Yellowstone camping and RV campgrounds.

All 11 Yellowstone campgrounds, compared.

If you want the short version: Madison for tents, with 117 tent-only sites and the earliest opening on May 1; Fishing Bridge RV Park if you need hookups, because nothing else in the park has them; Mammoth outside the summer season, because nothing else is open; and Slough Creek or Indian Creek at $20 if you want small and quiet and can live without a generator. Every figure below is the park's 2026 schedule as published on the NPS campgrounds page, with coordinates from the NPS API. RV limits are for the RV and towed or towing vehicle combined, as NPS defines them, and fees are per night; the Lodges campgrounds add tax. The operator's own dates page lists each closing one day later than NPS. Confirm before you book.

How to book.

Two systems. The five Lodges campgrounds book through Yellowstone National Park Lodges, whose reservations page opens bookings up to 13 months ahead: on the 5th of each month it starts taking the same month of the following year. The same page says that from the 2027 summer season those five campgrounds move to Recreation.gov with reservations opening about six months ahead. The NPS campgrounds book through Recreation.gov, and NPS says you can book a site exactly six months before the date of your stay.

Mammoth is the exception: reservations only from April 15 to October 15, first-come, first-served the rest of the year, per the NPS table. That makes it the winter option, with a 30-foot combined length limit from mid-October through April and 45 feet in summer.

Two details that cost money. Through 2026 the Lodges assign your site at check-in, so you cannot pick a site number; that changes when the campgrounds move to Recreation.gov in 2027. And Access Pass or Senior Pass holders get 50% off the standard rate at Bridge Bay, Canyon, Grant Village, and Madison, but not at Fishing Bridge RV Park. Book with the pass rate and show the pass at check-in.

There is no dispersed camping. NPS prohibits car camping and overnight vehicle parking in pullouts, parking areas, picnic grounds, or anywhere other than a designated campground. If everything is full, the gateway towns have private campgrounds and RV parks.

RVs: where your rig fits.

NPS sets a 75-foot maximum for recreational vehicles on park roads. The campground limit is usually the real constraint, and every figure on this page is the NPS "RV plus vehicle" combined length. Fishing Bridge RV Park is the only full-hookup campground (water, sewer, and 30- or 50-amp electric), it is hard-sided only, and its limit is 95 feet. Madison and Bridge Bay take rigs to 60 feet, Grant Village to 50, Canyon to 40. The NPS campgrounds cap at 25 to 35 feet, except Mammoth, which allows 45 feet from May through mid-October. Two limits hide a road: Slough Creek's 30 feet is down a two-mile dirt road that NPS tells you to assess first, and Tower Fall's 30 feet includes a hairpin curve. Tent-only sites are ground tents only, so a truck camper or a roof-top tent has to book an RV site.

Dump stations are at the five Lodges campgrounds: Bridge Bay, Canyon, Fishing Bridge, Grant Village, and Madison. None of the NPS campgrounds has one, but the operator says any Yellowstone visitor can use them free, reservation or not. Showers and laundry are the same three places every time: Fishing Bridge RV Park, Canyon, and Grant Village. Two showers a night are included if you are camped there; everyone else pays $5.45 plus tax. Two roads deserve extra thought with a long rig: Dunraven Pass between Canyon and Tower, and the Beartooth Highway outside the Northeast Entrance. Both are high and steep, and both open late (May 22 in 2026). Yellowstone road closures has every road's dates. If you would rather not tow into the park, where to stay in Yellowstone compares gateway bases.

Pebble Creek is closed and not listed.

Camp rules that change your trip.

Two operators, two rulebooks. NPS sets checkout at 10 am; the Lodges campgrounds check in at 1 pm and out at 11 am. Both cap a site at six people, or one family. Group sites exist only at Grant Village (8), Bridge Bay (4), and Madison (3).

Stay limits follow you, not the site. From July 1 through Labor Day you get 14 nights in the park; the rest of the year, 30. The season total is 44 nights, counted across NPS and Lodges campgrounds together, so you cannot stack a longer stay by hopping. Fishing Bridge RV Park has no stay limit.

Generators run 8 am to 8 pm at 60 decibels, at RV or combination sites only. NPS does not permit them at all at Indian Creek, Lewis Lake, Pebble Creek, Slough Creek, or Tower Fall. Those are four of the five cheapest campgrounds, so plan power before you book on price. Quiet hours at the Lodges campgrounds are 10 pm to 6 am.

Food goes in the locker. NPS requires every odorous item (food, cooking gear, toiletries, garbage) to be secured when not in use, and bear-proof boxes are at many sites. Every campground has food storage lockers except Fishing Bridge RV Park, which takes hard-sided rigs only because grizzly bears frequent that area. Wood and charcoal fires are allowed everywhere except Fishing Bridge. Full storage rules are on the NPS safety page.

