Gardiner has a small selection of quality cheap and mid-budget hotels near Yellowstone National Park’s north entrance. It’s definitely the most convenient place to stay outside the park if you want to book a hotel near Mammoth Hot Springs. We’ve stayed at 2 different hotels in Gardiner, and we think it’s a great place to spend a night or two during your Yellowstone itinerary.
In this guide we show you the best hotels in Gardiner MT for all budgets, based on our experiences.
Our Experience In Gardiner
We’ve stayed at Yellowstone Gateway Inn and Yellowstone Riverside Cottages in Gardiner, split between trips to Yellowstone in October 2019 and April 2021. Both were highly rated mid-budget hotels with excellent reviews, and they turned out to be great experiences for us. Visiting in the off season also meant Gardiner was nice and quiet.
We like that Gardiner is small and very close to Yellowstone’s north entrance. But it doesn’t have many restaurants and there’s really not much going on in town when compared to the likes of West Yellowstone, Jackson and Cody. So one or two nights is good, but then it’s time to move on. Read more about us.
YELLOWSTONE: We’ve written a lot of travel guides for Yellowstone on our sister site Where Are Those Morgans, so head over to our Wyoming travel guides if you need help planning your visit.
Where To Stay In Gardiner
Gardiner is a very small town, so you’re never too far from the limited amenities no matter which hotel you book. Sidewalks connect all hotels running through town to the few restaurants available like The Corral, Mountain Tacos, Cowboy’s Grill and Wonderland Cafe. Gardiner Market is the only grocery store in town and it’s located centrally between the hotels you’ll find in this guide.
You can book hotel rooms with a view over the Yellowstone River and distant mountains, which is about as good as it gets in Gardiner. And if you’re visiting Yellowstone with your dogs, you can stay at either the cheap Super 8 or the luxury Yellowstone Gateway Inn because they’re the only 2 pet friendly hotels in Gardiner MT.
Both times we’ve stayed in Gardiner, our hotels were located near the grocery store and The Corral on Scott Street. So we barely ventured out into town because we spent long days in Yellowstone and used the hotels for beds and showers only!
Gardiner Hotels Map
Click or touch the map below to activate. Zoom in and out, move around the area to see exactly where each hotel is located.
Map key:
- Green stars – Low budget
- Red stars – Mid range budget
- Blue stars – High budget
How We Order Hotels
We’ve hand picked 8 Gardiner hotels for you to consider booking by taking into account previous guest ratings, location, value for money and our own experiences in the area. Read more about our editorial process.
Hotels in this guide are listed in order of average nightly cost. We analyzed nightly prices on three future dates in different seasons so we could order with a degree of accuracy.
You’ll find 2 x cheap hotels, 4 x mid range budget hotels and 2 x luxury hotels. We periodically update our guides to ensure the previous guest ratings from Booking and Google reviews are accurate.
1. Yellowstone Village Inn and Suites
Guest ratings:
- Booking.com – 8.5 / 10
- Google – 4.5 / 5
- Price: Cheap $
- Amenities: Free WiFi, free parking, seasonal indoor swimming pool, laundry
- Location: West side of Gardiner
Yellowstone Village Inn and Suites is a highly rated cheap hotel in Gardiner MT. It’s set on the edge of town, so it has wonderful unobstructed views and it even has an indoor pool open in the summer months. Prices fluctuate, but it’s often the cheapest hotel in with good ratings.
Reviewers rate staff, comfort, cleanliness and location the highest at Yellowstone Village Inn and Suites. It’s a great place to start your search if you’re visiting on a low budget thanks to excellent staff, a quiet secluded location and cheaper rates.
BOOK: Yellowstone Village Inn and Suites
2. Yellowstone Big Rock Inn
Guest ratings:
- Booking.com – 8.7 / 10
- Google – 4.4 / 5
- Price: Cheap $
- Amenities: Free WiFi, free parking, rooms with kitchens available
- Location: West side of Gardiner
Yellowstone Big Rock Inn is another top rated cheap hotel in Gardiner. Rooms are priced at the upper end of low budget, but it has lots of excellent guest reviews. It doesn’t have any standout amenities but it has a solid location and you can book a room with a basic kitchen if you prefer not to eat out.
