Yellowstone National Park, wyoming
Attractions Guide

Yellowstone's beauty is so great that it was the first national park established in the world and is also a UNESCO world heritage site. This vast park sits at a very high elevation averaging about 8,000 feet (2,450 m) and is centered around an enormous supervolcano, which is what creates the many well-known geothermal features of Yellowstone such as geysers, hot spring pools, boiling pots, and much more.

Yellowstone is a breathtaking landscape of dense forests, lush meadows, canyons, lakes, and waterfalls filled with a large diversity of wildlife such as deer, bison, elk, bears, wolves, moose, mountain goats, and much more. When visiting the park you're guaranteed to see many wild animals.

In the southwestern part of the park you'll find some of the Yellowstone's most famous features, including the Old Faithful Geyser. After entering the park from the town of West Yellowstone, you can turn south on Highway 191 to reach this portion of the park.

First you'll encounter the 0.7 mile (1.1 km) round-trip Fountain Paint Pot Nature Trail, which travels along a boardwalk past several beautiful geothermal springs and pools.

Across the highway from the Fountain Paint Pots you can take the scenic Firehole Lake Drive, a loop road with several remarkable roadside attractions, including the Hot Lake, White Dome Geyser, Great Fountain Geyser, and Firehole Spring.

Grand Prismatic Spring

Next you'll reach the incredible Midway Geyser Basin, home of the gorgeous Grand Prismatic Spring, as well as the Excelsior Geyser Crater and several other colorful pools. Be sure to walk the scenic 0.8 mile (1.3 km) round-trip Midway Geyser Basin boardwalk trail.

Just south of here is the turn-off for one of the park's great hikes, the Fairy Falls Trail. The trail passes behind Midway Geyser Basin, with a short unofficial spur trail to the the top of a hill for amazing views overlooking the Grand Prismatic Spring.

Imperial Geyser & Fairy Falls

Next the trail heads to Fairy Falls, before concluding at two impressive geysers, most notably the magnificent Imperial Geyser, which erupts very frequently. The round-trip length of this easy trail is about 6.8 miles (10.9 km), or about 1.8 miles (2.9 km) round-trip if you only wish to see the viewpoint over Grand Prismatic Spring.

Biscuit Basin

Continuing down the highway you'll see another exceptional geyser basin, known as Biscuit Basin. The 0.7 mile (1.1 km) round-trip boardwalk trail passes geothermal features such as the Sapphire Pool and West Geyser.

Mystic Falls

It's highly recommend to continue beyond West Geyser to the beautiful Mystic Falls, which will give you a round-trip hiking distance including Biscuit Basin of about 2.3 miles (3.7 km).

Upper Geyser Basin from Bicuit Basin

From Biscuit Basin you can walk southeast from the parking lot, crossing the highway to the Upper Geyser Basin, which includes several colorful pools and geysers including the Artemisia Geyser. Adding on this route to the Artemisia Geyser requires a round-trip walking distance of about 1.2 miles (1.9 km). This trail actually continues along the Firehole River passing several more geysers, before the trail reaches Old Faithful.

Black Sand Basin

Before arriving at Old Faithful, you might like to walk the 0.5 mile (0.8 km) round-trip boardwalk of Black Sand Basin, which features more unbelievably vivid pools, most notably the Emerald Pool and Sunset Lake.

When visiting Yellowstone's iconic Old Faithful Geyser, there are several different trail options. The boardwalk loop around the geyser is approximately 0.7 miles (1.1 km) round-trip, with the option of extending this to a 2.5 mile (4 km) round-trip trail that travels high above Old Faithful to Observation Point, offering stunning views over the geyser. The trail then heads back down to loop around several smaller geysers and springs within the Geyser Hill Complex of the Upper Geyser Basin (just north of Old Faithful).

