Glacier, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons

[Frwinkley]

I’m looking for a bit of advice. We are planning a big trip next summer (10-12 days). We would be flying from the East Coast. We’d like to visit all 3 parks and realize there’s lots of driving involved. We’re perfectly fine with that. Ideally, we would fly in to one airport and out of the other. However, drop off charges are crazy for a one way car rental.

Has anyone ever done such a trip to and from the same airport? I realize there’s really no major airport close to any of these.

One more question: we have done the Canadian Rockies (Banff, Jasper, etc). Will the scenery be much different? Should we consider skipping Glacier?

 

[luvsvacation]

The fees are usually insane to drop the car at another location. A few years ago we did the same type of trip to the Pacific Northwest. We flew into Sacramento and started at Yosemite and eventually made our way all the way up to Seattle. I would have loved to have flown home from there but the cost was insane. Instead I booked the latest flight home from Sacramento and the left the hotel around 2 AM and drove straight through to the Sacramento airport. For me adding an extra day and driving 12 hours back to the original airport was worth it. I love driving and road trips anyway so to me it was fine. Some (most) people would probably rather spend the extra 1000 bucks or so for the convenience of flying home from the nearest airport.

 

[Ms.Minnie]

This isn't really an answer to your original question, I was going to suggest instead of Glacier you go to Devil's Tower and Mt Rushmore. It is a little more driving but IMHO well worth the drive.

 

[bcla]

Some just fly into and out of Salt Lake City. I've gone from Roosevelt (far NE corner of Yellowstone) to Salt Lake City on the same day, although we were headed to Moab. Made it as far as Price, Utah where we holed up for the night. I didn't reserve any lodging before we left, but I figured that it would be easy to find some place between SLC and Moab. There are a lot more flights and rental cars should be cheaper because it is a major airport hub.

Not sure about the costs of that kind of driving these days depending on fuel prices.

The other options aren't that great. West Yellowstone Airport isn't that big with limited options. Jackson Hole Airport has more, but I hear flights tend to be expensive. Bozeman is supposed to be the biggest in the area.

 

[AaronB]

Did a trip like this about 6 years ago. We went in and out of Salt Lake City. Flew in early and got to West Yellowstone on the same day. It was roughly a 4 hour drive from Salt Lake City to Yellowstone. Spent 5 days doing Yellowstone and Grand Teton, and then spent a day driving up to Glacier (we stayed in Whitefish). Then we drove back down to Salt Lake City to fly out, but did that over two days, because it is a long drive. Stopped at Craters of the Moon on the way down as a point of interest, and it was certainly a cool little park (very unique landscape). It was a lot of driving, but still very doable, and had a great time.

As for Glacier part of it is in Canada itself, so scenery is similar to what you experienced in Banff. The Going to the Sun road is the main attraction in Glacier, and is lovely; however, I will say unless you plan to do some hiking, it is a fairly small park. It is really just the one road through the park, so it can really be done in a day.

It was worth it for us to do Glacier, because we had never been, but if I go out that way again, I would only do Yellowstone/Grand Teton. Those parks are so enormous and have such an amazing range of different scenery.

 

[rlk]

Last July, we flew into Salt Lake City with a connecting flight to Jackson Hole when we visited Grand Teton/Yellowstone. We thought about driving to Glacier but decided to focus on the two parks. There is so much to see and experience between Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. It was one of our favorite vactions.

 

[DaisyDuck001]

Did a trip like this about 6 years ago. We went in and out of Salt Lake City. Flew in early and got to West Yellowstone on the same day. It was roughly a 4 hour drive from Salt Lake City to Yellowstone. Spent 5 days doing Yellowstone and Grand Teton, and then spent a day driving up to Glacier (we stayed in Whitefish). Then we drove back down to Salt Lake City to fly out, but did that over two days, because it is a long drive. Stopped at Craters of the Moon on the way down as a point of interest, and it was certainly a cool little park (very unique landscape). It was a lot of driving, but still very doable, and had a great time.

As for Glacier part of it is in Canada itself, so scenery is similar to what you experienced in Banff. The Going to the Sun road is the main attraction in Glacier, and is lovely; however, I will say unless you plan to do some hiking, it is a fairly small park. It is really just the one road through the park, so it can really be done in a day.

It was worth it for us to do Glacier, because we had never been, but if I go out that way again, I would only do Yellowstone/Grand Teton. Those parks are so enormous and have such an amazing range of different scenery.

I agree with the above post. I have been to Yellowstone and Glacier. (I have driven past Grand Tetons without going in.) I have not been to the Canadian Rockies (yet; maybe someday), but based on pictures I've seen, I do think the scenery there and Glacier is very similar! I went to Glacier because I wanted to see it once, but as it turned out, I didn't find it as interesting as many of the other national parks I've been to. Yellowstone is huge and it takes hours to drive around within it if you want to see the major points of interest. I think your best bet is probably to skip Glacier. If you'll have extra time beyond Yellowstone and Grand Tetons, I'd consider adding on a stop in Moab to see Arches and Canyonlands national parks (if you haven't been already, or if you'd like to go again).

 

[adkkev]

What do you want to do while visiting the parks? Hiking? Just driving around and seeing the parks from the car? That will help with any advice folks can provide.

FYI, there is much more to Glacier than the GTTS road. On the eastern side you can drive up Many Glacier Road and hike or picnic along the way. It dead ends at the Many Glacier Lodge. On the Northwest corner of the park you can drive up to Polebridge and visit the store there for some awesome baked goods. You’re outside the park there but you can continue on into the park (dirt roads) to a few lakes. To drive on the GTTS road you’ll need to get a timed entry permit.

Yellowstone is very large with multiple options for things to do. Be prepared for crowds at Old Faithful and some of the other most popular spots.

