I always recommend splitting up your stay in Glacier - stay a few nights on the West side and stay a few on the East.

West side is more populated, closer to "bigger" towns for amenities and hotel choices, restaurants. Great spot for seeing Lake McDonald, doing the Avalanche Lake hike, driving out to Polebridge and Bowman Lake or even spending time in Whitefish.

Then, spend a few nights on the East side. East side is more rural, not much in terms of services/amentiies/restaurants or even lodging choices, but you are close to the epic hikes. If you want to do those amazing likes like Grinnel Glacier, Iceberg Lake, etc, it's over a 2 hour drive ONE WAY from West Glacier to the Many Glacier area where these hiking trails are. And you need to get an early start as these hikes are long and parking is limited. So much easier to stay on the east side.

If you can't get lodging in the park, the KOAs on each side are great - I've stayed in both. You can get fully outfitted cabins if you can't bring your own linens.

But you're planning to come in June and it's a moot point because those trails likely won't be open.

Anonymous wrote:As someone who has been to half the National Parks, we always stay in the park if we can. Cutting down on driving and being inside the park when most people leave are both huge selling points for us.

THIS. Especially if seeing wildlife is an interest.

We stayed in Columbia Falls in 2019, pre-pandemic. It was such a pain. I would absolutely recommend staying in the park if you can.
There are very few services in the park so plan accordingly. Buy food ahead of time and bring with you in car.
Parking was a pain in 2019 so I can't imagine how much worse it is now.
We were there in July and had the best weather. June is way early for Glacier. I'd go later.
Whitefish is pretty awesome - the town has some good restaurants. The resort is very nice.

I wouldnt go in June if you plan to do major hiking and drive the whole GTTS road because it won't be open. Many of the best hikes will be inaccessible in June. Best time to go is mid July - early September. The season is extremely short.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I stayed in a Value Double at Many Glacier for under $300 per night. The room was good enough and you can’t beat the location. I also stayed at Lake McDonald. I wouldn’t go back to Glacier unless I could stay at Many Glacier but probably wouldn’t stay at Lake McDonald again (it was nice but once was enough). The park is stunning but the parking situation was a big negative.

Parking where? I haven't been there for nearly 20 years, but didn't have any problem back then.

Getting camp sites was a problem, though.

Tell me more about your problems getting campsites. I understand that sites open up six months in advance on a rolling basis, which I guess if you want more than one night at a site, you have to do a separate reservation for each night, because availability disappears within seconds?

Thanks all!
I know we are somewhat late to the game but there are still some option for lodging in the park. We are going mid-June so I think on the earlier side, but yes the rooms are $800 for Many lodge.
I did book a car last week and it was pricey - $800 for 5 days!
Appreciate the tips. I have heard parking is terrible but we are OK with getting up and going early (prefer it to stay out of the sun actually) so I did consider staying in something a little more luxe for our anniversary like Firebird.
Ive also heard people like to do two nights on the West and two on the East side.

I went in 2022 and spent one night at Lake McDonald Lodge, three nights at Many Glacier Hotel, and two nights at Glacier Park Lodge. All three were comfortable and nice. This enabled us to easily visit different areas of the park.

Anonymous wrote:If you don't yet have a rental car booked yet book your car now. It can be very challenging to get a rental car in that area during the summer.

You can get flights but there is a real shortage of rental cars. In the summer you don't need big or 4 wheel drive. Just get a cheap rental car.

I say this as someone who could not get a rental car in the area and had to drive around in a uhaul van for a week. The closest rental car available was in Spokane 6 hours away.

Agreed, rentals are expensive especially if flying into Kalispell (closest airport by far, only 20 minutes from West Glacier entrance). We got lucky and took advantage of a price drop (used Autoslash to notify when it saw a drop) and got a midsized car for $360/week, which was a GREAT deal. The original cost was $900 when first booking, 3 months in advanced.

If you don't yet have a rental car booked yet book your car now. It can be very challenging to get a rental car in that area during the summer.

You can get flights but there is a real shortage of rental cars. In the summer you don't need big or 4 wheel drive. Just get a cheap rental car.

I say this as someone who could not get a rental car in the area and had to drive around in a uhaul van for a week. The closest rental car available was in Spokane 6 hours away.

The park will be a bit less crowded in June than July and August but sometimes the Going to the Sun road is not open in June due to the snow coverage.

Anonymous wrote:12:21 poster again

I would avoid any privately owned accomodations outside of the park in West Glacier or Colombia Falls. They are low end for a lot of money.

If you want to stay outside of the park look at staying within 1-2 blocks of downtown Whitefish. You can walk to the grocery, walk to the restaurants and walk to the clubs and also walk to Whitefish Lake.

There are also a couple of motels as you are driving into Whitefish on the left hand side that are on Whitefish River. They have docks in the back and have kayaks, stand up paddleboards to paddle from the river to the lake and also have bikes you can ride into town on.

Whitefish is about a 25 minute drive to the park.

You can also look at accommodations around Flathead Lake. It is a bit further to drive.

Yes we stayed in Whitefish and really enjoyed it, as PP said, were surprised that the nicer spots there (mostly aimed at skiers, so more availability in the summer, surprisingly) were similar in price to places in Columbia Falls. Whitefish Lake is also really nice, spent half a day there very happily.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I stayed in a Value Double at Many Glacier for under $300 per night. The room was good enough and you can’t beat the location. I also stayed at Lake McDonald. I wouldn’t go back to Glacier unless I could stay at Many Glacier but probably wouldn’t stay at Lake McDonald again (it was nice but once was enough). The park is stunning but the parking situation was a big negative.

Parking where? I haven't been there for nearly 20 years, but didn't have any problem back then.

Getting camp sites was a problem, though.

At any of the primary trailheads. While they have the reservation system for the road, the volume of cars is still too high. It wasn't a traffic problem, but the parking lots and pull-offs were all full. And for most of the road, there just isn't a shoulder to pull off on, so if you are dead-set on hiking a particular trail, you may have a 30-minute walk along the road just to get there.

Agreed, we are late risers and so got to the trails later in the day and were able to get spots as people were leaving. But if you get to a trail at 10 AM the parking is a real problem, more than getting into the park, etc.

12:21 poster again

I would avoid any privately owned accomodations outside of the park in West Glacier or Colombia Falls. They are low end for a lot of money.

If you want to stay outside of the park look at staying within 1-2 blocks of downtown Whitefish. You can walk to the grocery, walk to the restaurants and walk to the clubs and also walk to Whitefish Lake.

There are also a couple of motels as you are driving into Whitefish on the left hand side that are on Whitefish River. They have docks in the back and have kayaks, stand up paddleboards to paddle from the river to the lake and also have bikes you can ride into town on.

Whitefish is about a 25 minute drive to the park.

You can also look at accommodations around Flathead Lake. It is a bit further to drive.