Upper Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park

Iconic buildings and geysers, so a must do. Old Faithful is great, and eruption timings are shown in the Inn and there are many viewing places surrounding it. However, our favourite geysers were the ones you could get close to – these are further out along the boardwalks. Castle was particularly spectacular and blew for ages, although nowhere near as frequent as Old Faithful. Possible eruption times are displayed on boards next to the major geysers, but they naturally only indicate a time frame which would probably be too long for most people to wait for. We usually waited no more than 15-30 minutes at a Castle and Grand, and luckily both went off – great fun Head right to the end of the boardwalks to visit Morning glory. It’s quite a walk from Old Faithful Inn but there is plenty of geysers and other pools around. Whilst the colours of the pool have changed over the years, it is still a beautiful pool with striking features. The viewing platform goes right up to the edge. We were here very early and apart from one other couple it was very quiet. Turned out this couple lived less than two miles from us at home in the UK, what a small world!

After viewing Old Faithful we headed off to the Upper Geyser Basin that is just behind the area. There are many geothermal event areas and lots of variety of pools and geysers. The boardwalk makes it an easy stroll between areas. You can get a map for a $1 donation so you can plan your route. We were lucky enough to catch Old Faithful in a second viewing from the boardwalk from behind the area as we were walking on the path back. It was a great non crowded area and perfect viewing from above.