Yellowstone

This is high mountain country, more than a thousand kilometres from any ocean, and swimming plays almost no part in a trip. Yellowstone Lake is large and beautiful, but even in August it rarely gets much above 10°C, and cold water kills people who fall in. The hot springs and geyser pools are scalding and dangerous, and bathing in them is forbidden.

In high summer a few stretches of river are used for a cool dip, the best known a canyon section of the Firehole River near Madison, but it is a quick plunge, not beach life. A visitor who wants to swim properly needs a hotel pool or one of the commercial hot-spring pools outside the park.

Eating here is practical rather than a reason to come. Inside the park the choice is the dining rooms and cafeterias of the historic lodges, general-store counters and picnic tables. The gateway towns of West Yellowstone, Gardiner and Cody add steakhouses, burger grills, diners and a few brewpubs, and the regional flavour shows in bison burgers, elk sausage, Rocky Mountain trout and huckleberry in everything from ice cream to pie.

The most serious cooking in the wider area is in Jackson, south of Grand Teton, and in Bozeman to the north, both a long drive from the geyser basins. Most visitors plan around packed lunches and early dinners, since kitchens in the park close early and distances between meals are long.

The heritage here is that of the world's first national park, founded in 1872. The Old Faithful Inn, a towering log-and-stone lodge with a cavernous lobby, is the finest example of rustic park architecture anywhere, and the Lake Hotel, the Roosevelt Arch at the north entrance and the stone buildings of Fort Yellowstone at Mammoth Hot Springs tell the story of how the park was guarded and visited in its early decades. Small visitor-centre museums cover geology, wildlife and the park's history.

The one major museum within reach is the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, about an hour beyond the east entrance, with large collections on Plains Indian cultures, Western art and firearms. Otherwise a visitor comes for the land, not for things built on it.

There is essentially no going out. Evenings in the park mean a drink in a lodge lounge, a ranger talk or watching the stars, and the gateway towns have a handful of saloons and brewpubs that empty early. The rhythm of a stay runs the other way: the best wildlife watching is at dawn, so most visitors are in bed soon after dark.

Few places on earth combine so much. The park sits on a vast volcanic plateau holding most of the world's active geysers, from Old Faithful and the Upper Geyser Basin to the rainbow rings of Grand Prismatic Spring and the travertine terraces of Mammoth Hot Springs. The Yellowstone River drops through its own canyon of yellow and ochre rock at Lower Falls, and Yellowstone Lake spreads beneath the Absaroka peaks.

The wildlife is the other half: bison herds and elk in Hayden Valley, wolves and grizzlies watched at dawn in Lamar Valley, pronghorn, moose and bighorn sheep. Hundreds of kilometres of trails lead into backcountry, and the jagged Tetons rise just to the south. Summer is the main season; winter brings snowcoach and ski trips through steaming, frozen basins.

Most visitors spend every day inside the park itself, and separate outings take real driving. From the south, Jackson makes a day out with its Western town square, art galleries and the National Museum of Wildlife Art. From the east entrance, Cody is a Wild West town built by Buffalo Bill. From Gardiner or West Yellowstone, Bozeman is a lively university town, and the restored gold-rush settlements of Virginia City and Nevada City lie to the west.

The Beartooth Highway, one of the highest roads in the country, leads to the old mining town of Red Lodge. Each of these is a long day for one stop, and there is no cluster of towns to choose between.

Children tend to love it. Old Faithful erupts on a predicted schedule, mud pots bubble and belch, and bison, elk and the odd bear appear right beside the road. Boardwalks through the geyser basins are flat and short, the Junior Ranger programme gives children a badge to earn, and West Yellowstone has a wildlife centre where bears and wolves can be seen up close.

The drawbacks are real. Days involve hours in the car between sights, summer parking lots fill, and both the thermal areas and the animals demand constant supervision: children must stay on the boardwalks, and bison injure visitors who get too close. Lodging in the park books out far ahead, so many families stay in gateway towns and drive in daily.

A car is essential. There is no public transport inside the park, and the main sights are strung along the Grand Loop Road, a figure-of-eight about 230km long with low speed limits and few places to overtake. Getting from the geyser basins to the canyon or to Lamar Valley takes hours, and in summer traffic stops for bison on the road, crowds at popular pull-outs and full car parks at Old Faithful and Grand Prismatic.

The nearest airports, at Bozeman, Jackson and Cody, are one to two hours from the park entrances. Most roads close to cars from early November to late April, when the interior is reached only by snowcoach or snowmobile tour. Once at a sight, walking on the boardwalks is easy.

Shopping is limited to the park's general stores, gift shops at the lodges and visitor centres, and the souvenir, fly-fishing and outdoor-gear shops of the gateway towns. Cody and Jackson add Western wear, cowboy boots, hats and art galleries selling wildlife painting and bronze. Nobody comes here to shop.

In the summer season this is an expensive trip. Rooms in the historic park lodges and gateway-town motels cost far more than their comfort would suggest because demand is so concentrated, and Jackson to the south is among the costliest small towns in the country. Restaurant meals and fuel are priced for a captive market, and a hire car is unavoidable.

The counterweight is that once a visitor is inside, the sights themselves cost nothing beyond the park entry. Campgrounds, picnic lunches and staying in the smaller gateway towns bring the cost down considerably, and spring and autumn are noticeably cheaper than July and August.

There is little to attend. The liveliest local tradition is the summer rodeo held most evenings in Cody, a genuine Western spectacle, and West Yellowstone stages family musicals in summer. Near Jackson, the Grand Teton Music Festival brings an orchestra of professional musicians to Teton Village for a summer classical season. Inside the park, entertainment means ranger talks around the campfire.

It is a curious place for bathing: the ground steams everywhere, yet the springs inside the park are far too hot and too fragile to enter. Soaking happens outside, in a few developed hot-spring pools near Gardiner and further north in Paradise Valley, open-air pools with mountain views that suit a slow evening after a day of driving.

The calm itself depends on timing. In July and August the main loop is busy and the days long, but an early morning by the lake, a backcountry trail or the quieter shoulder seasons of September and October give real stillness. There is little in the way of spas beyond a few lodge and resort offerings.