Yellowstone National Park Travel Forum

My husband and I want to go to Yellowstone, Grand Teton, etc. We found a tour with tour4fun that includes Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore, Grand Teton, Salt Lake City and Arches National park in 7 days and 6 nights. Does that sound like a reasonable length of time to see all those places? Has anyone had experience with that tour company? Can anyone recommend a tour that would allow us to visit the parks? We are older and do not want to drive so we need tours. Thanks for your help!

With this schedule, you really wouldn't see much of any of these, outside of Mount Rushmore, which doesn't take a lot of time. Yellowstone alone has a main park loop road that is 142-miles in size. The east side of the park has the not to be missed canyon and falls, the west side a number of different geyser basins, the north side has Mammoth and Lamar Valley for wild life viewing. Arches has a number of hiking trails that you couldn't even begin to touch in a day. The Tetons and Yellowstone are back to back, but it is a days drive to Mount Rushmore, from there. Arches is a day drive in a different direction from Tetons/Yellowstone. This wouldn't be my favorite mode of seeing anything. You would be rushed from place to place, and you would only see a few highlights.

sounds like a great trip - seems like Mt Rushmore is a long way away from the rest - like the other quote said, Yellowstone and the Tetons can take a long time to explore - and God made these places - man made Mt Rushmore

I really like the southern Utah places - that, too, can be a hike from the Tetons

perhaps 2 separate trips, if possible

get the itinerary and double check the driving distances and make sure you are comfortable with the plan

It's an ambitious itinerary, but at least you won't be driving. Depending on how long each day the driver is allowed to drive, you could pack it all in and you will see the highlights, but probably nothing in depth.

There's nothing wrong with bus tours- it does allow you to see highlights, and often allows you to find places you would like to return to on future trips and explore more in depth.

It will be quite a bit of riding, but if you have had experience with this type of travel before, you know that the quality of the trip often depends on the personality and congeniality of the other passengers and guide and driver. You do often get to learn more from quides on this type of trip than you might from traveling on your own.

Just remember to stretch often and walk around outside of the bus at every opportunity. Invite other passengers to eat with you at meals and make new friends.

Hope you have a great time!

If you aren't ambulatory it might be OK, but you'll be on the bus most of the time. If you're still able to do any exploring, you might want to either take more time or cut down your itinerary.

My husband and I are older travellers and we did a "Trafalgar" 14day scenic parks explorer, this was the name of the tour. People on the tour were up to the age of 92. It is long days, but you are on a coach, so if you wish to sleep you can. We started at Las Vegas, visited Zion, Bryce Canyon, Salt Lake City, Jackson, The Grand Tetons, Yellowstone n/pk, Cody, including Buffalo Bill Centre, Little bighorn monument, Deadwood, Mt. Rushmore, Crazyhorse, Black hills National forest, Rapid City, Denver, Arches n/p, Mesa Verde, Monument Valley, Painted Desert and lastly, the Grand Canyon before finishing in Las Vegas. It was a very popular tour, with an extra Coach being put on to accommodate the bookings. We really enjoyed it. Saw wildlife and magnificent scenery, and we were not tired, as we weren't the ones doing the driving. Hope this helps.

If you visit Arches, also visit Canyonlands National Park, which is nearby. The Island in the Sky viewpoint in Canyonlands is one of the best views in the USA.

As said above, you will spend most of it driving between locations. I would find a longer period to do such a trip.