from LV to Yellowstone and back

[hanula]

Hello,

first of all I want to thank you for your advices for our trip we had earlier this year, it was awesome, also thanks to all these tips! Thank you again, I really appreciate it. Here is the planning thread.
I´m here back again with planning of our next trip to US as the country has dazzled us.
Next year we would like to visit Yellowstone, probably in September ( maybe late May, not sure yet ).
We would spend about 5 days here.
We want to fly from Europe to LV, here rent a car and go to Yellowstone and back.
In Vegas would spend about 3 days and then fly to NY for about 5 days and back home.

As we were on a roadtrip this year, we have already visited some places ( LA, GC, Mon.Valley, Arches, Bryce, Zion, Death Valley, Yosemite and SF ) so our biggest wish is to see something new..That´s why Yellowstone and NY.
Las Vegas because we really liked it during our visit.

My question is if this plan is doable. How it is with the flights within US? I found some tickets from LV to NY for about 200USD..

Or do you have any idea how to plan the trip better? Which places to add? Our planning is at the very beginning so we can
make changes..

thank you!

[DonnaR57]

I am a little confused about how much time you are allotting for the drive and Yellowstone together. From Las Vegas, Yellowstone is about a 1-1/2 to 2 day drive, depending on which route you take. Then, you should probably allot at least 2 days in YNP, another 1/2-full day for Grand Tetons, and another 2 days for the back to LV.

Something else to keep in mind: Yellowstone is open year round, but many of its roads and most services are not. Most of the roads are open between Memorial Day (end of May) and Labor Day (early September). Many on the west side will be open in mid-April, but some in the higher elevations will not be, because they are full of snow.

When we were at YNP and GTNP this past summer, we put well over 400 miles on the vehicle, just driving around sightseeing. This is done at 30mph (or less). We did the NE quadrant (and Beartooth Highway) one day, the southern "loop" of the 8 the next day, and the northern "loop" of the 8 plus Gardiner on the third day. We drove out and spent the 4th day at GTNP. We still felt like we missed some things, but we figure for us, it will just mean that we WILL return someday.


Donna

[Southwest Dave]

Yes it's not really clear how long you have from leaving Las Vegas and returning there for your flight to NY. Is it 5 days total, or 5 days just in Yellowstone ? We happened to do a trip from Vegas to Yellowstone last September and had a great time. We included various other attractions including driving back through Utah even though we had been before. There is just so much to see ! Anyway you might get a few ideas from our trip report found here.

[hanula]

I´m sorry for beeing not clear..
We are at the beginning of creating a plan so at this moment we are flexible. We plan to be in US for around 3 weeks and everything we have as a "must see" right now is - Yellowstone, LV and NY. Our idea is to be in Yellowstone cca 4/5 days plus the drive there and back.
Now we are facing the problem where to flight to US and how to make an itinerary with all these 3 places (is it actually reasonable? ), what to add, what to see, etc..
Probably it will be September, early, because of the weather.

thank you for a link to your trip report - I will check it!

[glc]

All the roads in Yellowstone should still be open through September, but some of the facilities do shut down after Labor Day. You should still be able to see everything you want to see.

[AZBuck]

Given your three major goals for this trip, the obvious thing to do is to fly internationally into New York and spend some time there, then fly to Las Vegas and spend some time there. The not-so-obvious choice is how to see Yellowstone from Las Vegas. As others have pointed out, it's really a two day drive each way between Las Vegas and Yellowstone, and four days can put a crimp in even a three week trip.

Normally flights into and out of smaller airports can be prohibitively expensive, but you are in luck. Las Vegas is a hub for niche airline Allegiant Air which seems to be able to make money on such flights where the majors can't. It offers reasonable airfares between Las Vegas and a few cities that could serve as gateways into Yellowstone, including Idaho Falls in Idaho, and Bozeman and Billings in Montana. They don't offer a lot of flights - two or three a week - so your choices will be limited, and they tend to nickel and dime you on extra fees for better seats, baggage, etc., etc. Still, they are an option worth considering, especially if you don't otherwise need a car for your Las Vegas stay.

If you do plan to hire a car in Las Vegas and don't mind, or even enjoy - like us! - driving, then there is plenty to see and do in between Las Vegas and Yellowstone including Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks, the Great Salt Lake, and others. The choice is yours.

AZBuck

[hanula]

At this time I have some news about our trip - we already have our flight tickets, so now we need to create an itinerary according to it.
We will fly from Europe to LV on May 18th.
19th - rent a car in LV and start a roadtrip.
We will have time for it till June 1st or 2nd, so around 14 days.
( Then around 3 days in LV and fly for around 5 days to NY and then home )

I would like to ask you for help with itinerary for the way LV-Yellowstone-LV.
We want to see GC again, maybe Zion ( as the weather was not good during our trip this year ). We already have been to Mon.Valley, Antelope Canyon, Arches, Bryce, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, so if there is a possibility, we would like to see something new.
Could you pls be so kind and recommend me the route?

thank you very very much

[Southwest Dave]

Did you look at the link in my earlier post ? A trip up through the Great Basin to Yellowstone. You wouldn't need to go all the way north to Glacier NP, you would just head to Yellowstone from Twin Falls, possibly including Craters of the Moon. Then heading south through the Grand Tetons to Flaming Gorge and the North rim of the Grand canyon and to Zion NP back to Vegas.

Yellowstone does not fully open until into June so you should check the nps website to see what is open and accessable and what is not. You could still see snow in May.

[hanula]

I´m reading your post from the link now and thank you for this tip.
I thought that we should go up to Yellowstone on the east side ( meaning go to GC, Mesa Verde and to Grand Teton this way ) but you showed me another option. I will finish the reading and see what would work for us then..