Yellowstone National Park: Tips for first timer, family with children

Yellowstone had been on our bucket list ever since we moved to the US. As a family of three with Sophie (who was super excited about the prospect of seeing bison and bears), we wanted to time our visit right — fewer crowds but still the full Yellowstone experience. Fall break from school turned out to be perfect. The weather was crisp, the crowds were manageable, and the park was just stunning. I think this post can be useful if you are a first-timer, especially if you are traveling with kids.

Pre-trip planning

We didn't book the trip many months in advance, only about 1 month + out. The first task is to figure out the overall itinerary. Because of our daughter's fall break, we had a maximum of about 9 days to travel but we didn't want to use all of that time because it would be very tiring after. So we decided to go for a maximum of 7 days.

Transportation was our first puzzle to solve. The daunting 1000-mile stretch from the Bay Area, California to Yellowstone loomed before us. While the road trip had its charm, the long hours with a child in the backseat required a second thought. Air travel emerged as the practical choice but with a twist. Our research unveiled two nearby airports - Yellowstone Airport and Bozeman. Yellowstone Airport is just outside the west entrance so it is really close. Bozeman is about 100 miles away to the north so it is not that far either. So both are good options. However, if we use either one of them, that means our trip would have been to only Yellowstone and back, which felt a bit too short and limited.

So we explored further and there was another good option. We could fly to Salt Lake City, rent a car there, drive to Yellowstone (about 4 hours), spend a few days in Yellowstone, drive back to Salt Lake City, spend some time in the city, and then fly back. With this option, we could explore both Yellowstone and Salt Lake City for the first time.

Air ticket and car rental

Once we decided on the overall high-level itinerary, the choice of airline was fairly straightforward. Delta Airlines, with its direct flight to Salt Lake City, was our go-to option.

Now, onto the car rental. A quick delve into the options, we discovered that booking through Costco Travel with Enterprise was a cost-effective choice, a tip worth noting for fellow travelers looking to save on car rentals.

Accommodation for Yellowstone

We highly recommend staying in West Yellowstone because:

It is a short drive to the west entrance (about 10 mins drive)
It has all of the facilities that you may need from decent hotels (for national parks), to restaurants, grocery stores, etc...

We stayed at Best Western Desert Inn and were happy with the choice. Again, we knew that we couldn't expect five-star accommodation near or inside a national park so the hotel meets our expectations. We could always rely on decent room size and the coin-operated laundry room at Best Western hotels. Their Western-style breakfast buffet is ok too. The hotel is literally less than 5 min drive from the park west entrance.

Salt lake city international airport is modern and clean

The dawn of our journey arrived with a pleasant flight from SFO to Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC). Upon landing, we were surprised to find that Salt Lake City (SLC) international airport is so clean and modern. It is much better than SFO or JFK and has much cleaner toilets.

We promptly picked up our rental car, and with maps loaded and bags packed, we embarked on the scenic drive to West Yellowstone, the gateway to the wilderness that beckoned.

Scenic drive from SLC to West Yellowstone

or you can see the video below

https://youtu.be/rsH8unH10Gs

Arrival and First impressions

West Yellowstone is a small, cozy town right next to the park. We spent the first evening just walking around, checking out the shops and restaurants. Sophie was already buzzing with excitement about spotting wildlife the next day :D

If you like Chinese food or spicy Asian food like us, we recommend Red Lotus. For a remote place, next to a national park, the food quality is good, above our expectations. They automatically include tips in the final bill so be aware of that so you don't have to add extra tip to the bill.

This is the view of the town outside of our window

Exploring Yellowstone: A Nature’s Wonderland

Day 1 itinerary

You don't need to start too early in the morning if you follow the itinerary below. Before your drive from the hotel, make sure to use Google Map offline map function and download the areas you want to visit. Cell signal or wifi within the park is very limited.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/jz6rvZMxKaQ

Old faithful: make sure to check out the estimated eruption time at the visitor center. This is the video of a live eruption that we captured during the trip.

https://youtube.com/shorts/lV2ytEXBF9U

West Thumb
Black Sand Basin
Grand Prismatic Spring: It is often very windy and cold when you try to walk to up the Spring/Midway Geyser so make sure you have a windbreaker.
Midway Geyser Basin

This leaves plenty of time for you to walk around or stop along the way if you see nice view. We took a lot of photos on the first day and here is a sample:

Day 2 itinerary

We drove to Lamar Valley early in the morning and it did not disappoint. Seeing bison roaming freely in the wild was something else — nothing like seeing them in a zoo or on TV. The drive from West YellowStone to Lamar Valley is about 2 hours, including stops to take photos along the way. You should pack lunch with you so that you can stay and enjoy the view at the valley. If you get lucky, you can get really close to some bison as they wander beside the road. Plenty of elks can be seen too.

We also made it to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Lookout Point was incredible — the views were honestly breathtaking.

Salt Lake City Detour

Plenty of food options between West Yellowstone and Salt Lake city

If you use freeways 20 and 15 to drive back to Salt Lake City from West Yellowstone, there are plenty of food options along the way since we pass through many towns/small cities. For example, in Pocatello, Thai Zap is a decent place for Thai food. The taste is quite authentic.

One and a half day is enough to explore Salt Lake City

We visited the main places of interest like: Temple Square, Utah Olympics Park, Natural History Museum of Utah and even East High (where the Highschool musical was filmed.)

This is the video of Sophie dancing to "We are all in this together"

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/idWujqSDsCs

It is not free to visit the Natural History Museum but it is worth the money and a visit :)

Salt Lake City is a well planned city with big and clean streets, friendly to pedestrians. We liked the city a lot except for the food. Coming from the Bay Area (and before that, Southeast Asia), our expectations for food are probably too high :P The ramen at Ramen 930 was way too salty and lacked authentic flavors. The service at Buca di Beppo Italian Restaurant was slow, with a long wait for a pizza that was honestly not great.

Conclusion

Overall, the Yellowstone + Salt Lake City combo worked really well for us. Two destinations in one trip, and Sophie had a blast the whole time. I think fall is genuinely the best time to go with kids — fewer people, cooler weather, and the park feels more intimate.

Have you been to Yellowstone? If so, what was your favorite part? And if you are planning to go, feel free to reach out with questions — happy to help.

Cheers,

Chandler

Other US National Parks that we have been to

Read our complete guide: The Expat Family's Guide to US National Parks (2026) — covering all 26 parks we've visited, road trip routes, costs, and tips for international visitors.

Pacific NorthWest National Parks: Mount Rainier, North Cascades, Crater Lake and Lassen.

Joshua Tree National Park

Yosemite National Park

Pinnacles National Park

Zion National Park

Yosemite, Pinnacles, Grand Canyon, Joshua Tree, and Death Valley in one guide

Petrified Forest National Park