Yellowstone hotel recommendations after InZane 17??

[vanavyman]

We are planning to spend 3-4 days touring Yellowstone after InZane 17 and are looking for some recommendations for Hotels.  Reading some of the comments on the board it seems that the hotels inside the park and right outside are expensive but some have said if you travel 20-30 miles outside one of the entrances they get more reasonable.  Can someone with experience or someone that lives close give us some recommendations for towns to look in or hotel/motel names.  We would like to make reservations to ensure we get a room and help budget the trip.

Thanks for any advise you can give,

Dan & Trish

[Dave Weaver]

In past visits, we have stayed in Gardiner and Cooke City on the north side and rooms were reasonable.  You should stay in the lodge in the park one night if possible just for the experience.

[Moonshot_1]

Couple years ago we were out to Yellowstone and stayed here http://www.yellowstonevalleyinn.com/
Yellowstone Valley Inn. About half way between Cody and the East entrance to Yellowstone.

They have a motel and campground there. We stayed in the motel. Shoshone River runs by the property.
Very nice place. Awesome breakfast. Just outstanding. Friendly folks running the place.

You'd be about 33 miles from the East Entrance. Gorgeous Drive.

Current summer rates are in the $140 per night range.

I thought highly of the place. Would stay there again. Did I mention the breakfast is awesome?

If you are in the Cody area go here for supper. http://www.thecodycattlecompany.com/

Chuckwagon buffet and great entertainment. Triple C Cowboys. Can't recommend them highly enough. Very much worth it. World class. No kidding.

[Danny McMillin]

Cody, Cody, Cody! Fantastic place to stay, and minutes from da' gate!

[mike72903]

If you can get reservations at the historic lodge in the park I think it's worth it.  Not sure how we were able to at the last minute but did. I forget what we paid but I am glad we did.  It makes for a great memory.  Your close to everything and you get to wipe bear paw prints off your car each day.  It's a beautiful building, kind of "wealthy rustic" with a great restaurant which IS on the pricy side so we only ate there one evening.  I had buffalo steak just because I could.  3 days is very sufficient to see most everything or was for us.  Hum, now that I think about it, if you're on the Valk it's possible a bear might knock it over or damage the bags trying to find food during the night.  So ignore what I said  

[Willow]

Several years ago we spent the night at Flagg Ranch just two miles south of the entrance to Yellowstone.  It's between Grand Teton and Yellowstone.  Nice place.  We stayed in a cabin but they also have a lodge with rooms.  Nice facilities.  Fuel station.  Restaurants.  We ate at the Burnt Bear.

[fudgie]

Cooke City. Ive stayed there a few times at the Alpine motel. Planning on it again next yr. The town is very small. You can walk to everything. Its just on the west side of bear tooth. 4 hrs from billings. Its 4 miles from the NE entrance to YS. Its 30 miles to the 'loop' of YS tho. Its were all the buffalo are. Gets a little menotness driving back all the time.

Cody is another good one. You can spend days in Cody looking at stuff. The Irma hotel is nice but the Cody Motorlodge is where we stay. Cody is 70 miles from YS. Cody can be reached from Beartooth pass via Chief Joseph HWY to Cody. CJH is far better then Beartooth, imho. 

We hv stayed at Grants Villiage in YS on the lake. It was ok. No internet or tv. Middle of nowhere. I personally wouldn't stay in the park again myself. As for prices, its all reasonable and not expensive. I think it was $70 in the park when we went. I went in Aug and the park was full by April, so book early.

[vanavyman]

  Thanks for all the ideas.  Sure sounds like a lot of fun.  We will spend the riding time at InZane catching up on the roads we missed during Spearfish in SD and spend the week of 4th of July in Yellowstone and Glacier. 

  If you were going to spend 3-4 days in Yellowstone would you pick 1 hotel/motel and ride from it each day or use a couple different spots with the size of the park?

Thanks,

Dan

[Davemn]

Stay at least a night or 2 inside the park at Old Faithful Inn. You won't regret it. Ask for a room in the Old House. The Old Faithful area is centrally located. I used to work in the Inn. Have the trout.

[fudgie]

  Thanks for all the ideas.  Sure sounds like a lot of fun.  We will spend the riding time at InZane catching up on the roads we missed during Spearfish in SD and spend the week of 4th of July in Yellowstone and Glacier. 

  If you were going to spend 3-4 days in Yellowstone would you pick 1 hotel/motel and ride from it each day or use a couple different spots with the size of the park?

Thanks,

Dan

I pick different spots. 3-4 days to me is to long unless you like to hike.
Glacier is a good days ride and would advise to stay in West Glacier. The west glacier hotel is a good one and we stayed 2 nights there last month. We saw plenty in the one day there. Going to east glacier is the same scenery as you will see on the way there. It was all dead from a forest fire.  We went just past logan pass and turned around. Def do a boat tour. It made our trip.
Glacier is 10 fold better then YS imho. Would love to go back.
You will enjoy your trip. Same trip we just did. Sturgis-YS-Glacier. 

[fudgie]

Oh and don't forget the bear spray.