WONDERLAND - YELLOWSTONE IN WINTER

Tour prices are per person in British pound sterling. All lodging accommodations, mini-coach and snowcoach transportation, sleigh ride, special presentations, admissions, entertainment, special dinners, sightseeing, porterage, and the services of hotel and restaurant staff, local guides and drivers and the Tauck Director are included. Transportation from Bozeman Airport to the Chico Hot Springs Hotel is included, regardless of the time of you check in to the hotel, provided you have furnished us with accurate flight arrival information at least three weeks prior to the start of your tour. Transportation from the Wort Hotel to Jackson Hole Airport is also included when you check out of the hotel. Transportation to and from airports may be shared with other Tauck guests.

Day - 1
Arrive Bozeman, and on to Chico Hot Springs.
Tauck's wintertime Culturious Yellowstone tour begins at 6:30 PM at the Chico Hot Springs Resort & Day Spa. A transfer is included from Bozeman Airport to the Chico Hot Springs Resort & Day Spa in Pray, Montana, in the foothills of the Absaroka Mountains, not far from Yellowstone’s north entrance, for a two-night stay. Your historic lodge, established in 1900, offers two restaurants, a Western saloon, two mineral hot pools, and a full-service spa. Join us this evening for a welcome reception and dinner.
MEALS : D
LODGING : CHICO HOT SPRINGS RESORT & DAY SPA

Day - 2
Hot springs, sled dogs & more
Take a morning dip in one of the Chico Hot Springs Resort’s open-air swimming pools, heated by underground hot springs. The waters have healing powers, if you believe the legends of gold miners and Native Americans... and even if you don’t, an immersion here is a warm introduction to the geothermal wonders of this volcanic plateau. Meet a professional dog sledder and get the lowdown on the world of dogsled racing. After lunch at the resort, you'll have a choice of winter exploration this afternoon: You can don a pair of snow shoes and head off on a guided walk through the woods and meadows near Chico Hot Springs, or enjoy a fun horse and carriage ride along the area's snow-encrusted trails. Return to your lodge for an early evening presentation by noted naturalist and wildlife photographer MacNeil Lyons on the some of the iconic species – including the bear, wolf and bison – you might meet on your travels in Yellowstone's winter wonderland. Dinner is at your leisure at the resort tonight.
MEALS : B, L, D
LODGING : CHICO HOT SPRINGS RESORT & DAY SPA

Day - 3
Geysers, fumaroles & paint pots in Yellowstone
Depart Chico Hot Springs and head out along the Yellowstone River, teeming with ice floes, to the north entrance of Yellowstone National Park – the only one open in wintertime – welcoming you to a park that is empty of crowds, silent, and eerily peaceful and pristine in shades of white. The temperatures in winter can reach 40 below, yet the ground steams through hidden fissures and hot springs, wafting great clouds across the white landscape, where distant herds of bison and elk drift through it like apparitions in a fog; hot springs here are wildlife magnets. Your first stop on your wintertime Yellowstone tour is Mammoth Hot Springs, an enormous complex of hot springs on a hill of travertine, which you'll explore along with a visit to the Albright Visitor Center. Then board a snowcoach for a trek to some of Yellowstone's geothermal spectacles – boiling springs, fumaroles, mud volcanoes, and geysers – which miners and mountain men called “places where hell bubbled up,” and American Indians considered sacred. In the crisp cold air of winter, the thermal features are all the more present, billowing steam, hissing water, and spume that encrust trees with frost and paint white masks on the faces of bison. You'll see Gibbon Falls, an 84-foot cascade frozen in a veil of ice; the Norris Geyser Basin; the aptly named Fountain Paint Pots, oozing pools of liquefied rock oxidized in reds, yellows, and browns; and you'll walk through the alien world that steams around Black Sand Geyser and Midway Geyser Basin. Arrive at the Old Faithful Snow Lodge – your home for the next three nights – to warm up and settle in, then walk outside to witness the eruption (on average every 94 minutes) with no crowds between you and the legendary clockwork geyser... a sudden explosion of boiling water that hisses upward to 180 feet for one to five minutes, drifting a curtain of steam in the icy air! Enjoy dinner at your leisure at the lodge tonight.
MEALS : B, L, D
LODGING : OLD FAITHFUL SNOW LODGE

Day - 4
A grand canyon & Hayden Valley
The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is considered the soul of the park, deep in its interior, and you'll set out for it from your lodge today via snowcoach, over roadless terrain. En route, visit West Thumb Geyser Basin at a corner of Yellowstone Lake, and the Mud Volcanoes, bubbling mud hills that emit methane. Discover the sub-alpine Hayden Valley, once a vast lake bed, now a surreal winter landscape alive with trumpeter swans, bison, elk, and moose, home to the Sulfur Spring and the Black Dragon Caldron... and a good place to spot fox and coyote, too. After stopping for a boxed lunch, nothing prepares you for the sight of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone itself – a fantasy landscape with a deep gorge blown open by an ancient volcanic eruption, then carved by glaciers and the river itself, nearly a mile wide and plunging 1,200 feet with two torrential waterfalls, each with an arc of spume-made ice and crystalline forests up and down the steep banks. Members of an expedition in 1870 who first happened upon the canyon stood speechless on its rim for a full five minutes... silent... which may be the best way to describe it. And they didn’t see it in winter! Return this afternoon to the Old Faithful Snow Lodge, where you can choose to enjoy a ranger presentation on your own at the Visitor Center before dinner at your leisure.
MEALS : B, L, D
LODGING : OLD FAITHFUL SNOW LODGE

