Perfect Jackson Hole to Yellowstone National Park drive 🌋 Wyoming national parks road trip things to do

Hi there!

So a drive from Jackson Hole to Yellowstone National Park can be a perfect part of a great Wyoming national parks road trip!

 

👆 Road trip destination from Jackson Hole: Yellowstone National Park! There are over 10,000 hydrothermal features in Yellowstone! This includes more than 500 geysers! This means that there are truly so many things to do in Yellowstone National Park!

 

👆 West Thumb can be your first stop in Yellowstone when you are driving from Jackson Hole!

 

 

What is there to see between Jackson Hole and Yellowstone?

You can see Grand Teton National Park between Jackson Hole and Yellowstone!

When you are driving from Jackson Hole to Yellowstone, take the route of Teton Park Road so you can drive the road that will get you the closest to the Teton mountains!

When going to Yellowstone from Jackson Hole, Grand Teton National Park is your gateway to Yellowstone National Park!

Driving from Jackson Hole to Yellowstone National Park is a simple drive.

Jackson Hole is just south of Grand Teton National Park. 

Grand Teton and Yellowstone are connected.

This makes it basically a direct route from Jackson Hole to Yellowstone through Grand Teton National Park!

So it is a simple drive!

 

Explore the map.

 

For reference points:

Jackson WY: Jackson Hole is south of Grand Teton National Park.

Grand Teton National Park: The best route from Jackson Hole to Yellowstone is through Grand Teton National Park.

Yellowstone National Park: Old Faithful geyser is a pretty central and popular spot along the popular road in Yellowstone National Park.

From Jackson Hole to Old Faithful in Yellowstone is around a 2.5 hour drive.

To get to the popular Yellowstone gateway town to stay in of West Yellowstone MT (aka good town to look for hotels if you won’t be returning to Jackson Hole), it’s about an additional hour continuing in the same direction.

So from Old Faithful to West Yellowstone MT is around a 1 hour drive.

This means that to get from Jackson Hole to West Yellowstone MT by driving through Grand Teton and Yellowstone might be around a 3.5 hour drive.

Although ultimately it will depend on how much traffic you encounter in the national parks.

See more: Things to see while driving through Grand Teton National Park

Also for reference, Jackson Hole to West Yellowstone MT is around a 2.5 hour drive if you do NOT drive through Grand Teton and Yellowstone. This means you will be driving mostly through Idaho.

So you don’t need to drive through any national parks to get from Jackson Hole to the town of West Yellowstone.

So if you want to leave Jackson Hole in the evening and save your Yellowstone activities for the next day, then you can drive to West Yellowstone directly and skip the national parks.

 

Are you driving from the east to Jackson Hole and Yellowstone?

See more things to do on your way to Jackson Hole and Yellowstone:

• Driving from Devils Tower to Jackson Hole to Yellowstone
• Driving from Mount Rushmore to Jackson Hole to Yellowstone
• Driving from Badlands National Park to Jackson Hole to Yellowstone

 

Download offline maps before you go!

It’s quite possible that you will have minimal data as you are driving from Jackson Hole to Yellowstone.

It will be best to download offline google maps for Wyoming of the Grand Teton area and Yellowstone area before you go! This is free.

If you will be hiking in Wyoming, I recommend also the free mapsme app. You will need to also download the Wyoming map there. See more about hiking in Wyoming (and that app).

 

 

Things to do when you’re driving from Jackson Hole to Yellowstone

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1. Grand Teton National Park

THE thing to do in Grand Teton National Park is the 42-mile Grand Teton scenic loop drive.

As a loop, if you want to do the whole loop before going to Yellowstone, you’ll be doing some backtracking.

But if you only want to do half of the scenic loop drive, then you can choose to do just one side.

You can drive the western side of the scenic loop drive to get up north to Yellowstone, or you can drive the eastern side of the scenic loop drive to get to Yellowstone.

The side that will get you the closest to the Teton Range (aka the mountain range that you are going to Grand Teton National Park to see!) is the western side of the loop.

This western side of the loop is Teton Park Road.

So, drive Teton Park Road to get to Yellowstone!

But, one minor detour you do want to make before you start driving Teton Park Road to Yellowstone is Mormon Row.

Mormon Row is where you’ll find the famous Grand Teton barn. (There are actually several Mormon Row barns.)

 

 

Then, once you’ve seen Mormon Row, you can then get started on Teton Park Road!

So, make it: Jackson to Mormon Row to the Moose entrance of Grand Teton National Park which will get you on Teton Park Road.

You may also want to make a slight tour off of Teton Park Road onto Lupine Meadows Road or Jenny Lake Road. (Because… views!)

Once back on Teton Park Road, the Potholes Turnout in Grand Teton National Park can be the perfect last stop on Teton Park Road!

 

 

See more about the drive from Jackson Hole to Yellowstone:

• Driving the 42-mile scenic loop drive in Grand Teton National Park
• Best things to do in Grand Teton National Park
• How to spend one day in Grand Teton National Park

 

Then you will keep driving north to get to the south entrance of Yellowstone National Park!

 

👆 Road from Jackson Hole to Yellowstone through Grand Teton National Park: You will pass by Jackson Lake and Colter Bay.

 

 

2. John Rockefeller Parkway

 

The John Rockefeller Memorial Parkway is the road that connects Grand Teton National Park to Yellowstone National Park.

This means that it is a direct drive from Grand Teton to Yellowstone!

 

👆 Why is it called the John D Rockefeller Jr Memorial Highway? John Rockefeller is credited for being a big part of expanding Grand Teton National Park.

