Where to stay at/near Yellowstone?

We stayed at Rocky Mountain RV Park & Lodging for three nights (8/10, 11 and 12) - just outside the north entrance. We stayed there because we wanted full hookups and a pull through site. We have a 34' fifth wheel. We had been through Yellowstone before so staying 3 nights was good for us. Would have been nice to spend one more night but the rest of our trip was planned with reservations already made. I made our reservations in March of this year.


From there we went to Glacier so it was a good spot for us. In the evening the elk came down from the hills and grazed on the grass on the lawn at the church behind the campground.

Rocky Mountain RV Park & Lodging, LLC
14 Jardine Road
Gardiner, Montana 59030

http://www.rockymountainrvpark.com/index.htm



Elk were just on the other side of the fence where the people are sitting around the camp fire. They have a campground campfire at night - do not allow fires at the camp sites.



The north entrance to Yellowstone is by the big pine trees - just off center of the picture on the right. The picture was taken from the campground looking at the town of Gardiner. There is a grocery store in town and a couple of gas stations that sell diesel. Prices were no higher than places/towns along the interstate. The river through the town is the Yellowstone river.



Info from the north entrance:

If you are only spending 3 nights, don't waste your precious time driving into and out of the park every day.

Fishing Bridge is the only campground inside that has full hook-ups. There are those that don't like it due to the close quarters to those around you. The reality is that you won't spend much time actually in the campground. Most leave early in the morning with a lunch packed and don't return until the evening meal. Ranger campfire programs or animal viewing in the Hayden Valley after dinner and then off to bed.

Advance reservations can be made now and are highly recommended. I made our reservations for next August a month ago.

If you want to spend time at a RV resort, then stay outside in West Yellowstone. If you want to experience Yellowstone, stay inside the park. In case you haven't already heard, it is huge. Your 3 day stay will only wet your appetite to come back and stay longer.

Keith

Fishing Bridge is fairly convenient especially to the Lake and Canyon areas, but wherever you stay, you'll have a lot of driving to see things. We stayed there recently for five days and enjoyed it. (Went first to Cody for a few days and came in via the East Entrance...saw a grizzly within an hour of entering Yellowstone.)

Many refer to Fishing Bridge as a parking lot campground, but we were lucky to have an end site with plenty of trees around. It has showers, laundry, camp store and gas station with propane. The Xanterra staff was friendly and efficient, the restrooms were old but clean. Book early if you want to stay there.

Fishing Bridge offers a few concessioner's tours that leave right from the campground which allows you to let someone else drive if you wsh. It's also very convenient to the beautiful old recently restored Lake Hotel, oldest in the National Park. Fun to have a drink in the sun room there with a view of the lake. The hotel offers a free tour every afternoon.

For a whirlwind short stay like three days, to get a fast overview, you could take the late afternoon Lamar Valley Wildlife Tour the day you arrive. And/or book the full day Circle of Fire Tour the next day (includes a lunchtime stop at Old Faithful so you can see it in action as well as other thermal features.

You could also take the first morning ranger-led daily boat tour of Yellowstone Lake one day, and still have plenty of time to drive yourself up to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and possibly Mammoth.

You could spend days doing nothing but looking at the incredible thermal features in the park. It's a great place that calls for repeat visits.

West Yellowstone there is an RV Park Called Grizzly RV park:

Grizzly RV Park

otherwise Fishing Bridge is the only place within the National Park with full hookups:

Should you decide to dry camp within the park:

Yellowstone Campgrounds

You can also choose to stay in Colter Bay, which is at the south entrance to Yellowstone:

Colter Bay RV Park

WoodGlue

Love Yellowstone Grizzly RV Park. It's only four blocks from the park entrance. It's also very close to the center of town but still backs up to forest land. It's a very easy walk to restaurants and shops. It might be a little more pricey than others, but in my opinion, it's worth it.

If you don't mind a little drive to the park (13 miles), then Yellowstone Holiday RV park by Hebgen Lake is also quite nice and a little more away from it all. I've stayed a week there and the staff was very nice.

In the Park? Fishing Bridge is about your only option.
Outside the park, there are a number of reasonable places in West Yellowstone