The Ultimate Yellowstone Family Vacation Guide
Take your kids on the ultimate Yellowstone family vacation!
Yellowstone National Park is the world’s oldest national park, and it is filled with incredible hydrothermal features, amazing wildlife, and once-in-a-lifetime memories waiting to be made.
While most associate Yellowstone National Park with Old Faithful, there is SO much more to do here with your kids.
Below, you’ll find all of our family friendly places to visit, eat, hike, and sleep, so you can ensure that every minute of your time in Yellowstone is perfect.
The Camping Kiddos exploring Artists Paint Pots in Yellowstone National Park
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Is Yellowstone National Park Good for Kids?
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Yes, Yellowstone National Park is great for kids!
When my mom and I first started planning our trip to Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park, and Jackson, Wyoming, she was worried that my 6- and 10-year-olds wouldn’t have enough to do.
However, after spending time exploring everything that Yellowstone has to offer, I cannot recommend this incredible national park enough to families.
For younger children, the wildlife spotting is a great way to get them excited about the park.
Older kids will enjoy taking in the incredible natural features of the park, including the mud pots, mountains, lodgepole pines, and more.
And, of course, geysers shooting out of the ground is cool no matter how old you get!
Whether you’re spending 10 days or 2 days in Yellowstone National Park, you’re going to have the experience of a lifetime with your kids.
How to Prepare Your Kids to Go to Yellowstone
I am a big believer in preparing my kids for the adventures that await them.
Every time we’re planning to go to a new destination or national park, I find supplementary materials to provide them with context on what we will see and do.
Above all, talk with your kids about what to expect, what they’ll see, and the activities you have planned.
Yellowstone National Park is SO big that kids can easily get overwhelmed.
By telling them what you’ll see and do beforehand, they go into that huge experience with a much needed framework.
Watch a Documentary
Yellowstone National Park has been consistently covered by the media in its 150 years of existence.
It’s pretty incredible that people are still talking about the place—and are going to the park in record numbers.
We recommend both Yellowstone 150 (on Fox) and Epic Yellowstone (on Paramount+) to introduce key topics of geology, history, ecology, biology, and conservation to your kids.
Read a Book
There are some incredible books out there for kids on Yellowstone National Park!
For younger readers, Buddy Bison’s Yellowstone Adventure is a colorful introduction to the park from National Geographic.
Yellowstone Sabotage is a great middle reader that will have your kids learning about the park while they follow the Camping Kids as they solve a mystery.
Start a Trip Journal
The Camping Kiddos working on their trip journals at our Roosevelt cabin
Even younger children can get enjoyment out of a trip journal.
For our trip to Yellowstone National Park, we took blank notebooks (nothing fancy!) and let the kids decorate them with stickers, fun facts, and little autobiographies before we left.
Then, throughout the trip, we’d pull them out at meals or at bedtime to let them draw and write what they’d done.
My 6-year-old’s journal is mostly pictures that he drew, while my 10-year-old has both written and drawn entries.
If you want something more focused than a blank notebook, my kids found What I Saw at Yellowstone at one of the park gift shops and begged for it.
This colorful book includes fun facts about elements of the park, photos of animals and plants, and a comprehensive checklist for kids to complete.
Yee-haw! It’s the best little family vacation in the Wild West!
If this is your first trip to a national park, you’ll want to read through my comprehensive guide to the U.S. National Parks for beginners, which explains in detail everything from how the Junior Rangers program works to how to nab accommodations in the parks.
Where to Start on Your Yellowstone Family Vacation
There are 5 entrances to Yellowstone National Park, so it can be overwhelming just to figure out which direction to start in. Depending on what you’d like to do and how long you have at the park, you’ll want to compare which entrance will work best for your family.
I have a complete guide to the different entrances to Yellowstone here, which includes information on lodging, food, activities, and hikes at each.
I’d recommend flying into Jackson Hole airport, which puts you close to Jackson, Wyoming, the Grand Teton National Park, and the southern entrance to Yellowstone National Park.
Arriving in Jackson Hole means that you actually have to drive through Grand Teton National Park to get to Yellowstone’s southern entrance.
This means you get a bonus national park on your trip just by driving from the airport!
>> If you are planning to tour both parks on your trip, check out my Grand Teton National Park with kids guide! <<
Plus, starting your trip near Jackson, Wyoming, means that you can have lunch in town at The Bunnery, stock up on groceries, and do a little sightseeing before you head into the park.
Keep in mind that:
1) You WILL need a rental car. There isn’t any public transportation to or in either national park in this area.
