Grand Teton National Park is a stunningly scenic place. From the first glimpses of Jackson Lake that we saw upon arrival, we knew that this pristine park was a great place to connect with nature. Given the healthiest fox we’ve ever seen, Scott spotting his first bull moose in the wild, and the mirror-like lakes, it is no wonder so many people visit this park. So if you’re interested in a slice of this wild paradise, we’ve put together our favorite 2 day Grand Teton itinerary for you. This, along with suggested adjustments for more or less time, should help you plan a way to make the most of your time in the park. Get planning, and get out and enjoy!
Grand Teton itineraries typically range from 1-5 days. If you are just going to drive through and see the scenic points, you can do this in a day, or even a half day. Two days will allow you to see all the scenic points and do 1-2 short hikes. We recommend 2 days for the average traveller. If you add additional days to your stay, you’ll most likely spend them on longer hikes or excursions like white water rafting. It’s a good idea to add this extra time if you are really enthusiastic about hiking as this is one of the best locations for hiking we’ve visited.
Where to Stay
There are four places to stay within the park that provide cabin or hotel rooms. Cabins and hotel rooms typically range from $300-500/night.
Because of the high price of accommodations within the park and the short drive to Jackson, we’d recommend staying in Jackson if you want to stay in a hotel or home rental. The drive into the park is short and the cost savings is high. Hotels in Jackson range from $100-500 and average around $300/night. Home rentals average around $220/night. If you’re planning on staying in Jackson, definitely check both the home rental sites and hotel sites for the best deals as prices fluctuate a lot here depending on availability and season.
You can also camp within the park. There are 7 campsites within the park that can be reserved. If you’re planning on camping during your Grand Teton trip, we recommend staying at any of these campsites. Non-electric sites cost around $40/night.
You can also do back country camping at approved sites within the park. Permits cost $45 for reservable sites and $35 for walk-in sites. There are some BEAUTIFUL backcountry campsites in Grand Teton National Park that are available via some pretty easy hikes. If you’ve thought of trying this in the past, this may be a good place to finally give it a whirl. (Psst: I wish we would have camped at Leigh Lake) All backcountry campers must have a bear-resistant canister. You can pick up a free canister for use during your stay at a visitor center.
Day By Day Grand Teton itinerary
This Grand Teton itinerary assumes you’ll be starting at the north end of the park. We entered the park from the north side after coming from Yellowstone National Park. Conversely, if you are visiting Yellowstone after Grand Teton, do this in reverse. If you are only visiting Grand Teton National Park, you’ll most likely be coming from Jackson. If that is the case, wake up at dawn and drive to the north end of the park in the early morning keeping an eye out for wildlife and then start the Grand Teton itinerary that we completed and loved.
Day 1 – Grand Teton Itinerary
AM – Jackson Lake and the Northern Park
Jackson Lake
Start your morning with a leisurely cruise down Highway 191. Stop at all the scenic overlooks, you have time. Enjoy your views of Jackson Lake. While Jenny Lake may get all the attention, we thought Jackson Lake was a real star of the park. Stop in Colter Bay Village to explore some great small hikes around Jackson Lake. Before hiking in the park, we’d recommend stopping at a visitor center, like Coulter Bay, and picking up the hiking map for the park. These were super helpful as they had milage markers and fitness levels for all of the trails. You can also find it on the website here.
We hiked the Lakeshore trail and took in some great views of Jackson Lake. This is a pretty easy hike and took us about 45 minutes. We were also going to do the short and easy Swan Lake hike but we got hungry.
So we took a break for lunch at the Coulter Bay picnic area. We recommend packing picnic lunches for your days in Grand Teton National Park. Food options in the park are pretty plentiful, but the park is also huge and you don’t want to have to take time out of your Grand Teton itinerary to drive to and from a food vendor. Picnic spots in the park are beautiful and you may even see some wonderfully well fed critters (don’t feed them).
Lookouts – Oxbow Bend & Willow Flats
After lunch, continue on to the Moran Junction. Make sure to stop at the Willow Flats Overlook and the Oxbow Bend turnouts. These are some of the best places to spot wildlife in the park. If you have extra time or haven’t eaten yet and want a nice peaceful place, head to Two Ocean Lake. This is a dirt road that takes you to the 6 mile trailhead. This trail is easy but can be considered moderate because of the muddy terrain. We hiked around this a bit in the hopes of seeing a moose. Really, our entire trip can be described as one big moose hunt – spoiler – we did not see them until leaving the park.