Reviewers rate staff, comfort, cleanliness, facilities and location the highest at Yellowstone Big Rock Inn. It’s a popular choice for young families because rooms have two queen beds and at very reasonable rates.
BOOK: Yellowstone Big Rock Inn
3. Absaroka Lodge
Guest ratings:
- Booking.com – 8.2 / 10
- Google – 4.3 / 5
- Price: Mid Range $$
- Amenities: Free WiFi, free parking
- Location: East side of Gardiner
Absaroka Lodge is a solid starting point for the lower end of mid-budget hotels. It doesn’t have any amenities but it does have killer views overlooking the Yellowstone River from every guest room. Its central location is also near perfect for accessing any of the restaurants in town.
Reviewers rate staff, comfort, cleanliness and location the highest at Absaroka Lodge. It doesn’t quite have the high guest ratings of other hotels listed below, but if you can find rooms at cheaper rates here you really can’t go wrong.
BOOK: Absaroka Lodge
4. 406 Lodge At Yellowstone
Guest ratings:
- Booking.com – 9.3 / 10
- Google – 4.7 / 5
- Price: Mid Range $
- Amenities: Free WiFi, free parking,
- Location: South side of Gardiner
406 Lodge at Yellowstone is a highly rated mid-budget boutique hotel in Gardiner Montana. From what we can see when looking at costs, it appears as though the lodge has the exact same nightly price throughout spring, summer and fall, so you’d pay the same price no matter when you stay.
Reviewers rate staff, comfort, cleanliness, facilities and location the highest at 406 Lodge at Yellowstone. It has huge guest suites featuring kitchenettes, it’s near the park entrance and it will even be among the cheapest places to stay on certain dates in the middle of summer.
BOOK: 406 Lodge at Yellowstone
5. Park Hotel Yellowstone
Guest ratings:
- Hotels.com – 9.6 / 10
- Google – 4.9 / 5
- Price: Mid range $$
- Amenities: Free WiFi, free parking, laundry, barbecue facilities
- Location: Southeast side of Gardiner
Park Hotel Yellowstone is an exceptionally well rated Gardiner MT hotel with superb guest reviews and comments. Its rooms with kitchenettes are decorated with care, and the hotel in small so it has an intimate atmosphere. We’ve seen prices here vary from cheap through mid-range.
Reviewers rate staff, comfort, cleanliness, facilities and location the highest at Park Hotel Yellowstone. It’s located directly next to Yellowstone’s north entrance but it’s still within walking distance of the restaurants in town.
BOOK: Park Hotel Yellowstone
6. Yellowstone Basin Inn
Guest ratings:
- Booking.com – 9.1 / 10
- Google – 4.7 / 5
- Price: Expensive $$$
- Amenities: Free WiFi, free parking, barbecue facilities, rooms with kitchens available, breakfast included
- Location: 7 minutes drive northwest of Gardiner
Yellowstone Basin Inn is the best place to stay near Gardiner MT. It has superb ratings and comments, it includes a fantastic breakfast and it’s located in a secluded area with stunning views 5 miles from town. So you’d have to drive into town for food, but there’s also no city tax added which is a nice perk.
Reviewers rate staff, comfort, cleanliness, facilities, value for money and location the highest at Yellowstone Basin Inn. You can book a room with three bedrooms if you’re traveling with your family, or couples can book a room with a kitchen if you’re looking for a quiet escape.
BOOK: Yellowstone Basin Inn
7. Yellowstone Riverside Cottages
Guest ratings:
- Booking.com – 9.1 / 10
- Google – 4.7 / 5
- Price: Luxury $$$
- Amenities: Free WiFi, free parking, rooms with kitchens available
- Location: Center of Gardiner
Yellowstone Riverside Cottages is one of two top rated hotels in Gardiner (see below for the other). It’s located in the center of town right on the Yellowstone River and we can tell you from experience that it’s a wonderful place to stay. We booked a cottage and it was excellent.
