This Round-Trip Train Ride Takes You On A Scenic Journey From San Francisco To Yellowstone

Yellowstone National Park is a dream vacation waiting to happen, but getting there could complicate matters, particularly if you don't live anywhere near northwestern Wyoming. Unlike other popular national parks you can head to on Amtrak, there's no train that goes directly to Yellowstone. The closest stop is Salt Lake City, which is also where the nearest major airport is located. However, that's still 325 miles away.

A long, butt-numbing, gas-guzzling drive — even one with America's first national park at the end — might not be desirable or even possible for some travelers. Coming from San Francisco, you'd be looking at over 900 miles of road before you hit Yellowstone. You could take a scenic road trip from San Francisco to Salt Lake City, extending it to Yellowstone for more sightseeing. Yet there's something to be said for making the journey by train or bus, with a window seat where you can sit back, relax, and enjoy the scenery.

To that end, Amtrak Vacations offers an eight-day round-trip from San Francisco to Yellowstone, with stops in Salt Lake City on the way there and back. It technically departs from just outside San Francisco, in nearby Emeryville, the home of Pixar Animation Studios. You still might numb your butt with this trip (spending eight hours more on the train to Salt Lake than you would in the car). It won't let you escape the road entirely, either, since it requires transferring to a shuttle bus with a voucher from Amtrak and riding the Salt Lake Express the rest of the way. That said, the trip could be a convenient option if you'd rather be chauffeured to Yellowstone — maybe with a book or tablet in your lap — instead of stuck behind the wheel.

While Yellowstone National Park is open year-round, most of its facilities operate on a seasonal basis, with the park offering limited services from November to April. As such, you'll only see dates from May to October available online for Amtrak's round trip from San Francisco to Yellowstone. Prices for 2026 currently range from $1,869 to $2,839 per person, with most dates falling somewhere in the middle (and one outlier in June going as high as $3,399).

The trip includes accommodations for seven nights, but only five are on the ground at a hotel, lodge, or cabin. You'll spend your first and last night aboard the train, two separate nights in Salt Lake City, and three straight nights in Yellowstone. One of the lodging options in Salt Lake is Hilton's The Peery, a downtown hotel that's on the National Register of Historic Places. It was built in 1910, and features a distinct facade with striped awnings and elements of Prairie-style architecture. When you reach Yellowstone, you could stay at the Old Faithful Inn, one of two national park hotels that inspired Disney's Wilderness Lodge.

This itinerary allows you to spend as much time as you want in San Francisco before departing and after your return, though you'll have to pay extra for any additional hotel nights. Another thing to note is that the trip involves guided tours, which could put you on a set path and give you less freedom to wander. Outside its tour of the Salt Lake Tabernacle and Temple, the Utah State Capitol, and Brigham Young's 19th-century governor's mansion (the Beehive House), Amtrak does give you time to explore downtown Salt Lake City on your own. Without a car, your options in Yellowstone are more limited.

In 2026, Old Faithful and Friends is launching a public shuttle from Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport to Mammoth Hot Springs Visitor Center in Yellowstone National Park. At present, however, you'd need to hire a private shuttle or join a guided tour, since there's no bus that loops around the park and takes in all the sights that Amtrak's tour offers. That includes the famous Old Faithful Geyser, Isa Lake (which straddles the Continental Divide), Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Firehole Canyon, and the steaming, sulfurous Mud Volcano.

Getting to Yellowstone also takes time. Until California's long-gestating high-speed rail project becomes a reality, the train is never going to be the fastest option for covering a long distance there or anywhere adjacent. Right now, it's about 19 hours by Amtrak from San Francisco/Emeryville to Salt Lake City, plus another 4.5 hours by bus to West Yellowstone Visitor Information Center in Montana (near the Wyoming state line). That means you'll spend almost two full days in transit on this trip. It's not necessarily the best option for anyone who's looking to maximize their sightseeing and minimize their transportation time.

With that in mind, it's worth pricing out flights and hotels to see where the best deal really lies for a San Francisco to Yellowstone trip. You could always cut out the middleman (namely, Amtrak) and just fly two hours from San Francisco to Salt Lake City, catching the bus to Yellowstone and arranging your own accommodations and tours. By the same token, Amtrak's vacation package might help take some of the stress out of planning, and could be a good alternative for those who prefer to decompress on the train and be shown around Yellowstone without hassle.