- Accommodations for 8 nights in comfortable rooms with private baths
- 16 meals: 8 breakfasts, 5 lunches, and 3 dinners
- 11 included features
- Exclusive services of a local Grand Circle Program Director (assigned to no more than 42 travelers)
- Gratuities on your main trip for local guides and motorcoach drivers
- Personal headset on all included and optional tours
- Private motorcoach land travel
- Baggage handling for 1 piece of luggage per person, including tips
- 5% Frequent Traveler Credit toward your next trip
DAY 1 Arrive in Billings, Montana
Destination: Billings
Accommodations: DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Billings or similar
Morning/Afternoon/Evening: Travel to Billings, Montana, with your arrival time depending on your departure city. Transfer to your hotel, where you'll be joined by your fellow travelers who took our Glacier National Park & Helena pre-trip extension. After you arrive, you'll explore your surroundings with your Program Director on an orientation walk, and enjoy the rest of the day at your leisure. Lunch and dinner are on your own.
DAY 2 Transfer to Cody • Visit Little Bighorn battlefield • Shell Falls
Destination: Cody
Meals included: B L D
Accommodations: Holiday Inn at Buffalo Bill Village or similar
Breakfast: At the hotel.
Morning: Gather with your fellow travelers and Program Director for a Welcome Briefing about what you’ll experience together over the coming days. Then, you'll depart for Cody, Wyoming, with a stop along the way at the battlefield of Little Bighorn. Commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, the 1876 Battle of Little Bighorn was a conflict between the allied forces of the Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes and the United States Army, which famously resulted in the defeat of U.S. forces. As you explore the battlefield, a local guide will provide insight into this historic event.
Lunch: At a local restaurant.
Afternoon: After lunch, you'll continue on to Cody, stopping briefly at Shell Falls. At 120 feet high, you'll witness the falls tumble over an impressive outcrop of granite.
Upon arrival in Cody, check in to your hotel and enjoy free time before dinner.
Dinner: Your group will gather for a Welcome Dinner at a local restaurant.
Evening: You have the freedom to spend the rest of your evening as you wish—ask your Program Director for recommendations.
DAY 3 Cody • Visit Buffalo Bill Center of the West • Heart Mountain
Destination: Yellowstone
Meals included: B L
Accommodations: Holiday Inn at Buffalo Bill Village or similar
Breakfast: At the hotel.
Morning: Enjoy an included tour of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. Widely regarded as one of America's finest Western museums, the center advances knowledge about the American West through acquiring, exhibiting, and interpreting collections of artifacts and preserving their physical and contextual integrity. It features five internationally acclaimed museums under one roof—the Whitney Gallery of Western Art, the Buffalo Bill Museum, the Plains Indian Museum, the Cody Firearms Museum, and the Draper Museum of Natural History.
Lunch: At a local restaurant.
Afternoon: Depart for the Heart Mountain viewing area, where you'll have a chance to admire the nearby peak that rises out of the Bighorn Basin.
Upon returning to Cody, the remainder of the day is free for your own discoveries.
Dinner: On your own. Your Program Director can suggest some local dining options.
Evening: Free for your own discoveries—ask your Program Director for recommendations.
DAY 4 Transfer to Yellowstone
Destination: Yellowstone
Meals included: B L
Accommodations: Best Western Desert Inn or similar
Breakfast: At the hotel.
Morning: Depart for Yellowstone—keep your cameras handy, as your driving route will take you through some of the gorgeous mountain scenery of Grand Teton National Park. As you enter from the South Entrance, you’ll pass striking geological features, including mud volcanoes, steaming hot springs, and expansive canyons.
Lunch: Enjoy a picnic lunch in the park.
Afternoon: Arrive late this afternoon in West Yellowstone. This relaxed small town serves as a perfect gateway to Yellowstone National Park, and you'll have the rest of the day to stroll the town at your leisure.
Dinner: On your own—ask your Program Director for local restaurant recommendations.
Evening: You have the freedom to spend the rest of your evening as you wish—ask your Program Director for recommendations.
DAY 5 West Yellowstone • Explore Yellowstone National Park
Destination: Yellowstone
Meals included: B L
Accommodations: Best Western Desert Inn or similar
Breakfast: At the hotel.
