Cody, Wyoming Tourist Attractions

Address:Cody, Wyoming

Cody is a cowboy town and proud of it. Every summer, countless visitors flock to Cody, and only to glad to oblige, the town pulls out all stops. Cody is a reassembled Old West town that makes you really feel like you're back in the "wild wild west." It's the self-proclaimed Rodeo Capital of the World and an eastern gateway to Yellowstone National Park. So put on your cowboy boots and come on down!

During the summer, when the sun goes down over Cody, the rodeo's just getting started. Every night you can watch the bulls, broncos, and cowboys hash it out to see who comes out on top. The rodeo also features roping, cutting, and kids' events like the calf scramble, where about 100 kids chase a very confused young cow. Before the rodeo, there's a kiddie area with rides, games and rodeo activities. As a souvenir you can have your picture taken on a steer. The announcers do a good job of cracking funny jokes.

The 6,000-seat stadium sits out on an open terrace above the Shoshone River west of town, so enjoy a nice night under the stars. The best seats at the rodeo are just above the chutes in the Buzzard's Roost. Once a year, some of the nation's top rodeo competitors show up for the Fourth of July Cody Stampede, so this is a great time to visit Cody!

Adventure seekers will really enjoy The Buffalo Bill Dam, which drops l328 feet into a gorge carved by the Shoshone River west of Cody. You can walk out over the dam and look down the steep canyon or back across the deep blue water of the reservoir. The lake behind the dam is perfect for anglers, boaters and windsurfers. An octagonal visitor center perched next to the dam provides exhibits on the reservoir, wildlife and area recreation. There is a boat launch along the north lakeshore and a clean, spacious campground.

For more outdoors activities, visit Buffalo Bill State Park, located along the canyon and reservoir six miles west of Cody. It's a great place for hiking, fishing and a variety of watersports, particularly windsurfing. The park also has facilities for camping and picnicking. Although there isn't a marked network of bike paths in the Cody area, you can ride on the Forest Service trails west of town in the Shoshone National Forest.

Another Cody highlight is Tecumseh's Old West Miniature Village and Museum. The room-size landscape depicts everything from fur trappers floating the rivers to Custer's last moments at Little Big Horn. There is also a sizable collection of Indian and pioneer artifacts and taxidermy. The collection of the Buffalo Bill Museum interprets the history of the American cowboy, dude ranching, Western conservation and frontier entrepreneurship. Highlights include the great interactive exhibitions.

At the Museum of the Old West at Old Trail Town, you can walk the authentically-creaky boardwalks as you pass by gray storefronts and clapboard cabins gathered from ghost towns around the region and assembled on the original town site of Cody City. There's also an 1883 cabin from Kaycee where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid once conspired, a saloon decorated with bullet holes, and what must be the largest collection of worn-out buckboard carriages in the U.S. Also on-site: the relocated graves of a number of Western notables, including John "Liver-eatin'" Johnston, the model for Robert Redford's Jeremiah Johnson.

Take a ride on the Cody Trolley Tours to get an informative, witty look back at Cody's colorful past with a focus on the town's founding father Buffalo Bill. These hour-long tours take you on a loop that includes historic homes, public art and the Buffalo Bill Reservoir. The owner-operators, Mike and Margie Johnson, deliver a running commentary that's helped along by visual aids and recorded snippets that will keep the kids interested.

Enjoy a swinging nightlife at Cassie's, where the dance floor is full of real and wannabe cowboys and cowgirls. For meals, Cody has a good supply of familiar fast-food joints and a few informal, inexpensive places. Peter's Cafe Bakery serves a full breakfast starting at 6:45am, with fresh-baked bagels, pastries and espresso, plus subs and burgers for lunch and dinner. The Beta Coffeehouse serves coffee drinks and fresh-baked muffins and bagels. One of the best places day or night to get a steak or beer and a burger or Rocky Mountain oysters, is the thoroughly Western Proud Cut Saloon, where lots of rodeo riders keep a running tab.

Spend the night in Cody in a Victorian B&B, or one of several inns and cabins. For budget-conscious travelers, Bison Willy's Base Camp is a home converted into a hostel with dormitory-style bunks going for $20 a night and private rooms for $75. There's a communal kitchen, a "beer deck," and a dog kennel on-site. Area campgrounds are also great for sleeping under Wyoming's famous sky.

Cody is located on the eastern Edge of Yellowstone National Park. It is serviced by the Yellowstone Regional Airport, located just two minutes from downtown Cody, and approximately 52 miles from the east gate of Yellowstone National Park. If you decide to drive, we recommend taking your time on the way to really take in the views!