Perfect three day itinerary for Grand Teton National Park
Grand Teton National Park near Jackson, Wyoming is simply iconic. The Tetons are a striking mountain range that seemingly pops up out of nowhere. I had the pleasure of spending five nights in the park during my road trip here in the summer of 2022. Originally, I had a larger backpacking trip planned: the Teton Crest Trail. We ended up getting one day in before my partner fell ill, and we bailed off the route. So, our trip ended up being a lot more frontcountry focused than we intended, and this resulted in a changing itinerary and needing to book some things on the fly.
I still feel like we got a good overview of the park, and a three-day trip is perfect for most park visitors! I will be tailoring this itinerary mainly to hikers and photographers who wish to maximize their time in the park.
The Tetons reflected in the Snake River at Schwabacher Landing.
Best Time To Visit Grand Teton National Park
The Tetons can be enjoyed in all seasons. Jackson, Wyoming is a year-round tourist destination, hosting thousands of winter sports enthusiasts in the winter and hikers, cyclists, river rafters, and climbers in the summer.
There are pros and cons to visiting every season. In fact, after my trip this summer, I want to go back in every single season!
As a photographer, every season seems to offer something amazing. This is a gorgeous mountain range, after all!
As a hiker, summer and early fall are definitely the best seasons to visit the Tetons. This is because most trails will be snow-free, and all of the roads and campgrounds in the park will be open*.
*Grand Teton National Park is recently undergoing a multi-year update of their infrastructure. Make sure you always check the official current conditions page for the most up-to-date information about closures.
Where To Stay in Grand Teton National Park
Being so close to Jackson, Wy, and with lots of private land surrounding the park, there are many places to stay outside of the National Park borders. In fact, downtown Jackson is only a 30-40 minute drive to Jenny Lake and about an hour drive from Colter Bay.
We decided to camp in the official park campgrounds since those were much more economical than the motels, hotels, and Airbnbs of Jackson. We also drove our converted van from California, so it made sense for us to camp. If you also have a van or prefer to disperse camp (boondock - or camp without any amenities like trash receptacles and bathrooms), there are lots of free options outside the eastern boundary of the park in the Bridger-Teton National Forest.
Booking Campgrounds in Grand Teton National Park
You can book the following campgrounds up to 6 months in advance. Campsites are released on a rolling basis. For instance, on January 1, 2023 at 7:00 am PT, campsites through July 1, 2023 are available to book.
Jenny Lake Campground
Colter Bay Campground (also has tent cabins and RV-specific campgrounds)
Gros Ventre Campground
Lizard Creek Campground
Signal Mountain Campground
Headwaters Campground
These campsites are relatively expensive by national park standards. A night in any of these will cost you $48 - $102 depending on what kind of site you get, with the “typical” site (i.e. no RV hookups) costing around $50-55.
The campgrounds are not open year-round. You will need to check every year for the exact open and close dates, but generally, the campgrounds are open from mid-May to the end of September.
You can book all campgrounds at recreation.gov. You should plan on booking your sites as soon as you can, but we did book some sites pretty last minute - a month before our trip - and even booked one the day of! Flexibility is key for these last-minute bookings, and it helped that we were totally prepared to disperse camp if we had to.
We stayed at Gros Ventre and Colter Bay campgrounds and enjoyed both. Camping at Jenny Lake or Signal Mountain would be the most ideal since they are the most central and accessible to both major park roads, but the slightly further drives to Gros Ventre and Colter Bay weren’t a big deal.
Schwabacher Landing at sunrise.
Tips For the Tetons
Blacktail Ponds Overlook.
Summer days are long in this part of the country, which means you’ve got lots of time for seeing everything you want to see! Here are some things to keep in mind as you’re traveling through the park.
The Tetons are east-facing, which means this park is great for sunrises. If you are a photographer or anyone who simply wants to see the mountains glowing, you’re going to want to be at viewpoints well before sunrise. Because the mountains are so tall compared to the surrounding landscape, the mountains will start glowing right at official sunrise, and they’ll continue to light up in the minutes after as well. This also means that the main park areas actually get darker quite a bit before sunset. The mountains are so tall, that once the sun dips behind them, it gets cold and dark, even though the official sunset isn’t for another 30-40 minutes!
