Minnie

After 10 years of wanting to visit Glacier/Waterton Park, we are finally going in mid-July. I need a little advice on the best ways to explore the park. We plan to fly to Calgary and then drive to Glacier Park the next day. We have 5 nights to spend in Glacier Park/Montana and then plan to drive to Waterton and stay 2 nights. We would like to stay in one place all 5 nights. I thought I had this taken care of when I found the St. Mary's Lodge. But, after reading so many negative messages on this site, it doesn't appeal to me anymore. The Park Lodges are out because they have limited availability. The East side of the park seems to be a better base than the West side. I have investigated the Hidden Moose in Whitefish. It sounds like a great place but they are 45 minutes from the West entrance. This does not seem like a central location. Maybe it is the best we can do. I also checked out the Paola Creek Lodge. It is 18 miles from West Glacier and 30 miles from East Glacier. Would this be a good choice. Any suggestions would really be appreciated.

ternstail

Minnie,
A couple of other suggestions:
Izaak Walton Inn at Essex is a nice old railroad hotel about halfway between West Glacier and East Glacier on US Highway 2. Not much else in the neighborhood for services and a bit of a drive from the Park entrances. http://www.izaakwaltoninn.com/

Belton Chalet is a very historic hotel right at West Glacier which has a lot of services and is also only a half hour drive from Whitefish. http://www.beltonchalet.com/

Enjoy your trip. Hopefully the Going to the Sun Road should be open when you're there. There are also some river rafting companies in West Glacier that offer half day and full day guided float trips on the Middle Fork of the Flathead that are enjoyable and reasonable.

John

Belton chalet would be my choice. Close to park(approx. 2 miles to entrance)and recently remodeled with a good restaurant.
As of today we are having a mild winter so Going to the sun should be opened by the time you arrive.
For up to date info on the park
www.nps.gov/glac/home.htm

come on out and climb a glacier!!

Minnie

Thanks for your suggestions. I will check those places out. In the meantime I found a place called A Wild Rose (B&B). It is 6 miles from west entrance. Has anyone heard of it?

ternstail

Minnie,
A couple of other suggestions:
Izaak Walton Inn at Essex is a nice old railroad hotel about halfway between West Glacier and East Glacier on US Highway 2. Not much else in the neighborhood for services and a bit of a drive from the Park entrances. http://www.izaakwaltoninn.com/

Belton Chalet is a very historic hotel right at West Glacier which has a lot of services and is also only a half hour drive from Whitefish. http://www.beltonchalet.com/

Enjoy your trip. Hopefully the Going to the Sun Road should be open when you're there. There are also some river rafting companies in West Glacier that offer half day and full day guided float trips on the Middle Fork of the Flathead that are enjoyable and reasonable.

LHALLSB

Minnie - If you're considering being a bit further away from the park, check out the North Forty Resort. We found it to be a great base for exploring Glacier while being close enough to go into Whitefish or Kalispell for exploring or dinner. It's located in between both. Cabins are simple, albeit somewhat close together, but we prefer having our own cabin over being on top of other guests at B&Bs.

carozzamb

Don't know if you are still looking, but we just got back from Glacier and stayed at the St. Mary Lodge (Great Bear Lodge.) It was wonderful and we wished we had booked our whole stay there. A very good restaurant, a nice view of the mountains and a river 50 feet from your deck along with really comfy beds make a great stay. It's only 2 years old and is very nicely appointed. I didn't really see where the older St. Mary Lodge was - they have many other lodging arrangements (cabins and such) but can't see how any of those prior complaints could be about the Great Bear Lodge.

We stayed at the Hidden Moose Lodge in Whitefish 2 nights. It was also worth staying at. But, it is too far to be your central location. If you want to explore the east side for most of your trip and then the West side for the last day or two, it would be a good choice. There are more trails on the east side. The Wild Rose didn't look that promising, but I didn't go in. The North Forty was closer than the Hidden Moose, and looked really nice, but again, I didn't go in.