>> Search for rental cars here. <<
Unless you’re planning on doing something crazy, you won’t need a 4x4 or anything while driving Yellowstone.
There are some hiking trailheads that are down bumpy roads, but it’s nothing that our rented Suburban couldn’t handle.
2) The trip from Jackson, Wyoming, to the southern entrance of Yellowstone is about 2 hours.
To help the time go by faster for your kids, stop by the Flagg Ranch Information Center at the northern end of the Grand Tetons. This is on the way to Yellowstone, so you won’t lose any time!
At Flagg Ranch, there is a small kiosk at the front door with free coloring and activity sheets for kids.
My 2 children LOVED the license plate spotting sheet and spent much of their car ride shouting out different states’ plates that they’d found.
The closest place to stay inside Yellowstone is Grant Village. While I can’t say I recommend Grant Village for families since the rooms are very small and badly need updating, it might be the first night stop that your kids need.
We left our home in South Carolina at 3 AM for a 5:30 AM flight, so we were exhausted by the time we got to our room in Grant Village at 6 PM Mountain Time.
(For my family friendly recommendations on where to stay in Yellowstone, look below.)
The weather at Yellowstone can be all over the place, even in the summer. Ensure that you’re packing the right clothes with my Yellowstone summer packing list and free printable!
What to Eat in Yellowstone with Kids
For all of the family friendly options at Yellowstone National Park, the food selection isn’t one of them.
Finding food that the kids would eat was one of the hardest parts of our vacation since there aren’t that many choices in the park—and each area of the park is spread far away from others.
That means that even if you find a place where you kid will eat, it’s likely to be a one and done situation.
My 6-year-old is one of the pickiest people on the planet and even refuses to eat pizza. (HOW?!) This kid once told me that his buttered toast was too spicy, so you can get an idea of what we’re up against.
Go shopping before you arrive in the park.
This option is probably the most obvious, but it’s not as easy as you’d think.
The closest grocery store is either in Jackson, Wyoming (to the south of the park), or Gardiner, Montana (near the northern entrance). There are also some small mom-and-pop shops near West Yellowstone.
Of those options, Jackson has the biggest grocery options with a Whole Foods and Albertson’s.
Both of these have lots of options for picky eaters or kids with special dietary needs.
We stocked up on granola bars, snacks, peanut butter, jelly, bread, water, drinks, and more.
Everything is going to be cheaper outside of the national park, so get what you can while you’re in town.
Baby items and medicines are non-existent in the park.
If you’re bringing a baby or toddler who needs diapers, formula, fruit pouches, and the like, you will ABSOLUTELY need to get these before you go into Yellowstone National Park.
While there are (expensive) grocery stores in the national park, none of them offer formula, diapers, or treats appropriate for very small kiddos.
In fact, bring more formula and diapers into the park that you think you’d need as it is a long drive back to Jackson.
Your options for kid appropriate medicines are going be equally limited.
We packed a small bag of likely medicines such as Tums, Children’s Tylenol, a thermometer, bandaids, and the like.
There are a few medical clinics inside of the park, but they will charge you for services just like a walk-in clinic anywhere else in the U.S.
Definitely be prepared by picking up basic supplies before you arrive!
Buy a cooler to expand your options further.
Keep in mind that the hotels and cabins inside of Yellowstone National Park do not have mini-fridges. (You will be able to get ice at all of them, however.)
This means that you’ll need a cooler if you plan on buying sandwich meat, cheese sticks, yogurt, and the like.
We found both cardboard and styrofoam coolers at the Albertson’s, though the styrofoam one was too brittle to move.
Go with the cardboard cooler and use trash bags as liners to keep melting ice from soaking into the cardboard.
If you’d like to buy an actual cooler, there is an REI Co-op down the street from Albertson’s.
Inside Yellowstone National Park, we found a cardboard cooler at the small grocery store in Canyon Village.
It was, of course, more expensive than the one at Albertson’s, but we were desperate after the styrofoam one fell apart.
Canyon Village Fountain and Grill
This retro breakfast and lunch counter is run by Delaware North, which we thought had much better food quality and pricing than Yellowstone’s other vendor, Xanterra.
Part of the menu at Fishing Bridge Fountain and Grill (it’s identical to what’s served at Canyon Village Fountain and Grill)
It serves up a basic but yummy menu of grilled chicken sandwiches, burgers, and fries. My kids loved their grilled chicken strips and ate them several times on our trip.
It does close at 5 PM, so don’t wait too late if you want any of their offerings for dinner.