 

 

3. Welcome to Yellowstone National Park!

 

When driving the road that connects Grand Teton National Park to Yellowstone National Park, you’ll be entering from Yellowstone’s south entrance.

 

 

If you will be visiting Grand Teton National Park, Yellowstone National Park, and one more national park within a year that has a similarly priced national park entry fee, then it will be worth it to get the annual national park pass.

As long as the entry booth is staffed, you can buy this when you arrive at your first national park.

Now, you have arrived in Yellowstone and you’ll be driving through Yellowstone National Park!

 

👆 You will pass a number of signs indicating the Continental Divide.

 

 

 

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4. West Thumb Geyser Basin Trail

 

The first “big” stop you will come across will be the West Thumb Geyser Basin.

This can be a perfect first stop to make in Yellowstone! This is one of the many thermal basins in Yellowstone where you can see hot springs and geysers.

You will see hot springs, and if you’re lucky you may see a small geyser erupting.

This also makes for a nice lakeside walk along Yellowstone Lake.

 

 

After you have finished up walking around the West Thumb geyser basin, next you can make a slight detour to drive along Yellowstone Lake for a bit before turning around to continue your drive towards Old Faithful.

This is not the direction of Old Faithful, but it’s a great scenic drive!

 

 

5. Old Faithful Geyser

The next major stop you may want to make is at the Old Faithful Geyser.

This is one of the most popular spots in Yellowstone and it’s one of the best things to do in Yellowstone.

Once you arrive at the Old Faithful Geyser parking lot, you’ll want to head to the visitor center to see when the next geyser eruption is predicted.

 

 

The most popular spot to watch the geyser is from the observation boardwalk that is right in front of the geyser.

 

 

You can also hike up to the Observation Point to see the geyser from above.

You just want to make sure you give yourself enough time to get there before the next eruption!

 

 

The Old Faithful area is a rather large area, and you can also walk around the Upper Geyser Basin area to see if you can catch other geysers erupting too.

There are several geysers near the Old Faithful Geyser that the National Park Service provides prediction times for. Note the PLUS or MINUS number! The geyser prediction time can be plus or minus 10 minutes or it can be plus or minus 2 hours!

 

 

If you have brought along your bikes for your Wyoming national parks road trip, this is a good area to make use of them! There is a paved path where you can ride up and down past geysers. See the geyser biking route. You can also rent a bike at the Old Faithful Snow Lodge.

And then once you’ve finished up at Old Faithful, you can keep driving north where you will find a couple more smaller thermal basins like the Black Sand Basin and Biscuit Basin. Depending on how much time and daylight you have left, you may consider skipping one or both of these. Although these are both relatively short trails.

 

 

If you are giving yourself a good amount of the day in Yellowstone, then you might consider saving Old Faithful for last. There is a lot you can do around the Upper Geyser Basin where Old Faithful is located, including waiting around for other geysers to erupt.

 

See more about your drive from Jackson Hole to Yellowstone:

• How to spend one day in Yellowstone National Park
• How to see the Old Faithful geyser eruption

 

 

6. Grand Prismatic Spring Overlook Trail

 

And then if you continue driving north, you will see a sign for the Fairy Falls trailhead.

This is where you will find the trail to the Grand Prismatic Spring Overlook, which is another icon in Yellowstone National Park that you may very likely want to make time for. Towards the end of the trail, this becomes a steep hike.

You will get to see the colorful Grand Prismatic Spring from above.

 

 

But, if you got a late start in starting your drive to Yellowstone AND you will be spending a full day in Yellowstone the next day, then you are better off waiting for the next day to see the Grand Prismatic Spring.

That’s because to see the Grand Prismatic Spring at its best (aka bright colors!), you will want to see it when the sun is high and shining onto it. That’s when it will look its best.

If you visit it towards sunset, it won’t look as bright and colorful.

But of course, if sunset is your only chance to see the Grand Prismatic Spring, well then, you’ll want to see it anyway! It is a Yellowstone icon after all.

If you start your drive towards Yellowstone in the morning, you can make it to the Grand Prismatic Spring to see its bright colors! … if it’s a day with the sun out!

 

See more about your drive from Jackson Hole to Yellowstone:

• Grand Prismatic Spring overlook

 

If you want to see the Grand Prismatic Spring from ground level, that is just a little bit further up the road to the north, along the Midway Geyer Basin trail.

 

And then you can continue your drive further north to see more smaller thermal basins (aka where you can see smaller geysers and hot springs).

 

 

 

👆 Things to do in Yellowstone National Park: See lots of geysers and hot springs! Aside from the already mentioned West Thumb Geyser Basin, Grand Prismatic Spring, and Black Sand Basin, also pictured are the Clepsydra Geyser and White Dome Geyser.

 

 

“Big” town to stay in near Yellowstone National Park: West Yellowstone MT

And then from here, it can be perfect to drive onwards for a stay in West Yellowstone MT. This is one of the popular gateway towns for Yellowstone National Park.

 

 

And those are some ideas for driving to Yellowstone National Park from Jackson Hole!

 

Plan more of your Wyoming road trip and beyond:

• Best places to visit in Wyoming
• Things to do in Devils Tower National Monument
• Snowy Range Scenic Byway
• Things to do in Craters of the Moon National Monument
• Mount Rushmore to Yellowstone
• Best places to visit in South Dakota for VIEWS!
• National parks in South Dakota
• North Dakota national park

 

HAPPY DRIVING FROM JACKSON HOLE TO YELLOWSTONE!