My husband and I want to visit Glacier National Park in the first week of September. We originally thought we would stay in Whitefish for about 4 nights and do day trips to the park, but it seems like that would be too much driving to see other parts of the park. So, I'd love some help with our itinerary. We have 5 nights total for this area, but will be driving from Bozeman on our first day and driving to Missoula on our last day. So-- one option I thought of was:

Day 1: Drive from Bozeman to Whitefish and stay in whitefish.
Day 2: Drive from Whitefish through going to the sun road and stay on east side of park. What is the best area to stay in for this? All the park lodging is booked up as of now.
Day 3: Explore east side of park, stay in east side of park.
Day 4: Drive back to West side of park, doing hike along the way, sleep in Whitefish.
Day 5: Explore whitefish area or maybe go back to park for another hike near west entrance.
Day 6: drive from whitefish to missoula.

Any thoughts on this, such as if it's too much driving and including lodging recs for the east side of the park would be great. Thanks so much!

Also just wanted to add we love to hike so want to be able to do some longer hikes while we are staying in/near the park. Although I am a bit scared of bears!

Keep trying for lodging within the park cancellations happen all the time. About 15 years ago my husband and I stayed at three places within the park - The Glacier Park Lodge, Prince of Wales Hotel (Canadian side) and and the Many Glacier Hotel. All were beautiful and rustic with good food. One of the best trips ever. Keep trying for in the park and best of luck to you.

Thanks! One thing i'm wondering is if it's better to stay all 5 nights in one place, or move around a bit within/outside the park?

Get whatever nights you can in the park and refine as things become available. We stayed at 3 places and it worked for us got to see a larger area of park that way.

For what it's worth - we ran into the same predicament as you did a few years ago. We ended up staying in the Kandahar Lodge in Whitefish - which was wonderful. It was a pain getting to and from the park however (about 30 minutes to the entrance one way). If you can't get lodging in the park, perhaps consider exploring the west side first and then then the west side. You might not have to change lodging as frequently. Good luck - it's a beautiful place!

I don't understand flying into Bozeman unless you are also going to visit Yellowstone. The other easier airport choices would be Kalispell, Missoula or Spokane and the Empire Builder overnight to Whitefish.
One night in Whitefish or the Meadow Lake Resort near Columbia Falls should be a good jumping off point. If you can't get lodging inside the park, try for something in St. Mary or East Glacier.
Another famous lodging along US 2 is the Isaac Walton Lodge. At the west end of Browning is the Museum of the Plains Indian which is worth an hour or two. Avoid a one way drop off fee if you can.

I agree about calling for cancellations for the east side of the Park. It's very beautiful!

In Whitefish, we've stayed three or four times at the Garden Wall Inn and also a few times at the Lodge at Whitefish Lake. The advantage of the Garden Wall Inn is that it's easy walking distance to all the restaurants and shops. There is a footpath from the Whitefish Lake Lodge into town, but we're usually there in the late fall or early spring and it's been too blustery to walk into town and back.

Good food in Whitefish: Tupelo Grille (cajun), Wasabi (sushi), Loula's (breakfast) and Great Northern (beer).

Good food in Missoula: Biga Pizza, Scotty's Table, Plonk, and The Shack.

Good food in Bozeman: Blackbird Kitchen, Plonk, and Nova Cafe.

Went to Missoula last summer. If you have the time, I highly recommend biking the Hiawatha Rail Trail- tunnels, bridges, amazing scenery. 2 hours or so from Missoula, near Wallace Idaho, and I think it's still open that week in September. You can rent a mountain bike there and you only have to ride the trail one way (downhill) if you like, old school buses can shuttle you back to the top. You would want to hit it early in the day, it's very popular.
Seconding the biga pizza suggestion. Best food the whole trip.

We stayed on Hwy 2 at a private home near the Isaak Walton Inn.
http://www.izaakwaltoninn.com/

LOVED the location. Hwy 2 runs just south of the park and when GTTS road is not open, it's your route to and from East and West Glacier. I'm not saying it's better than staying IN the park, but it was an easy drive in either direction to a park entrance.

Probably our favorite - and completely unexpected - perk of the location was coming "home" around dusk and stopping at the goat lick. We would spend up to an hour, watching the goats - especially the babies.
http://visitmt.com/listings/general/...-overlook.html
http://www.nps.gov/glac/planyourvisi...goatlick06.pdf

We went in June and the GTTS road was not open. We took a jammer tour out of McDonald Lodge - and we were thrilled to be one of the first vehicles to get to Logan Pass. The jammer driver suspected the road may open up a bit earlier than announced and he was right. We did drive from West to East in our own car, but that's great for viewing. It's not the best "commute" road. Another reason we liked staying on Hwy 2.

