I can only put 4 days together for a visit this mid-July. Should I stay in the same location in/outside the park and take day trips or reserve hotels within the park and make a circuit? Of course insight into the park hotels, food, etc. is appreciated. We are neophyte hikers so trails will be easy ones. Thank you very much for any and all ideas.

I would stay in one place. We prefer the east side because we like the scenery and hiking better but it's easier to get to the west side if you are flying in. We always camp but if I was staying in a hotel, I'd want to stay at Many Glacier Lodge or the Swiftcurrent Motel. They are both in the Many Glacier area.

The main things to do in the park are to drive the Going to the Sun Road all the way over to St Mary and then back. The view is different from different directions and you will want to see it all again. We enjoy going up to Waterton, just across the Canadian border. You do that from the east side too.

There are books with easy day hikes you can pick up inexpensively on Amazon or buy in the park. They are handy to have.

Connie's advice is excellent if your travel style is to stay at on ebase and make daytrips out from there.

If you prefer to move around to sample different places, or if you are a connisseur of the historic National Park inns, you might consider a night each at lake McDonald Lodge, East Glacier, and Many Glacier (and Prince of Wales in Canada if you have 4 nights).

That plan won't give you much time in each place, however. A good compromise would be to spend one night at Lake McDonald Lodge, then drive over Going-to-the-Sun road to the east side of the park. Be sure to stop at Logan Pass and take a short hike to Hidden Lake Overlook. Then spend 2 nights at Many Glacier Hotel (a spectacular setting) and have a full day for short hikes in that area.

You might look into the offereings for ranger-led hikes. They do all lovels, and they are interesting and informative.

Connie has great advice! I spent a week there this past summer. It was early in the summer, and the Going to the Sun Road wasn't open, so it was a bit of a drive from one side of the park to the other.

I ended up staying in 3 different locations, mainly because I couldn't get the reservations I wanted. If I had to pick 2 places, I'd recommend Apgar Village and Swiftcurrent Motel.

The Many Glacier Area tends to be one of the more popular because it's near great trails. At Many Glacier there is the historic lodge which is an impressive building but which can be sort of crowded with tourist buses. I'd definitely recommend going into the Lodges, but I prefer staying somewhere else.

The Swiftcurrent is like an old motel from the 50's - absolutely no frills, but it's right near the trails, and I saw a moose and it's baby walking right outside my window! The Swiftcurrent has a basic Italian restaurant that is very popular.

The Many Glacier Area isn't on the Going to the Sun road which is the only cross road. But you can drive to St Mary's easily (and stop at the Park Cafe on the way for some great pie!). St Mary's is the eastern end of the GTTS road, but there is also a lake with some amazing scenery - labelled the most photographed spot in the Park.

Logan Pass is a must see, but the parking lot can be very crowded. Plan to get there early, which means you probably won't want to stop and look at St Mary's lake on the way to Logan Pass.

On the Western side of the Park there is another historic lodge, but I prefer the little motel like Apgar Village which has rooms directly overlooking the lovely lake.

However my best recommendation is to visit Glacier National Park Chat - the most knowledgeable forum for visits to Glacier. They helped immensely in planning my visit.

http://glacierparkchat.com/phpBB3/index.php

Here's a link to my trip report which includes a bunch of pics, including pics of some of the motel and lodge rooms

http://glacierparkchat.com/phpBB3/vi...hp?f=11&t=2722

Forgot to add that I would definitely stay in the park if possible. If you have a lot of kids and want a kitchen or tv's then there are places outside that would work, but being in the park is really special. It's wonderful to be able to wake up and be right there, and not having tvs/phones helps you really get into the atmospehere of the park.

The rooms will be very very basic, but if you're looking for fancy lodging, then you shouldn't be looking in a National Park.

we were at Glacier in August--it is a spectacular place; we stayed at Many Glacier which is a neat place--the rooms are very basic--but, as I am sure you have been warned, these are not luxury spots. Go for the history, BUT Many Glacier is not inexpensive, so the Swiftcurrent is a good suggestion if budget is an issue. The Italian restaurant at Swiftcurrent is fine. We only ate breakfast at Many Glacier which was expensive but good and the view is priceless.

