Glacier-Banaff-Jasper NPs Car Rental
 

Working on car rental at Kalispell airport. I can find no rental with unlimited miles. Has anyone rented from there and what did you find. The farthest north we will be traveling is Jasper NP. Any advice, input will be appreciated. Right now I can get 1125 free miles with .15 per mile after that.

Let me ask the question differently.

Why are you flying into Kalispell when Calgary is a real airport with regular car rentals and is very convenient to all three of your parks.

It's about 3.5 hours straight south from the Calgary airport to the Many Glacier part of GNP. And it's a nice level drive.

It's slightly more an hour from Calgary to Banff townsite.

There's a Walmart Supercenter 5-6 minutes directly off the road from the airport going south towards the border. The only thing you can't bring across the border is raw meat and citrus.

I've always rented the car at Calgary airport and driven both ways.

Also, there's a Delta hotel in the airport across the street from the terminal. So if you have an early flight on your way out you can sleep there.

Myers insist on sending everyone to Canada for flights. Kalispell, also a REAL airport, has non stop seasonal service to Seattle, Portland ,Minneapolis, Salt Lake City,Denver, Chicago,Los Angles,San Francisco, Las Vegas and Atlanta. A smaller airport with no hassle and no customs or immigration.

If Wal-Mart is important it also has one of those and is the shopping hub of the county.West entrance to the park is only 32 miles away.

Actually Kalispell does have all the car rentals. Maybe I don't travel that often but never ran into limited miles when renting a car. Guess we will have to deal with it as airfare is already booked..

I have ran into limited miles when flying into smaller airports - Rapid City & Billings are two I can remember. I kept searching for car rental codes on Google and was able to find a code for unlimited mileage. Just keep searching. Hopefully you will find a code for one of the rental companies in Kalispell.

Johns, I don't send everyone to Canada. When I know of something easier I suggest it.

I'm also amused at how many people take the attitude "YIKES, I'm not going to a foreign country!!!!"

I've landed in Calgary four time and crossed the border four times on two of those trips. I've never had to wait more than 5 minutes at the border there.

You're suggesting the west entrance as if there's anything of interest there compared to the east side.

I suggested the west entrance because they are flying into Kalispell, 30 miles from the west entrance! There is the whole GTTS road and many trails to explore just 45 minutes after landing. As I've mentioned in many questions about the Park, the east side has longer and more challenging hikes and also is the gem of the Park certainly not to be missed with more time spent east side than west.

However, Kalispell IS a REAL airport with many non stop flights and all major car rentals as I wrote on July 19 with the entrance only 30 miles from the airport!!!

Now, boys, stay calm. No shoot-outs in the streets of Kalispell!

I personally don't see the relevance of a WalMart to an auto trip, but I do see the relevance of looking at a rental in Canadian dollars and doing the high end travel at the beginning. Flight + car may not be cheaper through Calgary, but if the OP is going to Jasper, Banff, and Waterton Lakes, it makes sense to look.

:) :) :)

Ackislander,
You don't see the relevance of a Walmart to an auto trip?

A Walmart wouldn't be relevant for those who insist of eating breakfast, lunch and dinner in a restaurant.

However, for those who want to get an early start and/or be out sightseeing or hiking most of the day, dinner may be the only meal eaten in a restaurant.

Would a grocery store not do?

A few years ago I rented a car that was based at the Kalispell airport. They brought it out to the Meadow Lake Resort near Columbia Falls. We had come into the area on the Empire Builder to Whitefish.
I don't recall any mileage limits at that time.
We were allowed to leave the car at the Whitefish train station when we left on the train.
About a week before this, we rented a car for 2 days in Jasper AB after we got off the ViaRail Canadian.
That car did have a mileage limit and could not be driven into the US.

John, I don't know which grocery stores you are referring to, but if mean those in the parks they are an over-priced sad excuse for grocery stores.

tom, I've rented cars in Calgary airport and was permitted to drive across the border and back.

I'm talking about regular super markets in Kalispell, Columbia Falls and Hungry Horse.

I'm not saying there aren't regular grocery stores in west side towns. I'm just saying that if someone is thinking of using Calgary for what it has to offer, then a major grocery store directly on the path to the parks is one of them.

When I looked for a car rental at Kalispel there were not many agencies to choose from, and all did indeed have mileage limits. Not an issue in our case as we were not going far. But it is for you, so you need to insider the driving distances and cost carefully.

Also make sue the car can be driven across the border and you have whatever is neded in the way of documents and insurance for that.

First we have been in Glacier twice by Kalispel and had never been limited in mileage car rental. And all the major companies are represented.
Second I have never had the feeling that Myer try to send eveyone in Calgary.
As the OP describe a sejour with Glacier Park and Banff Jasper both options are useful. But only in case of Calgary if Banff Jasper are on the beginning of the itinerary.
If hikes are great part of the sejour, before hiking in Glacier 2-3 days of easy hikes could be a good option and there are some in Banff/Jasper.
In the west part of Glacier the hikes are heterogenous and only a few are easy( avalanche lake, Fish lake, Howe lake) , some average( snyder lake, apgar lookout) and numerous are strenous...
Effectively as John and Myer said ( and for one time John agrres with Myer...) the nicest parts of Glacier are on the east side : Two medecine, Many Glacier...with lot of hikes and wildlife.
There are some nice easy hikes or moderate( iceberg lk, virginia falls) but the nicest are relatively strenous but wildlife is often on those.
In Kalispel there are some nice hypermarket and so you can buy all you need for the sejour, less expensive than in the park.
Both options are possible but logistic is important and so you will not loose time in driving mile for the miles...
Erik

Kind of off the topic, but look at this option for a rental car in Alberta. A GPS driven tour guide to the history and geography of the area.

http://gypsyguide.com/canada/

If Erik booked their rental car on a European website they may have been offered different rental conditions than the US sites offer.

this is the site I used when renting a car in kalispell :

http://www.airportrentals.com/search...%7C30%7CZ%7Cen

I do a fictif reservation from August 8th to 17th and i had a lot of option, with unlimited mileage.

This year we go later in season due to a medical congress in San Francisco and so we will be in Glacier from september 11th to september the 22nd.
We hope to be able to hike a lot knowing that weather could be cooler, the days shorter and hoping bear's activity would not oblige trails to be close...

Erik