Yellowstone on Points and Miles

Want to go to Yellowstone? Don't blow the vacation budget on your hotel! Learn how we paid $0 for 6 nights while visiting the park and surrounding area by using credit card points and miles to cover our stay.

Yellowstone had been on our family’s travel wish list for years, and thanks to credit card points and miles, we were finally able to make it happen without blowing our vacation budget! Our family of five spent a week exploring Yellowstone, spotting wildlife, hiking to incredible waterfalls and seeing places that hardly felt real all while using points and miles to cover a big portion of our travel expenses.

In this post, I’m breaking down exactly how we planned our Yellowstone vacation, where we stayed and how we used points to make this bucket-list family trip much more affordable.

It was fun to travel back to the place Jason and I took our honeymoon 15 years ago. Now with 3 kids, things looked a bit differently. Dare I say it was much easier before!

How to Get to Yellowstone National Park

Well, we road tripped the 13 hours from Minnesota to the park, but you can also fly into the area. The best options are flying into Bozeman, Jackson Hole or Idaho Springs, which one you pick usually comes down to which park entrance you want and how many points you're willing to part with.

Bozeman Yellowstone International (BZN)

This is the big one, and it's where I'd start looking. Bozeman sits about 90 miles from the West Entrance and 80 miles from the North Entrance at Gardiner, so you're looking at an hour and a half of driving either way. Because Delta, United, American, Alaska, Southwest, and a few budget carriers all fly here, you have the widest range of points options of any Yellowstone airport. Chase Ultimate Rewards transfers to United and Southwest, Amex Membership Rewards goes to Delta, and Alaska is a transfer partner of both Bilt and Marriott.

Jackson Hole Airport (JAC)

Jackson Hole is the prettiest arrival you'll ever have the airport is literally inside Grand Teton National Park and it's only about an hour from the South Entrance. The catch is that it's a resort airport, so cash fares run high and award pricing follows right along. If you're going to burn a big chunk of miles anywhere on this trip, it'll probably be here.

Idaho Falls Regional (IDA)

Idaho Falls is the quiet workhorse of the group. It's roughly two hours from the West Entrance, and fares tend to be gentler than Jackson Hole. Delta, United, and Allegiant all serve it, though schedules are thinner, so build in some buffer if you're connecting.

My Actual Points Strategy for This One

Here's the thing about small mountain airports: award space is thin and dynamic pricing can make a transfer partner redemption feel like highway robbery. Before you transfer a single point, price the same flight through a fixed value option. Capital One miles at one cent each, Bilt points, or booking through the Chase or Amex travel portal will frequently beat what Delta or United want in miles for these routes.

Whichever airport you land at, you're renting a car. There's no shuttle situation that makes sense here, so make sure you're booking with a card that carries primary rental coverage.

Where We Stayed

We first stayed in Gardiner, Montana for three nights at the North end of the park. There isn't a ton of great redemptions here. We prefer having a larger space so we booked a cabin and used the purchase eraser with Capital One miles.

Here are some point friendly options in Gardiner:

Ridgeline Hotel at Yellowstone, Ascend Hotel Collection This is the closest thing Gardiner has to a real points hotel. It sits about a mile from the Roosevelt Arch, has an indoor pool and hot tub (a big deal after a long day of hiking with kids), and there's a restaurant on site. Because it's part of the Ascend Collection, you can book it with Choice Privileges points. Amex Membership Rewards and Citi ThankYou points both transfer to Choice, and the Citi ratio in particular can stretch further than you'd expect. Heads up that this property used to be the Best Western by Mammoth Hot Springs, so if you see old blog posts telling you to use Best Western Rewards here, that information is out of date.

Super 8 by Wyndham Gardiner Nobody's writing home about a Super 8, but hear me out. This one actually looks nice. Wyndham Rewards free nights start at 7,500 points, and in a town where summer cash rates get truly painful, that's one of the best per-point values you'll find anywhere near Yellowstone. Capital One miles transfer to Wyndham at 1:1, so if you're sitting on Venture miles like we were, this is worth pricing out.

Travelodge by Wyndham Gardiner Same Wyndham Rewards program, same low award pricing, right in town. It looks like a solid choice from the outside with a prime location.

