So you are on visiting Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park, Glacier National Park, or all of them? Then you are in the right place. This guide is going to give you a little bit of information to help you out with your planning. Whether you have already booked your trip or are still in the planning phase.
It’s going to assume that you are going to be landing at the Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport and we’ll explain a little bit about distances as well. If the plan is to turn around and then head to Glacier (or even if you went to Glacier first and turned around) you will be driving another 468 miles. Another 8 hours just to the entrance! This doesn’t include travel across the Going to the Sun Road!
Driving
One of the biggest misconceptions we hear a lot is about driving distances. We get a lot of calls from guests who tell us they want to land in Bozeman and take a trip through Yellowstone National Park, through Grand Teton, and down to Jackson. This is all fine until they mention then wanting to head up to Glacier National Park. Again, this is fine but we stress to them the amount of driving they will be doing. We put together a page that lists driving distances because of this.
Going down to Jackson, Wyoming from Bozeman, Montana, will take you through Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park. The trip is about 226 miles. Roughly about 4 hours and 30 minutes with light traffic. Keep in mind it could take longer if you travel through Yellowstone National Park depending on the time of year.
So as you are planning, keep driving distances in mind. How much of your time do you want to spend driving? Yellowstone National Park is the largest of the three. You aren’t going to be able to spend a lot of time seeing things. If there are things that you “must-see” in YNP, make a list and keep in mind travel time. During peak times of the year (May thru September), you are going to have a lot of traffic and the junctions inside YNP are four-way stops.
I’ve included a map below to help you with your planning. The markers on the map list some of the places I’ve spoken about above. Of course, if you have any questions, give us a call. We are happy to answer questions to help you plan even if you don’t rent a Jeep from us!
YNP - Main Entrance
Gardiner, MT
YNP - West Entrance
West Yellowstone
Glacier West Entrance
Bozeman Airport
YNP - South Entrance
Wyoming