Reviewers rate staff, comfort, cleanliness, facilities and location the highest at Yellowstone Riverside Cottages. Ratings and comments are endlessly positive, you can book rooms for couples or families easily, it’s cozy and we’re confident it will surpass your expectations.
BOOK: Yellowstone Riverside Cottages
8. Yellowstone Gateway Inn
Guest ratings:
- Booking.com – 9.2 / 10
- Google – 4.8 / 5
- Price: Luxury $$$
- Amenities: Free WiFi, free parking, rooms with kitchens available, pet friendly
- Location: Center of Gardiner
Yellowstone Gateway Inn is the second of two top rated Gardiner MT hotels. We booked a one bedroom suite here and it was a superb experience because we essentially had an entire house with a full kitchen. It also happens to be the only highly rated pet friendly hotel in town.
Reviewers rate staff, comfort, facilities, cleanliness, value for money and location the highest at Yellowstone Gateway Inn. It takes a clean sweep with countless positive comments and there are rooms for both couples or families to enjoy. It’s definitely more expensive but we think it’s worth the splurge.
BOOK: Yellowstone Gateway Inn
Best Hotels In Gardiner MT By Reviews
We always look at guest reviews when booking our hotels in new travel destinations. Previous guest reviews are a fantastic resource to use because you can see genuine unbiased pros and cons from a wide range of real people.
But it’s important to use reviews as a guide only because you might not necessarily agree with others. Let’s take a look at the best hotels in Gardiner as per genuine user generated reviews from popular online resources.
1. Booking.com
According to previous guest reviews on Booking.com, your top three hotel options are:
2. Hotels.com
According to previous guest reviews on Hotels.com, your top three hotel options are:
3. Google
According to previous guest reviews on Google, your top three hotel options are:
4. Tripadvisor
According to previous guest reviews on Tripadvisor, your top three hotel options are:
Affordability
When you visit a national park that receives over 4 million tourists each year, you know accommodations are going to be booked up a long way in advance and prices are going to be higher than average. But compared to lodges inside Yellowstone, we think you’ll find Gardiner’s hotels to have more availability throughout peak months.
If you visit Yellowstone between May and September, we think you’ll be looking at $200-300 per night at a quality hotel in Gardiner MT. It’s very convenient for the park and it’s great if you’re traveling as a couple or a family and you want a quiet place to stay.
Added Tax
Bear in mind when booking your hotel in Gardiner that you’ll pay 12% hotel tax on top of your base rate. So, let’s say the basic nightly room cost at a hotel is $200.00 for one night, your actual total cost is going to be at $220.00.
- When booking your hotel using Booking.com look under the price for includes taxes and fees. This means the price you see is final and will not be subject to further add ons.
- Conversely, if you see text reading something like +$30 for taxes and fees, that means you’ll pay the hotel room cost + the additional 12% tax.
Our Verdict
Cody, Wyoming has a superb range of hotels suitable for all budgets. It’s a great little town to visit, and it has some of the lowest hotel prices around Yellowstone so it’s worth considering if you’re on a longer road trip and you want to save money before entering the park.
We’d happily recommend all four hotels we’ve stayed in (especially The Cody Hotel), but next time we visit we’d like to stay at Chamberlin Inn. It’s luxurious, it has amazing reviews and it’s bang smack in the center of town.
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We hope this guide to the best hotels in Gardiner helps with planning your visit to Montana!
Please let us know if you have any questions by commenting below.
Happy Booking,
Mark and Kristen
Best Hotels Anywhere
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Mark and Kristen Morgan are experts at finding and booking hotels. They’ve been traveling the world for over 6 years, staying at more than 500 hotels across 4 continents.
They only write about places they have personally visited themselves, which means every article you read on Best Hotels Anywhere is created directly from first hand experience. Read more about us.