Grand Teton is large and with lots of hiking and boating options.

I would hesitate going to Arches or Canyonlands in the summer months. Arches requires a timed entry pass to get into the park.

SLC is your best option for flying into the area.

 

[1GoldenSun]

I did an 8-week drive across the country last summer, through 32 states and 20-something national parks. Glacier was my favorite. There are a ton of gorgeous hikes there. Buy or rent some bear spray, though. It's not legal everywhere but it is in Glacier.

 

[fortwildernessishome]

Sounds like a great trip to me! We also live on the east coast aand have done 7 western trips. We always rent a car from one airport and return to another. The surcharge for doing that always kills me, but we always do it that way. We usually have two weeks, sometimes three and just dont have enough time to back track to the where we started. I just factor the price into the cost of the vacation.

We LOVED Glacier! I do think it is similar to the Canadian Rockies, but we loved our time there. We spent a night at the Glacier Park Lodge and another at the Lake McDonald Lodge. I regretted not spending a night at the Many Glacier Lodge. The Going To the Sun road is truly an engineering marvel, but the park is a lot more than just that. We spent 3 full days there and could have filled a fourth.

Its funny because Yellowstone is so often everyones favorite NP and some people will spend 4-5 days there or more. While we enjoyed Yellowstone and I do want to return some day it is FAR from a favorite and for us, 3 days was plenty.

Have fun planning!

 

[wabbott]

We've went to all three last September, but drove our own car, so I can't answer the question about airport logistics. But the three are completely different as far as scenery and things to do.

Glacier: Red car tours, hiking, mountain vistas, grizzly bears, glaciers, lakes, waterfalls.

Yellowstone: Geysers, hot springs, waterfalls, hiking. If you wait to September and stay in the park, chances are good you'll see/hear the elk bugling. Rut begins, and they migrate to inside the park when hunting season begins.

Grand Teton: Sunset and sunrise views of the Tetons are world class, especially from the verandah of the Jackson Lake Lodge. Decent restaurants there, too. Lakes, hiking, waterfalls.

 

[ronandannette]

I’m looking for a bit of advice. We are planning a big trip next summer (10-12 days). We would be flying from the East Coast. We’d like to visit all 3 parks and realize there’s lots of driving involved. We’re perfectly fine with that. Ideally, we would fly in to one airport and out of the other. However, drop off charges are crazy for a one way car rental.

Has anyone ever done such a trip to and from the same airport? I realize there’s really no major airport close to any of these.

One more question: we have done the Canadian Rockies (Banff, Jasper, etc). Will the scenery be much different? Should we consider skipping Glacier?

This Waterton National Park (just north across the border adjoining Glacier):



This is Banff National Park;

You be the judge of there's enough difference to warranty the additional travel time and effort.

 

[princesscinderella]

Visit Lewis and Clark caverns it was our favorite stop in Montana.

 

[DaisyDuck001]

Arches requires a timed entry pass to get into the park.

If you enter after 5PM, no timed entry pass is needed, and you will still have about three hours of daylight left in summer. However, good to keep the timed entry pass in mind if you wanted to get in before that. By the way, you will also need a timed entry pass for Yellowstone.

 

[luv2cheer92]

I did an 8-week drive across the country last summer, through 32 states and 20-something national parks. Glacier was my favorite. There are a ton of gorgeous hikes there. Buy or rent some bear spray, though. It's not legal everywhere but it is in Glacier.

I did a very similar trip in 2020, and also agree that Glacier was my favorite, by quite a bit actually. Now I haven't been to Banff/Jasper (was on the itinerary, unfortunately border was closed).
We did 4 days at Yellowstone and 2 at GT, and found that to be more than sufficient.

 

[luv2cheer92]

If you enter after 5PM, no timed entry pass is needed, and you will still have about three hours of daylight left in summer. However, good to keep the timed entry pass in mind if you wanted to get in before that.

Or before 6am! Then you have all day.

 

[luv2cheer92]

This Waterton National Park (just north across the border adjoining Glacier):

View attachment 674042

This is Banff National Park;
View attachment 674044
You be the judge of there's enough difference to warranty the additional travel time and effort.

The second pic is much, much closer, like significantly closer, to what I saw and experienced in actual Glacier (not a nearby park) compared to the first pic.

 

[DaisyDuck001]

We've went to all three last September, but drove our own car, so I can't answer the question about airport logistics. But the three are completely different as far as scenery and things to do.

Glacier: Red car tours, hiking, mountain vistas, grizzly bears, glaciers, lakes, waterfalls.

Yellowstone: Geysers, hot springs, waterfalls, hiking. If you wait to September and stay in the park, chances are good you'll see/hear the elk bugling. Rut begins, and they migrate to inside the park when hunting season begins.

Grand Teton: Sunset and sunrise views of the Tetons are world class, especially from the verandah of the Jackson Lake Lodge. Decent restaurants there, too. Lakes, hiking, waterfalls.

Yes, and actually all three parks have bears.

 

[Frwinkley]

Thank you for all the wonderful replies!

We did the 5 Utah parks last year, in additional to 2 days in Park City and a day trip to Salt Lake City. We actually flew in and out of Denver (nonstop from Pittsburgh). We spent our last night in Ft. Collins. We drove 2200 miles and loved every second.

We are an active couple, early 60s. We are avid photographers so beautiful scenery is a top priority. We like moderate hikes and enjoy walkable downtown areas. We also like the comforts of home—a/c and Wi-Fi. As you can see, we’re a bit all over the place.

I think I might be leaning towards skipping Glacier, although part of me hates too.

 

[1GoldenSun]

If you like photography you'll loooove Glacier. It's jaw-droppingly beautiful.