Looking for recommendations for mountain towns to rent cabins/houses for a week or so close to Yellowstone.

Wife and I took the kids to Big Sky last year (and were going back this summer) and rented a really cool house on the Gallatin River. It was Awesome but everything in Big Sky is so dang expensive. We'd like to make a summer mountain trip an annual thing and maybe even buy a house that we could rent out when were not using it but would like a little ...less... than Big Sky. Less expensive, less touristy, less "out of towner"...More localish, family freindly. Colorado is out...we used to go to Pagosa but we won't take our kids there anymore since the legalized the weed. Last time we went there were stoners everywhere.

open to suggestions!

I would check out the Idaho side. It's going to be cheaper than Montana or Wyoming. We stayed at a nice Airbnb in Island Park, Idaho in 2020. It's very close to West Yellowstone, Montana which is the gateway to one of the main entrances.

Chick79 is correct. Driggs, Idaho, is a ski resort town, and pretty empty in the summer. If you don't mind a short drive, it's a good place

Driggs is also a great location for Jackson Hole and the Tetons.

We stayed for five nights in Gardiner, MT last year for our Yellowstone trip. It was a nice little town. A little touristy, but also felt like where a lot of the locals and guides lived. We took a full day trip with Yellowstone Wild and it was super convenient since they leave from the Chamber of Commerce right there. Also took a nice 3 hour raft trip down the Yellowstone. Girls went for a trail ride with Hells A Roarin Outfitters and they were nice folks. They have some cabins up there and do steak cookouts.

How bout a link to that house on the Gallatin you rented just in case I get Texags money someday……

If you're wanting proximity to Yellowstone itself, Driggs would be a haul. It's great if you're wanting to spend more time around the Tetons. For Yellowstone, Paradise Valley is your best bet (between Livingston and Gardiner). Some of that area has gotten pricey in recent years, but you can probably find some reasonable options. Not sure whether you're dead set on a standalone cabin rental, but give Chico Hot Springs a look…fun iconic property in a great location.

The stoners in Pagosa were probably Texans.

62strat said:

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I've never been to big sky.. but you want something less crowded than big sky, and so you are looking at yellowstone? The 7th most visited NP in the US?
Is Big sky more crowded than yellowstone?

Also, you won't take your kids to CO ever since they legalized weed.. but you go to Big Sky, where rec. weed is also legal?

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Not sure how familiar you are with the area, but Yellowstone is vast, and when including the parts of Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho surrounding the park and the Tetons, you're talking about a massive area. Certain parts of Yellowstone get overrun with tourists, especially the geyser basins, but other parts of the park are remote and get little traffic. The same is true for some of the areas outside the park. OP's request is entirely reasonable.

As to the recreational marijuana, we are in Montana every year and rarely notice people using cannabis. There is not a stoner culture there that in any way resembles what you might encounter in Colorado.