flying to near glacier
 

I"m thinking of flying somewhere close to glacier national park from houston. would spokane work and be somewhat interesting--i've never been there.

I assume i would stay 2-3 days in the park.

any other spots between spokane and the park that would be of interest?

Spokane is at least a 5 hour drive from West Glacier. The closest airport to GNP is Kalispell, MT which is about 45 minutes from West Glacier.

Missoula is a longish drive but may have more flights than Kalispell and is an interesting place in its own right, plus the drive from Missoula to GNP is fantastic.

Spokane, Kalispell, Calgary, Missoula. All depends on price and how far you are willing to drive. Glacier is huge and amazing - four days would be much better. The park basically shuts down most facilities mid September. nps.gov for more info and reservations.

The airfare into Kalispel is criminal.... In fact, everything associated with the Park is very expensive. The park is only open for about 4 months so the public pays for the limited opportunities to visit.

We're flying into Great Falls, Montana which has a few things to see and do in its own right and spending the first night there. The next day we'll drive about 3 hours to the east side of the park and will be staying at Many Glacier Lodge.

Like you, we didn't look into this trip until recently and were surprised to discover that all of the in-park lodging is booked and many of the nicer outside park places are, too.

That said, cancellations occur with some frequency because the folks who know about this park also know to book way, way in advance; but those folks sometimes end up canceling, creating openings for the late comers like us.

Here' the parks' website: http://secure.glacierparkinc.com/smsworld/ Do not go to another site that sells rooms, too. They charge a booking fee and do not have access to any rooms not seen on the official site. There's no booking fee thru the parks' site.

You will have to become borderline obsessive to snag a room when it becomes open because they go FAST. I won't tell you how many rimes I tried before I finally found a room. But it was for just one nite so I had to keep trying and ultimately got a room for all nites.

You'll also need to figure out which of the lodges to book. Most here recommend staying on the east side of the park for the beauty and hiking trails. Many Glacier Lodge is generally deemed to be the most central on that side.

I'll post links to some of my research, hoping it may help you at this late date:

http://www.montana-map.org/airports.htm

http://www.mtnpine.com/Mountain_Pine_Motel.html (gets pretty good reviews on tripadvisor)

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...pingcabins.cfm

http://www.glacier.national-park.com/visit.htm

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum...k_Montana.html

http://glacierparkinc.com/many_glacier_hotel.php

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...s-176100-2.cfm

Good luck! The park is supposed to be gorgeous.

I have found airfare to Kalispel to be pretty reasonable. Don't dismiss it as an option - you might get lucky. The dates I just looked at from my area is the least expensive of the four closest airports.

I booking a cabin yesterday through the Glacier Raft Co. They have new cabins that are 1 mile outside the west entrance to the park for reasonable rates.

Correction to DCD.

The park is opened 24/7, 365 days a year. The GTS Road is closed in winter months in the Alpine section; closed gates at McDonald lodge. However we still snowshoe and cross country ski on the closed portion of GTS Road all winter long. Park Rangers give interpertive snowshoe walks and talks on weekends.
The park is quiet and beautiful in the winter.

Kalispell was a great option for us.

Thanks for the correction, John.