this trail is insane. Don't even worry about stopping on the drive in to snap pictures because you will be surrounded on this hike! Check out some of my pictures below.
Stay at Slough Creek Campground or Roosevelt Lodge
- If you don't enjoy the lack of amenities that Slough Creek Campground has to offer, I would still highly recommend driving down the gravel road until you see crowds of people at the largest pull-out. There is a wolf den along the ridge - bear sightings are common as well. This was a highlight of our trip. However, if you aren't comfortable driving down the gravel road there are other opportunities to see wolves, especially in Hayden Valley.
- On this day of our trip, we saw pronghorn, two wolves, two bears, and a coyote!
Optional: Petrified Tree and Lost Lake Trail (Easy, 2.0 miles)
Day 4: Canyon Village and Yellowstone Falls
Heading south from Tower Junction takes you to Canyon Village. This is a highly developed area of the park with lots of dining options and both showers and laundry facilities. Yellowstone Falls is the main attraction for this corner of the Grand Loop.
Drive from Tower Junction to Canyon Village
- Stop at Calcite Springs Overlook (Easy, 0.2 mile) and the Tower Falls Overlook (Easy, 0.9 mile).
Canyon Visitor Education Center
- While Albright Visitor Center discusses more of the history of the park, Canyon Visitor Center does a deep dive into the geologic story of the area, including the Yellowstone volcano. Don't miss out on the 20-minute-long movie showing how the area came to be such a unique landscape!
- There is also a gallery which I really enjoyed.
Head South on Grand Loop Road towards Yellowstone Falls
- Turning onto North Rim Drive (one-way) leads you to the Brink of the Lower Falls (Moderate, 0.7 mile).
- Driving down Inspiration Point Road from North Rim Drive leads you to the famous Inspiration Point (Easy, 0.2 mile).
- Once you finish driving through North Rim Drive you will drive South down Grand Loop again, passing North Rim Drive and turning onto Brink of the Upper Falls Road. Hike to the Brink of the Upper Falls (Easy, 0.3 mile).
- Continue heading south down Grand Loop Road until you turn onto South Rim Drive. Hike to the Upper Falls Viewpoint (Easy, 0.2 mile) and to Artist Point Overlook (Easy, 0.2 mile).
- Do you have to see the falls from all of these viewpoints? No, but I would recommend at least going to the brink of one of the falls and either Inspiration or Artist Point.
Stay at Canyon Campground or Canyon Lodge
Day 5: Hayden Valley, Norris Geyser Basin, and West Thumb Geyser Basin
I love both of these areas of the park, especially the Porcelain Basin! When driving through Hayden Valley, we spotted a huge group of folks on top of a hill and decided to climb up. We were rewarded with seeing 3 more wolves! My biggest tip for wildlife viewing is to follow the crowds. Sightings are reported and spread like wildfire though communities of wildlife enthusiast.
Drive through Hayden Valley
- This is a gorgeous drive following beside the Yellowstone River. I'd recommending stopping at Yellowstone River Overlook.
Museum of the National Park Ranger
- I loved this Museum so much! The building is an old army outpost and is staffed by retired park rangers. Head here first to learn about the Norris Geyser Basin prior to hiking it.
Hike Norris Geyser Basin (Easy, 3.0 miles)
- This hike includes the Porcelain and Black Basins. A gift shop and a small museum are along the trail.
Hike Artist's Paintpots Loop (Easy, 1 mile)
- This is a short but rewarding hike through a small geyser area. The colors in this area are extremely vibrant! See the stream of yellow photo below.
Fishing Bridge Visitor Center
- This was my partner's favorite visitor center because it focuses a lot on the ecology of the park with a huge bird specimen collection!
West Thumb Geyser Basin (Easy, 1 mile)
- This basin is right along the shore of Yellowstone Lake! I loved exhibit on fisherman using Fishing Cone to cook their fish.
Stay at Grant Village Campground or Grant Village Lodge
- Similar to Canyon Village, Grant Village has dining options, a general store, showers, and laundry facilities.
Optional:
- Mud Volcano Loop (Easy, 0.8 mile). Pictured below, we saw a buffalo hanging out near Black Dragon's Cauldron. Apparently, this is a common sighting in the area!
- Yellowstone Natural Bridge Trail (Easy, 3.1 miles).
Day 6: Upper Geyser Basin, Black Sand Basin, and Biscuit Basin
Old Faithful Visitors Center and Upper Geyser Basin (Easy, 6 miles)
- If you are interested in seeing as many geysers erupt as possible, I would not underestimate the amount of time you will spend here. I recommend arriving early to gameplan. The visitor center has eruption times for all of the geysers. Beware, the (+/-) is accurate. If a geyser is estimated to erupt at 10AM (+/-) 2 hours, show up to that geyser at 8AM and be prepared to wait until 12PM if you really want to see its eruption. We waited an hour past the (+/-) estimated time for Grand Geyser to erupt. Some would not consider that worth it, but I would disagree.
Black Sand Basin (Easy, 0.5 miles)
- The famous Emerald Pool feature lives here!
Biscuit Basin (Moderate, 3.5 miles)
- Unfortunately, we were in Yellowstone during the Biscuit Basin explosion, so we did not get to do this hike. Additionally, at the time of this blog post the basin remains closed due to the damages of the explosion.
Day 7: Grand Prismatic, Midway Geyser Basin, Firehole Lake Drive, and Firehole Canyon Drive.
The order of events on this day may seem counterintuitive. You would think you would want to see Grand Prismatic first thing to avoid the crowd, however, the mist coming from the feature in the early morning can make it nearly impossible to get the view you have been waiting for! The activities of this day are just north of the Old Faithful Area.
Firehole Lake Drive
- Halfway between Old Faithful and Madison Junction is this 3.3-mile scenic loop drive.
Firehole Canyon Scenic Drive
- This drive follows along the Firehole River and features Firehole Falls which is included in the photos below. I really enjoyed this scenic drive and strongly recommend adding it to your itinerary despite it being a bit out of the way!
Fairy Falls Trail and Grand Prismatic Overlook (Easy, 4.8 miles)
- Do not miss the overlook of Grand Prismatic! Doing just the overlook would be 1.5 miles round trip.
Midway Geyser Basin (0.7 mile)
This trail features a boardwalk along the edge of Grand Prismatic. When we did this hike, we did it first thing in the morning not knowing all we would see is steam rising from Grand Prismatic. We were going to then head to the overlook but decided to wait until it was warmer for a clearer view.
Park Overview Map:
I used this map for planning my itinerary and hope you will find it useful as well (it is best viewed by making it full screen using the top right button). As always, feel free to reach out to me with any questions about the info shared here or for help planning your own trip to Yellowstone National Park! Stay tuned for a one-week itinerary for Grand Teton National Park as well.