Day - 5
Yellowstone as you please, plus a snowshoe trek
Days are exquisitely short this time of year, and this one begins with a morning that is yours to spend as you wish. You might rent cross country skis to cover more ground, or take a snowmobile for a spin (please note – some activities are at an additional charge). Or there is always a quiet day of indoor activities with the most incredible view... cozying up in the rustic comforts of the lodge beside a welcoming fire, or enjoying the Geyser Grill and the great timbered dining room. There are about 300 geysers in Yellowstone Park (more than in all the rest of the world combined), many of them even more spectacular than the famous one on your doorstep... and you'll see some of them this afternoon, when you join a local guide for a snowshoeing trek through some of the less visited places in the Lower Geyser Basin near Old Faithful. Of course, you'll also have time today to do whatever... like visit the new Old Faithful Visitor Center, watch the geyser erupt, ski, skate or just relax by the fire...
MEALS : B, D
LODGING : OLD FAITHFUL SNOW LODGE

Day - 6
The Tetons and the National Elk Refuge
The ice on Yellowstone Lake can freeze three feet thick, yet where the edges meet the warmth of boiling springs, there are patches of open water where otters frolic and catch fish – and coyotes try to steal them. Stand in its awesome solitude and you are part of the picture. In Yellowstone tour by snowcoach via Kepler Falls and the West Thumb Geyser Basin to Flagg Ranch, once an army station when the military maintained the Park. Leave your snow vehicle behind for travels to Jackson. Following lunch at Flagg Ranch, a horse-drawn sleigh takes you into the heart of the National Elk Refuge. You learn that vast congregations of elk – 7,500 out of what was once a population of 25,000 – weather the harsh winter here en masse; learn how conservation efforts over the decades strive to keep the remaining herds alive – including the annual antler auction, where Boy Scouts collect the great antlers shed by bulls in the spring and auction them off to pay for conservation efforts. Sled through the steaming, pawing winter world of the herd, as they watch you pass. Return from the tundra to your historic hotel in the heart of Jackson... with unforgettable images to contemplate. Your evening is free to spend as you please in Jackson.
MEALS : B, L
LODGING : THE WORT HOTEL

Day - 7
Historic Jackson at your leisure
The day is entirely free to do as you please in the beautiful town of Jackson, with the majestic peaks of the Tetons all around you in the distance. You might want to spend some time sitting by the fire or visiting the Silver Dollar Bar at your historic Wort Hotel (where the bar is actually made of silver dollars); re-enter civilization among the town's unique galleries and boutiques; or be really adventurous, bundle up and go dog sledding or snowmobiling (both of which would require advanced bookings and additional fees, and could be arranged through the hotel concierge). Have lunch on your own today, and don't miss the famous elk antlers of the town square. Tonight's special farewell reception and dinner takes place at The National Museum of Wildlife Art, whose galleries house a stunning collection of paintings, drawings and sculpture celebrating Western wildlife... and illuminating the natural world and humanity’s place in it (including you!).
MEALS : B, D
LODGING : THE WORT HOTEL

Day - 8
Farewell to Yellowstone's winter wonderland
Your Culturious Yellowstone in Winter tour ends in Jackson. Fly home anytime. A transfer is included from The Wort Hotel to Jackson Hole Airport. Checkout time is 11:00 AM; post stays available. You should allow two hours for flight check-in at the Jackson Hole Airport.
MEALS : B

Nights 1-2
Chico Hot Springs Resort & Day Spa - Pray, Montana
Chico Hot Springs Resort & Day Spa is located in the heart of Montana's Paradise Valley, just north of Yellowstone National Park – and nestled in the foothills of the breathtaking Absaroka Mountain Range. This quaint and cozy resort’s main attractions are the open-air mineral hot springs pools, where the temperature averages 96° – 103° F… and that means guests can soak and swim in January. The historic resort, which opened in 1900, is intricately tied to the history of the hot springs pools, known for their “healing waters.” Optional outdoor winter activities include trail rides and dogsled treks… and then there’s always the spa…

Nights 3-5
Old Faithful Snow Lodge - Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Location, location, location… Just steps away from one of the world’s most famous icons, Old Faithful Snow Lodge is a warm and comfortable oasis in the winter wonderland of Yellowstone. Take advantage of optional activities, from ice skating to off-trail snowshoeing to skiing. Yellowstone National Park in winter is surreal, isolated and pristine… and a roaring fire in a fireplace at the lodge welcomes you back from exploring…Tauck Guests enjoy complimentary Internet access in guest rooms!

Nights 6-7
The Wort Hotel - Jackson, Wyoming
Once you arrive, you’ll discover why “Meet me at the Wort” is heard so often in Jackson Hole! Only half a block from the lively town square and surrounded by museums, galleries, restaurants and nightlife, The Wort Hotel is a beloved historic landmark and has long been the place to be in this mountain town. A favourite gathering place at the hotel, the Silver Dollar Bar, was designed and built by a German cabinetmaker using 2,032 uncirculated silver dollars from the Federal Reserve in Denver. A member of Historic Hotels of America and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, The Wort Hotel was chosen as one of the Top 50 Inns of America by National Geographic Traveller magazine. Tauck Guests enjoy complimentary Internet access in guest rooms!