Yellowstone National Park is an extraordinary landscape, quite literally overflowing with the world’s highest concentration of geothermal features. And it’s one of the most enjoyable places we’ve visited to date because there are so many truly unique things to see and do. But which geyser basins, wildlife spotting areas, hikes and other natural attractions should you prioritize when you visit Yellowstone for the first time?
In this guide we show you the 10 places you can’t miss on a first trip to Yellowstone National Park, based on our own extensive experiences.
Our Experience
We first visited Yellowstone for 4 full days in October 2019 as part of our first long distance road trip around the western US. It was our first time in the park so we raced around ticking off as many attractions as we could fit in, explored from dawn to dusk and left completely exhausted! Our second visit was for 3 full days in April 2021 but we knew Yellowstone well, so we targeted the places we enjoyed most from first time around.
We’ve seen a lot of the world since starting this travel blog in 2018 so we’re a little desensitized to jaw-dropping destinations. But every now and then there’s a hike, city or landscape that does make us say wow this is special, and Yellowstone was one of those places. We were blown away by the park’s billowing geysers, vibrant hot springs, waterfalls, canyons and valleys. Because really, where else can you see those things in such abundance? Read more about us.
Don’t forget to read our first time visitor guide for Yellowstone and take a look at our popular Yellowstone travel guidebook which goes into much greater detail. Now, let’s get right into the 10 things you can’t miss when you visit Yellowstone National Park with lots of our photos so you know exactly what to expect.
1. Old Faithful
Upper Geyser Basin has the highest density of geothermal features in Yellowstone, and Old Faithful is the star attraction. It’s the most famous geyser in the world, so watching it erupt is a rite of passage on your first visit to the park. But we also encourage you to spend a few hours exploring behind Old Faithful because there are many more unique geysers and hot springs to see in Upper Geyser Basin, including our favorite called Morning Glory Pool.
The most popular place to watch Old Faithful erupt is from an easy-to-access viewing area known as the bleachers, which consists of a few rows of long curving benches. But you can also hike the moderately difficult 1-mile roundtrip Observation Point Trail with 160 ft elevation gain to see it erupt from an elevated viewpoint. Or if you’d rather keep things nice and easy, you can simply watch it from the deck of the Old Faithful Inn with a spot of lunch.
Our Experience: We’ve watched Old Faithful erupt from the bleachers and from way behind on the Upper Geyser Basin boardwalks. We highly recommend you do both because it’s the most iconic event in the park, although we actually preferred the rest of Upper Geyser Basin over just watching Old Faithful erupt. We’d love to see the eruption from Observation Point, but it’s been closed both times we visited due to snow and high bear activity.
Things To See:
- Old Faithful Geyser
- Castle Geyser
- Grand Geyser
- Grotto Geyser
- Morning Glory Pool
- Biscuit Basin
- Mystic Falls Trail
- Black Sand Basin
- Old Faithful Inn
Travel Tip: There are six predictable geysers in Yellowstone and five of those are in Upper Geyser Basin.
2. Grand Prismatic Spring
Midway Geyser Basin has the fewest hydrothermal features of the three major basins in Yellowstone’s southwest corner, but it’s home to one of the park’s most famous and visually spectacular attractions called Grand Prismatic Spring. It’s our favorite natural attraction in Yellowstone because it’s so vibrant, unique and photogenic.
You should start by slowly circling around Midway Basin on its flat wooden boardwalk so you can see the hot spring from close up. But we strongly recommend you also hike the first portion of Fairy Falls Trail so you can see Grand Prismatic Spring from an elevated viewpoint. This is where you’ll be able to take the most iconic photo in Yellowstone, so don’t miss it. After parking at Fairy Falls Trailhead it’s around 1.5 miles roundtrip to the viewpoint and back.
