Yellowstone with Kids: Ultimate 5-day Itinerary 2025
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Are you going to Yellowstone with Kids? We have the Ultimate 5-day Itinerary for 2025 ready for you and your family! We love Yellowstone and have gone there yearly for 15+ years. We love hiking and exploring in the woods and have the family memories and stories to go with it. Here is a map of Yellowstone to help you navigate the itinerary.
Yellowstone with Kids: Ultimate 5 Day Itinerary
Day 1: Old Faithful
- Old Faithful Geyser: Watch Old Faithful erupt and wander around the extensive boardwalks. This is a good area for strollers or wagons.
- Lunch: Old Faithful Picnic Area- East Lot Picnic Area. See a Raven and picnic in the Lodgepole Pines.
- Firehole Lake Drive: Home to the Great Fountain Geyser and other beautiful geysers and pools.
Day 2: Grand Prismatic
- Grand Prismatic Overlook: Access the hike from the Fairy Falls Trailhead. Gravel trail, 1.2 miles round trip, with a 106 ft ascent up a hill. See the most beautiful view of the famous Grand Prismatic Pool. If you want more, continue on this trail to the Fairy Falls Trail: a 3.2-mile roundtrip hike. These Falls are beautiful and live up to their name.
- Whiskey Flats Picnic Area: a nice wooded area for a picnic.
- Fountain Paint Pot: .5 mile loop trail boardwalk contains hot springs of various colors and small geysers.
Day 3: Mammoth
- Mammoth Hot Springs: See Liberty Cap and the majestic stone terraces. The boardwalks zig-zag up the travertine terraces.
- Lunch: Lava Creek Picnic Area
- Tower Fall: There is a short paved hike to the overlook. Check out the nearby General Store.
Day 4 : Canyons
- Brink of the Lower Falls Hike: Watch the Lower Falls, a 308 ft drop from a close-up view. This is steep paved hike, .4 miles one way. Or see the falls from an overlook in the adjacent parking area.
- Artist Viewpoint: Beautiful view of the Lower Falls. Short paved walk. Multiple viewpoints are around the canyon and all are spectacular.
- Virginia Cascades: Picnic Area
- Norris Geyser Basin: Check out the Norris Geyser Basin Museum. Large portions of the trail are boardwalks with a distance of a 1.5-mile loop. Norris Basin is home to the famous Steamboat Geyser, the tallest geyser in Yellowstone. You can see where Pork Chop Geyser exploded in the 1980’s and walk the beautiful trail. Jogging strollers work fine here.
Day 5 : West Thumb
- West Thumb: Boardwalk, home to many hot springs, geysers, and mud pots all along the West Thumb of Yellowstone Lake. Two different board walks: 1/2 mile loop or 1/4 mile.
- Lunch: LeHardys Picnic Area, then LeHardys Rapids: see trout in the river.
- Mud Volcano: Find the Dragon’s Cave and see the bubbling mud. Paved and boardwalk, .6 mile loop.
Yellowstone: One Day Top 10 List
What if you only have one day in Yellowstone? Here are some of top our suggestions. These are listed in order of must-see, Old Faithful being number one on our list.
We only plan on one to two of these major destinations per day with kids, sprinkled in with a lunch stop and smaller hikes on the way there.
- Old Faithful Geyser and Boardwalk
- Canyons: Artist’s Point
- Canyons: Brink of the Lower Falls
- Norris Geyser Basin
- Mammoth Hot Springs
- Tower Falls
- Grand Prismatic Overlook and Fairy Falls
- Lone Star Geyser
- Biscuit Basin and Mystic Falls Hike
- West Thumb
Is Yellowstone a good vacation for kids?
YES! If you and your family like to do things outdoors, this is the place for you. The views are stunning, the geysers and geothermic activity are out of this world! Not to mention that the animals are hard to find anywhere else in the United States. How many places have American Bison anymore? We recommend this place to anyone. We take our family here and enjoy the smell of the pine trees and watching Old Faithful every year.
Top Things To Know Before You Go
Check the conditions: See if there are road closures and check the weather before you get in the park. Cell phone service is spotty to non-existent. At the Old Faithful and Mammoth you might have service depending on your cell phone carrier.
Keep your distance:
Watch the wildlife from a distance. American Bison are cute and look like cows, but don’t go near them. You don’t want to be the tourist reported worldwide on how they got injured in Yellowstone.
Bears need even more distance, so be smart and give them lots of room. If hiking, use bear bells so bears can hear where you are. They want to get away from the people.
Hike together, and stay by your kids. We have carried bear spray with us for 15+ years and haven’t needed to use it. If you would like to carry bear spray, you can purchase it from various stores in the park and in West Yellowstone. My brothers get theirs at Costco.
