Moss Mansion Historic House,Billings
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Moss Mansion was the 1903-built home of the Preston Boyd Moss family, 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.

Admission:
$7 (adults), $3 (children 6-12). Group rates and other concessions are available

Opening time:
Guided tours take place every hour from Monday to Saturday 9am to 4pm, Sunday 1pm to 3pm in summer, and daily 1pm to 3pm in winter

Western Heritage Center,Billings
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.

Admission:
$3 (adults), free (children)

Opening time:
Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 5pm; closed on Sundays, Mondays and legal holidays

Yellowstone Art Museum,Billings
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.

Admission:
$7 (adults), $3 (children 6-18); under 6's are free

Opening time:
Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 5pm; Sunday 12pm to 5pm. Late opening until 8pm on Thursday

Zoo Montana,Billings
Montana's zoological park and botanical garden plays host to 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.

Admission:
$6 (adults), $3 (children 3-15)

Opening time:
Daily 10am to 5pm (1 May to 24 September); 10am to 4pm (24 September to 30 April). No admissions from one hour before closing

Custer National Forest,Billings
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. The 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 the Yellowstone National Park.

Yellowstone National Park,Billings
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, and is where the park's most famous attraction, the Old Faithful Geyser is to be found, drawing thousands of tourists to witness its regular eruption of steaming water. Yellowstone is also 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.

Admission:
$25 (vehicle), $12 (individual hiker or cyclist). The entrance fee is valid for seven days

Opening time:
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