Things to do in Casper
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Casper
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best overall conditions, late May to June and September to early October, with river, mountain and lake all open.
Worst for a first visit unless coming for winter, with deep cold, wind and closure prone day trip roads.
Spring is volatile, with warm days and snow in the same week and changing river flows.
Summer brings the full program and fair season, with 90s heat in town and occasional wildfire smoke.
Autumn is golden, windy and quiet, with peak fishing and hunting season across the region.
Winter works as a deliberate ski, Nordic, ice fishing and ice skating trip centered on Casper Mountain.
What's on
- College National Finals Rodeo June
More than 400 college rodeo athletes at the Ford Wyoming Center, and the tightest hotel week of the year.
- NIC Fest June
Downtown arts festival at the Nicolaysen Art Museum with music and food trucks.
- Casper Pride Fest June
A weeklong Pride celebration woven into the June festival calendar.
- Casper Marathon June
Road racing on the Platte River trail system.
- Central Wyoming Fair & Rodeo late July into August
One of Wyoming's premier fairs, with rodeo, carnival and monster trucks.
- Beartrap Summer Festival summer
A midsummer music festival in Beartrap Meadow on Casper Mountain.
- Riverfest and the Great Duck Derby late August
End of summer river party at Crossroads Park with live music, a brewfest and a duck race on the Platte.
- 5150' Festival late summer
Named for Casper's elevation, a showcase of local makers, music and food.
- Christmas tree lighting at David Street Station late November / early December
Winter season opener with tree lighting, markets and the ice rink.
Best things to do in Casper
National Historic Trails Interpretive Center
Free museum where four emigrant trails meet, with a wagon crossing simulation and a film built from pioneer journals.
Fort Caspar Museum
A reconstructed 1865 fort and replica Mormon ferry beside the North Platte crossing, with regional history galleries.
Tate Geological Museum
Free college museum built around Dee the mammoth, with a working fossil prep lab and specimens you can touch.
The Nicolaysen Art Museum
Downtown art museum with a large permanent collection, rotating Western and contemporary shows, and a kids discovery center.
Werner Wildlife Museum
A compact natural history collection of Wyoming wildlife and beyond, best paired with the Tate on the same campus trip.
David Street Station
Downtown plaza for free concerts and markets in summer and an ice rink with fire pits and glow skate nights in winter.
Backwards Distilling Company
A family owned grain to bottle distillery tasting room pouring its own rye, gin and rum in proper cocktails.
Casper Planetarium
A small school run planetarium where the live star talk outshines the dome film, on a limited public schedule.
Where to stay in Casper
Downtown / Old Yellowstone District
walkable evenings and food trips
The only walkable base, for David Street Station, the art museum, distillery and downtown restaurants.
North Poplar / I-25 corridor
families and museum first trips
Minutes from the Trails Center with the most consistently rated hotel cluster and an easy airport run.
East Casper / East 2nd Street
value, parking and eastbound departures
Home to the top rated hotel and FireRock Steakhouse, with the most convenience and the least character.
North Platte River southwest
anglers and couples
Specialty river lodging where fishing is the trip rather than a day within it.
Think twice about
- Older motel strips on West Yellowstone Highway and CY Avenue
Dated, poorly reviewed properties where the savings are not worth the room quality. Check recent reviews property by property.
- Highway commercial edges of town
Dark, windy and truck dominated at night and unwalkable, so a cheap room there costs every evening its ease.
Best restaurants in Casper
FireRock Steakhouse
Casper's consensus celebration steakhouse, with wood fired steaks, a bison ribeye and service locals praise by name.
Silver Fox Steakhouse
Serving Casper since 1980, an old school steakhouse for prime rib, bacon knots and razzleberry cobbler, with a lounge.
Racca's Pizzeria Napoletana
Certified style wood fired Neapolitan pizzas and from scratch pastas in a converted warehouse downtown.
Bosco's
A small homey Italian room famous for a hand cut ribeye dinner with soup, salad and pasta at a remarkable price.
Branding Iron
Downtown's burger fixture, with creative burgers including bison, house poutine, boozy shakes and craft beer.
J's Pub & Grill
A big friendly west side pub and grill that locals treat as a default for generous American plates and group dinners.
Himalayan Indian Cuisine
The non steak surprise locals point to, a highly rated Indian kitchen for curries and tandoor mid trip.
