Grand Teton National Park
Where to Stay
Many, many visitors to the area will not stay inside GTNP and to be honest, staying within the Park is totally not necessary. Grand Teton National Park is compact and close enough to Jackson city center that a visit is very much doable as a day trip from the tourist parts of Jackson.
We did, however, stay two nights inside the Park at Jackson Lake Lodge, mostly as a stop over between our long flight out West and the 2+ hour drive to Yellowstone from the Jackson Airport.
JLL is located in the northern section of GTNP, and man if this place just did a touch up renovation to update its sad looking furniture and facilities, it could be amazing.
The views and the bones of this lodge are so stunning. Sitting on the outdoor patio of its Blue Herron cocktail bar overlooking the mountains and with a Huckleberry Mule in hand was SUCH a vibe. The main lobby of the lodge has grand sweeping windows overlooking that same mountainous view. And it’s not uncommon to see wildlife from this view.
The lodge has a cute old fashioned sort of upscale restaurant inside (also with views!) called the Mural Room and three different and quite surprisingly upscale gift shops. A subpar casual eatery and a coffee stand serving Starbucks are also accessible from the lobby.
Ultimately, JLL is still an old lodge inside a national park so temper your expectations if you’re used to modern luxury. But there sure was something magical about staying within the Park that you will not get outside in downtown Jackson. Mountains, scenery and wildlife ARE part of your hotel experience inside the Park.
What to Do
Grand Teton National Park is just so incredibly beautiful. The best thing to do while here is to relax and take in all that scenery and beauty. Let it refresh your surely tired and jaded soul.
Tons and tons of visitors will come to national parks like this one to hike and/or take incredible pictures. As a suburban NY family with young kids, we were not either of those kinds of visitors.
The best activity we did in the Park, which happens to be in the southern portion, making it closer to Jackson city center (and therefore easy to do on a day trip), was our visit to the Jenny Lake area.
Jenny Lake is incredible and you can jump right in and cool off or sit along the side enjoying the atmosphere. Next, buy a round trip ticket for the lake’s boat shuttle, which will take you across the lake to a very popular (and “kid friendly”) hike to Inspiration Point. The hike is just about a mile each way but note most of the way up is on an incline and a portion of the hike towards the end going up is a rocky treacherous path along a steep cliff.
About half way to Inspiration Point, stop at Hidden Falls, a beautiful (and, yes, hidden by trees) waterfall.
Any visitors to GTNP must also spend time viewing the breathtaking Teton Mountains and searching for breathtaking wildlife. On day one, my husband spotted a black bear nearby our car as we drove on a main road. It was insane! And at JLL, fellow guests helped us spot an elk and a pair of cranes in the distance.
Kids can also stop at any visitor’s center within the Park to be inducted as Junior Rangers.
What Else
Be sure to hit Dornan’s right near the Moose entrance to GTNP. It’s such a cute stop for decent food and fabulous views before you resign yourself to unappealing park food.
In GTNP, the restaurant at Signal Mountain Lodge at least has a scenic patio overlooking the marina and their well known nachos are HUGE and pretty satisfying as far as national park foods go!
The eats are gross all throughout both GTNP and YNP - think of the cafeteria food at your kid’s school. In both parks, each lodge area also has a general store which acts as a gift shop and grocery. We subsisted on a lot of snack foods purchased at these general stores while inside the parks.