Our Experience: We walked around Midway Geyser Basin in April and October. Both times we had below zero temperatures and snow on the ground, so the geysers were billowing heavily and the colors were duller than usual. Fairy Falls Trail was also closed both times we visited due to snow and bear activity so we haven’t yet made it to the overlook, which is top of our list for next time. We think Grand Prismatic Spring is unmissable if you enjoy photography.
Things to see:
- Grand Prismatic Spring
- Excelsior Geyser
- Opal Pool
- Turquoise Pool
- Grand Prismatic Spring Overlook
- Fairy Falls (hike)
3. Fountain Paint Pots
Lower Geyser Basin is the largest geothermal area by size and it discharges more hot water per minute than any other region in the park. There are two major areas you can explore in the Lower Basin, first is a really easy 0.6-mile boardwalk called Fountain Paint Pot Trail and second is a one-way road called Firehole Lake Drive.
The Fountain Paint Pots boardwalk trail features 4 different hydrothermal features including powerful geysers, colorful springs, bubbling mud pots and hissing fumaroles. It’s probably the easiest place in Yellowstone to see the various features, so it’s well worth visiting. Firehole Lake Drive contains lots more stunning geysers, including one of the most popular sunset spots at Great Fountain Geyser.
Our Experience: We personally think Fountain Paint Pot Trail is one of the most underrated places to visit in Yellowstone. Everyone rushes for Old Faithful and Grand Prismatic, but the diversity of features in the Lower Basin is really cool to see. Firehole Lake Road was closed during both our trips due to snow so we haven’t been able to drive it yet, but we highly recommend you do if it’s open when you visit.
Things to see:
- Celestine Pool
- Fountain Paint Pots
- Red Sprouter
- Fountain Geyser
- Firehole Spring
- Great Fountain Geyser
- White Dome Geyser
- Artesia Geyser
Need help planning your trip to Yellowstone?
Our popular Yellowstone travel guidebook helps you with planning every aspect of your visit, including what to see in each region, where to eat and stay, itinerary ideas and map!
View Yellowstone Guidebook
4. Lamar Valley + Hayden Valley
Animals are like celebrities in Yellowstone National Park, and both Lamar Valley and Hayden Valley are widely regarded as the best places to go celebrity spotting. They’re the two areas you’ll stand the highest chance of seeing wildlife like bears, wolves, coyotes, pronghorn, elk, eagles and bison roaming freely. But there’s no guarantee you’ll see anything. In fact, the likelihood is you’ll end up seeing more animals in totally random places throughout Yellowstone.
With that said, if seeing wildlife is your top priority we strongly recommend you plan your accommodation and itinerary so you can easily drive into Lamar Valley and Hayden Valley either at dawn or dusk. Animals are more active around sunrise and sunset, so these are the times you should also be active with your binoculars, camera or telescope. You can also hike a small portion of Specimen Ridge Trail in Lamar Valley to get away from the road, cars and people. This will increase your chances of seeing wildlife.
Our experience: We watched a lone wolf eating a carcass near Grand Prismatic Spring and a bald eagle flew out of a tree just a few feet away from us in Hayden Valley, but we haven’t seen any bears in two trips. In Mammoth we saw lots of bison walking around the village, we got caught up in a bison jam on the way to Norris, we saw lots of elk near Lake Yellowstone and we also tracked a coyote near Mud Volcano. So you really can see wildlife all throughout the park.
Travel Tip: Our two favorite lesser known places for wildlife spotting in Yellowstone are Blacktail Plateau Drive and east entrance road between Lake and Avalanche Peak.
5. Grand Canyon Of The Yellowstone
The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is a deep, dramatic and incredibly photogenic V-shaped canyon with two powerful waterfalls crashing down into the Yellowstone River. You can visit several viewpoints by car on both sides of the canyon via North Rim Drive and South Rim Drive, and you can even walk down some steep trails to get closer to the action in good weather.
Both Upper Falls and Lower Falls are powerful waterfalls, but Lower Falls is the most iconic because it plunges more than 300 feet into the V-shaped canyon. We highly recommend you drive both rims, stop at all the overlooks and consider hiking one or two trails for close ups. It’s a really easy part of the park to visit for everyone, so definitely add this region into your itinerary.