Why We Booked a Cabin Instead

I'll be honest about the tradeoff here. With chain properties this limited, you're choosing between a small hotel room that costs you points and a bigger space that costs you cash. We wanted a kitchen and room to spread out after long days in the park, so we went the cabin route and used the Capital One purchase eraser to wipe out the charge. It's not the flashiest redemption at one cent per mile, but flexible travel credit is the only thing that works on vacation rentals and small independent properties, and gateway towns like Gardiner are full of both.

If you want to save your points for where they actually go further, book Gardiner with cash or a purchase eraser and save your transferable points for Bozeman on your arrival or departure night. There's a Hilton, a Marriott, and a Hyatt Place up there, and award pricing in Bozeman is far more reasonable than anything you'll find at the park gates.

Here are some point friendly options in West Yellowstone:

SpringHill Suites Island Park Yellowstone
This one is technically over the Idaho border in Island Park, about a half hour from the West Entrance on Highway 20, but it's brand new and it's the closest Marriott to the park so I'm including it here. It's an all-suite property sitting on the banks of the Henry's Fork River, which means more room than a standard hotel and a hot tub with an actual view. Free hot breakfast, an indoor pool, and a bar with a fireplace and pool table for burning off restless kid energy. Mack's Inn Pizza and Ice Cream Parlor is on site and there's a second restaurant within walking distance, which matters more than you'd think when you roll in at 8pm and nobody wants to get back in the car. Amex Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Bilt all transfer to Marriott Bonvoy at 1:1, and Bonvoy gives you the fifth night free on award stays. Just budget for the $20 daily parking fee, which surprised me for a property this rural.

If you sign up for a Marriott card during one of their 5 Night Certificate promotions this property would be perfect! Those free night certificates are usually 50,000 points so you would need to top them off during prime season in the summer, but still a great value.

Holiday Inn West Yellowstone
The strongest in-town redemption. It's two blocks from the West Entrance, has an indoor pool and hot tub, a game room the kids will disappear into, and an on-site restaurant. Chase Ultimate Rewards transfers to IHG One Rewards at 1:1, and Bilt points work here too. IHG also gives you a free night on every fourth award night if you hold a IHG card, so a four night stay effectively gets you one on the house.

Best Western Desert Inn
Two blocks from the entrance, indoor pool, free hot breakfast, and a free shuttle to the West Yellowstone airport if you flew into WYS. Best Western Rewards nights here are usually reasonable in points. The catch is that Best Western isn't a transfer partner of any of the big flexible currencies, so you either earned those points from past stays or you don't have them.

Starlite Yellowstone, Tapestry Collection by Hilton
The old Days Inn is now the Starlite Yellowstone, part of Hilton's Tapestry Collection, and it got a full renovation in the process. It's about half a mile from the West Entrance on Madison Avenue, so you're walking distance to town and a two minute drive to the gate. The kid appeal here is real: there's an indoor pool with a waterslide, a game room, and room types with a king bed plus bunk beds, which is the setup I always wish more hotels had. Beware those rooms cost more money and points. There's a restaurant on site called HB on Madison, a snack shop in the lobby, and Yellowstone Adventures runs out of the property renting e-bikes, ATVs, and snowmobiles depending on the season. Parking is free, which is worth noting since some of these gateway hotels have started charging.

For points, Amex Membership Rewards transfers to Hilton Honors at 1:2, so a relatively small Amex balance goes further than you'd expect. Hilton also gives Silver members and above the fifth night free on standard award stays, and Silver status comes automatically with any of the Hilton Amex cards. Just know that Hilton runs dynamic award pricing, so peak summer nights here can get expensive in points. Price it out against a cash rate before you pull the trigger.

How I'd Actually Play It

If I were doing this trip again and wanted to lean harder on points, I'd flip our itinerary and spend more nights on the west side than in Gardiner. The chain footprint is simply better here, and the West Entrance puts you closest to Old Faithful and the Grand Prismatic Spring anyway.

Which one I'd pick comes down to what I'm optimizing for. If I wanted the nicest room and the best use of Bonvoy points, I'd take the SpringHill Suites and eat the extra driving. If I wanted to be closest to the gate for early morning wildlife, I'd book the Holiday Inn by opening up a few co-branded IHG cards to get that fourth night free. With the renovated Hilton property that would be a good contender too.

