Best Glamping near John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway

Colter Bay Village has a few options for setting up temporary residence: first-come, first-serve campground, reservable tent-cabins and tents, an RV park, and maybe a lodge. When arriving at Colter Bay, the campground is to the right and the cabins and tent cabins are both to the left. They are operated separately; the cabins and tent-cabins are operated by the Grand Teton Lodge Company. The tent cabins and the actual cabins each have different check-in areas (a driver will pass the cabins first and the take another left to go up the hill to the tent cabins). From the cabins, there is a short walk to Jackson lake, the village with the market, laundromat, showers, and wifi, the evening ranger talks, the boat ramps, and the visitor center. The ranger talks in the evening were really marvelous.

Before arriving, we had travelled 7,000 miles across the country, tent camping the entire way. We planned to tent camp in the Tetons too, but to our dismay, we discovered that there are no practical, reservable car-camping sites, and I wasn't willing to risk first-come, first-serve as an option (good thing, because that campground was full by 9). So we reserved a tent-cabin and looked forward to a new experience. It was so wonderful that we are going back this summer.

What is a tent-cabin? It is a structure that has two log walls and two canvas walls, a canvas roof, and a little, tiny wood stove. There is an electrical light, but I don't think there are any plugs. There is a covered picnic area outside the door and a bear box for each site, along with the picnic table and fire ring. There are four beds (two bunks on each log wall), and campers will need to bring their own everything except for the bed and tent. There are flushing toilets close by, and a dishwashing sink. We had a perimeter cabin, as seen in the video.

Colter Bay Village has restaurants, a lovely and well supplied market, a laundromat and pay showers. The laundromat/shower facility has wifi which extends out as far as the gift shop and market.

The five stars is something I reserve for only our most beloved places in this world. Why we love Colter Bay: the atmosphere is just so easy going and undemanding, the people are relaxed. The landscape is breathtaking--like the water temperature of Colter Bay. The wildlife was incredible. We saw a grizzly, and a moose with her calf, among other creatures. Maybe the presence of Colter Bay was simply a release from the tension of Yellowstone, which was beautiful, but crowded, and people seemed a little edgy after being in lines, sulphur, and the very hot sun all day. But really, I believe that Colter Bay has a truly peaceful serenity that soothes the soul and is as simple and clear as the waters of Jackson lake, and as warm and smooth as the rocks that line the shore.

We stayed the first night in the glamping tent 'Eagles rest.' We were thankful for the space heater that was in there (Stayed here May 17/2025) it got down to just above freezing that night. It was SO COZY though!! There were lots of blankets, free drinks upon arrival and free coffee at an adorable upscale coffee hut on property. The bathhouse was very clean, with a fun games room and washers and dryers. We hiked close by the next day, ate in town, loved it so much we booked in last minute again cause we didn't want to leave. The manager Biz put us in a king suit with a large picture window facing the Tetons 😍. We were spoiled rotten and so thankful for every moment.

9/6/19 Conveniently located, 6 miles from west entrance of park. We had a pull thru site, 45,. Level gravel site. I didn't like that our electric and water are on site 44 grass area right next to their firepit. Our picnic area not level. Table very worn. They have a lot of different sites including ones with patio and porch swing, tent sites, cottage. Sites that back up to highway get a lot of road noise. Bathhouse attached to store was average quality, clean, good water pressure. The bathhouse attached to the indoor pool/spa smelled really moldy. Nice play area with mini golf. Small fenced dog area. Good size laundry facilities and store.

Great campground. Running water spickets are near or on every site. Bear boxes also In each sIte, plus a picnic table and fire pit wIth a grill grate that cam fold over it. There’s a flattened “pad” to pitch your tent on, and we were able to fit (2) two-person tents on it, but that was a squeeze, clearly designed for only one tent but a big one would still fit fine. There’s one restroom for the whole campground that has flush toilets, running water sinks, mirrors, and hand soap. The “caretaker” for the site has an RV right next to the restroom and he serviced it for us immediately upon request when it was out of TP. There were deer walking through the sites the whole time we were there which was awesome. Drawback to our site was that there wasn’t anywhere on it with privacy enough from other sites around it to go to the bathroom, so pretty much had to make the 5 minute walk to the bathroom each time. Also the site is right next to the lake, and lots to do and hike around it without getting in your car. The store is also right near by, maybe a 10 minute walk, and is pretty reasonably priced. Bought all our firewood there and other things we forgot like plates and cheese. We got super lucky to get the site though, as people would start showing up at 6am to get in line for the sites and while we were there they were all accounted for by 8am. “Checkout” was at 11am though, very reasonable.

Reserved a cabin at KOA in West Yellowstone; it had been raining, the area in front of our cabin was a lake!!    Our fire pit and picnic table were completely underwater.   We went to office & they assured us they would send someone over to take a look.   They threw down some boards to walk on, but fire pit was still underwater & we would have to navigate those boards to go to the restroom in the middle of the night!    

We went to the office again & asked if there was another cabin for us to move to; the manager said there was but it would be $100 upgrade!!   We asked if he would be negotiable as our cabin wasn't safe.   The manager kicked our family of 5 out, with the words.....good luck finding another place to stay in West Yellowstone this time of year!!    Luckily, we found, Hibernation Station in town - lovely place, fully furnished cabins with bathrooms.   Why anyone would stay at the crappy KOA cabins 7 miles out of town when you can stay at nicely furnish Hibernation Station cabins with bedding, private bathroom, fully equiped ktichen, walking distance to restaurants & wonderful management.    Shame on KOA for not ensuring better management.

After almost 10 back to back individual nights at campgrounds, it was nice to be able to have two back to back nights in a tent cabin.  The cabins are great with two wood walls, two canvas tent walls and roof, four drop down bunks and a nice potbelly stove.  The outside area is very nice with a table, fire ring and bear box.  Parking for the tent was directly next to the cabin and outdoor pad.

The only drawback is that the tent cabins are quite close to each other.  The family in the tent next to mine was very nice, but also quite loud.  The area luckily was quiet after 10pm.

The campground village itself was very nice, with all sorts of shopping and food options.  Since I arrived at the campground around 4pm I quickly unloaded my gear into the cabin. Instead of cooking I grabbed a bite to eat and a six pack of local beer, and headed over to a spot on Jackson Lake to have a sunset dinner.  The campground location is perfect to get out and explore.

The cabin bunks are comfortable, if not a bit loud when sleeping and moving around.  I woke myself several times with chains making noise.  After the third time, I grabbed a bottle of bike chain lubricant and did some work to make them quiet.  it worked and the rest of the night was quite peaceful.

Mornings are definitely busy in the village.  I was up around 7am and rode my bike to the General Store to grab a coffee.  I took a little ride down to the lake and drank my coffee in a quiet spot that was perfect for meditation.  I then rode back to my site and grabbed my toiletries and rode back to the Launderette/Shower.  They had a little line to get a shower stall, but it moved quickly.  The cost was $5 and it was well worth it for the ability to take a nice long uninterrupted shower.

I spent the day exploring Jackson and over into the Teton Valley and Driggs/Victor.  I returned later in the afternoon and grabbed a bite from John Colter's Ranch House .  The second night was much more quiet and peaceful with the stars shining bright.  

My only qualms about the site were about how close you are to other cabins and the noise.  I would still love to stay here again.