Our Experience: We’ve driven both rims twice and stopped at almost all the viewpoints. The hikes were all closed due to ice, but we don’t think hiking is essential here anyway. We photographed sunset and then the following sunrise from our favorite viewpoint called Artist Point at the end of South Rim Drive, and this is our top recommendation for Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. It was awesome!
6. Norris Geyser Basin
Norris Geyser Basin is home to the oldest and hottest geothermal features in Yellowstone. It’s split into two distinct areas called Back Basin and Porcelain Basin, and we highly recommend you walk all 2.25 miles of wooden boardwalks because you’ll see a diverse range of geysers, hot springs, colors, smells and bubbling sounds.
In the forested Back Basin you’ll see Steamboat Geyser which is the tallest active geyser in the world with eruptions as high as 300 feet, as well as Echinus Geyser which is the largest acidic geyser in the world with a PH of just 3.5. Whereas in the wide open Porcelain Basin you’ll see dozens of densely clustered features surrounded by milky-white mineral colors.
Our experience: We really like Norris, it’s one of our favorite geyser basins because the colors and smells are vibrant and strong. It really feels like you’re on top of a volcano. We waited around to watch Steamboat Geyser erupt, saw the deep red Echinus Geyser and slowly walked around both sub-basins to really take it all in. This is another place you shouldn’t miss on a first visit to Yellowstone.
Things to see:
- Steamboat Geyser
- Echinus Geyser
- Yellow Mud Pool
- Blue Mud Steam Vent
- Little Whirligig Geyser
- Crackling Lake
- Gibbon Falls
- Artist Paint Pots
Travel Tip: We consider Artist Paint Pots a true hidden gem in Yellowstone and it’s very close to Norris. A short 1-mile roundtrip hike leads you to small colorful pools that look just like an artists pallet and our favorite example of bubbling mud pots in the park. Don’t miss it!
7. West Thumb Geyser Basin
West Thumb is one of Yellowstone’s least visited and most underrated geyser basins, which is better for you because it will be quieter and more enjoyable. There are no famous hot springs or geysers here, but there are lots of intriguing and unique features that are well worth seeing. It’s a very small basin and all the geothermal features are connected by wooden boardwalks, so it’s one of the easiest places to visit in Yellowstone.
What makes West Thumb Geyser Basin unique is its location right on the edge of Yellowstone Lake. So not only do you get to see geysers sprouting up from the water, but you also get to enjoy wide open and far reaching views over distant mountains and the lake. There’s also a great little hike you can do here called Yellowstone Lake Overlook Trail.
Our experience: We loved West Thumb when we visited. It was so quiet compared to the other basins and the geysers were totally unique. We actually thought it was one of the easier places to get great photos of geysers and hot springs because it has the lake and mountain backdrop. It was closed when we revisited in April, but we’ll definitely go back next time we’re in Yellowstone.
Things to see:
- Thumb Geyser
- Lakeshore Geyser
- Fishing Cone
- Painted Pool
- Abyss Pool
- Bluebell Pool
8. Mammoth Hot Springs
Mammoth is the major hub in northern Yellowstone. You’ll likely see lots of bison walking around the hotel, dining room and lower terraces, so keep your distance and be alert. But the major attraction here is Mammoth Hot Springs upper and lower travertine terraces, which you can explore by interconnected wooden boardwalks with lots of steps between the two levels.
Mammoth Hot Springs has one of the best examples of travertine terraces in the world and they’re completely unique to this exact area of the park. So we highly recommend you spend a few hours enjoying the various springs and terraces here. The upper terrace has excellent northeast facing views over mountains and some of the most vibrant colors.
Our experience: We watched sunrise from the upper terrace when we visited in October. It was freezing cold but we were the only two people up there which was cool. When we revisited in April we slowly walked around both boardwalks during the day so we appreciate the picturesque travertine terraces a bit more.
