If you have time stop in at the historic center and see all the the exhibits and historical info…read moreit's $10 a ticket for 2 days Well worth the stop

At the Yellowstone Historic Center has bunch of train artifacts from the old days of trains that…read morecome through Yellowstone National Park. They have three stage coaches on display next to the front door of the entrance and exit door. Also there is a fee to enter the establishment which is not bad. Once you get in you'll see some artifacts from the conductors and operators of the trains that came through. Also some clothing display and items from what was use on the trains and etc. Also they do have a theater inside which has some seating as well. If you want to learn about the historic trains come here.

If your visiting West Yellowstone it's a must see if your interested in the local history or the…read morehistory of the park. Lots to see but it's not an all day affair

This is a small but, very informative museum about the history and events that makes up…read moreYellowstone. There are artifacts. There are 3 videos in separate areas about the fires of 1988, the earthquake of 1959 and the changes brought about by the addition of hotels and the automobile. There is also a small gift shop. Worth a stop.

About roughly halfway during the Firehole Lake Drive off Grand Loop Road near Grand Prismatic…read moreSpring you'll reach White Dome Geyser. It is as the name suggests: it's in the shape of a white dome. It's definitely a lesser known geyser so if you're looking to avoid the crowds this will be a good geyser (along with the others on the road) to check out and hopefully catch an eruption.

In between treks into Yellowstone National Park, we took some of the kids to the Grizzlies & Wolf…read moreDiscovery Center, on Canyon Rd just south of the west entrance to the park. It began as a refuge so save several bears and wolves who had to be removed from the wild. Now it also includes otters, ground squirrels, and birds of prey. We observed each in designated habitats. The otters had a pond and tank to swim in. Fake logs gave the squirrels and maybe a groundhog some shelter and activity. We came back twice more, learning to make reservations for the kids to help feed the bears. When the bears were closed off, the kids got to hide food for them under rocks and logs, while a large flock of ravens hunted for anything left-uncovered by the kids or the bears. We saw an owl and a pair of eagles. It was fun! We visited here three times in a week! And they let people use the same tickets two days in a row :-)

We found this spot as a point of interest during our trip to Yellowstone, so we decided to stop in…read moreafter having lunch! - PARKING - HUGE parking lot - definitely no worry about finding a spot here! - SERVICE/ENVIRONMENT - When you walk in, you'll see all the pricing and available ticket options on the board above the front desk. We had a party of 12 but luckily we were able to walk in after purchasing our individual tickets. Note they also do AAA and student rates here! - EXPERIENCE - Its not the biggest center but decent enough sized that we spent about an hour to an hour and half here. There's a large bear compound in the center and they do feedings - check out the schedule board so you don't miss it! My next favorite area were the ground squirrels - how adorable!!! I do wish there were more otters to see, but only one was really active and swimming around. - OVERALL - A cool spot if you're driving by Yellowstone and want to support this center!

Fabulous tour. It was great just us and customizing our tour to fit what we wanted to see…read more Jackson was great and very knowledgeable. I would recommend this tour company if you want to optimize your time and see wildlife and other sites in the park.

Wonderful tour of Yellowstone with a very informed guide. Prompt pick up and the wealth of…read moreinformation and history regarding the area and the park were appreciated. Highly recommend this tour company.

There are a lot of shops in this little touristy town! We ate at Firehole BBQ Company which was ok…read moreand then had ice cream at another place. Just about every shop has souvenirs of all sorts for you to buy. *West Yellowstone Visitor Information Center is in town, this is not located in the National Park - very helpful and informative staff *The entrance to Yellowstone National Park is really close-by, about ¼ mile away or so. *Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center - small admission fee, but well worth it and tickets are good for two consecutive days. We went for part of one day, but wished we had time to go again. *Museum of the Yellowstone - there's a small fee to enter. We didn't go in, but we did walk along the front to view the vehicles, buffalo and bear sculptures. Nice small town with plenty of things to do before & after visiting Yellowstone National Park!

+ Idyllic neighborhood rest town before you head in to Yellowstone…read more + Lots of shops and restaurants and gentle sightseeing around town in preparation for your big trip. - Traffic slightly different here. For Yellowstone Ave (leads directly into the park), instead of numerous street lights to keep traffic steady, it's a 25 MPH speed limit. But thus, if you're trying to get on to this street, you gotta carefully look all 3 ways farther down (not just left and right, but also across the street if someone else is also trying to get on to this street); don't have any red lights to hold the traffic for you, like at the Electric St intersection.

