Yellowstone & Rocky Mountains Self-drive Tour

Enjoy included airport lounge access before your flight to Denver, state capital of Colorado, and make your way to your downtown hotel. Denver began life as a gold-rush town as far back as 1858 where gunslingers, gamblers, gold miners, cattlemen and of course the town sheriff made this corner of Colorado the epitome of the American wild west. Now it's a bustling ultra-modern metropolis with first-class shops, restaurants, galleries, and museums where you can learn all about the region' fascinating history. Spend two days exploring this exciting city and its surrounding region including nearby Colorado Springs and Pike's Peak, just 70 miles from the city.

Pick up your hire car and depart from Denver to Cheyenne, the capital of Wyoming, breaking up your drive to South Dakota. If you journey here in July, be sure to check out the Frontier Days festival – over 40 years old – where you can enjoy some of Wyoming's best local cuisine at the food stalls put on by the city's enthusiastic residents.

Stay: Little America Cheyenne (Standard)

Head to South Dakota's Custer State National Park and Black Hills, a region of swaying prairie grasses, forested hillsides and roaming herds of bison and elk. Custer State National Park is packed full of spectacular granite peak along with the 19^th century legend of Custer's Last Stand. You can also visit Wind Cave National Park – an underground cave network which, at 140 miles of explored length, is the fifth longest in the world. Spend your last day in the exploring the fossil-rich Badlands National Park, home to 244,000 acres of sharply eroded buttes, pinnacles and spires, interspersed with mixed-grass prairie home to roaming wildlife. The 31.5-mile Badlands Loop National Scenic Byway offers 14 designated overlooks from where you can enjoy the dramatic landforms.

Stay: Alex Johnson, Rapid City (Standard) 

With more than a dozen historic buildings lining its main street, Buffalo, Wyoming offers fascinating frontier heritage along with spectacular scenery. Nestled in the foothills of the Bighorn Mountains, a sister range to the Rockies, it is half way between Mount Rushmore and Yellowstone National Park. Bighorn National Forest provides a diverse landscape that includes lush greenlands and glacier-carved valleys. Drive the Cloud Peak Skyway Scenic Byway for the best view of the Bighorn Mountains and Cloud Peak Wilderness. Not far from Buffalo is the area known as Hole in the Wall, the famous hideout of outlaws Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and other members of the notorious "Wild Bunch." Tours from the Hole in the Wall Ranch allow you to relax and cool your feet in the same meadows and streams that Butch and co found so inviting after days on the run.

With over 10,000 hydrothermal features, stunning and varied landscapes and a rich diversity of wildlife, it's hard to find enough superlatives to describe Yellowstone National Park. You'll have two days here to explore some of this enormous park and while in real terms you're only going to scratch the surface of what's on offer here, your stay will certainly give you a flavour of what is undoubtedly one of America's finest natural wonders. Visit Madison Natural Area where you'll find bubbling geothermal pools, bubbling through the earth's surface in a multitude of colours. Visit Old Faithful and its surrounding area, home to an incredible 60 percent of the world's geysers and take in the breathtaking scenery of the Yellowstone River Grand Canyon – a 1,200-foot deep, 20-mile-long canyon with a series of spectacular waterfalls and head to the Lake Area, home to Yellowstone Lake – the largest high-elevation lake in North America at some 7,500 feet above sea level.

The Tetons, a spectacular 40-mile long mountain range that rises straight out of the surrounding plains, boasts twelve peaks over 12,000 feet and provide an impressive backdrop to this beautiful lake-filled national park. You'll have two days to explore the region's beautiful lakes and mountains along a series of scenic drives including the Teton Park Road that follows the base of the mountain range from Moose to Jackson lake Junction; Jenny Lake scenic drive that skirts the shores of the clear blue waters of Jenny lake; and Signal Mountain summit road that affords a spectacular panoramic view of the region.

Stay: The Lodge at Jackson Hole (Superior)

The building of Flaming Gorge Dam in 1962 added to the already dramatic grandeur of the steep-walled Red Canyon in which it's located. More than 200,000 acres of protected land now surround the 91 mile Flaming Gorge Reservoir, surrounded by some of Utah's highest peaks and the lush forests of the majestic High Uinta Wilderness. Start your visit at the Red Canyon Vista and Visitor Center before striking our along the Flaming Gorge-Uintas National Scenic Byway, which traces the reservoir's scenic shores. Discover the Utah Field House of Natural History and Dinosaur National Monument, and allow time for a tour of the Flaming Gorge Dam. Nearby, Fossil Butte National Monument showcases some of the most incredible fossils in the world. A 7.5-mile scenic drive provides viewsof Fossil Butte and the surrounding area. Wayside exhibits illustrate the subtropical environment in which creatures existed 50 million years ago. Firehole Canyon, located just south of nearby Rock Springs, delivers the spectacular sight of chimneys and pinnacles reflected in the river.

Stay: Hampton Inn Rock Springs (Superior)

Call into the Dinosaur National Monument – a region of untamed desert and plunging canyons where ancient petroglyphs dot wind-sculpted rock formations and more than 1,500 dinosaur fossils can be seen on the exposed cliff faces of the Quarry Exhibit Hall. Then, make your way to Steamboat Springs, a mountain resort in Colorado's Yampa Valley. Travellers have visited Steamboat Springs since the early 1900s to enjoy its fishing and hunting opportunities, as well as the natural hot springs, but now the area is renowned for its excellent skiing facilities.

Stay: Gravity Haus (Standard) or The Steamboat Grand (Standard)*

* Please note Steamboat Grand reopens in December 2024

With more than 60 peaks rising over 12,000 feet, Rocky Mountain National Park delivers a true Rocky Mountain experience. A dozen magnificent alpine lakes feed the headwaters of the Colorado River – the same river that cut the Grand Canyon – and countless breathtaking views can be seen at almost every turn. Before exploring by car, catch the Rocky Mountain National Park shuttle from Estes Park to familiarise yourself with key areas of the park. Starting at the Glacier Basin Campground you can pick up either the Bear Lake route or the Moraine Park route. Trail Ridge Road and Beaver Meadow Road, the two main scenic routes through the park, wind through 50 miles of forest and mountainous  landscapes. These incredibly scenic, offering access to the higher regions of the central Rocky Mountains. At Forest Canyon Overlook, take a five-minute stroll for a magnificent view of Forest Canyon, Hayden Gorge and Gorge Lakes. Standing on the Rook of the Rockies at Rock Cut and Rainbow Curb, you're more than two miles above sea level.

Stay: Trailborn Rocky Mountains, Estes Park (Superior)

Make your way back to Denver. Having explored the city at the beginning of the holiday, we recommend you head for one of the city's many suburbs. The Santa Fe Arts District is packed with galleries, while Cherry Creek is known for having the best shopping and dining anywhere in Denver. Drop your hire car off and board your overnight flight back to the UK, arriving on day 18.