PM – Scenic Drive, Mormon Row and Phelps Lake
Scenic Highway 191
In the afternoon, continue driving down the beautifully scenic highway 191. Stop at turnouts, take photos, spot animals, and do fun things!
Mormon Row
At the southern end of the road, you’ll turn off onto Antelope Flats Road. This will take you to the insta-famous Mormon Row. Mormon Row is in this Grand Teton itinerary because you really can’t visit the Tetons and not take the insta-worthy Mormon Row picture. That being said, Mormon Row is just some old barns amid scrub brush with a really good view in the background. That’s what it looks like in pictures, but I was still expecting something more (not sure what) and I didn’t get it. So we went, we saw, we took photos, we read plaques, and we left. We spent about 20 minutes here.
Continue on highway 191 until you reach Moose Junction. The entire drive from Jackson Lake to Moose Junction, stopping at all of the turnouts, took 4 hours.
Phelps Lake
Next, head out to Moose-Wilson road. This is a well groomed gravel road. This is a great spot to spot moose, thus the name.
Then, we continued on to the Phelps Lake overlook trailhead. If you’re going to drive all the way down this road, you’ll need to go slow as it is gravel and NOT well maintained. Doing this drive in a low clearance vehicle isn’t recommended. Once here, complete the 2 mile hike to the Phelps Lake overlook. This hike is considered moderate because of the elevation change but we thought it was pretty easy as it’s mostly slow elevation change. Hang out at the overlook, catch your breath and head back to the car park.
If you’re a super speedy hiker or just didn’t spend as much time at the scenic points as we did, consider hiking around Phelps Lake (1-2 more hours) or driving on to the Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve and doing a short or long loop here. Either way, we think it’s best if you can hike until you get hungry.
Evening Animal Spotting
Then drive out of the park being careful to look for animals as you go. We saw antelope along Moose-Wilson Road and got our first moose sighting as we crossed Snake River when leaving the park.
Head to your accommodations for the night and rest. A big day of hiking awaits you.
If you are interested in backcountry camping and want to fulfill my wish of camping at Leigh Lake, you could easily hike in to a Leigh Lake site before dusk on day one as long as you started your day early and don’t hang around until dusk at Phelps Lake.
Day 2 – Grand Teton itinerary
AM – Lakes & Hiking
Leigh Lake and String Lake
Pack your bags, you’re in for a morning of great hiking. Drive into the park and head straight to the Leigh Lake trailhead (or the String Lake trailhead). If you start early in the morning, you’ll have a chance of seeing some great wildlife and create more time for your hike. Hike String Lake and Leigh Lake. This is also one of the busiest parking area in the park, so getting here early helps you to get a good spot.
First, head out along the East side of String Lake until you get to the Leigh Lake canoe launch. Leigh Lake is beautiful. It’s so quiet and peaceful. It was our favorite place to visit in the park. Hike further down the shores of Leigh Lake if you are as enchanted with the quiet lake as we were. Enjoy some beautiful beaches with amazing views. You have two options for your return hike, you can go back the way you came or take the return loop around the west side of String Lake.
If you do the full hike around String and Leigh Lake, it will take about 4 hours moving at a brisk pace. We only spent 2 hours hiking here because we wanted to save our energy for our Inspiration Point hike. I wish we would have powered through and hiked more of Leigh Lake though because it was my favorite spot. This hike is very easy as it goes over level ground and is well marked.
Jenny Lake Hike
After hiking to Leigh Lake, don’t move your car. It’s likely late morning and if you move your car now, you probably won’t get another parking spot. Instead, hike to Jenny Lake from the String Lake trailhead. If you hiked around the west side of String Lake don’t even walk back to the car park, head straight to Jenny Lake. This 1.4 mile hike along the lake to the western dock is easy and beautiful. You walk along the shores of the crystal clear lake. We rounded so many corners and I would just spread my arms and shout “beautiful!” I probably sounded crazy but it was a great hike.
Hidden Falls
Once you get to the western boat dock, you start an uphill climb along a well marked and well groomed path to Hidden Falls. You can climb right up to the falls and get wet. However, don’t expect to get great views of the falls as people are most likely playing near them.