Wilcoxson’s Ice Cream
This Montana-based ice cream company serves up some incredibly delicious treats inside the park.
There’s a small stand inside the Canyon Village Mercantile, where you can grab a cone of one of their 16 flavors.
Stand outs for my family included the huckleberry ice cream (a local favorite!), the Buffalo Chip (a Snickers-and-chocolate confection), and the butter pecan.
Fishing Bridge Fountain and Grill
This location is a copy of the Canyon Village Fountain and Grill and serves up an identical menu.
Unlike the Canyon Village location, the Fishing Bridge Fountain and Grill was much less crowded for lunch.
It serves up the same crowd favorites like grilled cheese, burgers, and fries.
15 Best Things to Do in Yellowstone National Park with Kids
Did you know that the vast majority of visitors to Yellowstone National Park never get an average of 250 feet from their car?!
You truly can’t experience Yellowstone like this, so I encourage you to get out and see more.
Thankfully, there are many places in the park with boardwalks and paved paths for strollers and easy hikes.
Most guidebooks don’t take into consideration kids’ little legs and shorter attention spans when recommending must-do sights.
Below, I’ve shared the places and experiences that my kids can’t stop talking about from our time at Yellowstone.
Unless otherwise noted, these are good for all ages, so you can be sure that your entire family will enjoy them.
MOM TIP: There’s A LOT of driving in Yellowstone as you cover the vast distances within the park.
Make use of your time driving by listening to the GuideAlong app, which I can’t recommend enough for families.
We used it while driving all around Yellowstone National Park, and it was as good as having a live guide in the car.
It was actually better since we could stop and get out whenever something appealed to us, and we could repeat a particular section of the tour if the kids were asking questions.
The app uses GPS to determine where you are, and then provides in-real-time recommendations on what to see and do.
The guide, Dave, also shares fun tidbits about the geology, history, and animals you’ll see in the park.
For less than the price of a burger and fries back in Jackson, you’ll be able to learn so much about the park via this easy to use app.
>> Download the GuideAlong tour for Yellowstone National Park here. <<
NOTE: If you’re doing to Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park together, there is a dual tour for those. You’ll save about 30% by buying the bundle over each park separately.
West Thumb Boardwalk
Clear blue spring on the West Thumb boardwalk loop
Don’t rush straight onto Old Faithful when you get into the park!
The West Thumb boardwalk loop is just as interesting and far less crowded.
There’s even a hydrothermal feature greeting you as you come into the parking lot.
In fact, there are a ton of hydrothermal features in the park beyond Old Faithful—more than 12,000 at last count.
At the West Thumb geyser site, you’ll see small but brilliantly colored pools, bubbling vents at the lake’s edge, and the famous Fishing Cone feature.
Also known as the “Hook and Cook,” Fishing Cone once served as a place where local fishermen could steam their catch right over the escaping steam vent.
Plan to spend at least 45-60 minutes here to explore the boardwalk loops fully. You’ll also get some excellent views of the lake from the lower boardwalk areas.
Old West Cowboy Cookout and Trail Ride
Near: Tower-Roosevelt
A look at the setting for the Cowboy Cookout in Yellowstone
This evening experience was the ride of a lifetime!
Over the course of 3 or so hours, you’ll ride out on the range to an isolated outdoor kitchen and open air dining area.
You’ll be treated to some of the corniest cowboy jokes ever, live fiddle music, and some delicious grub cooked up in front of you.
Of everything on this list, the Cowboy Cookout is consistently in my kids’ top 3 favorite experiences they had while in Yellowstone.
>> Read my full Yellowstone Old West Dinner Cookout review here! <<
Grand Prismatic Pool
Near: Midway Geyser Basin
The Grand Prismatic Pool from the Overlook on Fairy Falls Trail
All of those colors you see in the photos are real-no Photoshop needed.
The incredible array of reds, oranges, blues, and greens that you see in the pool are there thanks to a heat-resistant bacteria.
This huge thermal pool can be seen from one of 2 vantage points, though we preferred the view from the overlook on the Fairy Falls Trail to that on the Prismatic Pool boardwalk.
Another Junior Ranger program completed!
Junior Ranger program
We love a good Junior Ranger program while visiting the national parks!
While the official Yellowstone National Park website says that there is a $3 charge for the booklets, we weren’t charged anything when we picked them up at the Old Faithful Visitors Center.
Pick up a (maybe free) booklet at any of the visitors centers around the park.
Artists Point
Did you know that there is a Grand Canyon at Yellowstone?