Eggington's
Downtown's breakfast institution, serving benedicts, skillets and house baked goods from early morning to 2pm.
Outdoor things to do in Casper
Wyoming Fly Fishing Guide Service
The longest running Grey Reef outfitter for drift boat days chasing large wild rainbows, browns and cutbows on the Platte.
Garden Creek Falls
A short Bridle Trail climb from Rotary Park to Casper's only waterfall, pretty in summer flow and frozen in winter.
Hogadon Basin Ski Area
An inverted city ski hill where you park at the summit lodge and ski down, with cheap tickets and a terrain park.
Casper Mountain Trails Center
The mountain trail hub, with groomed Nordic routes and lit night skiing in winter and bike and hike singletrack in summer.
Three Crowns Golf Club
A Robert Trent Jones Jr championship course on a remediated refinery site, with water on most holes and mountain views.
Casper Municipal Golf Course
Twenty seven holes of relaxed public golf in three nines, with mountain views and regular antelope and turkey sightings.
Alcova Reservoir
Casper's summer lake for pontoon boating, kayaking, swimming and fishing under red rock rims, with marina rentals on site.
Fremont Canyon
A sheer red rock canyon cut by the North Platte, seen free from rim overlooks beside Alcova Reservoir.
Best hotels in Casper
Trout On Inn
Riverfront cabins on the Platte where anglers and couples trade hotel polish for private water and quiet.
Best Western Plus Casper Inn & Suites
Casper's top rated hotel by review volume, a reliable modern chain stay with breakfast on the East 2nd corridor.
Hampton Inn & Suites Casper
A dependable Hilton stay on North Poplar, minutes from the Trails Center and a short drive downtown.
Hilton Garden Inn Casper
The full service pick of the north hotel cluster, with an on site restaurant for easy arrival nights.
Ramkota Hotel
Casper's largest hotel, chosen by families for its indoor water playland, hot breakfast and pet friendly rooms.
Best Western Downtown Casper Hotel
The walkable downtown base for David Street Station, the art museum and Old Yellowstone dining on foot.
Days Inn by Wyndham Casper
The credible budget sleep near downtown, a dated but adequate Wyndham motel with a large review sample.
Super 8 by Wyndham Casper West by the River
A west side budget motel with an unusually strong ranking for its tier, handy for Fort Caspar and Alcova trips.
Is Casper expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | $75 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | $150 a person |
| Splurge | $280 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Backwards Distilling Company: a few days ahead
- Wyoming Fly Fishing Guide Service: weeks ahead
- Three Crowns Golf Club: a few days ahead
- Trout On Inn: weeks ahead
- FireRock Steakhouse: a few days ahead
- Silver Fox Steakhouse: a few days ahead
- Book Grey Reef fishing guides weeks ahead for spring, fall and summer weekends.
- Reserve FireRock and Silver Fox for weekends and rodeo or fair dates, and river cabins well ahead in season.
- Reserve hotels early for the College National Finals Rodeo in June and the Central Wyoming Fair.
Is Casper safe?
- Wind gusts can exceed 50 to 60 mph in warned events year round, with crosswinds on I-25 and Highway 220.
- Carry water, blankets and a charged phone for winter highway trips and heed WYDOT warnings.
- Watch for rattlesnakes, unfenced canyon drops and slick bentonite after rain, and wildlife on dawn drives.
Casper travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Building a trip out of highway strip chains while downtown, the river and the mountain happen elsewhere.
- Treating Hell's Half Acre as a day destination rather than a 30 minute viewpoint on a loop.
- The Fort Caspar Campground, whose name suggests a better stay than its reviews support.
Getting around Casper: public transport and more
- You need a car. Downtown is the one walkable pocket and sights are 15 to 70 minutes by road.
- Use 1st Street rather than 2nd Street to reach downtown from the east.
- Crossing town takes about 20 minutes outside construction zones and parking is free almost everywhere.
- Check WYDOT conditions before winter day trips and treat a closed mountain road as final.
Who Casper suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | OK |
| Families | Great |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Casper your trip
Swearby drafts the days from places people swear by. Swap any stop, then invite the crew by text, even friends without the app. Vote on dates, track costs as you go, and everyone gets one number at the end.
Get Swearby on the App Store