The ‘Yellowstone’ Ranch Is Real—and Guests Can Pay To Stay There for Under $2,000 a Night When Filming Wraps

The real star of the hit show “Yellowstone” is the Dutton Ranch, with its majestic mountain and rolling river views—and in real life, it’s a working cattle ranch where guests can pay to stay.

On the show, the owner of the sprawling property is John Dutton, played by Kevin Costner in the first four seasons and Part 1 of Season 5, who was determined to keep it in the family while condo developers kept calling.

The actual property is a working cattle ranch in Darby, MT, named the Chief Joseph Ranch. It sits in Montana’s Bitterroot Valley.

The owners, Shane and Abigail Libel, run the ranch and rent the land and its cabins out for production during the filming of the show. When filming wraps, it turns back into a working cattle ranch where the main lodge serves as the Libels’ family home.

The ranch, a five-hour drive from Yellowstone National Park, also has two cabins that can sleep up to eight people—priced at $1,400 to $1,700 a night.

One of those cabins belongs to the character Lee Dutton in Season 1 of the show. Named Fisherman Cabin, it has views of Bitterroot River, the Bitterroot Mountains, and the Sapphire Mountains. Occasionally, it houses the lodge’s staff. This cabin can be rented out for $1,400 a night for four people; there’s a $50 charge per night for each additional guest.

The second cabin, named Ben Cook Cabin, is the lodging of the Rip Wheeler character in Seasons 1 and 2. It can be rented out for $ 1,700 a night for up to four people; there’s also a $50 charge per night for each additional guest.

Both cabins have working kitchens and grills.

The Libels’ property became the unwitting star of the Taylor Sheridan–created show when producers cold-called them, according to the ranch’s website.

“We did not have the ranch listed as a film location. We are humbled and honored that Paramount chose our ranch as the setting of this amazing series,” the family writes.

Besides the cabins, the lodge’s great room, kitchen, back porch, front porch, helipad, yard, and armory are all used for filming. So are the Trapper Cabin, the barns, the corrals, the arena, the round pen, the bunkhouse, and the fields, woods, cemetery, and entrance. Some sections of the Bitterroot River are used.

From 2004 to 2012, the ranch operated as a bed-and-breakfast where guests stayed in the lodge.

When the Libels purchased the property, they transitioned the lodge into their family home and rented out the cabins.

Built in 1880, the property was named after Chief Joseph, the political leader of the Nez Perce Tribe, a Native American tribe who fought violent battles to keep its land.

In 1917, federal Judge Howard Clark Hollister and glass magnate William Ford teamed up to buy the ranch, then an enormous apple orchard. They commissioned the main building, a 6,000-square-foot lodge, to be designed by architectural firm Bates & Gamble and started cattle herding on the land. That same lodge is the home of the Dutton family on the show.