Yellowstone National Park Location
Yellowstone National Park is one of the largest and most popular national parks in the U.S. The park is in the northwest region of the United States and covers over 3,472 square miles. The closest towns to Yellowstone are Gardiner, Montana which is 0.7 miles from Yellowstone’s North Entrance.
The official address of Yellowstone in Wyoming, but the park actually lies in three states Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. About 96% of the park is in Wyoming, 3% of the park to the north and northwest is in Montana and 1% of the to the west is in Idaho.
Entrances in Yellowstone
Yellowstone has five entrances. The park is massive, so it’s better to have a clear idea of which entrance is the closest one for you. Choosing the wrong entrance will increase your traveling time.
- North Entrance
- Northeast Entrance
- South Entrance
- East Entrance
- West Entrance
North Entrance
This is the original entrance to the park, through Gardiner, Montana. North Entrance is the only park entrance that is open year-round. You can take Highway 89 from Gardiner. The entrance has the Roosevelt Arch entryway. The Greyhound bus line runs to Bozeman and Livingston, Montana via Highway 191 is available all year.
The nearest airport from North Entrance is Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport near Bozeman, Montana., which is about an hour and a half from Yellowstone’s North Entrance. You can plan for both Yellowstone and Glacier national parks since the parks are near to this airport.
Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport is the busiest airport around the Park. The airport provides five airline services Allegiant, United, Horizon, Delta, and Frontier. Daily flights start from Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Denver, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Seattle. Weekly flights start from Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit, LaGuardia, and Las Vegas.
After you land to your destination you don’t have to worry about getting rental cars. There are eight major rental car agencies near the airport, so you can hop straight from our airport doors to the next leg of your journey. Alamo Car Rental, Avis Car Rental, Budget Car Rental, Dollar Car Rental, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Hertz Rent-A-Car, National Car Rental, and Thrifty Car Rental.
West Entrance
You can either come through US 20/287 from the west or US 191 from the north of Bozeman. If you like watching wildlife take the West Entrance Road east from West Yellowstone to Madison Junction. The closest option very close to the West Entrance is the Yellowstone Airport. The airport is just two miles from Yellowstone National Park and close to Big Sky, Island Park, Gallatin and Madison Rivers, Ennis, and Virginia City. Delta Air Lines and United Airlines are the airline services for the Yellowstone Airport.
The airport has car rentals and ground transportation like Budget Car Rental, Avis Car Rental, Big Sky, and Yellowstone Road Runner.
The popular bus station near West Entrance is Greyhound Bus Stations in West Yellowstone.
Northeast Entrance
Through the Beartooth Mountains. If you like to drive through incredible views you can take Highway 212 from Red Lodge, Montana, but is closed in the Winter. Northeast Entrance is not open year-round. Northeast Entrance opens generally the end of May and closes the middle of October to wheeled vehicle travel. The nearest airport to Northest Entrance is Yellowstone Regional Airport as well as for East Entrance.
East Entrance
Through Cody, Wyoming. Take Highway 80 from Cody. Fairly flat follows the North Fork of the Shoshone River through canyons and cliffs.
The nearest airport to East Entrance is the Yellowstone Regional Airport near Cody, Wyoming, which is an hour from the park entrance. The airport is a full-service airport in Cody. The airline services are United Express offering service to Denver and Delta Connection providing summer seasonal service to Salt Lake City.
Rental car services at the Yellowstone Regional Airport are Budget Rent A Car, Hertz Car Rental, and Thrifty Car Rental.
South Entrance
If you are traveling through you can either come through US 20/287 from the west or US 191 from the north of Bozeman. The nearest airport to South Entrance is the Jackson Hole Airport is inside Grand Teton National Park. The airport is 49 miles from Yellowstone National Park, which is nearly an hour’s drive. The airport is serviced by Frontier Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Skywest Airlines, and United Airlines.
If you want to rent car near Jackson Hole Airport there are Avis, Budget, Hertz and Enterprise in the airport, plus Dollar, Thrifty, National, Alamo, and Leisure Sports
What do you need to rent a car?
- Your passport
- Your voucher
- Each driver’s driving license
- The main driver’s credit card
- Most companies will rent you a car if you’re at least 21
- On average a rental car costs $90 per day