Jackson Hole

Jackson Hole is a valley, not a town. The Park Service writes of "the valley known as Jackson Hole", named for the fur trapper David E. Jackson; trappers called a mountain-ringed valley a "hole". Jackson is the town in it, and Teton Village is the resort, 12 miles northwest of the town. The airport is in neither: it lies inside Grand Teton National Park, about 9 miles north of Jackson. That park had 3,800,648 recreation visits in 2025.

Winter decides much of a visit here, because the Teton Park Road and Yellowstone's South Entrance both close to cars. We read the figures below on 3 November 2026 on the Park Service's, the resort's, the airport's, Wyoming's and NOAA's own pages. We could not read the Fish and Wildlife Service's pages or the Town of Jackson's, which carry the START bus. This page therefore prints no sleigh-ride price, refuge road rule or bus fare.

Which things to do in Jackson Hole belong to the town, the resort and the park?

The things to do in Jackson Hole split by place. The town has the Town Square and the elk, Teton Village has the tram and the slopes, and the park has the peaks.

The Park Service says a standard visit to Grand Teton runs from two to four days. No source we read says how long to give the whole valley. We would add one day for the town and Teton Village, which is our own suggestion and not a published figure. For the through drive, see the Yellowstone and Grand Teton road trip.

What is there to see on Jackson's Town Square?

Jackson's Town Square is a full city block on the National Register, listed on 5 December 2003 under its formal name, George Washington Memorial Park. Cache, Center, Broadway and Deloney bound it.

The square's four elk-antler arches stand at its corners, each about 25 feet wide and 16 feet high, by the 2003 registration form. The first went up at Broadway and Cache in 1953, and the others followed in 1966, 1967 and 1969. The form says they are made of antlers that bull elk discard each year.

Wooden boardwalks replaced the square's asphalt in 1976. That form is the newest record we could read, so any current work on the square is unchecked.

Parking in town is free but not overnight, the resort's directions page says. The airport's site adds a winter rule: from 1 November to 15 April, the town bans parking on public streets and lots from 3 a.m. to 7 a.m. Antlers found inside Grand Teton stay there, because the park's alert says taking any natural product is illegal.

What does the Teton Village tram cost, and when does it run?

The Teton Village tram costs $55 a person for winter sightseeing, on Jackson Hole Mountain Resort's own page. That page says sightseeing runs daily, while the lift-ticket page says "weather permitting". Summer sightseeing in 2026 cost $67 for an adult, $44 for a junior and $59 for a senior. A family pass of up to two adults and four juniors cost $149. The resort notes that rates vary per season.

The summer tram ran from 16 May to 4 October 2026, and the resort gives 27 November 2026 as its winter opening day. We could not confirm that the tram itself runs on that day, and the resort prints the season's end only as "Closing Day, 2027". Between those two seasons, its pages list no tram ride.

The resort's pages also disagree with each other. The ride takes 9 minutes on two pages and 12 on another, and the tram's winter hours read 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on one page and 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on another. Check with the resort before you plan around either.

The tram holds 100 people and climbs 4,139 feet from a base at 6,311 feet. Adult lift tickets start at $85 for one day, and multi-day adult tickets start at $60, as the resort prints them. Ikon and Mountain Collective holders need lift reservations in 2026-27.

The resort shares a boundary with Grand Teton. The Park Service lists Granite Canyon, the Valley Trail to Phelps Lake Overlook and Marion Lake as hikes from Teton Village. Those trails can hold snow until mid-July, and park entrance fees may apply.

When do the elk reach the National Elk Refuge?

The elk reach the National Elk Refuge on their autumn migration south, the Park Service's autumn page says, without giving a date. The photograph at the top of this page shows them on the refuge in February 2020.

The resort's directory lists sleigh rides there from "mid-December through early April", through a private contractor. The directory says it does not run the businesses it lists, and that single line is all we can report on the rides.

The National Elk Refuge and Greater Yellowstone Visitor Center, in Jackson, is the place to ask. The Park Service says it opens year-round, though no page we read prints its hours.

Which roads around Jackson close to cars in winter?

The roads around Jackson that close to cars in winter are the Teton Park Road, the Moose-Wilson Road and the road into Yellowstone. The main highway stays open, and the dates below are the Park Service's.

Wyoming's transportation department (WYDOT) lists the stretch from Flagg Ranch to Yellowstone's boundary as closed for the season, with its opening time unknown. Yellowstone's only road generally open to regular vehicles all year starts at the North Entrance.

The Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center at Moose was open from 10 April to 31 October in 2026, so the visitor centre in Jackson is the winter contact. The Park Service also lists 20-minute delays on Highway 26/89/191 south of Moran Junction for October to December 2026. Its roads page says to carry tyre chains over mountain passes.

What does 2027 construction close at Taggart Lake and Death Canyon?

Construction in 2027 closes the Taggart Lake trailhead for the whole summer and the Death Canyon road into June, on Park Service pages updated in October 2026.

