What is the cost of a trip to yellowstone and the grand tetons?

Oxbow Bend at the Grand Tetons

If you’re wondering, “How much will it cost me to spend 4 or 5 days at Yellowstone and the Tetons?” …. let me tell you, it will cost a lot if you opt for convenience like we did.

In June 2025, we (Myself, Amanda, and Amelia) booked a last minute trip to visit Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. In order to save on flight costs, we drove from Alabama to the parks. It took 2.5 days to get there and 2.5 days to get back. We had 4.5 days actually in the parks and were up and going early (out of the hotel before 6:00 AM) and out all day, not returning to the room until the sun had set, usually around 10:00 or 11:00 PM.

Things to note - we skipped breakfast most mornings because we don’t usually eat breakfast. We had brought snacks (granola bars, protein bars, beef sticks, crackers, etc.) and water with us. Also, we’d grab the free fruit from the hotels in the morning (apples, oranges, bananas) as well.

Yellowstone Lodging Cost

Based on all the research I had done before the trip, the best way for us to maximize our time while eliminating the headache of moving hotels was to stay at the Canyon Lodge, right in the middle of the park. This turned out to be an excellent decision and indeed worked great for our adventure. We did stay in the new room complex which was very nice.

Our total room cost for 2 nights at the Canyon Lodge Washburn complex was $1348.12.

Canyon Lodge - Washburn Building - Yellowstone

GRAND TETONS LODGING COST

Most of my time was spent researching Yellowstone so I didn’t do much on the Tetons. We stayed in Jackson Hole, at The Lodge at Jackson Hole which is on the South West side of town. The hotel was awesome (we enjoyed the indoor/outdoor pool) but in retrospect, it was a pain and time waster to drive every day up to the park area (depending on where we were going 30-45 minutes each way). Coming back, traffic was always extremely heavy too making the commute even more difficult when you got near the city.

Our total room cost for 2 nights at The Lodge at Jackson Hole was $1216.67 — but I paid $701.67**

** I booked this through the American Express travel portal as (1) the rate was about $250 cheaper vs booking direct with the hotel for the same room and (2) I was able to use 75,000 Amex Points which reduced the final bill by $515.

The Lodge at Jackson Hole - Jackson WY.

TRANSIT HOTEL COST

We stayed at 5 hotels during the road trip portion (3 on the way out, 2 on the way back)

1. Hampton Inn - Free using 34,000 Hilton Honors points

2. Comfort Inn - $192.86

3. Elk Horn Lodge - $290.00

4. Hampton Inn - $182.60 (-$60 Hilton Credit on Amex HH Business Card)

5. Fairfield Inn - Free using 17,000 Marriott Bonvoy points

FINAL LODGING COST

The total hotel bill for this road trip to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons in June 2025 was $2675.25.

FOOD COST

Food in the parks is expensive, on top of fast food everywhere just being expensive because of inflation. We ate a lot at the Canyon Lodge cafeteria and also at the Old Faithful Inn. Total food costs for this road trip were $805.33.

Gas/Fuel Cost

We took Amanda’s Volkswagen Atlas for this trip since it’s a lot more roomy than my Camry. Unfortunately it doesn’t get anywhere near the 40mpg I get in mine. She was averaging in the 25 mpg area. We filled up 13 times during our entire trip to Yellowstone and the Tetons for a grand total of $497.12.

TOTAL COST FOR YELLOWSTONE and the TETONS

When adding up all our expenses to include $256.78 in miscellaneous costs, our total Yellowstone and Grand Tetons trip cost was $4234.48 - which is a lot for sure, but had I not used 2 free hotel stays, plus saving about 40% using Amex points for the Teton stay, it would have been over $5000.

HOW CAN YOU SAVE MONEY ON A TRIP TO YELLOWSTONE AND THE TETONS?

Stay outside the parks - The easiest way to save money on a trip to Yellowstone is don’t stay inside the park. You’re trading convenience for cost, because you’ll have to spend 30-60 minutes or more on the drive, plus whatever gate traffic getting into the park. In some cases I’ve seen 90 minutes just to get into the park from the outside.

The Elk Horn lodge where we stayed in Cooke City started at $250/night + tax and fees and was a nice place. While that was in the North East section of the park area, other lodging on the North and West sides of the park are in a similar price range based on my research. We chose to drive up the North East side because of the Chief Joseph highway and Beartooth Highway and that was 10000% worth it for the scenery! The NE side is also a lot less crowded than West Yellowstone or Gardiner. We stopped at Cody on the way up and it is a very nice town, but the 90 minutes or so it takes to drive into the park was a no-go for us given the limited time we had.

Jackson Hole is just expensive. It is going to be a challenge to find an “affordable” place to stay that also has a level of quality associated with it I believe. The Super 8 Hotel which I normally classify as a budget level hotel is over $300/night.

Take advantage of booking portals and credit card points - I was surprised to see our Jackson Hole hotel for $250 less through American Express. That worked out great! I love using my AmEx platinum card for travel. If you need a card that offers a lot of perks (airport lounge access, pre-check, elevated hotel status, and elevated rental car status, plus more!) - Use my AmEx Planinum referral link and you could get up to 175,000 points which is good for several free hotel nights or a couple free flights depending on how you work it.

I also have the Hilton Honors Business Amex and have been using it for years and it also provides a great suite of benefits if you don’t need all the bells and whistles of the Amex Platinum Card and enjoy the Hilton experience. Use my link and we could both earn rewards if you are approved and get a Card.

Split Meals - We ended up splitting some meals towards the end because it was $50 every time we went out. Even with all the snack foods we got, sometimes you just want real food and that is going to be costly in the parks.

What’s Next?

We took over 1200 photos/videos during our trip and I’m working on editing and putting together blog posts and social media content!