Day 1
Fly to Salt Lake City
Welcome to Salt Lake City! Transfer independently to your hotel and join your Travel Director and fellow travellers for a welcome dinner with wine. For ease of travel, we can pre-book your overseas airport transfers to your hotel.
Overnight: Sheraton Salt Lake City Hotel or similar. Dinner with wine included
Day 2
Salt Lake City to Jackson
Departing Salt Lake City, visit the State Capitol before driving through scenic Logan Canyon and across the Wasatch Mountains to Bear Lake Summit. Enjoy lunch with views of turquoise waters. Continue north along the Oregon Trail to Jackson. Explore the town square adorned with elk antlers and browse boutique galleries. Relax at your hotel near Jackson's Town Square for the evening.
Overnight: Elk Country Inn or similar. Breakfast included
Day 3
Jackson - Grand Teton National Park - Yellowstone National Park
Wake up to the majestic Grand Tetons towering 13,775 ft (4,199 m) above the valley floor. Opt for a scenic float down the Snake River in Grand Teton National Park. Enter Yellowstone, the world’s first National Park, renowned for geothermal wonders, stunning landscapes, and wildlife like black bears and wolves. Stay tonight in a Yellowstone National Park Lodge, immersing yourself in the park's natural beauty after hours.
Overnight: Yellowstone National Park Lodge or similar. Breakfast included
Day 4
Yellowstone
Enjoy a leisurely morning in Yellowstone amidst surreal landscapes. Walk among rainbow-tinted hot springs and witness erupting geysers on an informative stroll with your Travel Director. Marvel at colourful bubbling mud pots and the iconic Old Faithful geyser, reaching heights of 120 feet (37 metres). In the afternoon, explore the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and drive through wildlife-rich Hayden Valley, known for wolves, bears, elk, and bison. The evening is yours to unwind and enjoy at leisure.
Overnight: Yellowstone National Park Lodge or similar. Breakfast included
Day 5
Yellowstone – Cody – The Ranch at UCross
As you depart Yellowstone National Park for the Wild West town of Cody, you’ll travel through Shoshone Canyon, a starkly beautiful gorge with over two-billion-year-old granite exposed around the Buffalo Bill Dam, as well as the impressive Absaroka Rockies, with its eight summits that exceed 12,000 feet. In Cody, visit the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, created to honour of one of America's great Western legends, “Buffalo Bill” Cody who entertained thousands with his Wild West shows. With five separate museums, this Smithsonian-affiliated complex spans 300,000 square feet, and includes countless displays, not only related to Bill, like a lock of his hair and the very costume Annie Oakley wore in his Wild West shows, but Charles M. Russell paintings, real-life birds of prey and even a pair of dueling pistols that date back to the 1500s.
Your next stop offers the chance to get a taste of ranch life, with a stay at The Ranch at Ucross, including a ranch-style dinner that’s cooked up by your local ranch hosts.
Overnight: The Ranch at Ucross, South Dakota or similar. Breakfast and dinner with wine included
Day 6
Ucross, SD - Devils Tower - Spearfish Canyon, SD
Continue your authentic western experience with a horseback ride in the morning, complete with a rider guide, fishing on Piney Creek or relaxing and enjoying the tranquil surroundings before heading towards Devils Tower. This distinctive rock formation is a unique geologic feature that rises over 1,200 feet from the rolling prairie and has been sacred to Native Americans for centuries. If it looks familiar, that’s because the hit sci-fi film “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” that put it on the map, used as the UFO landing site. If you want to stretch your legs and get a close up look yourself, it’s easy to walk around by following a 1.3-mile, mostly flat, oval path.
Journey across the state border into the Black Hills of South Dakota, keeping an eye out for the pronghorn antelope as you cross the high plains. Here, Spearfish Canyon awaits, a place so stunning it was chosen by cinematographers as the setting for “Dances with Wolves. This creek-carved gorge is even more ancient than the Grand Canyon, albeit much narrower, and more lush too, home to magnificent Roughlock Falls. In the evening, enjoy a rustic dinner at beautiful Spearfish Canyon Lodge.
Overnight: Spearfish Canyon Lodge, South Dakota or similar. Breakfast included
Day 7
Spearfish Canyon - Badlands National Park - Custer National Park
Embark on a Wild West adventure today as we journey across the great high plains, searching for the pronghorn antelope, North America's fastest mammal, en route to South Dakota's Black Hills. Our first stop is the Oglala Lakota Living History Museum for a unique MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience. Discover Badlands National Park, spanning 244,000 acres of dramatic buttes, pinnacles, and grass prairie, a hidden gem in America's national parks known for its unparalleled beauty.
Overnight: The State Game Lodge, Custer or similar. Breakfast included
Day 8
Custer National Park - Crazy Horse Memorial - Mount Rushmore - Custer National Park
This morning, marvel at the granite faces of Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Later, visit the impressive Crazy Horse Memorial, the world's largest mountain carving dedicated to the Lakota warrior. Enjoy exclusive access to ascend 563 feet (172 metres) for a close-up view of the monument. Tonight, celebrate your journey with dinner alongside your Travel Director and newfound friends.
Overnight: The State Game Lodge, Custer. Breakfast and Dinner with wine included
Day 9
Fly home
Today you’ll either end your tour, departing from Rapid City, or travel south to Denver Colorado flying out from Denver International Airport.
If flying back from Denver International airport transfer will arrive at the airport at 4:30pm, please be aware when booking your flights that the departure flight should be no earlier than 7:30pm
If flying back from Rapid City this does not include a transfer and you will make your way independently to Rapid City Airport
