Casper Travel Guide

Updated October 2026

Overview and Things to Consider

Casper sits at 5,150 feet where the North Platte River swings past the north end of the Laramie Mountains. It has 59,038 people as of the 2020 census, second in Wyoming after Cheyenne, and it calls itself the Oil City. The Salt Creek field 40 miles north struck oil in 1889, and a refinery has operated here almost every year since. BootsnAll's Midwest Wyoming guide covers the wider region; this is the closer look at the city itself.

You'll love it if you fish, ride, or read trail diaries for fun. The North Platte below Grey Reef, 25 minutes southwest, is some of the most talked-about trout water in the West, the mountain has Nordic trails, singletrack and a waterfall within a short drive of downtown, and the Oregon, Mormon, California and Pony Express trails all crossed the river here. You'll hate it if you want a walkable resort town, a long menu of restaurants, or a mild January. The average high that month is 35°F, and the city bus doesn't run on Sundays.

The 2026 moment is a city betting on its downtown. In August the council approved the C.H. Bixby, a 118-room boutique Hilton at Midwest and Ash streets, the first new downtown hotel in about 60 years, with an opening around early 2028. Gruner Brothers Brewing took over the old Frontier Brewing space on West Second Street. The airport had its busiest July since 1981, with 10,900 passengers, even though United is now the only airline. Visit Casper estimates about 824,000 visitors to Natrona County in 2025.

What's overrated is the idea that Casper is a gas-and-sleep stop on I-25 or US 20/26 on the way to Yellowstone. The parks are a long day's drive away, and the things Casper does well, river mornings, a free trails museum, a mountain that starts at the edge of town, reward two or three nights. What's underrated is how little of it costs anything.

How Casper Got Here

Before there was a town, there was a river crossing. Ferries were taking emigrants over the North Platte here by the early 1840s, and in 1859 Louis Guinard built a bridge and trading post. The Army posted troops to guard the telegraph and mail, and after Lieutenant Caspar Collins was killed near the post in July 1865, the garrison was renamed Fort Caspar. It was abandoned in 1867. The town came 20 years later, laid out in 1888 for the Chicago and North Western Railway and officially spelled Casper because of a typo at registration. The railhead let Casper beat rivals like Bessemer, and the chartered train of Texas gunmen in the Johnson County War unloaded here.

Oil made the modern city. Salt Creek came in during 1889, Casper's first refinery opened in 1895, and as late as the early 1980s there were three refineries in or near town; Sinclair still runs one in Evansville. Coal and uranium kept Casper an energy-services town, and the World War II Casper Army Air Base became today's airport. That history shows up on a visit as a city built for work rather than for tourists: wide streets, hotel clusters at highway exits, and a regional museum at Fort Caspar that gives as much space to ranching and the energy industry as to the fort. The August 21, 2017 total solar eclipse put Casper in the path of totality and drew a flood of visitors, and Frontier Brewing opened just ahead of it, at a time when Casper had no other craft brewery.

Getting There and Around

Casper/Natrona County International Airport (CPR) is 7 miles northwest of downtown off US 20/26. Since Delta's last Salt Lake City flight left on December 3, 2024, the only scheduled service is United Express to Denver, so every trip connects there. There's no public airport shuttle, though some hotels run their own. The airport's ground transport page lists five taxi firms, including Casper Cabs at 307-577-7777, and confirms Uber and Lyft both serve the terminal.

Without a plane, the only public option is Express Arrow. On the current timetable the bus leaves Denver Union Station at 1:25pm Monday to Thursday, stops at Greeley, Cheyenne, Wheatland and Douglas, reaches Casper at 7:20pm, and carries on to Buffalo by 9:25pm. A separate run links Cheyenne, Casper, Shoshoni, Thermopolis, Cody and Billings. There's no passenger rail; the Union Pacific line into town carries freight only. By car, Cheyenne is about two and a half hours south on I-25.

Entry rules are the standard US ones. UK, Australian and most EU passport holders need an approved ESTA under the Visa Waiver Program, and the UK Foreign Office warns that an ESTA without the selfie photo now required by US Customs may need to be redone. Canadians usually need no visa and can stay up to six months, but Ottawa flags that anyone staying longer than 30 days must register with the US government. US citizens need only ID. All of this happens at your first US airport, not in Casper.

In town, Casper Area Transit runs the LINK fixed routes, color-coded Red, Yellow, Green and Blue and meeting at the Beech Street Transfer Plaza, Monday to Saturday. A ride is $1.25 with exact cash, since drivers carry no change, and a monthly pass is $30 from the transit office at 1715 East 4th Street. Check the Passio GO app before you wait, because on some weekday afternoons the city combines Red and Yellow into one alternating hourly route. Downtown is walkable, and the Platte River Trails follow the water for 11 miles. If you drive, keep WYDOT's Wyoming 511 map or app open in winter, when I-25 and the mountain passes close.

