WHERE TO STAY
Only two hotels are open during Yellowstone's winter season: Mammoth Hot Springs and the Old Faithful Snow Lodge.
 
The Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel is a very basic facility: many of the rooms lack bathrooms and showers, so you'll need to share a communal facility. Services there include a small gift shop and a restaurant in an adjacent building.
 
The Old Faithful Snow Lodge has the nicest winter lodgings in the Park. The newest hotel in Yellowstone, the Snow Lodge features rooms with two double beds and a private bathroom. Also available at the Old Faithful Snow Lodge area: smaller cabins.
 
Staying in a Yellowstone hotel during wintertime is a throwback to a more genteel style of traveling. With no TVs in the Park, many choose to spend their evenings in the hotel lobbies, chatting with fellow travelers or curling up with a book in front of a fireplace. In Mammoth, the small seating area in the lobby is augmented by chairs and desks set up in the Map Room. In the Snow Lodge, the large lobby is filled most evenings; the comfy seating around the big fireplace is a big draw, as are the many writing tables.
 
The two restaurants in the Old Faithful Snow Lodge, the Obsidian Dining Room and the Geyser Grill, are open in winter, as is as the Mammoth Hotel Dining Room.
 
For those looking for a more rustic experience, there's always camping. The Mammoth Hot Springs campground is open year-round and features a heated bathroom/shower facility. Many find that too formal and choose to pitch a tent off a ski trail; but this is truly a rustic experience: no fires are allowed, and regulations are not loosened in winter, which means hitting a Backcountry Office (in this case, the visitors centers in Mammoth and Old Faithful) and purchasing a permit. And stay away from thermal areas.
 
But be sure you are prepared for winter camping. It's one thing to throw down a tent in the middle of July in a crowded campground, another to spend a day or three at a mostly empty Yellowstone campground. The weather is always unpredictable in Yellowstone, and you'd be best off preparing for the worst -- which could mean blizzard-like conditions developing before you know it. That means packing for extreme conditions, possible accidents (which means a fully stocked first-aid kit), winter-ready equipment, a longer-than anticipated stay in the backwoods (bring extra food and ski equipment, like ski wax), an avalanche beeper, and more.
 
GETTING THERE
Despite the lack of car access to most of Yellowstone during the winter, you'll need a car to get to Mammoth or West Yellowstone. As mentioned, there are three entrance points to the Park in the wintertime. If flying, you can easily reach the North (89 miles) and West Entrances (80 miles) from Bozeman, while the North Entrance is a 170-mile drive from Billings. The East Entrance is served by Cody, while Idaho Falls (108 miles), Jackson (126 miles) and Salt Lake City (320 miles) are popular airports for those wanting to reach West Yellowstone. For most flying to Yellowstone Salt Lake City will be the cheapest option, but it's also the gateway airport farthest from the Park. However, you can find cheap fares into Billings and Bozeman during the winter months if you shop around. If you can, we'd recommend flying into Bozeman, which has its own set of winter attractions, including some high-quality alpine skiing. Bozeman is a town that takes its outdoor activities very seriously -- all in the name of fun, of course. Alas, the West Yellowstone airport is closed during winter months.

All photos courtesy of the National Park Service.

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