Morning: Spend the day in America's first national park, established to preserve its remarkable geothermal formations. There are more geysers and hot springs here than in the rest of the world combined, giving us ample opportunity to take in this natural phenomena. You'll also want to keep your eyes open for bighorn sheep, elk, coyote, grizzly, black bear, and other wildlife, as you explore the park, which remains 99% undeveloped—true wilderness.
You'll stop at Mammoth Hot Springs, Fountain Paint Pot, and Old Faithful, the famed geyser that has been spouting an average of once every hour for 100 years. During the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition in 1870, this famous geyser was officially given its name—the first in the park to receive its own moniker.
Lunch: At the lodge.
Afternoon: Return to West Yellowstone, arriving at your hotel late this afternoon, and enjoy some time to relax.
Dinner: On your own. Your Program Director can suggest local dining options.
Evening: Free for your own explorations—ask your Program Director for recommendations.
DAY 6 Transfer to Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Destination: Jackson Hole
Meals included: B L
Accommodations: Snow King Resort Hotel or similar
Activity Note: Today's overland transfer to Jackson Hole, Wyoming will take approximately 7 hours, including stops along the way.
Breakfast: At the hotel.
Morning: Begin your transfer by motorcoach to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Your scenic drive will take you through the dramatic landscapes of Teton National Park and past iconic landmarks like the Old Faithful geyser.
Lunch: At a local restaurant.
Afternoon: Continue on your way to Jackson Hole, arriving at your hotel late this afternoon. Long before the pioneers came west, the rock formations of the Grand Tetons presided over a traditional summer home for the Native Americans. When the early “mountain men” ventured out this way, the area became a destination for hunters and fur trappers. The first permanent settlers arrived in 1881, establishing Jackson Hole as a cattle-ranching center. The skiing industry took off here in the 1930s and Jackson Hole remains a winter sports mecca to this day. In the summer, this year-round resort offers hiking, river rafting, camping, and other outdoor activities.
Dinner: On your own—ask your Program Director for local restaurant recommendations.
Evening: You have the freedom to spend the rest of your evening as you wish—ask your Program Director for recommendations.
DAY 7 Jackson Hole • Snake River float
Destination: Jackson Hole
Meals included: B D
Accommodations: Snow King Resort Hotel or similar
Activity Note: Today's activities include a rafting excursion on Snake River. We will split the group up for this activity, with one group going rafting in the morning and the other group rafting in the afternoon.
Breakfast: At the hotel.
Morning: Head out to Snake River, where you’ll float down the waters on an included float tour. Wind your way through the gentle waters of the Snake River corridor, granting you a unique look at the unspoiled wilderness of Grand Teton National Park. You’ll travel on an inflatable raft, steered by an expert guide as you journey past coniferous forests, backdropped by the snowcapped peaks of the Teton Range, the youngest mountains in the Rockies and arguably some of the most scenic. Your guide will help you spot the wildlife that makes its home in and around the water, including salmon, elk, moose, falcons, eagles, and more.
Lunch: On your own. Ask your Program Director for recommendations.
Afternoon: Free for your own discoveries—ask your Program Director for recommendations. A shuttle service is available to transport you between your hotel and downtown Jackson. Those who did not participate in the rafting excursion this morning will head to the Snake River this afternoon.
Dinner: At a local restaurant.
Evening: You have the freedom to spend the rest of your evening as you wish—ask your Program Director for recommendations.
DAY 8 Transfer to Salt Lake City • Visit Bear Lake
Destination: Salt Lake City
Meals included: B D
Accommodations: Little America Hotel or similar
Breakfast: At the hotel.
Morning: Depart for Salt Lake City, with a stop along the way at scenic Bear Lake, situated on the border of Utah and Idaho.
Lunch: Enjoy lunch on your own at Bear Lake. Your Program Director can provide dining suggestions.
Afternoon: Continue on your way to Salt Lake City, where you'll check in to your hotel and settle in to your accommodations. The rest of the afternoon is free for your own discoveries.
Dinner: Your group will gather for a Farewell Dinner at a local restaurant.
Evening: On your own—ask your Program Director for recommendations.
DAY 9 Depart Salt Lake City
Meals included: B
Breakfast: At the hotel.
Morning: Transfer to the airport for your flight home. Departure times vary depending on your home city.
Or begin your post-trip extension to Mount Rushmore to the Badlands.