What's Changed Since 2016

December 2024: Delta pulled out of Casper after Natrona County declined to renew its minimum revenue guarantee, ending the Salt Lake City link and leaving United's Denver flights as the only service. The airport director says Casper loses about half its potential passengers to Denver's airport anyway. United held on, and by August 2026 the airport reported its highest July traffic since 1981 and named a Delta return to Salt Lake City, plus American to Dallas, Chicago or Phoenix, as recruitment targets. Ground was broken in August 2026 on a replacement for the 1954 control tower.

December 2025: Frontier Brewing Company, which opened just before the 2017 eclipse in the old Wolford's Shoe Store on East Second Street, when Casper had no other craft brewery, and moved into the old Fox Theater at 150 West Second Street in 2022, poured its last beer on December 6. In April 2026 Gruner Brothers Brewing, which opened its main taproom in the former Petroleum Club in 2017, announced Spark's, a full bar and grill in the Fox space, aiming to open in May or June 2026.

August 2026: the city approved tax increment financing for the C.H. Bixby, a $26.5 million, 118-room boutique Hilton on a vacant lot across from The Gaslight Social. Groundbreaking is expected this fall, with about 18 months of construction, so plan on early 2028 at the soonest. Until then, downtown has very few beds.

2025 to 2026: Hogadon Basin, the city-owned ski area on Casper Mountain, now charges $65 for an adult weekday ticket and $70 on weekends, and in June 2026 the council accepted a $150,000 grant toward replacing its only chairlift, installed in 1981. The city warns that a major failure of the aging lift could close the ski area outright, and the full project is expected to top $4 million.

October 2026: driving costs more. AAA's Casper metro average for regular gas was $4.19 on October 4, 2026, against $2.53 a year earlier, and diesel set a local record of $6.19 on September 25. In May 2026, lodging-tax money paid for new boardwalks, fencing, picnic tables and road work at Hell's Half Acre, and Natrona County voters decide on November 3 whether to keep that 2% lodging tax.

What the Usual Advice Gets Wrong

"You absolutely need a rental car in Casper, because there is no public transportation." That line from our own older regional guide is out of date. The city's LINK buses run four routes Monday to Saturday for $1.25, and Uber and Lyft serve the airport. You still need a car for the river, the mountain top and every day trip, but you can get around town without one.

"Base in Casper for day hikes in the Bighorn National Forest." The Bighorns start beyond Buffalo, and the bus alone takes two hours to get there. Casper's own day hike is Casper Mountain: the Bridle Trail and Garden Creek Falls at Rotary Park, or the nearly four-mile Eadsville Trail from the Trails Center. Save the Bighorns for a night in Buffalo or Sheridan.

"Grab a pint at Frontier Brewing, downtown Casper's pioneering brewery." Visit Casper's downtown page still sends you there, but Frontier closed on December 6, 2025. Gruner Brothers is moving into the space, and Black Tooth Brewing and Backwards Distilling's tasting room are open downtown.

"Fly to Casper on Delta through Salt Lake City." Delta's last flight left on December 3, 2024. United Express to Denver is the only airline, so price a Denver connection, or a Denver rental car and the drive north on I-25, against each other.

"Tour the reconstructed 1865 fort at Fort Caspar any time of year." The fort buildings open only May through September, and in 2026 they closed early, on September 20, for drainage work. From October to April the museum runs Tuesday to Saturday at half price, $2.50 for adults, and you can still walk the grounds.

"Casper is the place to see Wyoming's oil history at the Oil Museum." The oil story is told at the Fort Caspar Museum, whose regional galleries cover the energy industry, ranching and the city alongside the frontier army. For the real thing, the Salt Creek field is 40 miles north.

Ideas to Consider for Your Visit

Have you thought about spending a whole day on Casper Mountain? At Rotary Park, at the base of the mountain, the Bridle Trail climbs past Garden Creek Falls, the only waterfall in town. Higher up, the Casper Mountain Trails Center has restrooms, water and a hub of trails that are groomed for Nordic skiing in winter and open to hikers and mountain bikers in summer; the Eadsville Trail, just under four miles, has the most varied ground. Crimson Dawn Park preserves the log cabin of artist Neal Forsling. Skip Ponderosa Park unless you have a high-clearance 4x4.

If you fish, the North Platte is why you came. Visit Casper claims 3,000 to 5,000 fish per mile below the dams, and the river is fishable year-round. Grey Reef, about 25 minutes southwest, is the famous stretch, and the Miracle Mile, farther out, is wilder and more remote. Closer to town you can wade at public access points such as Morad Park, Paradise Valley and Bessemer Bend. A nonresident daily license is $14 from Wyoming Game and Fish, or $56 for five days. Hire a local guide for your first float; they know which banks are private.