For photographers, I would 100% recommend staying longer than three days in the park because of this. If you’re anything like me, you want to get those perfect alpenglow mountain shots, which means… you kind of only have sunrises to achieve that. Sure there are some ok areas for the evening golden hour and sunset, especially if there are clouds, but the real money shots are at sunrise and morning golden hour. And there are so many different locations to shoot from, including some hikes into the mountain range. I had to make some choices and concessions while we were there. I would want at least 5 mornings for photos, 7 being ideal.
Even though sunrise is the best for photography, the evening hours are awesome for wildlife viewing. I would recommend focusing your hiking and photography hours in morning and mid-day and going wildlife viewing in the evenings.
Highway 191 is the queen of roadside pull-outs. There are numerous official pull-outs with interpretive signage from the National Park Service, and most are listed on Google Maps as points of interest. All of these turnouts have amazing views of the Tetons. If you want to pull over and hop out of the car at each of them (which I highly recommend), you should aim to start up near Colter Bay and drive south on this highway. Nearly all of the turnouts are on the west side of the highway, and it will just make your life easier to be driving south.
Jenny Lake is the most popular area in the park. For good reason! The views of the Tetons are incredible and there are lots of activities for everyone, including the speedboat that can take you to the popular hiking destinations across the lake. Popularity is great, but that also means parking is a mess. And because the park does not offer a shuttle, everyone drives everywhere, and there simply are not enough parking spots to meet the demand. The parking lots at String and Leigh lakes also fill up very fast, as they are adjacent to Jenny Lake. If you plan on hiking in this area, get there early!
As I said above, there is no park-wide shuttle. So, having your own car is crucial to being able to fully experience the park!
Be sure to buy some bear spray and always carry it on your person while adventuring in the park. The Tetons are home to many large wild animals, including grizzly bears, and having bear spray and knowing how to use it is important for your safety! You cannot bring bear spray on an airplane, so hold off on buying it until you get to Jackson if you are flying.
John Moulton barn on Mormon Row at sunset.
Your Three Day Itinerary
Day One
Jenny Lake and the boat dock at the Cascade Canyon Trailhead.
Start your day at sunrise at any of the following locations:
Oxbow Bend
Mormon Row
Schwabacher Landing
Blacktail Ponds
Snake River Overlook
After sunrise, head over to Jenny Lake to get a parking spot on the earlier side. The Jenny Lake boat shuttle runs from 7 am - 7 pm during the summer months and leaves the docks every 10-15 minutes during the day. There are a few hikes you can do from this starting point, and it depends on how far you want to go.
Daily Hike Options:
For an easy hike: Take the boat shuttle across the lake and do the 2-mile loop to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point. This is also great to do if you want to add more hikes to your day, or maybe even rent a kayak and paddle on the lake, or just hang out at one of the small beaches along the shore!
For a moderate hike: You’ll hike to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point, but you’ll also encircle Jenny Lake. Start at the boat shuttle, but continue on the trail around the lake. I recommend going in the clockwise direction because it will give you more options to lengthen or shorten your hike. If you get tired early, you can take the boat back to the dock. If you want to keep hiking all the way to Leigh Lake, you can do that too! But you can also bail at String Lake.
Full loop to Leigh Lake: 11.5 miles
Loop around Jenny Lake: 8.5 miles
Hike to Inspiration point, boat shuttle back: 3.5 miles
For a very challenging hike: Take the boat shuttle across the lake and hike up Cascade Canyon to Lake Solitude. This is a 14-mile out-and-back hike with about 3,000 ft of elevation gain.
After your hike, it’s time to relax a little bit! Take a drive along Teton Park Road and then turn onto Signal Mountain Road and check out the Jackson Point Overlook. It’s a short path toward the top of the mountain. The trees slightly obstruct the view of the Tetons, but you get a nice birds-eye view of the valley and lake too. Plus, the Signal Mountain area is heavily forested, and there is a high likelihood of wildlife sightings, especially in the evening hours. Spend your time enjoying the sunset here, or check out one of the other “sunrise locations” listed above.
Snake River Overlook
Jackson Point Overlook on Signal Mountain.
Day Two
Moose at Sawmill Ponds.