This business was highly recommended by a local resident, above the other companies who offered…read morethis same service. And they were a HIT, we booked multiple tours with them during our stay. Our guide for the Snowcoach tour was Brock, we loved him. Our guide for the Snowmobile tour was Lindsey, we loved her too. Great group of people. Both days they took their time, were full of info, answered questions, and showed us all the great sites/animals of Yellowstone. Their equipment/cold clothing was current and well maintained. They pick you up from your hotel in West Yellowstone for the Snow coach tours, and you meet at their shop for the Snowmobile tours. Top Notch service!

ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE!! My husband and I took the day long snowmobile tour to Old Faithful and it…read morewas one of the most incredible things I've ever done!! Our tour guide was incredible and so knowledgeable! Everyone that works at Back Country Adventure was so sweet and helpful, they made sure we were all bundled up and comfortable and truly made every step of the process easy!! The tour itself was breathtaking'! I will absolutely be coming back and bringing my friends and family too!!

We booked the All-Day Lower Loop Summer Tour and had a fantastic experience. Our tour guide, Rue,…read morewas incredibly friendly and very knowledgeable about Yellowstone. We visited on a Sunday and were pleasantly surprised that the park wasn't too crowded. Because of this, we had extra time for a few additional stops along the route, which was a great bonus. All of the stops were amazing, especially Old Faithful and Artist Point. We were also lucky enough to see an incredible variety of wildlife, including a grizzly bear, black bear, bison, elk, and more. One thing to note is that most stops are about 20-50 minutes long, so there isn't a lot of time to fully explore each area or purchase food. Our group chose to include lunch through the company, and it was more than enough for lunch. I would suggest to bring some snacks if you're a snacker. I loved the water bottle design they provided and ended up bringing it home as a souvenir. Overall, I would highly recommend this tour to anyone visiting Yellowstone!

DO NOT RECOMMEND WASTING $$$ for the upper loop tour!!!! Such a waste of time and money, didn't…read moreonce stop the get pictures of any of the wildlife pointed out. stopped 30 mins at mammoth hot springs and didn't have enough time there. Gave us more time for directly off the road pullout pics lol such a joke

The West Entrance to Yellowstone National Park was efficient every time we went through. We never…read moreencountered a longer WEEKDAY-delay at the entrance than 15min, on different weekdays approximately 6:30am, 8am, 8:30am, 10:30am, and 11am. (Jul 2026). On the other hand, even when we entered at 6:30am, traffic built up by the time we got to popular locations to the south between the entrance and Old Faithful. Not terribly bad, but enough that we would have started earlier if we could have. Studying traffic apps, it looked like traffic was better entering before 5:30am or maybe even 6am. We never saw bad backups (besides wildlife sightings) going north, or going all the way west between the north and south loops. We never started early enough to see sunrise inside the park. At the entrance, the far right lane was for pre-paid passes. With three other lanes open, the prepaid lane wasnt even twice as fast as the others. It was around two-cars faster when the other lanes were 6 or 8 cars. Pretty efficient. And they give you a useful park map, though you can buy more detailed maps and guidebooks at the park's visitors centers and around town. We used the free ones :-) We felt that the NPS app had info that's easier to access than their website. And believe it when they say cell service is limited to the major sights and visitor centers. Even GPS was spotty. So, after our first couple hours in the park, we made a point to download maps and info before the next leg of the trip, and on the second time in, we downloaded the night before.

If you end up trying to save money by staying in Idaho when visiting Yellowstone rather than…read morestaying in Wyoming, this is likely the main entrance you'll use to exit and re-enter the park during the days you visit. This community that the entrance is next to is also called West Yellowstone, and there's a lot of cute stuff there including a national park visitor center, gas stations, souvenirs and gift shops, and of course lots of restaurants and dessert shops. As for the entrance itself: if you come in during the most congested hours (usually 8-10am or so), despite the fact that there are usually 5-7 lanes open, the traffic will back up all the way down the road from the entrance to the main road of west Yellowstone. People do a decent job of spreading out to try to get in as quickly as possible, but you will have to wait at least a bit. It looks a lot worse than it is; I went in around 8:30 am or so and the number of cars was absolutely ABSURD, but the wait for me to eventually get to a ranger was only about 20-25 minutes. After you get through the entrance, there is a short length of two lanes, and then that becomes one lane. So long as there isn't an animal crossing, the lane does move just fine (at speed limit which is 35-45 mph). Overall - don't be too dismayed by the crazy line to get into the park at this entrance, it does move fast and the advantage of a nice visitor center and tons of food, gas and other resources like minutes from that entrance makes it a great spot to look for lodging or a break in between a visit to Yellowstone.

