Yellowstone Gateways & the Beartooths

The Montana towns at three of Yellowstone's five entrances, plus Livingston, Paradise Valley and the Beartooth Highway over the mountains to Red Lodge.

Three of Yellowstone National Park's five entrances are in Montana, and the small towns beside them are where many visitors stay. Gardiner, at the North Entrance, sits on the 45th parallel next to the Roosevelt Arch, whose cornerstone Theodore Roosevelt laid in 1903; its inscription reads "For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People". The North Entrance is the only one open to cars all year. West Yellowstone, at the West Entrance, grew up around the railway in 1908 and is the busiest gateway, as well as a winter base for snowmobile and snowcoach trips into the park. Cooke City, at the Northeast Entrance, is a tiny mining-era village; in winter the road from Gardiner through the Lamar Valley ends there. From 2026, Yellowstone charges international visitors aged 16 and over an extra $100 per person on top of the vehicle fee, unless they hold an annual or America the Beautiful pass. North of Gardiner, US 89 follows the Yellowstone River through Paradise Valley to Livingston, the Northern Pacific's original railway gateway to the park, where the 1902 depot is now a summer museum. The valley is known for fly fishing and hot springs. The Beartooth Highway, US 212, runs 68 miles from Cooke City and the Northeast Entrance to Red Lodge, climbing to 10,947 feet at Beartooth Pass, which lies just across the line in Wyoming. Opened in 1936, it is an All-American Road and usually open from late May to mid-October; in 2026 it closed for the season on 9 October. Red Lodge, the old coal-mining town at its eastern end, has a small ski area, Red Lodge Mountain, and hosts the national skijoring finals.