best place to stay when visting yellowstone

Did 6 days at Yellowstone last summer with three kids.

Stayed in West Yellowstone (Buffalo Crossing) for the first 4 nights and rented a minivan to drive into the park each day. Last two nights stayed at Fishing Bridge. West Yellowstone will allow you some decent dinners out and other amenities you can't get in the park... but yes, it's a minimum of a 30 minute drive each morning. Though if you go early there is rarely a traffic jam.

This plan worked great for us and allowed us to see both sides of staying in-park and outside.

Just remember, Yellowstone is HUGE and you may be driving for 2-3 hours or more every day. Driving an RV around Yellowstone is a doable, but it's a hassle.

If going to the Tetons Copter Bay RV Park has full hookups and takes reservations which should be made now. Colter Bay Campground doesn't have hookups or take reservations. RV Park has only 66 sites but the campground has over 300 sites if all loops are open.

We stayed at Fishing bridge this last July for 7 nights.

Fishing Bridge offers full hookups and located close enough to Yellowstone Lake, Hayden Valley, Canyon, Tower and Lamar Valley made it the prefect location for us. Very friendly neighbors every night(8 sets of neighbors) made up for the tight spacing and honestly, we did a late breakfast, then a grilled/cold lunch on the road while sightseeing and late dinner back at camper, so extra space would not have been used by us.

Now the Old Faithful, Norris, Madison, and Mammoth was a haul and might have been better spend coming from West Yellowstone instead.

If I had to do it over again I would do 4 nights at Fishing Bridge and 3 nights West Yellowstone.

I did enjoy getting up early and having the park pretty much to myself until about 9:30 am everyday while staying at Fishing Bridge, but by 10:00 am everyone was arriving or driving about.

Dean

For full hookups inside the park, it's Fishing Bridge or nothing. Lots of other CG's within the park but no utilities. Many here on the Forum don't like Fishing Bridge for its lack of ambiance. IMHO that's not the point - there is way too much to see in YNP to hang out in the CG for extended periods. Also, we found Fishing Bridge to be about as centrally located as you can get. You'll still rack up a lot of miles seeing even only the major tourist attractions. Make sure you have lots of food & supplies before you enter the park, as well as a good level of LP gas and warm clothing. Temps in the 30's at night even in July are not unusual. Enjoy & safe travels.

Our first trip to Yellowstone was last summer and we stayed at Fishing Bridge. Our site wasn't very good...small by even Fishing Bridge standards. But, the location is good for seeing quite a bit of the park. If we ever return, I wouldn't stay at just one campground, but spend a few nights at Fishing Bridge, and then move to a different location either at the western or northern entrances. We didn't really get to explore around the northern entrance but it looked really interesting when we passed through.

And, if you haven't been to Grand Teton NP, don't miss it! We had a great time there.

But don't skip Cody just because it is a long way into the park. It takes a good two days to do justice to Cody. I could probably spend close to half a day just in the museum bookstore. There are a number of other fun things to do while you are in town. Then move on to whichever place you choose for your time in the park.

It depends on your definition of best.

If you need hookups, then Fishing Bridge inside the park for the convenience of being there at the cost of being on top of your neighbors. Other option is something in West Yellowstone as it is closest to the park. Trying to drive in from Cody would add over an hour just commuting to the loop at Fishing Bridge.

If you don't need hookups, the Morris or Canyon Village works well as the put you near the center of the loop. I prefer Bridge Bay as it is only a few miles to the large valley which is great for wildlife viewing in the morning and evening. If you have a medium or smaller rig and want to be away from the crowds, you could try Norris or Pebble Creek.

We stayed in Rainbow Point...a NF CG... way out...we managed enjoying Yellowstone every day and even did Cody one day. The last night we moved into Grizzley RV park in West Yellowstone.. Next time I would stay there the whole time. The fed campground was potholes, mudpuddles, etc. One day we couldn't get into our pickup because of a huge mudpuddle.

Because I need hookups for medical reasons, I stay at Grizzly just 2 blocks outside the west entrance. When I leave, I drive through YNP exiting thru the east entrance to Cody, WY and spend a couple of days at the Buffalo Bill Museum. When there, I stay at Absaroka Bay(pronounced Absorka for some reason) RV Park. Nice folks. The museum is actually 5 museums in one huge building, so it takes awhile.
Don't drive US 14 at night. The road is surrounded on both sides by very tall pine trees and no lights except your own headlights. Boy, is it dark!

Yellowstone NP is not that big. We stayed at Grizzly RV Park in West Yellowstone and saw ALL the park. Go to Grizzly RV Park and enjoy Yellowstone NP.