Give a day to the trails the emigrants walked. Start at the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center, free, Tuesday to Saturday 9:30am to 5pm, with an 18-minute film and six galleries of diaries and wagons. Then drive WY 220 southwest past Alcova Reservoir to Independence Rock, 60 miles from town. Emigrants tried to reach it by July 4, and many carved their names into the granite; Father De Smet called it the Register of the Desert in 1840. To ride in the ruts yourself, Historic Trails West runs covered-wagon trips and Dutch oven cookouts from May 1 to September 30.

Downtown is better at night than its guidebook reputation. Backwards Distilling, the city's best-known distillery, mixes its own spirits into cocktails at its downtown tasting room. Black Tooth Brewing anchors the beer side, The Gaslight Social is the live-music room, and Gruner Brothers' original taproom, a short drive out in the old Petroleum Club, pours the beer its downtown spinoff is built on. In daylight, Lou Taubert Ranch Outfitters on East Second Street says it stocks more than 10,000 pairs of cowboy boots across nine floors, and Donells Candies is one of downtown's oldest businesses.

The Tate Geological Museum at Casper College is free, Monday to Saturday 10am to 4pm, and punches far above a community college museum. Dee the Mammoth headlines a collection of more than 6,000 fossil and mineral specimens, and staff will look at rocks you bring in. Pair it with Fort Caspar, $5 in summer, for the full sweep from dinosaurs to drilling rigs.

Drive about 40 miles west on US 20/26 to Hell's Half Acre, a 320-acre bowl of eroded ravines and caves that once had a restaurant and motel on its rim and stood in for the bug planet Klendathu in Starship Troopers. The 2026 makeover added boardwalks and picnic tables, so it's now a proper stop rather than a fence and a sign. Go in late afternoon when the low sun brings out the color.

Time a visit for rodeo if you can. The College National Finals Rodeo brings more than 400 college competitors to the Ford Wyoming Center every June, and the Central Wyoming Fair and Rodeo in July, one of the top 35 PRCA rodeos in the country, runs five nightly performances. Book rooms early for either week.

The Part Most Guides Miss

The North Platte runs right through the city, and most guides treat it as scenery. It isn't. The Platte River Trails follow the water for 11 miles through Casper, with boat launches, picnic areas and restrooms, and the in-town public access points let you wade for trout before breakfast and be back at a downtown coffee shop by nine. Wyoming law gives the riverbed to the landowner, so on a float you may only wade or anchor on public stretches, but on foot from Morad Park or Paradise Valley you don't need a boat, a guide or a car beyond a short drive. Very few cities of 59,000 have a trout river like this inside their limits.

Where to Base Yourself

Downtown and the Old Yellowstone District. The only part of Casper where you can walk to dinner, a distillery, live music and David Street Station. It suits anyone without a car and anyone who wants evenings out. The catch is beds. The Best Western Downtown Casper Hotel is one of very few, and the new boutique Hilton won't open until around 2028.

North Poplar Street by I-25. The hotel cluster off I-25 at Poplar, including the Hilton Garden Inn at 1150 North Poplar and the Quality Inn at 821 North Poplar, puts you near the Ford Wyoming Center and a short walk from the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center at 1501 North Poplar. It's the practical pick for rodeo week and early starts to the mountain. The catch is that it's a highway strip, and downtown is a drive or a bus ride away.

East side. The east-side chains, such as Holiday Inn Casper East-Medical Center and Candlewood Suites, plus extended-stay options like MainStay Suites on Granite Peak Drive, suit longer stays and quick runs to the big stores. The catch is character, since this is chain-hotel Casper, a drive from downtown, and nothing worth doing is in walking distance.

Casper Mountain campgrounds. For anglers, hikers and cheapskates, Natrona County's mountain campgrounds put you on the trails at dawn. Beartrap Campground costs $13.39 a night plus fees, reservation required. The catch is that it's primitive, with no water or utilities, and mountain nights run cold even in summer.

Realities to Be Aware Of

Budget is mostly beds and gas, and both are rough estimates. Camping at $13.39 and cooking your own food, a careful traveler with a car could keep a day near $60 to $90 before fuel. With a chain room at $109 to $140 on Booking.com in October 2026, two meals at places like Wyoming Ale Works ($14.99 to $18.99 burgers) and a museum, expect roughly $180 to $250 a day, more with a rental car. Wikivoyage lists no hostel in town.

Safety is about weather and roads more than people. Casper has very few tourist scams. The record low is minus 42°F, set on December 22, 2022, and about a third of the year's 72 inches of snow falls between March and May on average. Check Wyoming 511 before any highway drive and carry water and a warm layer. At 5,150 feet, and higher on the mountain, drink more than you think you need.

