West Yellowstone or Cody area

if you can%26#39;t reservations inside the park, which are would you stay in? I have been calling Xanterra but cannot find anything so am now looking to other areas. This will be our 2nd to last stop before heading to Jackson Hole. Thanks

West Yellowstone or Cody area

for closeness west yellowstone is more convenient. for some reason though i%26#39;m just not a big fan of west yellowstone. if all you want is a bed then i%26#39;d stay there.

i really like cody %26amp; we make that one of our stops most of the time. the drive getting there is really pretty whether you%26#39;re doing the chief joseph hwy or the drive from the east entrance. lots of stuff to do in cody with the rodeo, museum, irma, %26amp; sierra trading outlet. guess it just depends on how much time you are going to be spending in either place. if you haven%26#39;t seen the cody rodeo i highly suggest it.

i would probably stay in gardiner before i would west yellowstone. to me it%26#39;s just a neater town. north of gardiner there is chico hot springs which is a wonderful place to stay only 30 miles from the north entrance.

West Yellowstone or Cody area

I just checked and its 78 miles from Cody to Fishing Bridge. That%26#39;s a lot of driving if your intent is to get into the park early in the morning.

Keep calling Xanterra. You may yet get lucky.

I don%26#39;t have an opinion between W Yellowstone and Gardiner. I%26#39;d only be sleeping there anyway.

If you have not seen any of YNP then I would either stay in West Yellowstone or Gardiner because of the close proximity to YNP. Cody is great for museums and rodeo but it is 50 miles from park entrance.

We stayed in West Yellowstone when we visited and found it very convenient as a base. If you like being in a small-town atmosphere, you will enjoy it. As others have said, you will probably use it mainly for sleeping. There are a wide variety of motels and restaurants here, many privately owned and operated. Staying in Cody will require a lot more driving as others have said. We loved being so close to the west entrance.

As AKJ said, if you have your heart set on staying inside the park, you can always hope for a cancellation.

I would recommend you look at a map and see if Gardiner or West Yellowstone is closest to the places you want to visit the most. You might even consider splitting time between the two places. Go ahead and find a place you can be happy with in one of those 2 towns and make sure the reservations can be cancelled. Then you will have a place to stay in place and can check back periodically with Xanterra to see if there is a cancellation. You might get lucky and find what you want in the park closer to the time of your trip. If not, you will have a place to stay near an entrance.

If you want to stay a nite to two check out the Wapiti Valley - they have a ranch assn. - google it. We stayed in the Elephant Head Lodge and loved it. Check it out - horses, cabins and good food. Midway between Cody and East entrance - closer to the entrance.