While it isn’t as deep as the one over at Grand Canyon National Park (another favorite for kids!), the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone is absolutely worth a day of your family vacation.
The best views are found at the southern end of canyon at Artists Point, where you’ll be able to see the Lower Falls straight on.
The beautiful view from Artist’s Point overlook
For some excellent context on the history and geography here, I recommend taking the free ranger walk of the Canyon’s South Rim.
NOTE: This ranger walk is generally excellent for all ages. However, if you have little runners, I’d strongly suggest placing them in a hiking pack if you plan to walk on the rim beyond where the ranger talk ends.
The Rim Trail gets very steep in places between the Lower Falls observation point and the trailhead at Artist’s Point, and there aren’t any guardrails.
It was a bit iffy with my 6-year-old, but my 10-year-old was great.
Dragon’s Mouth
Near: Sulfur Cauldron on Grand Loop Road between Fishing Bridge and Canyon Village
Nope, there’s not an actual dragon in there!
This might be the coolest natural phenomenon I’ve ever seen!
This hydrothermal feature is caused by a steam vent deep inside a cave.
As the vent releases steam, billowing clouds are released from the cave’s mouth with a huff that sounds just like a dragon is hiding inside.
The pressure also causes a small set of waves to constantly lap at the cave mouth, too.
It really does look like something out of a fantasy novel.
You can easily access the view point for Dragon’s Mouth on the Mud Volcano Boardwalk.
Artist’s Paint Pot
Between: Norris Geyser Basin and Canyon Village
The younger Camping Kiddo mesmerized by the mud pots
Gloopy, gloppy mud bubbling up from the ground sounds exactly like something my kids would love.
Located on an easy trail with a few sets of stairs, the mud pots are fascinating.
My 6-year-old especially couldn’t tear his eyes away from the thick pools.
While the geyers might be more dramatic, there’s something glorious weird about the mud pot features!
Check out the complete trail guide to the Artists Paint Pots hike here.
Wildlife Spotting at Lamar Valley
There are 2 places where you’re more likely to see wildlife: Lamar Valley and Hayden Valley.
Of the 2, we had much better luck spotting bison and pronghorn sheep in Lamar Valley.
Plus, Lamar Valley is larger, so you’ll be treated to some incredible views in the process of looking for all of those animals on your checklist.
We saw a herd of bison crossing the road in Lamar Valley one morning.
Mom tip: Buy your children a set of inexpensive binoculars to get them involved with wildlife spotting!
Their little faces are too small for standard binoculars (and you probably don’t want them dropping the good binos, anyway).
The small souvenir binoculars at the gift shops were a HUGE hit with both of my kids, and they used them constantly to help us spot animals.
These kids binoculars on Amazon are the exact same ones you’ll find for sale in the park—minus the Yellowstone branding—at almost half the price.
Sheepeater Cliffs
Between: Mammoth Hot Springs and Norris Geyser Basin
My kids loved climbing all over the rocks!
Column after column of basalt stretches across a long wall, creating the perfect place to jump from stone to stone.
We just happened to turn down the small access road to Sheepeater Cliffs just to see what it was, and my kids immediately jumped out of the car.
The honeycomb shaped pieces of rock have formed a huge pile at the bottom of the cliff over millions of years.
Kids can carefully make their way through the stone in an obstacle course designed by nature.
NOTE: we saw one little girl climb to the tops of the basalt columns on the cliff. This is not recommended as the basalt can, and will, crumble.
Palatte Springs and Liberty Cap
Near: Mammoth Hot Springs
Does anyone else remember the 1990s cinematic classic Ferngully?
There’s a scene in it where Krista, the main character and forest fairy, jumps from one tiered pool to the next, lighting up the water in each as she goes.
That’s all I could think about when I saw Palette Springs hot springs!
This incredible formation looks straight from that movie (minus the flying fairies, of course), and is not to be missed while visiting the Mammoth Hot Springs area of the park.
It’s an easy walk up from the parking lot. As a bonus, you’ll pass the now extinct hot springs of Liberty Cap.
It’s now a 37-foot-tall rock parked next to the boardwalk.
Hiking trails
Hiking is my #1 way to get my kids’ squirms out.
If we’re road tripping and everyone is complaining and tired, we’re off to find the nearest hiking trail.
Given that Yellowstone National Park is massive, and that you’ll spend a ton of time in the car, you’ll want to be generous with the number of kid-friendly hikes that you put into your itinerary.