• Taggart Lake trailhead and trails: closed to all use from 1 May 2027, for the entire summer season.
• Death Canyon Road and trailhead: closed to June 2027 on the road-construction page, and for "the first part of the summer season" on the trip-ideas page. The park's alert feed gives 30 November 2026 as the end date, which conflicts with both. Hikes into the canyon will be longer.
• Moose-Wilson Road, Phase II: delays and closures from May 2026 into 2027.
• Moose Entrance roundabout: May 2026 to June 2027, with 20-minute delays in 2026.

The Park Service publishes no day-by-day schedule for 2027. Its advice is to arrive early or late: parking at String Lake and the Rockefeller Preserve is easier before 7 a.m. or after 3 p.m. It also names hikes at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort among the alternatives to Death Canyon.

What do the park fee and Teton County's taxes add to a bill?

The Grand Teton entrance fee is $35 a car for seven days. The park is on the 2026 surcharge list, so each non-resident aged 16 or over pays $100 more. A car with two adults from abroad therefore pays $235, and Yellowstone charges the same again. The $250 non-resident annual pass covers the entire vehicle and spares that surcharge.

Grand Teton takes no cash: the fee page says so outright, and the Moose Entrance is credit or debit only. Jackson and the tram carry no park fee. The full rules are in national park fees for international visitors.

Taxes depend on which side of the resort line you are on, by the Wyoming Department of Revenue's chart effective 1 October 2026.

Jackson has no row of its own on the chart, and we read the county's row as covering it. None of the prices above says whether tax is added on top. The wider picture is in sales tax in the USA.

How close can you legally get to elk and bears in Grand Teton?

Grand Teton's limit is 100 yards from bears and wolves and 25 yards from all other wildlife, whether you are on foot or in a car. The Superintendent's Compendium makes going closer a prohibited act. The Park Service says black and grizzly bears roam the park even in most winter months.

Bear spray is "recommended in all areas of the park", in the Park Service's words, and the Compendium says it "may be carried". That makes it advice, not a requirement. The Park Service asks for an EPA-approved product and says not to store it in a vehicle.

Food, drinks, trash, coolers and cookware go in a bear-resistant locker or a hard-sided vehicle with its doors locked and windows closed. These are the park's rules; the refuge's own could not be read.

How cold and snowy do Jackson and Moose get?

Jackson and Moose both drop far below freezing in January and reach about 80°F in July, on NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals. Jackson's station stands at 6,210 feet and Moose's at 6,444 feet.

Snow is the larger difference. NOAA's provisional normal for Jackson is 78.2 inches a year, against a provisional 165.9 inches at Moose. Yearly rain and snowmelt come to 17.64 inches at Jackson and 23.01 at Moose.

The Park Service says the first heavy snows fall by 1 November and that snow and frost are possible in any month. Our Grand Teton page quotes the Park Service's own 1958 to 2016 table for Moose, so its figures differ slightly.

Which flights land inside Grand Teton, and what are the drives instead?

Flights to the airport inside Grand Teton come from four airlines: its FAQ says Alaska, American, Delta and United "all offer year-round flights". Its winter 2026-27 schedule lists nonstops to 14 US cities, with the first rows starting on 17 December 2026. The cities are Atlanta, Boston, Chicago O'Hare, Dallas–Fort Worth, Denver, Houston Intercontinental, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Newark, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington Dulles.

The airport's summer and winter schedules print no route outside the United States, so a visitor from abroad connects through a US city. They also print no jet flight between 1 November and 16 December 2026, despite "year-round" on the FAQ page. Check with the airline for those weeks.

Avis, Budget, Enterprise, Hertz and National have desks in the terminal, and Dollar and Thrifty are in town with a free shuttle. The airport also lists taxis, Uber and Lyft, and hotel shuttles. It closes from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m., and sleeping there is not allowed. Its site names START Bus for the town. We could not confirm a route to Teton Village, so price a taxi or a rental car.

Our own routing produced these figures, not any agency, and they do not allow for snow. Our Bozeman route goes through Idaho because Yellowstone is closed to cars in winter. It uses the Mesa Falls Scenic Byway, whose winter status we could not confirm. Jackson keeps Mountain Time in both seasons, and so do all three airports, so none of these drives crosses a clock change.

Who needs a Safe Pass certificate for Teton Pass?

A Safe Pass certificate is required on Teton Pass, Wyoming Highway 22, for any vehicle towing a trailer and any recreational vehicle. Vehicles over 10,000 lb GVWR need one too. A rental RV counts, and WYDOT recommends the certificate to all other drivers. The department also lists a 60,000-lb weight limit over the pass.

WYDOT's undated leaflet says no trailer traffic is allowed from 15 November to 1 April. The leaflet describes "some of the steepest grades in the continental United States" and names Idaho's Swan Valley as the usual alternative.

Teton Pass has a recent history of failure. WYDOT says the road failed at milepost 12.8 on the weekend of 8 June 2024, leaving what it called a nearly four-hour commute by the alternative. A temporary detour opened on 28 June 2024, and the permanent roadway, at mile marker 12.6 in the later release, opened on 30 June 2025.

For the rest of the state, see Wyoming.