If you're visiting Grand Teton National Park or even Yellowstone National Park, Jackson Hole needs to be on your list. Jackson Hole is the sweetest little ski town we've ever seen.
We were there in July and I wouldn't say that skiing is our thing... although we'd both like it to be more of our thing. Therefore, there was no skiing for us in Jackson Hole but we found ourselves constantly looking up at the slopes imagining what Jackson Hole would be like during ski season.
With visiting in summer, we couldn't have asked for better weather. It might have been a little warm at times throughout the day, but the evenings cooled off and were like a dream.
We spent one full day in Jackson Hole exploring and checking things out, plus another evening for dinner and a morning at the local pharmacy. Yes, altitude sickness is a real thing and it hit Dave hard.
We had a full day on the agenda to simply explore Jackson Hole. This was so nice because all of the prior days leading up to Jackson Hole, we had been in a car driving to our destination. Here, we parked the car and didn't go back until we checked out of our hotel. We were able to walk around everywhere and we absolutely loved that, especially after so much car time on this trip.
The Town Square is quite literally the central square of Jackson Hole and features the infamous arches made of shed antlers from the nearby National Elk Refuge.
It's easy to see why people fall in love with this place. There were so many cute little shops along with some great restaurants. There were certainly more "touristy" spots, but the overall feel of the town was very local.
It's easy to see why people fall in love with this place. There were so many cute little shops along with some great restaurants. There were certainly more "touristy" spots, but the overall feel of the town was very local.
We were only in Jackson Hole for one night and stayed at the Homewood Suites, a Hilton property. The location was perfect and allowed us to walk everywhere.
260 N Millward Street
Jackson, WY 83001
(307) 739-0808
We had a kitchenette (which we didn't use, but would have been nice if you were there for a longer period of time), a living room with a fireplace (that Jessica insisted on using in July) and a separate bedroom. To say we were loving the space after our cabin life in Yellowstone is an understatement.
The accommodations came with everything you appreciate about typical hotels. We loved the 24/7 access to fresh coffee, warm cookies when we came back in the evening and the complimentary breakfast. We were back to normal hotel life and weren't complaining about it one bit.
When we searched for places to stay throughout this trip, we asked several friends and family that had visited the area. A couple of other suggestions we received were The Wort Hotel (more of a splurge) and Snow King Resort (has great views and would be ideal if you're traveling with littles).
We had dinner two nights in Jackson Hole, one with family and one by ourselves. The night that we had dinner with family, we drove from Jackson Lake Lodge in the Tetons to meet everyone.
We met up with Aunt Suzie and Uncle George for a drink at the Silver Dollar Bar before heading to dinner. This was another place that people encouraged us to check out on our trip and since it's located in The Wort Hotel, we got a little glimpse of that too.
A few sets of Aunts and Uncles stuck around after our Family Reunion in Yellowstone and this was the last time that everyone was going to get together before some started traveling home. After grabbing a drink, we met up with the others for dinner at Glorietta.
If there is one thing that stands out about Dave's family, it's that they all know good food and they all love good food. If you're going to dinner with a Campbell, you know that it's going to be good.
When we walked up, we knew we'd like this place. We were seated at a beautiful spot on the patio where we enjoyed the beautiful weather that an evening in Jackson Hole brings. The decor of the restaurant was very much our style and we had a hard time not loving every little thing about it.
When we glanced at menus, the first thing we read was "You're a stranger here but once" and that's exactly how we felt.
Not only did Dave's Uncle and Aunt who live in San Diego bring some wonderful bottles of wine for us to enjoy, but they even had one for the owner who had taken such great care of them the evening before. It was truly a beautiful evening together.
We had such a great time, the food and wine were wonderful and the company was even better. Make sure to order the olives! You'll definitely want to order dessert too. We got one of each and shared them all with each other.
Our second dinner in Jackson Hole was during the evening of our stay after a full day exploring. We'll start at dinner and work our way backwards. Since we had already eaten Italian in Jackson Hole once, we wanted to try something different.
Although, Italian and good wine are something that we could enjoy every single day.
We received all kinds of crazy good recommendations from people of places to eat dinner in Jackson Hole. We looked and looked at menus and there really was not a bad option. Since a lot of our time of this vacation was spent with other people (which we loved), we picked a date night.
We decided it would be fun to venture to a place that we would frequent often if we ever lived in Jackson Hole. We discovered Bin 22 and it was the absolute best place for us to indulge. Bin 22 is a small wine shop, specialty grocery and tapas bar... all the things we love!
The atmosphere was awesome, very laid back and genuine. We opted to sit outside on the patio (since we love those Jackson Hole evenings) and it was a beautiful setting.
String lights, community tables and all kinds of great wine. If you're ever in Jackson and want a unique night out, we encourage you to check this place out.
You are able to purchase a bottle of wine from their shop to accompany your meal, but we were on the hunt for a good Italian red so we settled for glasses... even though the bottle is always the best deal, especially at a place like this.
We started the evening with a cheese plate then the best house-pulled mozzarella followed by yummy Spanish croquettes and had the cutest little ice cream sandwiches (mint and huckleberry) for the grand finale. We love eating tapas - it's the best way for us to try several things.
