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Old Faithful, Yellowstone National Park, WY

Photo: Dietmar Rabich, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized.

SightseeingIconicFamily FavoriteOutdoor Adventure

Old Faithful

Watch Yellowstone's signature geyser shoot water more than 100 feet high from the surrounding boardwalks.

Upper Geyser Basin, Old Faithful area · Yellowstone National Park, WY

About Old Faithful

Old Faithful is a cone geyser in Yellowstone's Upper Geyser Basin, named in 1870 by the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition. Eruptions reach 106 to more than 180 feet and last 1.5 to 5 minutes, and rangers post the next predicted time at the Old Faithful Visitor Education Center. Boardwalks lead on through a basin holding roughly 150 geysers within one square mile. Next door, the 1904 Old Faithful Inn has a 65-foot lobby ceiling and a massive rhyolite fireplace.

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  • #yellowstone
  • #national park
  • #boardwalk
  • #hot springs

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What's around here?

The closest stops to Old Faithful, ordered by straight-line distance. A few more like it, plus some different kinds of fun so you can build a full day.

  • Sports & Outdoors
    Iconic

    Grand Prismatic Spring

    $25–$50

    Follow the boardwalk past Yellowstone's largest hot spring, a deep blue pool ringed in orange and yellow.

    4.5 mi awaySwitch it up: Sports & Outdoors

  • Attractions
    Family Favorite

    Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center

    Under $25

    Nonprofit wildlife park near Yellowstone's west entrance, home to rescued grizzly bears, gray wolves and other native species.

    19 mi awaySwitch it up: Attractions

  • Museums

    Norris Geyser Basin Museum

    Check prices

    A historic 1930 trailside museum on a ridge above Norris Geyser Basin, staffed by rangers in summer.

    19 mi awaySwitch it up: Museums

  • Sports & Outdoors
    History Buff

    Nez Perce National Historic Trail

    No admission fee

    A 1,170-mile historic trail across five states retracing the Nez Perce people's 1877 flight from the U.S. Army.

    19 mi awaySwitch it up: Sports & Outdoors

  • Tours
    Outdoor Adventure

    Yellowstone Helicopters

    $50+

    Helicopter sightseeing flights from West Yellowstone Airport over Hebgen Lake, Two Top and Earthquake Country, from 20-minute hops to a 60-minute wilderness explorer.

    20 mi awaySwitch it up: Tours

  • Sightseeing
    Iconic

    Roosevelt Arch

    No admission fee

    Walk or drive under the 52-foot basalt gateway that has marked Yellowstone's North Entrance since 1903.

    40 mi awayMore like this