Now that you have your bearings a bit, choose one of the other “sunrise locations” options from the list above! Or maybe you want to see yesterday’s spot again!
Head down to the southern side of the park after sunrise for some early morning wildlife viewing. The Sawmill Ponds Overlook on Moose-Wilson Rd about a mile west of the Moose entrance is a great spot. I saw a moose here on my trip!
Daily Hike Options:
For an easy hike: Drive down to the Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve and take any of the numerous trails to Phelps Lake. You can loop around Phelps Lake for a 7-mile hike, or just hike to the edge of the lake and back for a quick 3.5-mile jaunt.
For a moderate hike: Starting from the Death Canyon Trailhead, you’ll hike up to a viewpoint of Phelps Lake, and continue up Death Canyon to the Death Canyon Patrol Cabin, which is currently unoccupied and boarded up. The series of switchbacks takes you up to a beautiful series of cascades and great mountain views - you feel like you’re really getting into the Tetons! This is about 8 miles round trip.
For a different moderate hike: Hike the Taggart-Bradley Lake Loop Trail. It’s about 5.5 miles long and there are some really beautiful views of the Tetons along the trail.
After your afternoon hike, take a drive up Highway 191 toward Colter Bay. Stop at any turn-outs you’d like, but pay special attention to the area between Cunningham Cabin and the interchange to Hwy 26. There’s a huge open area here where bison and pronghorn like to hang out!
If you’re still up for a bit of hiking (and I truly do mean a little bit), keep driving up to the Jackson Lake Lodge, park your car, and follow signs to Lunch Tree Hill. You’ll have gorgeous views of the grasslands, the Tetons, and Jackson Lake. Relax and enjoy the sunset up here!
A bison heard along Highway 191.
A group of pronghorn on the other side of the road.
Day Three
You know what I’m going to say: pick one of the sunrise spots from my list above, or maybe even do the walk to Lunch Tree Hill again to see the view at sunrise!
Daily Hike Options:
Delta Lake is an iconic lake in the park. What makes it so amazing is the turquoise-blue color of the water. The glacier run-off is to thank for that beautiful blue! This hike is definitely a challenge. At 7.5 miles round-trip with 2,300 ft of elevation gain, it’s not for the faint of heart. The other thing you need to know is that this hike is partially off-trail. You will have to leave the maintained trail and scramble over some large boulders and rocks to get to the lake. It’s not crazy, but it is definitely class 2 travel. I was pretty bummed to miss this hike on my trip. But that just means I need to go back!
Another option is to stay on the maintained trail and hike to Surprise and Amphitheater Lakes - another pair of amazing alpine lakes in the park. The trail is 10 miles round trip with 3,000 ft of elevation gain.
You could always combine the two as well, since the trail to all three lakes is the same until you hop off the trail to Delta Lake. If you have the energy and want to hike as much as possible, do it!
After another long day of hiking, head over to yet another great wildlife viewing area: Willow Flats Overlook. It’s over near the Jackson Lake Lodge, and a well-known spot to see grizzly bears!
For sunset, head over to the Jackson Lake Overlook, the northernmost viewpoint in the park with a view of the mountains and Jackson Lake. Pick up some pizza from Leeks and make it a sunset picnic for your final night in the park.
Sunrise at Oxbow Bend.
Other Activities in Grand Teton
While I didn’t use any guides for my activities in the park, this is a very popular way to explore more of the park and the greater region! Some of the tours I saw in the park looked like a lot of fun! Plus, if you don’t have a ton of time, or don’t have a car, booking tours would be a great way to get the most out of your time in the Tetons.
Some Other Park Activities:
Rafting the Snake River
Wildlife Viewing Jeep Tours
Dude Ranch activities and horseback riding
Boating on Jackson Lake
Fly fishing
Aerial tours
Riding the aerial tram at Teton Village
The Tetons glowing in the sunset.
Final Thoughts
Even though Grand Teton National Park looks small, you could spend a lifetime exploring this area in all seasons. It has been one of my favorite national parks I’ve ever visited. The views, the hiking, the wildlife, and the ease of access to the cute mountain town of Jackson make it an amazing vacation destination for everyone - no matter what your interests are. I just can’t wait to get back there again!
