3 to 4 Days in Yellowstone: Lower Loop Geysers, Canyon & Lake, Upper Loop & Grand Teton

This itinerary divides Yellowstone's 230-kilometre Figure-8 loop into geographic days so you beat the midday rush at the geyser basins and reach Lamar and Hayden Valleys during prime wildlife hours. Read our Figure-8 driving strategy before Day 1.

Day 1: The Geyser Corridor: Old Faithful, Morning Glory Pool & Grand Prismatic

• Morning: arrive early at Old Faithful. Check the Visitor Center board for predictions, watch Old Faithful from the boardwalk or Observation Point, tour the 1904 Old Faithful Inn, and walk the 4.5 km Upper Geyser Basin loop to Morning Glory Pool, finishing with wild huckleberry ice cream.
• Afternoon: park at the Fairy Falls Car Park, walk 20 minutes to the Grand Prismatic Spring Overlook Platform and 60-metre Fairy Falls, then walk the Midway Geyser Basin boardwalk.
• Late Afternoon: loop through Biscuit Basin (Mystic Falls) and Firehole Canyon Drive.

Day 2: West Thumb, Hayden Valley & Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

• Morning: drive over the Continental Divide to West Thumb Geyser Basin on Yellowstone Lake: walk past Abyss Pool and Fishing Cone, then visit the 1891 Lake Yellowstone Hotel and Dragon's Mouth Spring.
• Afternoon: cross Hayden Valley to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone for Artist Point on South Rim Drive and the Brink of the Lower Falls on North Rim Drive.

Day 3: Lamar Valley Wildlife, Mammoth Hot Springs & Norris Geyser Basin

• Dawn: head out with binoculars into Lamar Valley to scan for wolves, grizzlies, bison and pronghorn, with an optional drive up the Beartooth Highway.
• Midday: stop at Tower Fall and Mammoth Hot Springs to walk Palette and Canary Springs, see elk at Fort Yellowstone, and visit the 1903 Roosevelt Arch in Gardiner.
• Late Afternoon: explore Norris Geyser Basin for Porcelain Basin, Steamboat Geyser and Artists Paintpots.

Day 4: Grand Teton National Park & Jackson Hole

• Exit the South Gate into Grand Teton National Park for Oxbow Bend, Schwabacher Landing, Mormon Row and the Jenny Lake boat shuttle to Hidden Falls before dining in Jackson, Wyoming.