Firehole River Geysers from Old Faithful

The most highly recommended option however is to continue beyond the Geyser Hill Complex to the many gorgeous geysers and pools alongside the Firehole River. The most notable geothermal features this route passes include Castle Geyser, Grand Geyser, Grotto Geyser, River Geyser, and Morning Glory Pool before heading back to Old Faithful, with a round-trip distance of 4.8 miles (7.7 km).

From the Old Faithful area you can take a scenic drive through the forest to Yellowstone Lake, stopping at the viewpoint for the Kepler Cascades Waterfall.

West Thumb Geyser Basin

Upon reaching the lake you'll arrive at one of the park's most popular geyser basins, the lakefront West Thumb Geyser Basin. Here you can take a 1 mile (1.6 km) round-trip walk along the boardwalk to see geothermal features such as the Perforated Pool, Abyss Pool, and Black Pool while enjoying views over this massive lake.

Yellowstone Lake Vista

Perhaps the greatest place to take in views of the lake is from Gull Point, which is located at the end of a peninsula and offers near-panoramic views of the lake.

Mud Volcano & Dragon's Mouth Spring

North of Yellowstone Lake is a minor geyser basin which includes sights such as the Mud Volcano, Dragon's Mouth Spring, and Black Dragons Cauldron along a 0.9 mile (1.4 km) round-trip boardwalk trail.

Continuing further north from Yellowstone Lake you'll reach the park's famous Yellowstone Falls, located near Canyon Village. There are two powerful waterfalls here which flow through the gorgeous Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

Be sure to walk the 0.7 mile (1.1 km) round-trip Uncle Tom's Trail which descends down the canyon to offer direct views of the Lower Falls. From the same parking lot you can take a very short walk to see the Upper Falls, before driving to popular Artist Point for breathtaking views overlooking the canyon and Yellowstone River.

On the northern side of the canyon/river are several more highly recommended viewpoints, including the Brink of the Lower Falls, Red Rock Point (Lower Lookout Point), and Grand View, all requiring only very short walks from the parking areas.

North of Canyon Village is the park's most popular challenging hike, the 6.8 mile (10.9 km) round-trip Mount Washburn Trail, which offers extraordinary sweeping views over the park. The trail has an elevation gain of about 1,400 feet (430 m) and begins and ends at Dunraven Pass.

Calcite Springs

Further north you should stop to view the Tower Fall waterfall from just beyond the Tower General Store, and nearby you can stop at the stunning Calcite Springs Overlook to view a colorful canyon. If you continue north from Calcite Springs, you'll reach Mammoth Hot Springs and the Boiling River (discussed further below).

Heading north along the highway from West Yellowstone on the other side of the park you'll find even more attractions. Alongside the highway you can stop to see the impressive Gibbon Falls waterfall.

Artists Paintpots / Gibbon Geyser Basin

Continue up to the smaller Gibbon Geyser Basin. Here you can take a scenic 1 mile (1.6 km) round-trip walk amongst a colorful and complex geothermal landscape, known as the Artists Paintpots.

Norris Geyser Basin

Next, continue up the highway to one of the park's largest and most popular basins, the majestic Norris Geyser Basin, which contains a large network of boardwalk trails amongst countless geysers, springs, and other geothermal features. To see the entire basin requires a round-trip walk of about 3 miles (4.8 km).

Be sure to visit the Norris Geyser Basin Museum here if you wish to learn more about the geothermal processes of Yellowstone. Further up the highway you can stop at Roaring Mountain, a fascinating geothermal mountain that literally makes a roaring sound.

Continue up to one more incredible basin, known as Mammoth Hot Springs. This must-see area of the park contains many gorgeous terraced hot springs, as well as the Liberty Cap formation. You can either take a self-guided car tour through this area which hosts many small parking areas at the main sights, or walk about 3.6 miles (5.8 km) round-trip to see everything.

Boiling River Hot Springs

Just north from here are the Boiling River Hot Springs, a naturally heated part of the "Boiling River" which you can relax in, which requires a 1.2 mile (1.9 km) round-trip walk to reach from the parking area.