Stay on the boardwalks:
There are areas that have a thin crust of earth over boiling water that looks like normal everyday dirt. Please be careful and teach your kids that they need to stay on the boardwalks. My kids understood the concept that boiling water is hot and the boardwalks are safe at the age of two. That being said, you know your kids, so use discretion and stay close to them at all times. OR put them in a stroller. Strollers are great on all the boardwalks! I use a jogging stroller to take my toddler on the boardwalks and hiking trails. It works for most of the hikes we go on. On some trails, we use the stroller for half of the hike, leave it by a tree, and then pick it up on the way back.
Mosquitos:
There can be a lot of mosquitos, please bring spray and use something to help with the bites. Or maybe you’ll be lucky like my Aunt who was born with an amazing superpower of not being attractive to mosquitos.
Wear layers:
The weather can flip from hot to icey cold during the week; watch the forecast and be prepared. We often pack ponchos, umbrellas, jackets, coats, sun hats and warm hats.
Sun:
The Old Faithful area is 7,349 ft in elevation which also means it’s a great place to get a sunburn, so wear hats, long sleeves, sunblock, etc…
Pack snacks and water:
Kids seem to need to eat every 3 hours or so. Or maybe that’s just my kids. We get sandwich supplies and snacks from a grocery store in West Yellowstone before heading to the park. We put it in our cooler and make lunch at various picnic areas every day. There are restaurants and places to buy food at Old Faithful, Canyons, Towers, and Mammoth areas.
The Car Ride:
Yellowstone is HUGE. Be prepared for the driving part of your vacation. Especially if you get stuck in a Buffalo Jam (American Bison Traffic Jam). The Bison use the roads for walkways, and it may add an hour or two to your drive. We often listen to audiobooks while we are driving and have movies for the kids to watch.
There are turn-offs from the main road if you need to take a break with your little ones. If you want to avoid most Buffalo Jams, go into the park early or wait and go in the afternoon or evening. Also, if you see an American Bison, fox, coyote, wolf, bear, bald eagle, or other amazing animal, please find a place to pull over and then take all the time you need to enjoy looking at the animals.
Some of the roads are in windy mountain passes. If you or your kids are prone to motion sickness, this is a good time to pull out the medicine.
Not all hiking areas/parking areas have Outhouses. The larger areasOld Faithful, Mammoth, Tower, and Canyons all have restrooms with running water. Most picnic areas have an outhouse/latrine. Bring toilet paper and hand sanitizer in the car. The park is amazing at keeping up with supplies, but occasionally, on a busy day, you might need these.
The People:
Yellowstone is popular, and if you want to avoid the crowds, you’ll need to go early into the park or later in the afternoon or evening. We usually just go in when everyone else does and wait in line to get into the park. The park has webcams that show the entrances and how many people are waiting to get in.
Times of the year that are the best to visit:
June, July and August are amazing times to go; just expect a lot of crowds, especially in June.
If you want to avoid the crowds, September and early October are amazing. Be prepared for colder weather in these months, but it almost feels like you have the park to yourself.
Winter months are limited in access.
Geysers:
We love the geysers. Check and see when the geysers are going to erupt. We plan to go to certain areas and wait for the eruptions. We pack snacks for the Lone Star Geyser and enjoy the scenery while we wait.
More things to do in Yellowstone:
- Hike to Lone Star Geyser. 4.8 miles roundtrip. A flat wide trail that is easy to walk. The geyser goes off every three hours. We take an afternoon and hike this as a family every year. Bring a stroller or wagon for the little ones.
- Measure the temperature of the water with an infrared laser temperature gun. (Purchase at a hardware store).
- Learn how geysers work at the Norris Geyser Basin Museum.
- Discover the basalt columns at Sheep Eater’s Cliffs picnic area.
- Find the gravestone of Mattie Culver at Nez Perce picnic area.
- Find bears (from your car) in Canyons or Tower Fall areas, early in the morning or evening.
- Learn about the Jr Ranger program at the Madison Junction Ranger Station (hidden down a trail and behind trees) and see what they have on display. Last time, they displayed hides and footprints from different animals.
- Bring your binoculars and see how many animals you can find.
- Find all the states on tourist’s license plates.
Tips for saving money:
Bring your own food to eat, and understand that where you stay, and gas will probably be your biggest expenses. If you have a fourth grader in the family you can get a free pass into the park.
Yellowstone with Toddlers:
Be flexible with your schedule. Take stops when you or your toddler need to stop. Bring a stroller or child carrier. I’ve brought my jogging stroller and have used it on most trails and boardwalks. Remember most toddlers and kids will have fun with the simple things, such as throwing pebbles in a little puddle, looking at ‘bubbles’ in hot springs, or finding little sticks. Keep things simple and go at a pace that works for you and your little ones.
How long do you spend in Yellowstone with kids?
It depends, if your kids are used to hiking, trips, and car rides, and if you take rests, eat lots of good food, and gauge the energy needs of everyone, you can stay for a week and have an enjoyable time. That being said, 3-5 days is usually plenty of time.