Take advantage of all the ranger led hikes and talks--they are fantastic. We were constrained in our hiking because we had an 8-year old with us, so we we only did easy trails which are readily accessible. They do a wonderful combo boat ride/easy hike which is ranger led and has a nominal fee (it leaves from Many Glacier).

The drive over the Going to the Sun is beautiful, but not for the faint of heart. We also did a Jammer (the historic red buses )tour to Logan Pass--and enjoyed it very much.

I am happy to answer specific questions about where we ate, etc. if you end up staying at that end of the park. We started our journey at the other end (after spending the night in Whitefish which is a very cute town), stopped and did a nice hike at Avalanche Lake and then drove the Going to the Sun road to Many Glacier.

Mary in D.C.

Marymara I am thinking of doing what you suggest. Staying in Whitefish (west side of GNP)then doing east on the GTTS road to Many Glacier for 2 nights. Spend the following day in the park and head out to Kalispell for our trip back to Salt Lake City UT. Any recommendations on restuarants in that area. Reading some other posts and the Lake McDonald Lodge gets "ripped" pretty bad. Ideas welcomed.

Tupelo Grill for Whitefish. It's a cajun/creole restaurant. They have great food! Wasabi has good sushi.

You won't have any trouble finding good food in Whitefish; follow Kureiff's suggestions as she's a local.

You won't have to eat at Lake McDonald Lodge at all. It's worth a stop just to look around on your way up the GTTS road.

At Many Glacier, the dining room looked pretty nice, and has a gorgeous view from the windows, but we chose to eat in the more casual bar. There is also a casual Italian place in the Swiftcurrent Motor Inn, a mile or so away.

Hi DoctorT, we stayed at a fabulous bed and breakfast/inn called Good Medicine Lodge in Whitefish--beautiful place, but very casual, wonderful breakfast--great hosts who know Glacier well, gave us lots of perfect advice; Whitefish has a number of good restaurants which Betsy and Woody who own the inn are happy to describe and recommend; we wished we had stayed more than one night there.

Here's the deal on Many Glacier--the rooms border on dumpy but the view is spectacular, there is a beautiful porch and a fun bar and dining room. Dinner is very expensive and we went outside the park to Two Sisters Cafe which is a short drive away in Babb. Remember if you go outside the park to eat to bring your park admission ticket because you will need it to reenter.

We didn't mind going outside the park for dinner because it is an easy drive and when we came back we saw a Bear Jam (all the cars pulled over to the side of road and a Ranger with a scope) and we saw a Grizzly eating berries for quite a while. The other night we ate at the Italian place at Swiftcurrent which was fine. There is an easy hike to a lake at Swiftcurrent where a family of moose hangs out. They often have Ranger programs there too so you can go to dinner, then go to a talk. We heard one on scat which thrilled my daughter to no end!

Has has been noted, there is construction on the GTTS road so it can take a while (we were stopped for almost 30 minutes while the opposite side traffic was allowed to go) so give yourself plenty of time. You will also want to stop along the way to see wildlife and waterfalls. Logan's Pass is a must-stop.

Hope this helps,

Mary

P.S. You probably know that the time is now to make reservations at Glacer for next July.

Marymara and others for so many ideas and suggestions. We will be staying at the Good Medicine Lodge in Whitefish. Then over the Going to the Sun road next morning. Could not get a room at Many Glacier. Available was the Saint Mary Lodge & Resort. So we booked it for 3 nights and will drive to Many Glacier for drinks or breakfast to enjoy the view and Swiftcurrent for Italian dinner. Planning on going to Babb at least once. Thank you all so much for helping in what promises to be a great trip.

you will really like Good Medicine Lodge; go to Many Glacier for a beer in the late afternoon and sit on the porch and look for bears.

Enjoy--it is a spectacular park!

Mary

P.S. book your boat rides before you go (the same people as the hotels), most were sold out when we got there, but we had booked in advance.