Yellowstone hotels in the winter

[Anonymous]

Only 2 hotels are open in the park in winter. Does anyone have experience at old faithful snow lodge or mammoth? No kids, just 3 adults.

[Anonymous]

We stayed at the snow lodge during the summer and liked it. The Wi-Fi is good which is probably more important in the winter since it gets dark earlier than summer (there are no TVs in either hotel). I thought the restaurant there was decent and I liked walking around inside the hotel. It felt cozy. There are giant fireplaces which I am sure are nice in the winter.

I think it depends on what you want to do. The snow lodge is only accessible by snow carriage, so you won't have your car.

If you stay in Mammoth you can drive to mammoth and through to Lamar valley if you want to see wildlife.

I would look at the tours available from each hotel and decide based on that personally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We stayed at the snow lodge during the summer and liked it. The Wi-Fi is good which is probably more important in the winter since it gets dark earlier than summer (there are no TVs in either hotel). I thought the restaurant there was decent and I liked walking around inside the hotel. It felt cozy. There are giant fireplaces which I am sure are nice in the winter.

I think it depends on what you want to do. The snow lodge is only accessible by snow carriage, so you won't have your car.

If you stay in Mammoth you can drive to mammoth and through to Lamar valley if you want to see wildlife.

I would look at the tours available from each hotel and decide based on that personally.

Thanks, this is helpful! I think Snow Lodge will work, as we won't have a car and plan to do a snow mobile tour of the park.

[Anonymous]

We stayed at Snow Lodge for a week during the winter a couple years ago. It was lovely - cozy and warm in the middle of a winter wonderland. Pretty cool to be able to walk out to Old Faithful any time we wanted, and see it without any crowds. The geyser blowing out from the snow is an amazing sight.

You can't drive to the Snow Lodge during the winter season, which also means you can't drive around the park on your own if you're staying there. We had a couple of great tours in their snow coaches (our favorite was the Grand Canyon tour), and rented snowshoes and cross country skis for exploring around the lodge. They also have snowshoe or ski tours, either directly from the lodge or by taking a snow coach to a neat starting point - if I were to do it again, I'd try the Grand Canyon ski tour. Or the snow coaches can drop you off at any one of a bunch of ski trails.

Getting there was a project - we flew in to Bozeman, took their shuttle bus down to Mammoth and then the snow coach to Snow Lodge. It worked out well. If I were staying at Mammoth I'd want to have my own car, but for staying at Snow Lodge or didn't make sense to rent one just to leave it parked at Mammoth for the week. Also, the weather and mountain pass between Bozeman and Yellowstone are no joke, so only do that drive yourself if you're really comfortable driving in snow.

The lodge itself was lovely. Rooms were comfortably rustic. The main lobby area always had a big fire going and lots of people milling about, playing board games, reading, chatting. The restaurant was very good, but after a week of really only one option we were ready for something else. Mammoth also looked very nice, maybe a bit busier. Don't think you can go wrong with either lodge, I'd choose what part of the park you want to stay in and pick accordingly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We stayed at the snow lodge during the summer and liked it. The Wi-Fi is good which is probably more important in the winter since it gets dark earlier than summer (there are no TVs in either hotel). I thought the restaurant there was decent and I liked walking around inside the hotel. It felt cozy. There are giant fireplaces which I am sure are nice in the winter.

I think it depends on what you want to do. The snow lodge is only accessible by snow carriage, so you won't have your car.

If you stay in Mammoth you can drive to mammoth and through to Lamar valley if you want to see wildlife.

I would look at the tours available from each hotel and decide based on that personally.

Thanks, this is helpful! I think Snow Lodge will work, as we won't have a car and plan to do a snow mobile tour of the park.

Next PP (hit submit right after you) - I couldn't find a way to get a snowmobile tour from Snow Lodge. The snow mobile tours all started from West Yellowstone or Jackson Hole, and then there was no good way to get from those locations to Snow Lodge (the coaches to Snow Lodge all entered from the North entrance - Gardiner/Mammoth). Things may have changed in the last couple of years - but if you are set on the snow mobile tour, look hard at the logistics before you book anything.

[Anonymous]

My work friend did it with her husband. It was her 2nd trip to an official Park hotel. She liked it.

This couple favors active vacations...like scuba-ing.

[Anonymous]

Thanks All! It seems like a challenge to get to a snowmobile pick up location. There seem to be serval options, so I'll call to see which makes the most sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks All! It seems like a challenge to get to a snowmobile pick up location. There seem to be serval options, so I'll call to see which makes the most sense.

I want a room with a serval!

[Anonymous]

09:47/09:51 poster again - maybe check out Scenic Safaris? They seem to have both snowmobile tours and a snowcoach shuttle to Snow Lodge. I don't remember that shuttle being an option the year we went, I think there was road construction on the south entrance route and it was closed the week we went. But it seems to get decent reviews, and they might be able to help with an itinerary that includes both.