Hi there!
Generally speaking, the south entrance is the best entrance to get to Yellowstone National Park if you are coming from Jackson Hole or Grand Teton National Park.
When you are driving from the south to get to Yellowstone, Grand Teton National Park is your gateway to Yellowstone National Park!
Grand Teton and Yellowstone are connected.
This makes it basically a direct route to Yellowstone from Grand Teton National Park!
It is a simple drive!
👆 When you enter Yellowstone National Park through the south entrance, then the West Thumb geyser basin can be your first stop!
Yellowstone National Park entry fees
There is an entry fee for Yellowstone National Park no matter which entrance you drive through.
In 2023, the cost of a Yellowstone National Park 7-day pass is $35 per car. There is no one-day pass. See current fees.
As a national park, Yellowstone does accept the America the Beautiful pass!
The America the Beautiful pass is the annual national park pass.
Generally speaking, If you will be visiting 3 national parks within a year, then it will be worth it to get the America the Beautiful pass.
This is especially true if the 3 national parks that you plan on visiting are the popular national parks.
Since you’re going to the south entrance, you’ll be going to Yellowstone and Grand Teton, which means that you just need to visit one more similarly priced national park within a year for it to be worth it.
If you’re a senior, then there is the senior annual national park pass, which is worth it even if you are going to only Yellowstone. It’s $20! See current fees under annual pass.
As long as the Yellowstone National Park entry booth is staffed, you can buy an annual pass when you arrive at Yellowstone.
👆 Cost of Yellowstone National Park entry fees.
More below about what it’s like to enter from the south entrance of Yellowstone!
🌋
Going to Yellowstone from the south entrance
So again, Grand Teton and Yellowstone are connected.
To get to the Yellowstone south entrance from Grand Teton National Park, you will be driving the John Rockefeller Memorial Parkway.
👆 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.
So the John Rockefeller Parkway will lead to the south entrance of Yellowstone National Park.
You’ll first see the official Yellowstone National Park sign, and you can stop to get a picture!
And then you will arrive at the Yellowstone National Park south entrance station!
You will probably be asked if you want a Yellowstone National Park map.
If not, be sure to ask for one!
👆 Yellowstone National Park map that includes the Yellowstone south entrance and West Thumb geyser basin.
At the Yellowstone entrance there is also a campground availability board.
Generally speaking though, it’s a very good idea to make Yellowstone campground reservations in advance. It’s often difficult to find availability.
And then once you pay the entry fee or show your national park pass, you will continue driving ahead!
👆 You will pass a number of signs indicating the Continental Divide.
If you continue driving straight, you will see a sign for West Thumb Geyser Basin aka the first perfect stop in Yellowstone when coming from the south entrance!
You’ll follow the sign and you’ll end up at the West Thumb parking lot!
I went to Yellowstone in the fall when there was cooler weather.
Cooler weather can mean that you can see more steam around Yellowstone.
And turning down the road to the West Thumb geyser basin, before even arriving at the parking lot, I saw steam coming from the ground!
👆 Spot the steam!
There is a bathroom at the parking lot.
After parking, I went to get a closer look at the steam.
It was bubbling mud! (There are other spots in Yellowstone where you can see bubbling mud in Yellowstone!)
👆 It’s bubbling mud in Yellowstone! See more: Where to see mudpots in Yellowstone
And then you can look for the trail that will take you around the West Thumb Geyser Basin and along Yellowstone Lake!
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.
To get from the Yellowstone south entrance to the West Thumb geyser basin will be around a 30 to 40 minute drive.
The boring safety message!
In short, stay on the trail when you’re walking around the thermal basins in Yellowstone!
Part of what makes Yellowstone National Park so famous and popular is all of the thermal activity so you can see geysers erupting and hot springs letting off steam!
And it is THERMAL activity. This means that the ground can be HOT in places where you don’t expect it.
One of the main reasons for the boardwalks you see in all of the Yellowstone thermal basins is so we can all have a safe viewing area of this thermal activity all around us.
The ground just off the trail may look like the firm and steady ground you’re used to, but looks can be deceiving.
It’s possible that if you step off the trail, your foot could unexpectedly sink into the ground and you could get severely burned, for example.
On a related note of things not to do in Yellowstone National Park, the hot springs aren’t meant to be wishing wells so don’t throw coins into them!
It is said that coins (and other foreign objects that make their way in there) can contaminate the hot springs.
And that’s a bit about going to Yellowstone from the south entrance!
I went through the Yellowstone south entrance in September 2021. Your experience may vary!
More for your Yellowstone drive and beyond:
- Must-see things in Yellowstone National Park
- One day in Yellowstone National Park
- Grand Teton scenic loop drive
- Things to do in Grand Teton National Park
- Snowy Range Scenic Byway in Medicine Bow National Forest
- National forest cabins in Wyoming
- Best places to visit in Wyoming
HAPPY DRIVING THROUGH THE YELLOWSTONE SOUTH ENTRANCE!
There are partner websites included in this post. I may earn a commission.