Billings

Though they're hardly in a fashionable area, the unpretentious Chico Hot Springs are quickly becoming a popular attraction in Montana, drawing guests from New York and Hollywood. Set in the aptly-named Paradise Valley near the town of Emigrant, the springs contains two open-air mineral pools with temperatures around 93°F (34°C), perfect for relaxing. There's a restaurant and a lively bar onsite, and outdoor activities like horseback riding, dogsledding, hiking, fly fishing, white-water rafting, and cross-country skiing are on offer.

The Custer National Forest is scattered across Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota, but the forest headquarters are in Billings, Montana, and most hiking and camping is undertaken in the part of the forest located about an hour's drive to the south of the city. Custer is the most ecologically diverse forest in the north of the USA, renowned for its lake and stream fishing and home to mountain goats, big horn sheep, elk, muley and white-tailed deer, black bear, cougar, and moose. A popular outing from Billings is to follow the spectacular Beartooth Scenic Byway. The Beartooth area is also one of the gateways to Yellowstone National Park.

Address : 1310 Main Street

Website : www.fs.fed.us/r1/custer

Telephone : (406) 657-6200

The 'Garden City' doesn't have much in the way of gardens, but Missoula is an outdoor sportsman's Eden. Downtown is a collection of unique shops and lively bars where it is easier to walk or bike than drive. The University of Montana starts right where the hill ends and is a beautiful campus to wander, or catch a football game to see the Montana Grizzlies playing.Tourists often visit Missoula for outdoor activities of all kinds from skiing, kayaking, hiking, and rock climbing, to hang-gliding and mountain biking. Festivals from Ale Fest (beer) to Testy Fest (cow balls) make their home here, so come ready to celebrate and play.

Website : www.ci.missoula.mt.us

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Moss Mansion was the home of the Preston Boyd Moss family built in 1903, and has been preserved to capture the family life of the well-to-do of the era. The house was designed by New York architect, Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, whose best-known work was New York's Waldorf Astoria. Most of the original fixtures are still in the house which visitors can view during informative guided tours of the property.

Address : 914 Division Street

Website : www.mossmansion.com

Telephone : (406) 256-5100

Opening times : Tuesday to Saturday 10am-3pm, Sunday 1pm-3pm. Guided tours take place every hour.

Admission : $10 adults, $6 children 6-17. Group rates and other concessions are also available.

Listed as a National Historic Landmark, Pictograph Cave State Park, located just six miles (10km) south of Billings, provides an ideal setting for a wonderfully scenic, historically fascinating day-trip.Covering an area of 93 acres, the park is home to a complex of three caves, Ghost, Middle, and Pictograph, all linked by a paved walking trail. Two of these three caves contain evidence of habitation dating back over 4,500 years ago. To date, more 30,000 historical artefacts, such as bone tools, arrow heads, and beaded jewellery, have been discovered within the park. The pictographs that give the park its name date back more than two millennia, and their meaning is still being debated by archaeologists.Visitors to the park can anticipate pristine picnic areas, and interpretive signage, which provides good information about the prehistoric paintings, as well as the area's geology and vegetation.

Address : 3401 Coburn Road

Website : www.stateparks.mt.gov/pictograph-cave

Telephone : (406) 254 7342

Opening times : September, April, and May: daily 9am-6pm (Visitor Center 10am-4pm). May through August: daily 9am-7pm (Visitor Center 10am-6pm).

Admission : $6 per vehicle or $4 per person, payable at the Visitors Centre.

The Western Heritage Center in downtown Billings, affiliated to the Smithsonian Institution, has a collection of more than 16,000 artefacts documenting the life, culture and history of the Yellowstone River Valley. The centre's constantly changing gallery exhibitions draw around 22,000 visitors a year. The centre also hosts activities like storytelling hours, lectures, and scavenger hunts. Be sure to check the website for schedules.

Address : 2822 Montana Avenue

Website : www.ywhc.org

Telephone : (406) 256-6809

Opening times : Tuesday to Saturday 10am-5pm; closed Sundays, Mondays, and major holidays.

Admission : $5 adults, $3 seniors and students, $1 children under 12.

Montana's premier art museum, the popular Yellowstone Art Museum exhibits contemporary and historic art of the Rocky Mountain West region.Established in 1984, the museum now contains more than 3,000 works, including the Virginia Snook Collection, the largest public display of the drawings, paintings, books and memorabilia of cowboy illustrator Will James. The museum hosts events throughout the year, including art auctions and semi-annual festivals.

Address : 401 North 27th Street

E-mail : [email protected]

Website : www.artmuseum.org

Telephone : (406) 256 6804

Opening times : Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday 10am-5pm; Thursday and Friday 10am-8pm; Sunday 11am-4pm; closed Mondays and major holidays.

Admission : $6 adults, $3 students with ID and children 6-18; under 6s are free.

The world's first national park, Yellowstone was established in 1872 and despite its popularity today, most of the park still remains an undeveloped wilderness of magnificent mountain scenery, waterfalls, alpine lakes and rivers. It is renowned for its geothermal wonders and abundance of wildlife. Spilling over into Wyoming and Idaho, the enormous park is situated on top of the Yellowstone Caldera, a collapsed volcanic crater that was formed 600,000 years ago and holds within it the greatest geothermic area in the world. This unique environment includes features such as exploding geysers, thousands of steaming fumaroles, hot springs and bubbling mud pools. The park also includes one of the state's most popular attractions, the Old Faithful Geyser, which draws thousands of tourists to witness its regular eruption of steaming water.Yellowstone is home to the largest concentration of wildlife in lower USA, including grizzly and black bears, wolves, moose, and large herds of bison and elk. The two narrow waterfalls of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River cut a striking picture in the yellow-coloured rock that gives the park its name, with superb views and hiking trails for all abilities. The large alpine Yellowstone Lake fills the eastern part of the caldera and offers opportunities for boating and fishing expeditions in summer. All places of interest are accessible along the loop roads, but the intensity of visitors in summer, especially between July and August, means that one needs to hike away from the main paths to experience the true wilderness of Yellowstone National Park.

Website : www.nps.gov/yell

Telephone : (307) 344 7381

Transport : A bus service from Bozeman to West Yellowstone is available all year. Commercial transportation from Bozeman to Gardiner is available during the winter and summer seasons

Opening times : The five major visitor centres are open in summer only, generally from 8am to 7pm daily, except the Albright Visitor Center, which is the largest and is open year-round with reduced hours in winter. Of the park's five entrances, the North Entrance near Gardiner is the only one that remains open year-round to traffic. Some areas and roads are not accessible during winter.

Admission : $30 vehicle, $25 snowmobile or motorcycle, $20 individual hiker or cyclist. Valid for seven days for both Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.

Montana's zoological park and botanical garden hosts around 70,000 visitors a year and is one of the State's most popular tourist attractions, the only zoo within 600 miles (965km) of Billings. The complex covers 70 acres to the west of the city, exhibiting animals and plants native to the northern Rockies and high plains, and similar latitudes in Europe and Asia, in state-of-the-art natural habitats.

Address : 2100 South Shiloh Road

Website : www.zoomontana.org

Telephone : (406) 652 8100

Opening times : 1 May to 24 September: daily 10am-5pm. 24 September to 30 April: 10am-2pm. Admissions close one hour before grounds close.

Admission : $9 adults, $6 children 3-15. Other concessions available.