One thing to know before you get excited: these hotels sell out early and award availability in July and August disappears fast. I'd be booking six to nine months out. Award nights are almost always cancelable, so lock something in now and keep checking back if a better option opens up.

I actually ended up booking on AirBNB because we didn't plan ahead and most things were sold out. You'll have more options if you plan ahead. Always double check the travel portals to see if there are any great finds and rates for privately owned hotels which are plentiful in this area.

Dining

Here are a few of our favorites in the Gardiner and West Yellowstone. We did pack a lunch when we went into Yellowstone Park. The options are limited and the locations are too, so you never know if you will be somewhere to grab something to eat when the kids get hungry. It helped save a little money by having lunch and drinks packed in the car!

Gardiner

• Eat Cafe
• Yellowstone Pizza Company
• Ironhorse Bar and Grill
• Antler Pub and Grill – Local recommendation and it was delicious.
• Yellowstone Grill – Epic Breakfast! Recommend the Cinnamon Roll French Toast and Breakfast Burrito.

West Yellowstone

• Hank's Chop Shop – Highly recommend. It was so good we ate here twice. Don't miss the Spinach Dip or the Fettucine Alfredo.
• Eagle's Store – Our fave ice cream that is locally made with lots of options.
• Old Town Cafe – We got breakfast here. The the breakfast burrito was a don't miss. The Sweet Cream Pancakes were a close second.
• The Buffalo Bar – Someone get the cheese curds we didn't order and saw, regretting our decision! Tons of delicious Tex Mex.

Activities

White Water Rafting – Gardiner

Book the white water rafting on a day outside of the park. Gardiner has the most options for this. We booked the trip with Flying Pig and it was great! Nothing to crazy, some paddling needed and we did not get stuck in the river like we did in Colorado.

Yellowstone National Park

In the park we did two big days. One leaving in the morning from Gardiner and one leaving in the morning from West Yellowstone. You could have easily made this into three days.

Day 1

• Tower Junction
• Lamar Valley – Get up early and see SO MUCH wildlife!
• Slough Creek
• Soda Butte
• Tower Fall
• Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
• Artist Point
• Brink of the Upper Falls
• North Rim Overlooks

Day 2

• Mammoth Springs – Ry said that's her favorite!
• Norris Geyser Basin
• Grand Prismatic Spring
• Fairy Falls
• Old Faithful
• Upper Geyser Basin
• Biscuit Basin
• Black Sand Basin

Grand Tetons

We took off one morning and headed down to the Tetons with the main goal to visit Jenny Lake and hike to Hidden Falls.

We arrived around 10 am. The wait for the boat shuttle was about 30-45 minutes across Jenny Lake. You could also do the easy hike around the lake which is about 2 miles.

The hike to Hidden Falls is .5 miles and so cool. We continued half way up after that towards Inspiration Point but decided to head back down. We were able to get to a couple clearings to take pictures above Jenny Lake and called it good. It was hot and my kids are not avid hikers! One of the workers said if you do get to Inspiration Point to keep going to the flat land area above that and you'll see lots of wildlife.

The wait for a boat back over was about 30 minutes at 1:00 pm. They said between 1-5 pm it can be up to a hour to get back over.

More Activities

• Horseback riding – Really wish we would have booked this
• ATV/UTV Riding
• Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center, West Yellowstone – We did this, but I think younger kids would have enjoyed it more. It only takes 1-2 hours.
• Tour of Yellowstone – You can book lots of different tours if you don't want to drive and explore yourself

Credit Cards to Open to Travel for Almost Free!

The main one we opened for this was the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card with a sign up bonus of 75,000 Bonus Miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening. Venture miles are flexible because you can redeem the miles for anything deemed “travel” on your credit card statement. Plus, it's my go-to card when I'm not working on a minimum spend because I can earn 2X on all purchases so the miles add up faster.

The Wrap Up

We had a wonderful road trip to see Yellowstone National Park and it was so nice not to have to worry about the budget. We paid for food and activities only. In the end we saved over $3,600 on our lodging for 6 nights!

Want to learn more? Sign up to watch our Points & Miles Beginner Class!