We ate great lunches at the lodges in the park. Lake McDonald Lodge and Many Glaciers. We were happy to bring back dinner to eat at "home" after a long day of sight-seeing.

There's a tiny inn/motel in Essex -
http://www.glacierhaveninn.com/
and they have a great little café. We'd eat breakfast there and the owners have lived and worked in Glacier for years. They gave great travel advice and even made our reservation for the boat ride at Many Glaciers. We rented bear spray from them as well. We saw another breakfast guest later that day, trying to buy a ticket for the boat ride but that time slot was sold out. We were very glad to get personalized service from the owners of the café.

We adored East Glacier and especially the Trading Post.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Glaci...r/226357713000
The Glacier Park Trading Post has everything you need - groceries, snacks, souvenirs, even a rental car company. They make pizzas there and they were great. While we waited for the pizza we strolled the tiny town and bought some fruit pie slices for dessert. Off towards home, with a stop at the goat lick and then dinner at "home" after a long day.

I'm sure the lodges in the park are great options, but if you can't get a room there at least consider your options along Hwy 2. If the GTTS road is not open, it will be your route anyway. I was told that the steaks and drinks at the Isaak Walton are especially good. We stopped for a while and saw more hummingbirds at feeders on their porch than I've ever seen anywhere. They also have train cars and cabooses for rent for lodging.

You needn't be afraid of bears if you follow the "rules". Check with a Ranger at a visitors center before starting out on trails, carry bear spray and know how to use it, NEVER hike alone and make lots of noise as you hike.
You will be fine!!

If hiking is your focus, you might want to decide which hikes are the most important for you to do during your stay and work your lodging around that. Whitefish is 30 minutes to the west entrance of the park and around 2.5 - 3 hours to the Many Glacier area - one way. This site breaks down the hikes by the different areas of the park:

http://www.hikinginglacier.com/glaci...ark-trails.htm

The consensus is generally that the east side of the park has the best hiking (Iceberg Lake, Grinnell Glacier in the Many Glacier area and Scenic Point, Dawson Pass in the Two Medicine area). We have stayed in the town of East Glacier which is just about 6 miles from the Two Medicine Entrance of the park and an hour's drive to Many Glacier. There are several mom and pop type motels in East Glacier. We have stayed at Jacobson's many times. A little dated, but rooms are clean.

http://www.jacobsonscottages.com/

As stated above, keep trying for the lodges in the park. I have always heard people say it's best to call for cancellations than by checking their websites.

I disliked my experience here for one main reason. The volunteer. She was by far the most unfriendly and unhelpful individual I have ever met. I waited 20 years to go to Glacier and spent 18 hours driving there, and then I met her. Ugghhh. Such a bitter taste in my mouth. We arrived on Friday August 14th around 8:30 since reservations were long gone and it was first come, first served. My girlfriend and I walked over to ask how the process works while our husbands and kids waited in the RV and minivan. She was talking to someone else who was camping across from her and when he walked away, she just stared at us. She didn't say "Hello, may I help you or anything." She was sitting in front of her RV in Loop A across from the dump station on her chair next to the Loop A sign and in front of her camp site. It was the worst reception ever. The woman simply should not be around people. She should go home and stay there. I asked if we could hook up the shoreline and she said "it's a dry site" as if I asked the stupidest question ever. Then we asked her how we get a spot, and she told us with an annoyed tone that we put money in the receipt and clip it next to the site. She didn't get out of her chair or show us where the receipt was. She just stared at us. Then we went over to try and find the receipt and she said in the rudest tone "you need to go get your spot now or you're not going to find one." Shocking, just shocking. To top it all off, it was probably 75% full that evening or for the rest of the weekend. When my husband and I went to dump our waste for the RV, which was a Cruise America rental, we didn't have all the right parts. It was our first time disposing of waste since we had never rented an RV. She came over and lectured us (we're rule followers to a T, so that was quite insulting in that we were trying our best to do the right thing) and then she went and got her husband. He, on the other hand, was the sweetest man ever. He could barely walk, so he drove over in a golf cart, and used a cane. He helped us with the dumping and unlike his wife, he was extremely helpful. The campsites are near the lake, which is nice, and there are lots of bike paths. You can't really see the stars because you're in the trees. If I hadn't met that woman, I would rate this site much higher.

So how was Glacier? Wasn't the scenery spectacular?!
Did you go on a hike? A jammer ride? Eat in one of the lodges?
I bet your trip was FABULOUS!