Arriving in Cody via Yellowstone Regional Airport sets you up perfectly, with Yellowstone, the Absaroka Range, and Wyoming cowboy country a short drive away. Cody was founded by Buffalo Bill himself in 1896, and it still feels like his town, with a nightly rodeo, a historic hotel he built, and the Shoshone River cutting through red-rock canyons on the way to the park. The feel is Western without the costume, working ranches included.

Standout experiences around Cody: - Spend a full day in the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, five museums under one roof - Catch the Cody Nite Rodeo, held every evening from June through August - Walk through Old Trail Town, a collection of frontier cabins including a Hole-in-the-Wall gang hideout - Have dinner at the Irma Hotel, which Buffalo Bill named for his daughter - Drive the Buffalo Bill Scenic Byway along the Shoshone River toward the East Entrance of Yellowstone - Visit the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center and learn about the WWII incarceration of Japanese Americans - Float the Shoshone River through Red Rock Canyon

Cody is about 50 miles from the East Entrance of Yellowstone, which makes Yellowstone Lake and Hayden Valley a realistic day trip. The Chief Joseph Scenic Byway climbs north toward the Beartooth Highway and Red Lodge, Montana, in about two hours of some of the best driving in the country. Powell is 25 minutes north, Meeteetse and its old-time mercantile are a half hour south, and the hot springs of Thermopolis are about 90 minutes away. The Cody Stampede rodeo and parade take over the Fourth of July. Come for the park and stay for the town that Buffalo Bill built.