Boardwalks weave through steaming ground in the Upper Geyser Basin, and Old Faithful throws a white column against the pines while people wait on the rail. Along the same basin road, Midway Geyser Basin opens onto Grand Prismatic Spring, a blue center ringed in orange and yellow. There is no campground at Old Faithful, so Madison is the closest night to the basins.
Lock Madison through Yellowstone National Park Lodges before you book the van. That system also takes Bridge Bay, Canyon, Grant Village, and Fishing Bridge RV Park, while Recreation.gov handles Indian Creek, Lewis Lake, Mammoth, Slough Creek, and Tower Fall. Length limits differ by campground, from Lewis Lake's short sites to Madison and Bridge Bay's long pads, and Fishing Bridge takes hard-sided vehicles only and is the only campground with full hookups.
As of September 2026, Pebble Creek remains closed until further notice after flood damage, and Norris is not on the park's campground list. Overnight parking outside a designated campground is not allowed, and delivery or pick-up of an out-of-park rental inside the park is prohibited. If you need more sleeping room or a longer rig than a campervan gives you, look at RVs for rent near Yellowstone.
Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
The canyon walls run yellow and orange where the rock has oxidized, and the Lower Falls drop into that color. Artist Point is the overlook most people stop at, and the brink trails get closer to the river. Canyon Campground is the night for this side of the loop, reserved through Yellowstone National Park Lodges with a 40-foot vehicle limit. About 50 miles of road separates Old Faithful from the canyon.
Lamar Valley
At dawn the Lamar Valley opens into grassland where bison herds move and wolf packs work the same range from roadside pullouts. The northern road through Mammoth and Lamar stays open to regular vehicles all year, which is why wildlife watching still works when the interior closes to cars. Slough Creek Campground is the first-come night on this side of the park.
Mammoth Campground, on that same year-round road, is the only park campground open all year, with first-come sites from mid-October through early April when reservations are not running. The Mammoth Hot Springs terraces sit nearby as a boardwalk stop of white and orange travertine on the way in or out.
West Yellowstone, Gardiner, and Cody
West Yellowstone, Gardiner, and Cody are the towns that feed the park's entrances and handle resupply when you need a grocery run. Gardiner holds the year-round north entrance onto the only road that stays open to regular vehicles through winter, while the west entrance at West Yellowstone is seasonal along with most of the interior. In campgrounds, store food and scented items in a provided locker, a hung bag, or a hard-sided bear-resistant container, and keep 100 yards from bears and wolves, and 25 yards from bison and elk.
Grand Teton is a separate trip south of here that belongs to Jackson. For approaches from Montana and Idaho, see Bozeman, Big Sky, Billings, and Idaho Falls. The rest of the state belongs to Wyoming.