I toured Yellowstone National Park on three separate days (12/17-12/19/2018) in snowcoaches…read moreprovided by Alpen Guides. Since the cost of the tours was included in a vacation package provided by a travel company, I'm not sure about Alpen Guides' specific prices. This review is based on how much I appreciated the tour itself. I went on two tours to Old Faithful & one to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. The Grand Canyon tour included a box lunch. The Old Faithful tour didn't include a meal but you could purchase something to eat at the Old Faithful visitor's center restaurant if you wanted to. I was so excited about riding the snowcoaches! In Yellowstone, snowcoaches are a normal mode of transportation during the winter but I'd never ridden one or even seen one in person before. In lieu of regular tires, the back portion of a snowcoach has tracks like a tank & the front part has something that resembles skis so it can plow through the snow. The reason why I was so anxious to ride one is because the kid in me remembered the old "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" animation special where the narrator rode one. For each tour, I was picked up just before 8:30 am near the front of the motel where I was staying. We normally returned back from the tour around 4:30 pm. The tour groups are usually small (the ones I went on ranged from 4 to 8 tourists with either one or a couple of driver/tour guides). On the three days I went, I rode with customers from Ohio, Alabama, Maryland, Canada, Utah, and the Phillipines (among other places). We were told not to throw gum or candy wrappers on the ground inside the park because they want to keep Yellowstone as natural as possible. During the winter season when there's lots of snow, they only allow snowcoaches & snowmobiles in Yellowstone. Snowcoaches have a speed limit of 25 mph while snowmobiles have a speed limit of 35 mph. Because snowmobiles are allowed to go faster, snowcoach drivers are supposed to pull over to the side and let them pass. Snowmobile drivers usually travel in groups & from my observation behaved like groups of people in a motorcycle club; like they owned the road even though most of them were riding snowmobiles for the first time. The crowds in Yellowstone are small & spread out in December so even with the snowmobilers we felt like we almost had the park to ourselves. The worst thing about the snowmobilers is when we're quietly taking pictures of wildlife & then they drive up en masse & unintentionally scare the animals off. Our drivers/tour guides were excellent at their job. They had eyes like hawks, pointing out such sights as bald eagles nesting in the trees that most of us would've missed. They knew everything about the various types of trees and wildlife. My favorite part was other than seeing the wildlife was listening to the guides tell stories about their experiences in Yellowstone. One tour guide told us about when he was by himself in the park & a grizzly began approaching him. He had to use bear spray to temporarily slow it down so he could get in his vehicle & drive away. Another guide told us about how bald eagles mate for life & how they sometimes test the worthiness of a mate during courtship by doing a death spiral. A death spiral is when they lock talons high in the air, tumble towards the earth & then let go just before hitting the ground. That's how they decide whether their mate is a ride or die. If you're trying to decide which tour to choose, I'd recommend that you go on both. The Old Faithful tour has the best opportunity for souvenirs due to the two gift shops near the geyser. Also, there's a restaurant beside one of the souvenir shops. The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone tour is popular too because tourists love taking selfies with the canyon waterfall in the distant background. The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone tour includes a boxed lunch that consists of a cold sandwich (roast beef, turkey, etc.), small bag of chips & Oreo cookies. We ate the boxed lunch inside the Canyon Visitor Education Center (where you can see animal skulls & pelts). You'll see wildlife on both tours but I saw more bison on the Old Faithful tour. Every time you venture into Yellowstone it's likely you'll notice something you didn't see the day before. I enjoyed riding the snowcoaches but my favorite was the maroon bombardier that has been running since the 1950s that's nicknamed Chip. It also had a roof that the driver sometimes opened when Chip was parked. You could stand up, stick your head out & take pictures. The other snowcoaches were nice too, although they looked more modern. All of them were toasty inside but during the winter you should wear warm clothing because you will get out of the ride & walk some. The weather fluctuated from single digits to the twenties later in the afternoon. Alpen Guides is as good as it gets when it comes to sightseeing tours. Five stars!

The good: Van was heated, lunch was good, everyone was safe…read more The bad: Don was like listening to Fox News. He talked over us (on a microphone blasting the van) while we were trying to have family time and a family conversation. He was the main attraction at the park that day! We asked him not to talk about politics because we weren't interested in his arm chair quarterbacking. He declined. He didn't ask much about our opinions about where to tour that day. We are locals from Wyoming. Last year a tour operator (at a different company) laid out options and she encouraged us to make our own decisions. If you like not making decisions or having input, listening to Yellowstone facts (sprinkled with politics) blasted into your ears while you drive through pristine Yellowstone, Don is for you!