Each of the five entrances to Yellowstone is adjacent or near a gateway community. The various lodging options in the gateway communities run the gamut from relatively inexpensive to upscale and expensive, and include national chain lodging properties as well as unique, local accommodations.
Your choice of lodging in a given gateway community will involve some driving time to see Yellowstone. During your Yellowstone visit you may want to make reservations in more than one gateway community in order to more easily see more of the park.
The west entrance is the most popular park entrance. Adjacent to the west entrance is the town of West Yellowstone, Montana, a gateway community featuring many lodging options from guest ranches to hotels to home rentals to glamping and camping. West Yellowstone is 30 miles from Old Faithful Village.
At the northern entrance to the park the small town of Gardiner, Montana offers a variety of hotels and home rentals. Gardiner is five miles from Yellowstone’s Mammoth Village.
Near Yellowstone’s northeast entrance are the adjacent communities of Cooke City and Silver Gate, Montana. Accommodations include hotels and rentals. Cooke City and Silver Gate are in the vicinity of the famed Lamar Valley, renowned as the best place to watch the park’s wolves.
Within fifty miles east of the park’s east entrance are a number of hotels, campgrounds and dude ranches. The famous Old West town of Cody, Wyoming is fifty miles from Yellowstone’s east entrance and offers many hotel and cabin options.
Grand Teton National Park is south of Yellowstone. Hotel rooms and cabins are available in Grand Teton National Park and in Jackson, Wyoming, yet further to the South.