My wife and I have been to Yellowstone and grand Teton once before and it was last August. We were there during the later half of the month and the crowds in Yellowstone were not very bad at all. The couple that we were with is somewhat local to the area and said that it was some of the best experiences they had ever had because of the lack of crowds.

Everyone we've talked to has said that July is extremely busy and can border on miserable.

Rather than pulling the kids from school for a week, I am considering going during the very last week of July. I know that July 4 is typically the peak of visitor numbers, but I'm wondering if anyone has been there at the end of July and could tell me how bad it is.

Also just to add that we will be staying in the Island Park/Big Spring area and using the West Yellowstone entrance.

Extremely busy. July is the worst month. August the second worst. So you will not see a noticeable dropoff. If you have to go in July, get up early. I'm assuming you are coming from Texas. Take advantage of the time difference. It is bearable if you are driving around at sunrise in the park. Be driving by 5 am.

Not what you're asking about but FYI, it's amazing in winter. We took our kids Christmas 2024 and did one of the monster truck bus tours. Epic trip. You get to see all the highlights and stops. We saw Old Faithful with just a few people.

I stayed in the park when I went 5 years ago in late August. The place was packed, it didn't help that covid had many of the dining options closed.

I'm an extremely early riser. I was staying in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone area, so it was about an hour drive to Old Faithful, but I was there before sunrise. I watched Old Faithful at sunrise, it was awesome. There was one other person out there at the time, I didn't know they were there until they were leaving. Everything in the park is pretty easy to get to before 10 am, then it gets crowded when all of the people staying outside of the park start arriving. After 3 pm, the park starts clearing out. I'd do things outside of the park during the peak times or go back to my room and take a nap, and hit the areas I wanted early morning or late in the afternoon.

We've spent Christmas there two different times. I highly recommend it.

We've also been there at various times in the summer. If you're thinking of July or August spend a day or two seeing the touristy sites and then focus on the Lamar drainage in the NE part of the park. We stayed in Cook City. Of course we fly fish and that area provided plenty of opportunities. The Lamar and Slough Creek are good fishing n

Definitely want to do a winter trip when the kids get a little older. Our oldest will be 10 this fall.

Yellowstone in the winter looks amazing.

Pics from last year. We were at Grand Teton and Yellowstone during the 3rd week of August.

We went last year in late June and wouldn't say the crowding was miserable. We just outside the Northeast gate and got lucky with it snowing one day.

Uzi4u said:

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We went last year in late June and wouldn't say the crowding was miserable. We just outside the Northeast gate and got lucky with it snowing one day.

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we also went the last two weeks of June. Perfect. We got to see snow when w entered , crisp mornings , and lots of wildlife. Camped in a tent through the whole trip. We were well ahead of the crowds

We went in October right before the parks closed in Jackson. Perfect, not too many people, lots of critters and a clear drive from the Tetons up to Yellowstone.

Take them out of school in the fall if you can, July will suck people density wise

I'm not sure what kind of activities you're planning. If it's with kids, maybe nothing too far from pavement.

But me and a couple of friends do a week in the Yellowstone backcountry every year, either hiking or paddling. We've found the last week in July through the first two weeks of August are usually optimal with regard to weather. It's after the worst of the afternoon thunderstorms and biting bugs but before too much threat of cold rains or an early snow. If you are able to get away from the popular tourist locations and walk at least a mile from the road, crowds won't bother you much.

If you stay in Island Park, check out the Playmill Theater. Every summer they put on live plays and make it a lot of fun for the audience, especially kids. They've been in West Yellowstone for decades but are moving to a new building in Island Park this summer. Don't wait too long to get tickets. They're already on sale for this summer. There's also a dinner theater there, Yellowstone Playhouse.