Grand Teton and Yellowstone in one trip
Why almost nobody does one without the other
Geography. The two parks touch, linked by the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway, and once you have flown to Jackson the second park is not a separate expedition. I watched this every season: people book Grand Teton, arrive, look at a map, and add Yellowstone on the second evening. The trip is a good one. The problem is that the money was planned for one park.
What the second park does to the bill
It doubles the gate. Each park charges its own entrance fee, and each park assesses the non-resident surcharge on each person separately, because it is verified against photo ID rather than attached to a vehicle. So the arithmetic is not a little worse. It is exactly twice as bad.
| Two non-US residents, one car | At the gate | With the pass |
|---|---|---|
| Grand Teton only | $235 | $250 |
| Grand Teton and Yellowstone | $470 | $250 |
| Difference | — | The pass saves $220 |
That is arithmetic off published fees rather than a quote, and it is the same working I set out in full, including the four-adult version, on the pass page. What matters here is the direction: the pass is a flat annual figure and the gate cost is not, so every additional surcharge park pushes the answer further one way. If the surcharge is new to you, start with the surcharge page.
Buy the annual pass before the first gate rather than the second. There is no mechanism for crediting what you already paid at Moose or at the north entrance, so the order you do this in is worth a couple of hundred dollars.
How far apart are they, really
They share a boundary, so the honest answer to the distance question is that it depends entirely on which entrance and which lodging, and I am not going to print a mileage I would have to keep updating. What I will say is that treating the two as a single driving trip is normal here, and that the parkway between them is the road people mean when they say the parks are joined.
What this catalogue does and does not cover
Plainly: none of the six guided tours on this site goes to Yellowstone. They all run in Grand Teton and depart from Jackson, and the longest is an eight-hour day with lunch, from $279. If you want a guided day in Grand Teton and then your own car for Yellowstone, that is a sensible shape and it is the one I would suggest. What you should not do is book a Grand Teton tour expecting geysers. The six are compared, with the fee column made explicit, on the tours page.
How many days for both
More than you think, and the seven-day validity of the Grand Teton vehicle pass is a hint about the intended pace. One day in Grand Teton and one in Yellowstone is a lot of driving and not much stopping. I have set out what each additional day actually buys on the how-many-days page.
Frequently asked questions
Does the Grand Teton entrance fee cover Yellowstone?
No. They share a boundary and they charge separately, so a two-park trip means paying at both gates unless you hold an annual pass that covers the system.
How far is Yellowstone from Grand Teton?
They share a boundary, joined by the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway, so the real answer depends on which entrance and where you are staying. Most visitors treat the two as one driving trip.
Is the America the Beautiful pass worth it for both parks?
For two non-residents, paying at both gates comes to roughly $470 against $250 for the International Pass. For four adults in one car it is far wider than that. The working is on the pass page.
Do any tours from Jackson go to Yellowstone?
Not in this catalogue. All six run in Grand Teton and depart from Jackson, the longest being an eight-hour day with lunch. Whether any of them earns its price is discussed on the worth-it page.