Customer Reviews

Frommer's Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks (Park Guides)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

We just got back from our trip to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks (wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!). This book was GREAT! Everything stated was right on the money, and we loved the compactness of it. It was easy to just throw in a backpack or carry-on. We also liked how the book was set up. It was easy to understand and to navigate. If you're looking for a good general overall book, this is the one for you.

Along with this book, we also purchased the Outdoor Family Guide to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park - it gave a really good and comprehensive explaination of the hikes found in each of the parks.

Recommendation: Don't be turned off by the idea of eating in a "cafeteria" within the park. We tried them twice while on vacation (both in Yellowstone) and were pleasantly surprised. The food was reasonable and quite good! The diningrooms were really nice as well - the one at Old Faithful overlooks the geyser!

If visiting the town of Jackson (which was a bit too riff-raffy for us), check out the Snake River Brewery. The food was reasonable and very good, the beer and service excellent and the best part - no line! Due to it being located "off the beaten track" a bit, though easily within walking distance from the town square, it doesn't get visited by a lot of tourists. If traveling with children (like us), try sitting upstairs. They have some old video games like Astoids and Pacman which allowed us to enjoy our meal and relax while the kids played the games.

My family went to Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks last June and this guide was a great resource. At the moment, I'm planning another national park trip and pulled the book off the shelf so I could get a guide by the same author.

He marked Signal Mountain Lodge in GT as a "** find" and was it ever! It's managed by a different vendor than the other lodges in the park and I'd stay there again if I return. I used his suggestions for "If you can only go on one hike, do this..." and the suggestions were awesome. The hike to the top of Signal Mountain (most people drive rather than take the 6 mile easy walk) was so beautiful and peaceful that I hiked it a second time before leaving.

This book gave suggestions that you'd expect to get from a friend who has just visited an area and says "Hey let me give you this great tip."

I would definitely recommend this book.

Frommer's Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks

Pro: Compact
Filled with information on how to get more information like phone numbers and websites, places to eat or stay.

Cons: Black and black maps with basic idea of where the most common used trails are but no real detail on what to except on those trails.

I own other books on Yellowstone and am always looking for bits and pieces that other authors don't include, I did not find that here. I have been to Yellowstone and am returning this summer, I already have my hikes planned out by each day, what time of day I want to take pictures, is the sun going to be falling on one side of the canyon, will I be able to get that rainbow when castle geyser goes off, etc. I even own a GPS for National Parks and it doesn't have all the trails on it that I have found in other books. Far from the crowds is what I want. So the two I use the most are Yellowstone Treasures- Janet Chapple and
Day Hikes in Yellowstone- Robert Stone. I also recommend reading Death in Yellowstone- Lee Whittlesey before you go or while your there.
Now as far as this book, if you are staying along the loop while driving or visiting the outlaying towns around the park, this book will give you ideas on where to go for a memorable time.

The basic amenities chart for Yellowstone campgrounds on page 147 contains much inaccurate or incomplete data. Total sites = No or Yes??? Toilets = yes for all, not which have flush or vault toilets. Showers = yes for all, which is certainly not correct. When such basic information is incorrect, the entire book becomes suspect.

We bought this book, but ended up using other guides. It is a fine reference for some people, but I'd recommend:
Yellowstone Treasures: The Traveler's Companion to the National Park (Great for more in-depth research)
and
National Geographic Road Guide to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks (NG Road Guides) (Quick roadside reference)
instead.

I purchased the Yellowstone and Teton guide recently for a vactaion to Wyoming and found the guide highly useful. The organization and format worked well with our trip.
The only thing one should understand about this book is that the order of the sights is in a specific sequence (for example Yellowstone is sequenced in a clockwise fashion) which can be difficult to manage should you work the park in a reverse order as we did in some sections.

Also, while the popular sites in the parks are well covered, some of the more obscure side roads (if you like to go off road as I did) are not covered.

Overall I would characterize this as a must have to tour these two parks.

We purchased three guidebooks for our Yellowstone/Grand Teton vacation and we used this guide the most. It is now full of underlines, notes, and highlights, and it is a good souvenir. The parks are big and you need help in deciding what to see. This book provides the help, with stars and boldface print for the best sights. The ratings are very helpful. In addition, the narratives for driving routes give you easy-to-use guidance.

Great book...nice small paperback size, will definitely take on our trip to take advantage of all the information about restaurants, places to see, tips/hints, etc.

Frommer's Guide is an excellent source of information if you are planning to travel to Yellowstone & G.T. parks. They review the parks from where to stay in the parks; exploring the parks; hiking & other outdoor pursuits. They also explore the gateway towns and the plant and wildlife you will probably see. I would have given it a 5 star if it had some colored pictures in it.

This book was really helpful planning our recent 26 day trip to Jackson Hole, Grand Teton and Yellowstone. Restaurant and lodging info was good. Park highlights and detailed directions for trail heads were included. Maps are very good also. Good book overall.