Inspiration Point
Next, head up the steep trail to Inspiration Point. This trail is along a shear cliff with no guardrail. Had I known that I probably wouldn’t have tried it but I persevered. I conquered my fear of heights by rubbing my butt along the cliff face all the way up that mountain. I wasn’t the only one. So moral of the story, this hike will be terrifying if you don’t like heights, but there seemed to be at least a few people attempting to conquer their fears along this trail. Don’t let you fears hold you back! The view from Inspiration Point is awesome.
After taking in the views, hike back to the car park. Sometime during all this hiking you’ll likely need to eat. We packed a lunch and picnicked mid-hike. If you do the same, just make sure to hike all the trash out with you.
The hike to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point from the String Lake Trailhead took us 2.5 hours roundtrip. The Jenny Lake portion was easy. However, the hike to Hidden Falls was moderate with some elevation gain. I am personally classifying the hike to Inspiration point at difficult for two reasons: so much elevation gain and my terrifying fear of heights. Technically speaking, the hike to Inspiration Point is also considered moderate.
PM – Scenic drive
Teton Park Road Drive
Leave the String/Leigh Lake trailhead parking lot and make you way out of the one way drive, taking time to stop at the scenic turnouts for Jenny Lake. Then head north along Teton Park Road stopping at all the interesting turnouts.
Signal Mountain
Next, head up the winding Signal Mountain Road. This is a narrow road but it is paved. At the top you’ll get some great 360 views of Grand Teton National Park. After taking in the views, head back down the mountain.
Jenny Lake, Again
Head south along Teton Park Road and go to the Jenny Lake Visitor Center. It will most likely be later afternoon by this point so you’ll have a better chance of getting a parking spot. Do the short walks around the visitor center to see more views of Jenny Lake.
Alternate itinerary idea: Skip the Inspiration Point hike in the morning and instead do it now. You can take the Shuttle boat across Jenny Lake and hike to Inspiration point from the dock. This will cut about 3 miles out of your total day hiking time. However, be aware that the boat doesn’t run in the offseason, we learned that the hard way, and costs $18/person for a round trip shuttle. You save your legs a bit and get to ride a cool boat, but you miss out on some pretty amazing views of Jenny Lake.
After getting your fill of Jenny Lake, head out of the park along Teton Park road enjoying any other viewpoints. Again, if you can time your drive out of the park around dusk, you’ll have a better chance of spotting fun animals.
Get back to your accommodations and crash hard. You had a long hard day of hiking (over 12 miles if you did everything). We hope it was worth it and you enjoyed it as much as we did.
Want to Adjust the Itinerary
If you have just one day or less, stick to the scenic main scenic drives. It takes 4 hours to cover 191 and 4 hours to cover Teton Park road, choose one or both to fill your time.
If you have more time, spend it hiking. There are so many great trails in this park, you could spend weeks exploring them. If hiking isn’t your thing, consider white water rafting down the snake river. You get white water rafting with a side order of great views. We rafted the river in the summer and it’s a pretty fun rafting trip.
Alternatively, if you have more time, you may also consider slowing this itinerary down a bit. We packed a lot into a little bit of time and these are long days with tiring hikes so if your vacation pace is slower, consider stretching this Grand Teton itinerary into three days.
Hopefully, our Grand Teton itinerary has helped you to plan your own trip to this amazing National Park. We thought that this park was such an amazing place to enjoy nature and we were constantly impressed with the mountain views EVERYWHERE. If you love nature and adventurous travel, you’ll love this park. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below and we’d be happy to help you out!
We’re hoping to spend a couple of days at the end of August in Grand Teton park. I just wondered what the temperatures are like and what clothing you’d recommend? Would we need coats/waterproofs? Thanks for the tips, it’s been a big help for planning our trip!
We visited at the end of September and we got really lucky with 70F days. However, I think that was because the sun was out each day. Each morning temperatures were below freezing. So basically the full range of temperatures were present each day. Looking at Google weather, the temperatures range from 39-79F so I would plan clothing for that full range. We wore long pants each day and then a t-shirt, sweater/sweatshirt, and a heavy jacket. We used all of that clothing in the morning and then un-layered throughout the day. Our heavy jackets are water resistant but I don’t think a rain jacket is needed if you bring a winter-type jacket. We go more into packing in our following Grand Teton guide, if you’re interested:
https://acoupledaystravel.com/guide-to-grand-teton/
Thank-you for sharing your info. We’re heading out to Tetons end of Sept. into Oct. Not in a hurry on our time, as we’re both retired. So looking forward to the trip!
That is a perfect time to visit! I hope you enjoy your trip 🙂