Self-Drive Grand Teton & Yellowstone

Seven nights through Yellowstone and Grand Teton, self-guided with private guide days, with the price quoted on application.

The guiding is what lifts this above a standard park trip. Yellowstone gets four million visitors a year and the difference between seeing it and queueing in it is knowing where to be and when, which is precisely what a local guide supplies.

Bozeman opens it, then Yellowstone, explored independently for the thermal pools, the mud volcanoes and Old Faithful, with a full day alongside a local expert interpreting the geology and the wildlife away from the crowds, where grizzly, wolf, bison and elk are all possible. Grand Teton follows, far less visited and arguably the finer of the two for scenery, with the range rising straight out of the valley floor. A private guided drive at daybreak down the Moose-Wilson Road looks for elk, beaver, black bear and moose, and a float down the Snake River in a traditional wooden drift boat ends with brunch in a secluded tipi. Walking in the meadows and up to the alpine lakes fills the rest.

The rental car, the full guided day in Yellowstone, the private dawn drive, the drift-boat float with its brunch and the accommodation throughout are included; international flights, fuel, park entrance fees and most meals are not. The price is given on application. No wildlife sighting can be promised. June to September is the window, since most of the park roads close through winter and the high passes stay shut into June. Eight days split between the two parks is a sensible allocation, with Grand Teton getting the time it deserves rather than a single afternoon on the way through.