Yellowstone National Park Entrances [Family Guide]

National Parks Mom

Get ready for a fabulous experience when visiting the United States’ oldest national park, Yellowstone National Park. Geysers, grizzlies, Old Faithful — it’s the wildest playground you can imagine, but it’s also gigantic!

This will help you plan for entering (and exiting) the park through one of its five entrances. And we’ll discuss the best stuff to see near each entrance. Let’s get going!

How Many Entrances Does Yellowstone National Park Have? 

Yellowstone has five entrances that fit all the cardinal directions: North, East, South and West — and one outlier: the Northeast entrance.

East Entrance

It’s the one that immediately makes you think, “Yep, this is what I signed up for,” and prompts your kids to scream from the back of the van, “Mom, this is so cool!” 

North Entrance

The North Entrance’s iconic Roosevelt Arch may be the image you have in your mind when you think of Yellowstone, and no other entrance looks anything like it. 

Northeast Entrance

This entrance gives you the best access to Lamar Valley, where you’ll get your first glimpse of the “Serengeti of North America,” complete with grizzlies, black bears, bison, pronghorn antelope and wolves. 

South Entrance

The South Entrance offers the quickest access to some of the most popular attractions in Yellowstone, including Old Faithful, the West Thumb Geyser Basin and Yellowstone Lake.

West Entrance

The most popular entrance to the park is the west entrance, in the town of West Yellowstone. Restaurants, shopping, lots of lodging options…and even a theater make West Yellowstone a go-to for tourists.

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