Things to see:
- Minerva Terrace
- Palette Spring
- Liberty Cap
- Jupiter Terrace
- Main Terrace Overlook
- Highland Terrace
- Angel Terrace
- Boiling River
9. Mount Washburn
Mt Washburn is the most popular day hike in Yellowstone, so this is the trail to take on if you’re keen to tick off at least one major hike when you visit. At the top you’ll be rewarded with 360 degree views over miles and miles of rolling hills from the base of a fire watch tower. And to reach the top you can choose between two route options:
- Duraven Pass – More popular route, around 6 miles roundtrip with 1,400 ft elevation gain.
- Chittendon Road – Less popular, around 5.5 miles roundtrip with 1,500 ft elevation gain.
Both trails have steady inclines and follow old service roads, so they’re not the most exciting trails. But they do have wildflowers in summer and you can spot bighorn sheep or even bears along the route. We haven’t hiked Mt Washburn yet because the road between Tower and Canyon has been closed both times we’ve visited, but it’s on our radar for next time.
Travel Tip: We also recommend you hike to see Tower Fall and Yellowstone River Overlook around 10 miles north from Mt Washburn.
10. Mud Volcano
We could have included so many other fun things to do in Yellowstone, but we wanted to finish with the Mud Volcano area because you seldom hear about it when researching but we think it’s well worth visiting. This place stinks! The sulphur smells are so pungent it slaps you around the face as soon as you arrive, which makes it a totally unique place to visit in Yellowstone.
You’ll see heavily billowing vents, smell acidic geysers, and hear gargling mud pots at the Mud Volcano. It has some really interesting features and it’s a small area connected by boardwalks so it’s really easy to visit.
Our experience: We had no idea about Mud Volcano so we had no expectations. But it turned out to be great! The Dragon’s Mouth Spring had more billowing steam than any other feature we saw in the park and the smell was awful but intriguing. Also, there were very few people around so it was more relaxing than most other places.
Things to see:
- Dragon’s Mouth Spring
- The Mud Volcano
- Mud Caldron
- Churning Caldron
- Black Dragon’s Caldron
Yellowstone Attractions Map
Click or touch the map below to activate, then zoom in and out, and move around the map to see the locations of our top places to visit in Yellowstone covered in this guide.
Map key:
- Red – The various geyser basins
- Blue – Mt Washburn Trailhead
- Orange – Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
- Green – Lamar Valley and Hayden Valley
The Morgan Conclusion
What we like: Yellowstone is filled with amazing geothermal features, attractions, hikes and wildlife spotting areas. But there’s only so much you can do on a first visit, and the 10 places we’ve covered in this guide are the things we’d tell ourselves to prioritize if it were our first visit. We think Upper, Midway, Lower, Norris and West Thumb Geyser Basins are all unmissable, along with Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and Mammoth Hot Springs.
What we don’t like: Yellowstone can be a bit like a theme park in June, July, August and September. You’ll find the roads packed, parking lots full and attractions crowded. On the other hand if you visit early or late in the season like we did you’ll struggle with roads and hiking trails closing due to snow and bear activity. So overall, we think Yellowstone is a very hard park to visit and enjoy. But it’s unquestionably worth the effort.
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- What it’s like to visit Yellowstone in October
- Our Grand Teton National Park itinerary
Want more Yellowstone information? Head over to our main Yellowstone travel guide for help with planning your first visit to the park.
We hope our guide on the top things to do in Yellowstone helps with planning your trip!
Please let us know if you have any questions in the comments below.
Happy Travels,
Mark and Kristen
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Mark and Kristen Morgan are travel, hiking and photography experts. Over the last 6 years traveling full time, they have explored more than 40 countries and 30 US states.
Where Are Those Morgans has been featured in USA Today, Gestalten, Get Your Guide, CityPASS and Condé Nast Traveler along with various other publications. Read more about us.