Backcountry camping is a different system. NPS has 293 designated backcountry sites, a permit is required year-round, and it costs $5 per person per night plus a $10 reservation fee. The early access lottery runs March 1 to 20. See the NPS backcountry page.

Camping and the crowd calendar.

The campgrounds open as the roads do, which is also when the crowds arrive. In May, Mammoth (year-round), Madison (May 1), Fishing Bridge (May 8), Bridge Bay (May 15), Tower Fall (May 22), and Canyon (May 29) open, and the month averages 55% of July's visits. By June 26 every campground that opens this year is open, and July is the peak. September keeps most campgrounds open at 86% of July's visits. October is a third of July: Lewis Lake closes October 11, Slough Creek October 12, Madison and Fishing Bridge October 17, and Mammoth stays open. Our pick for quiet camping with the park open is late May, mid-September, or the first half of October.

Month-by-month tradeoffs are on the best time to visit Yellowstone page.

Outside the park.

The gateway towns have private RV parks and campgrounds: West Yellowstone at the West Entrance, Gardiner at the North Entrance, Cooke City at the Northeast Entrance, and Cody east of the East Entrance. The closest public alternative is Custer Gallatin National Forest, which lists fourteen campgrounds within 35 miles by the entrance they serve: Eagle Creek is 2 miles from the North Entrance, Baker's Hole 3 miles from the West, Soda Butte 6 and Colter 7 miles from the Northeast. This page does not track their seasons or prices, so book those directly with the operator.

Common questions.

How far in advance can you book Yellowstone camping?

For the five Lodges campgrounds, up to 13 months ahead through Yellowstone National Park Lodges (bookings open on the 5th of each month for the same month next year); from the 2027 season they move to Recreation.gov with about six months' notice. For the NPS campgrounds on Recreation.gov, NPS says exactly six months before the date of your stay.

Which Yellowstone campground is open year-round?

Mammoth, near the North Entrance. Reservations run April 15 to October 15 and it is first-come, first-served the rest of the year, with a 30-foot combined RV-and-vehicle limit from mid-October through April.

Which campgrounds have full hookups?

Only Fishing Bridge RV Park. It is hard-sided vehicles only, no tents or tent-trailers, with a 95-foot combined RV-and-vehicle limit and a season of May 8 to October 17, 2026.

Can you camp anywhere in Yellowstone?

No. NPS prohibits car camping and overnight parking in pullouts, parking areas, picnic grounds, or anywhere other than a designated campground. Backcountry camping needs a separate permit.

Is Pebble Creek campground open?

No. NPS lists it as closed until further notice after flood damage.

How hard is it to get a Yellowstone campsite?

Hard in summer. The park has 11 campgrounds and over 2,000 campsites against roughly 920,000 visits in an average July, and NPS says most campsites are reserved far in advance. Book the day your window opens: 13 months out for the Lodges campgrounds through 2026, exactly six months out on Recreation.gov. Mammoth is first-come, first-served outside April 15 to October 15, which is the only way in without a reservation.

Is it safe to sleep in a tent in Yellowstone?

Tents are allowed at every campground except Fishing Bridge RV Park, which takes hard-sided rigs only because grizzly bears frequent that area. Everywhere else, NPS requires all odorous items, including food, cooking gear, toiletries, and garbage, to be secured when they are not in use, and food storage lockers are provided at every campground except Fishing Bridge.

What happened to Norris Campground?

It is not on the park's list. NPS lists 11 campgrounds on its campgrounds page and its operating dates page, and Norris is on neither. Older guides that count 12 campgrounds are out of date.

Where these facts come from

Every campground figure (sites, seasons, fees, combined RV limits, dump stations, the six-month Recreation.gov rule, and the no-dispersed-camping rule) comes from the NPS Yellowstone campgrounds page; toilets and showers from the NPS API campground records and the operator's campground pages; campground coordinates from the NPS API. The 13-month booking window and the 2027 move to Recreation.gov come from the operator's reservations page; the Lodges rules (check-in and check-out, the 44-night season cap, quiet hours, generators, site assignment, pass discounts, dump-station access, showers, and tent-only sites) from the operator's camping page and showers page; the NPS regulations (occupancy, checkout, stay limits, fires, food storage, generators), food lockers, group sites, and Madison's tent-only count from the NPS campground records in the NPS API; backcountry permits from the NPS backcountry page; forest campgrounds from the Custer Gallatin National Forest page. The 75-foot road limit comes from the NPS directions page. Crowd numbers are five-year monthly means (2021 to 2025) of recreation visits from the NPS Visitor Use Statistics Data Package on NPS IRMA Stats. Independent site, not affiliated with the National Park Service.