Don't bring cannabis from Colorado. Wyoming bans recreational and medical marijuana outright, possession under 3 ounces is a misdemeanor carrying up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine, and more than that is a felony. Tipping follows US norms.

Crowds are a two-week problem. CNFR week in June and the Central Wyoming Fair in July fill hotels and the restaurants near the Ford Wyoming Center. The rest of the year, the most crowded place you'll find is a Friday night at David Street Station.

If Casper Is Part of a Longer Trip

Casper is a hinge between the Front Range and the northern Rockies. South, I-25 runs to Cheyenne in about two and a half hours and on to Denver and the rest of Colorado; the Express Arrow bus takes about six hours from Denver Union Station. That puts Boulder and Estes Park, the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park, within a day's drive. North, Buffalo is two hours by bus and opens the Bighorns, with Sheridan beyond.

West is the classic Wyoming loop. US 20/26 through Shoshoni leads toward Thermopolis, Cody and Yellowstone, and Express Arrow covers the Shoshoni, Cody and Billings leg. Wikivoyage puts Grand Teton about four and three quarters hours away. Southwest, WY 220 follows the Oregon Trail corridor past Independence Rock, the old emigrant line toward Salt Lake City and Utah.

For a longer multi-stop trip, treat Casper as the start or end of an open-jaw. Fly into Denver, drive north through Casper to the parks, and fly home from Billings, Jackson or Salt Lake City instead of doubling back. That beats paying for a Casper connection twice. AirTreks builds that kind of multi-city routing if Wyoming is one leg of something bigger.

Yearly Things to Consider

Weather and the event calendar set Casper's seasons. Summer is warm, 80 to 89°F in June and July, and dry, but it's also when CNFR and the fair fill the hotels. Winter is long and cold, with highs near 35°F from December to February, though Hogadon's season runs December to April. Spring surprises people. May is the wettest month, at 2.21 inches, and it can still snow.

The counterintuitive pick is September and the first half of October. Highs run from 76°F down to about 60°F, the trails on Casper Mountain are dry, the river is still fishing, and the rodeo crowds are gone. The trade-off is that Fort Caspar's fort buildings and the wagon trips shut on September 30 (earlier in 2026), so do the history day first.

Ideas for Itineraries

3 Days in Casper

Day one, start at the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center when it opens at 9:30am, then Fort Caspar, and walk downtown in the evening for a drink at Backwards Distilling and music at The Gaslight Social. Day two, drive up Casper Mountain for the Bridle Trail to Garden Creek Falls, a loop on the Eadsville Trail, and a picnic at Crimson Dawn. Day three, buy a $14 fishing license and spend the morning at Grey Reef with a guide, then drive WY 220 to Independence Rock in the afternoon and walk its base looking for names before sunset.

5 Days in Casper

Follow the three-day plan, then add a day west, with Hell's Half Acre on US 20/26 in the morning and the Tate Geological Museum on the way back, before it closes at 4pm. Use day five for whatever grabbed you most. Anglers should float the Miracle Mile or Alcova; hikers should go back up the mountain for a longer ride or run; history readers should book a Historic Trails West wagon trip with the Dutch oven dinner on the river, May through September.

1 Week in Casper

Spend four nights in Casper on the five-day plan, then head north on I-25. Sleep in Buffalo for the Bighorns, cut across to Cody the long way through Thermopolis, and end in Yellowstone. If you're going the other way, drive south instead and pair Casper with Cheyenne before dropping into Colorado.

2 Weeks or More in Casper

With two weeks, slow down in Casper rather than adding parks. Rent something near downtown or take a kitchen suite on the east side, buy the five-day fishing license, and learn the river at different access points. Casper Mountain gives you a trail for every day of the week, and CNFR in June or the July fair can fill evenings. Take weekend trips to Buffalo and the Bighorns one week and the Oregon Trail sites and Pathfinder Reservoir the next. Come in September if you can, when the rodeo crowds have gone and the river is quiet.

Sources

What this guide is built on. Every page below was read for this guide; prices and rules were checked in October 2026.

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• Fort Caspar Museum, City of Casper (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
• Lift Ticket and Season Pass Rates, City of Casper, Hogadon Basin Ski Area (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
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• Final Frontier: Downtown Casper brewery announces closure amid growing suds slump, Oil City News (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
• New Frontier: Gruner Bros. to open restaurant in former downtown brewery space, Oil City News (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
• First new downtown Casper hotel in 60 years wins city approval, Oil City News (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
• Downtown Hilton hotel expects to break ground in fall, Oil City News (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
• Voters to decide on 2% lodging tax in upcoming general election, Oil City News (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
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• Beartrap Campground, Natrona County Parks and Recreation (accessed Oct 3, 2026)
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