And what do you know, we ended up finding the perfect Italian red and grabbed a bottle on our way out. These are our favorite types of restaurants... take the experience with you for another.
Pinky G's Pizzeria is another place that has high reviews when you're checking out places to eat in Jackson Hole so we decided we would stop late in the afternoon to grab a slice of pizza to share before dinner. It was good, but not a stop we'd recommend you have to make.
Pinky G's Pizzeria is another place that has high reviews when you're checking out places to eat in Jackson Hole so we decided we would stop late in the afternoon to grab a slice of pizza to share before dinner. It was good, but not a stop we'd recommend you have to make.
For lunch, we ate at the Local, a contemporary chophouse that serves a seasonal menu. This option was recommended to us as a nicer dinner spot, but after finding Bin 22 we knew we wanted to plan on having dinner there so stopping here for lunch still allowed us to try it out.
We split a (drum roll, please) ...buffalo burger. This was on our bucket list to try during the trip and we figured this would be a great place to try it. The burger was actually really good and the local fries were pretty yummy, too. Make sure to ask for their house dipping sauce!
Breakfast at Persephone Bakery came in at the top of Jessica's list. This chic French nook is everything you could dream of in a coffee shop and more. We're telling ya, this place is the real deal. In fact, we might just consider moving to Jackson Hole because of it.
We shared the croque madame for breakfast and a chocolate chip cookie for dessert
Dave enjoyed a mocha and Jessica a vanilla latte. This place lived up to the expectation, and exceeded it well beyond. We may have even visited twice in one day...
This is the sweetest place and just has a special feeling. It's hard to describe. Take time in Jackson Hole to stop here for breakfast, or an afternoon coffee. Sit and take in the atmosphere, watch the people around you, be inspired by the decor, feel welcome and dream about life.
Although it's deemed a bakery, Jessica has declared this her new favorite local coffee shop... and we've been to a lot. Everything about this place is absolutely wonderful. It's hard not to fall in love.
While we're discussing food, we've might as well talk about drinks. For a little vitamin-C the morning Dave woke up not feeling well, we stopped at Healthy Being Cafe & Juicery for some fresh OJ. It was good, but not sixteen dollars good and we understand the elevated cost of juicing.
H.B. is eco-friendly and sell their juices in glass bottles instead of plastic. Because of this, you have an extra $2 charge each time you purchase juice. You get your cash back once you return the bottle, but we weren't going back. So, we marked it as an experience, and now we have a souvenir.
We stopped at Cafe Genevieve and each had a cocktail off the happy hour menu. This was another spot that came highly recommended, but sadly we weren't very impressed. That said, we only had drinks so maybe that was our mistake or maybe their bartender was just having an off night?
Another stop you've got to make (without the littles) is the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar. The bar itself is a full display of the wild west. Not to mention, the bar stools are literally saddles. Jump on up and enjoy a drink here. We didn't stay long, but we had to experience it to check it off the list.
Depending on when you visit, the town offers a couple of free things to do. There is a (fake) shootout on Town Square that has been taking place since 1957. You can catch the show every night at 6 o'clock in the summer (minus Sundays). We caught the tail end one evening, but didn't make the effort to see the whole show and wouldn't necessarily recommend that you do either.
Another neat activity is the historic walking tour. Tours are free, hour long excursions that meet in town square and concentrate on the downtown area. Tours typically happen a few mornings throughout the week at 10:30. We'd recommend checking with the Jackson Hole Historical Society & Museum beforehand as they volunteer to sponsor the event.
One final unique recommendation (although it's not free) is to check out The Jackson Hole Rodeo. We thought very seriously about going, but then decided against it since we were only there for one evening. If we would have been staying longer, we would have definitely gone. The experience was recommended to us by frequent visitors to the area and we too thought it would be pretty cool.
To cap off our stay in Jackson Hole, we headed to Snow King Mountain resort for a little fun. They have all kinds of activities for every age. We settled on the Cowboy Coaster. The coaster is new(er) and has zips, twists and turns through nearly a mile of loops, curves and drops.
We just road the coaster once, but there are all kinds of passes and packages for whatever activities you are interested in. You can check out the options for yourself here.
Like we said before, Dave was not feeling great the morning we woke up in Jackson Hole. He was a trooper and quite determined not to let it ruin our time, poor guy. With a call into his doctor, we bought some
There are so many cute shops in Jackson. We had the best day taking our time exploring a handful of them. As most of you know, we are always on the hunt for a local dog store while traveling.
Jackson Hole was no different so we stopped at Teton Tails to pick up a few surprises for Hopsen. We came home with a few treats for ourselves, too. We love travel treats!
Next up was our adventure to Teton Village for a couple of nights... and we couldn't have been more excited. We were so looking forward to this part of the trip and it was seriously the best.
Don't buy $16 orange juice... seriously! Dave still can't get over that one. But on the bright side, at least we have a cool single serve glass juice jar?
Take advantage of how close together everything is in Jackson. Have drinks at one place, appetizers at another and even dinner somewhere different.
To check out more about our Family Reunion in Yellowstone, click here.
To see even more posts from our grand adventure out west, see below...
Yellowstone - Upper Loop
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