Bus Tours, Yellowstone National Park

This company does a two day tour from Billings, MT to and through Yellowstone National Park. For those who don't want to have to rent a car or drive themselves, this is a good way to go. There are several meals included in the package as well as lodging.

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On our final day in the park, while pulled over to have a look at the Yellowstone River Rapids, we came across this old Yellowstone NP tour bus making its rounds. The history of the busses goes back to 1935 when the White Motor Company won a design competition for busses specifically for touring in the National Parks. At their peak, ninety-eight of these busses were on the road in the Park until they were gradually phased out in the mid-1960s due to wear and tear. However, in 2001 a fleet of eight of these busses was eventually purchased from the Skagway Streetcar Company of Alaska for restoration, exhibition and limited tour duty in Yellowstone once again.

We saw similar busses in Glacier NP a few years ago, painted red in that park. Features of this type of bus include a roll-down top if the passengers want to enjoy a sunny day, as well as roll-down passenger windows along both sides of the bus and a driver who narrates the various scenes as the cruise takes place.

While we were leaving the Tower Falls area on our first day in Yellowstone, we spotted a yellow stagecoach (2nd photo) making a few dust clouds as it took a small group of visitors for a ride. Stagecoach travel in Yellowstone started not long after the railroad (and the resulting people) came to the area in 1881 and continued in various forms until 1917 when the coaches were no longer allowed as automobiles became all the rage. The type of stagecoach we saw was originally built in New Hampshire and came in either four-horse or six-horse versions, depending on the passenger seating numbers (with the largest type capable of touring 18 people). Today, tours in the modernized versions (1950-70s) are provided by Stagecoach Adventures at the Northeast Entrance, Tower and Roosevelt areas of Yellowstone and most take a half-hour to cover their tour routes.

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Sit back and relax, while letting someone else do the driving. While touring on the historic 1937 touring buses, you will not only enjoy the views, but you will also find interesting narrated trips, where you will hear stories about the past in Yellowstone. You may purchase tickets for All Day Tours, Partial Day tours, or Evening Tours. One evening tour is the Yellowstone Lake Butte Sunset Tour, which will give you beautiful views from the Lake Butte Overlook as well as other scenic views. The park concessionaire, out of Yellowstone Lake Hotel and Fishing Bridge RV Park, operates this tour. There are also Evening Wildlife Tours and others that depart from Mammoth Hotel, as well as other evening tours that originate from Old Faithful Inn. There are various types of Partial Day and All Day Tours offered departing form Lake Hotel, Fishing Bridge RV Park, Old Faithful Inn, Mammoth Hotel, Canyon Lodge, Roosevelt Lodge, and Grant Village. Some of these tours operate daily, others only a few times a week. There are also varying operating dates, some begin at the end of May, but most begin sometime in June. Some end in late August, while others run into mid- September. If you would be interested in one of these tours, visit the web page listed below, choose Plan Your Trip, then Available Activities, then Historic Yellow Bus Tours. Here you can read a short description of each tour, and get additional information. I highly recommend that you make reservations ahead of time. This can be done at the same web page or by calling the phone number listed below.

views of another one of these wonderful historic buses, see my other two photos attached with this tip.

As I have said earlier on this page, the only way to get around Yellowstone in the winter is by oversnow transport and taking a snowcoach tour is an ideal method of doing so.

There are a wide variety of operators to chose from, all of whom offer pretty much the same deal, and all the hotels have their own preffered service which can usually be booked through the desk.

A typical tour will include being picked up from your hotel about 8.30 am then driven through the park to either Mammoth Springs or Old Faithful, with stop-offs for photo-ops en-route, aiming to arrive at the destination around lunch-time. You should have time for a leisurley lunch and then return via a slightly different route, expecting to be back early evening - about 4.30.

Website below gives all the info you need, go to the bottom of it for a full list of the various operators.

As a rough price guide expect to pay about $85-95 for the tour (this will include a $10 NPS entrance fee, though if you are already a pass holder this will be deducted from the cost) and tip for the guide will always be appreciated - say another $10.