Thanks to Yellowstone’s hydrothermal activity and craggy mountains, there are several popular hikes that aren’t great for kids.
Lucky for you, my kids and I did SO MANY hikes while we visited Yellowstone. One day, we did 11 miles on 5 different trails!
>> Discover the best easy hikes in Yellowstone in our trail guide here! <<
Old Faithful Geyser
At: the Upper Geyser Basin
You can’t go to Yellowstone and not see Old Faithful.
It’s like going to London and not seeing Buckingham Palace.
Lucky for your family, this is an easy—and must do stop—on your Yellowstone tour.
Old Faithful is great for kids as it is fairly reliable, so there’s not a lot of waiting around.
Every 90 minutes (give or take 10 minutes), Old Faithful shoots more than 100 feet into the air for around 4 minutes.
Being there in person to hear that roar is unforgettable.
For little ones who get bored while waiting, there are rows of benches around 3 sides of the geyser. It’s a great time for them to work on their trip journals!
Plus, there are more than 150 hydrothermal features here. Most are on stroller accessible boardwalks.
Canyon Village Education Center
This interpretive center is one of the best in the park for kids.
While the Visitors Center over at Old Faithful is visually more appealing, the Canyon Village Education Center has 2 floors of interactive displays on the topography and volcanic activity in the park.
Plus, it’s all free!
Museum of the Park Ranger
If your kids are ready to join the NPS, this museum will help them understand what they’ll be a part of.
You’ll get to explore the history of park rangers, starting with the first superintendent of the park (who didn’t get a salary and who only stayed a year).
Thankfully, things have improved a bit since then, and park rangers today have many opportunities to support our national parks.
Lake Yellowstone Boat Tour
Head over to the Bay Bridge Marina to take a ranger-led tour of Lake Yellowstone.
You’ll get to see nearby Lake Yellowstone Hotel from a new perspective as well as the sunken wreck of the E.C. White.
If your ranger is anything like Ranger James on our tour, you’ll also get a few jokes and ghost stories thrown in there, too.
Lake Yellowstone is a huge feature of the park, so it’s fun to get out on it rather than simply driving around it.
Add an easy day trip from Yellowstone’s northeastern entrance by driving Beartooth Highway through Wyoming and Montana! Check our my complete guide to Beartooth Highway here.
Where to Stay for Your Yellowstone Family Vacation
If at all possible, you’ll want to stay in the park.
Yellowstone is bigger than some states (I’m looking at you Rhode Island), so you can’t easily pop in and out here like at other national parks.
To maximize your touring time and minimize your driving time, choose family friendly accommodations inside the park.
Over the course of our time in Yellowstone National Park, we stayed in nearly every property available (and a couple of them twice!), so I can confidently tell you that these are the best if you’re traveling with kids.
Keep in mind that none of the properties at Yellowstone have air conditioning, but both places recommended below do have operating windows and a fan to keep the air moving.
Roosevelt Cabins
The Camping Kiddos in cabin 11
Roosevelt Cabins is located at the Tower-Roosevelt Junction inside the park, and the entire property is incredibly quaint and quiet.
At the center of the property is Roosevelt Lodge, but you’ll want to stay in one of the individual cabins here.
There are 2 types of cabins: smaller, 1-bedroom efficiencies without private bathrooms, and 2-bedroom cabins with private baths.
We stayed in the 1-bedroom cabin, which was very cozy for myself and my 2 kids. If my husband had been with us, we’d definitely have needed to upgrade to the larger cabin.
The cabins date from the late 1800s, and they were moved to their current location in the mid-20th century to expand the Roosevelt Lodge property.
You’re also steps from the Roosevelt Horse Corral, where the recommended Old West Cowboy Cookout and Trail Ride begins.
>> Click here for a full Roosevelt Cabins at Yellowstone review. <<
Canyon Village Lodges
These lodges at the heart of Canyon Village are some of the newest in Yellowstone, and they’re currently getting a refresh.
The guest rooms here were much larger than the ones in Grant Village, and included 2 queen beds, a large ensuite bath, a table for 2, and lots of floor space.
We stayed in both the Washburn Lodge, which doubles as the check-in area, and the Rhyolite Lodge nearest to the property entrance.
The rooms in both were identical, and all offered the same amenities.
Keep in mind that you do have access to Canyon Village Education Center, Canyon Village Fountain and Grill, and other shops, but they are a short 5 minute walk from the hotels section.
Which is better: Grand Tetons vs. Yellowstone? Get all of the pros and cons in my comprehensive Wyoming national parks overview post!
