Park Reservations and Permits in Wyoming

The Short Answer

Wyoming's two flagship parks do not use timed-entry reservation systems the way Zion Canyon or Rocky Mountain National Park do. You pay the standard vehicle entry fee at the gate, or show your annual pass, and drive in at any hour. No day-use reservation required. What does require serious advance planning is sleeping inside the parks. Xanterra Parks and Resorts operates Yellowstone's lodges and most campgrounds, and the Grand Teton Lodge Company handles Jenny Lake Lodge, Signal Mountain Lodge, and Colter Bay. Both concessionaire systems open reservations at specific dates months ahead of the peak season, and the most-requested dates at the top properties sell out the same day.

If you haven't locked in lodging inside the parks by late winter for a July or August trip, your realistic options are: base outside the parks in Jackson, Cody, West Yellowstone (Montana), or Dubois, and drive in each day; or shift your travel to September or early October when availability loosens and crowds thin considerably. The full picture of timing and crowd patterns is on the Best Time to Visit Wyoming page.

Yellowstone: Lodging, Campgrounds, and What Books First

Old Faithful Inn is the signature Yellowstone property, a 1904 log-and-rhyolite National Historic Landmark with rooms in the Old House wing running roughly $200 to $480 per night (estimated range; rates vary by season, view, and room type). It sits within walking distance of the geyser and is among the hardest reservations to land in the American West. Xanterra's reservation window for the following summer typically opens in late May, and peak July dates at the Inn and at Lake Yellowstone Hotel are often gone within hours. Canyon Lodge, Grant Village, and Roosevelt Lodge cabins are somewhat easier to book but still move fast.

For campers, Yellowstone has 12 campgrounds. Five of them book through recreation.gov: Bridge Bay, Canyon, Fishing Bridge RV, Grant Village, and Madison. The other seven, including Slough Creek, Pebble Creek, Tower Fall, and Lewis Lake, are first-come, first-served and fill by early morning in peak season. Madison campground on the west side, midway between Old Faithful and the West Entrance, is the most competitive reservable site in the system and routinely sells out the morning the booking window opens for peak weeks. Nightly rates run roughly $15 to $35 depending on hookups. If everything reservable is gone, Lewis Lake at the south end of the park is a first-come site worth attempting midweek.

Grand Teton: Lodging, Campgrounds, and Float Trips

Grand Teton has fewer in-park lodging options but comparable demand. Jenny Lake Lodge is the top-end choice, an all-inclusive property where per-person rates can run $800 or more per night during summer (meals, activities, and bikes included, estimated). Signal Mountain Lodge on the south shore of Jackson Lake occupies a more accessible tier, with motel-style rooms and cabins in the $200 to $450 range. Jackson Lake Lodge, the largest property in the park, sits on a bluff with a famous view of the Tetons across Willow Flats. All book through the Grand Teton Lodge Company, with reservations for the following summer opening in the fall.

Camping in Grand Teton runs through the same recreation.gov system. Colter Bay and Gros Ventre are the largest and most bookable. Jenny Lake Campground is tents-only, sits directly beneath the Cathedral Group, and is among the most competitive campsites in any U.S. park. Signal Mountain fills fast too. Rates generally run $22 to $32 per night. For Snake River float trips, commercial outfitters hold the required NPS permits and handle all the paperwork. You book directly with the outfitter and owe nothing extra on the permit side. The broader lodging picture for this region is on Jackson Hole and the Tetons.

One planning note specific to Grand Teton: if you're floating the Snake through the park corridor, the season runs roughly June through September depending on water levels. July and August are the busiest booking windows. Most reputable outfitters open the next season in January, and half-day trips from Deadman's Bar to Moose fill quickly on summer weekends.

Backcountry Permits

Both parks require free backcountry camping permits for any overnight trip off the roads, and the system is separate from campground and lodging reservations. Yellowstone opens an online advance reservation window in mid-March for the season ahead. A $15 per-reservation processing fee applies on recreation.gov. Walk-up permits are available daily at backcountry offices across the park, including at the Backcountry Office in Mammoth, at Bridge Bay Marina, and at the Grant Village Visitor Center. Experienced Yellowstone backpackers report that walk-ups are workable for less-popular zones well into July. The Shoshone Lake area, the largest backcountry lake in the Lower 48, books fastest and often goes in the first online window.

Grand Teton's backcountry permit reservations open online on January 5 each year, with a $45 per-party reservation fee. Walk-up permits are available starting May 1 at the Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center in Moose. The most popular zones, Death Canyon shelf, Cascade Canyon upper basin, and Alaska Basin (which spills over into the Jedediah Smith Wilderness in Idaho), go fastest both online and at the walk-up window. If you're flexible on zone, walk-ups are realistic into mid-June most years. Whatever your backcountry plan, read the current Wildlife and Bear Safety page before you go: food storage requirements in both parks are specific, and bear canister or hang requirements vary by zone.

Entry Fees and the America the Beautiful Pass

A 7-day vehicle permit for Yellowstone costs $35 (single vehicle, estimated; motorcycle and individual pedestrian passes are lower). Grand Teton uses the same fee structure. If you're visiting both parks on the same trip, the America the Beautiful annual pass at $80 covers entry to every U.S. national park and federal recreation site for a full year and pays for itself in a single combined Yellowstone and Grand Teton visit. Buy it online at store.usgs.gov before you leave home, or at either park entrance gate. Active military receive a free annual pass under the Military Lands Access Act. Fourth-grade students and their families get free access through the Every Kid Outdoors program.

Wyoming also has one state-level permit worth knowing: the Wyoming Conservation License, required for some state lands access. It's sold online through the Wyoming Game and Fish Department for a small fee and is relevant mainly if you plan to float or fish state waters outside the national parks. For full trip budgeting, see the Wyoming Trip Cost and Budget page. For everything else on planning your first Wyoming trip, start with the Wyoming Travel Guide.

Practical Tips

Set calendar reminders for the reservation windows that matter. Xanterra's opening date for Yellowstone lodging changes slightly from year to year but falls in May. The recreation.gov windows for reservable Yellowstone campgrounds open 6 months ahead on a rolling basis: that means the April 1 dates open on October 1 of the prior year, and so on. Knowing the exact date and being online the moment reservations open is not overkill for Madison Campground or Old Faithful Inn.

If Old Faithful Inn is fully booked, check Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel at the north end of the park. It's often easier to secure, stays open into the shoulder season longer than other Yellowstone properties, and sits 10 minutes from the Lamar Valley, the most reliable wildlife-watching corridor in the park. Canyon Lodge is another frequently overlooked option that books slightly slower than Old Faithful and sits central to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

For Grand Teton, consider late September and early October if your summer dates are flexible. The cottonwood and aspen along the Snake River and around Oxbow Bend turn gold in late September, the crowds thin sharply after Labor Day, and lodging bookings are markedly easier to secure. Temperatures drop but daytime highs remain comfortable into early October most years.

Check the official park websites and recreation.gov for current-year details before you finalize any reservation strategy. The NPS periodically adjusts first-come versus reservable status, permit quotas, and opening dates. Details from a trip report from two or three years ago may no longer match how the system works this season.