9 Best Sights in Helena, Bozeman, and Southwest Montana, Montana

Home to grizzlies and grey wolves, this nonprofit wildlife park provides an up-close look at Yellowstone's largest and most powerful predators. In summer, you can also view birds of prey, and the river otter exhibit is a hit with kids. The comprehensive "Bears: Imagination and Reality" exhibit compares myths about bears to what science has revealed about them. This is the only facility that formally tests bear-resistant products such as coolers and canisters in cooperation with state and federal agencies.

Here you'll find a celebration of the history of the Rockies region, with exhibits ranging from prehistory to pioneers, plus a planetarium with laser shows. Most renowned is the museum's Siebel Dinosaur Complex housing one of the world's largest dinosaur fossil collections along with the largest-known T-rex skull, a Mesozoic Media Center, and a Hall of Giants complete with sound effects. Children love the hands-on science activities in the Explore Yellowstone Martin Children's Discovery Center and (in the summer) the living history farm. Tinsley Homestead, with home-crafts demonstrations, including butter churning, weaving, and blacksmithing is open Wednesday through Sunday.

Rotating exhibits and interactive permanent displays—which include Waterways to the Future and Montana Outdoors—are the main attractions at Helena's beloved children's science museum.

Guided or self-guided tours of the 1,600-acre Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site, a working cattle ranch run by the National Park Service, provide insight into ranching life in the 1860s. You can learn about roping steers, watch blacksmithing demonstrations, and bounce along in a covered wagon.

Hand-carved grizzly bears, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, and river otters gallop through the center of town on this carousel, which operates most afternoons (except on major holidays). You can also buy locally made premium ice cream and fudge here.

The comical critters at Greycliff Prairie Dog Town State Park pop out of their underground homes, stand upright, sound their chirping alarms, and dash to another hole. Explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark referred to these "barking squirrels" in their journals. At this 98-acre protected habitat you can catch the action from your car.

The Lewis and Clark Caverns, Montana's oldest state park, hold some of the most beautiful underground landscapes in the nation. Two-hour tours lead through narrow passages and vaulted chambers past colorful, intriguingly varied limestone formations. The temperature stays in the 50s year-round; jackets and rubber-sole shoes are recommended. Note that the hike to the cavern entrance is mild. A campground sits at the lower end of the park. Around the holidays they run a special candlelit cave tour.

West Yellowstone's 1909 Union Pacific Depot has been transformed into a museum dedicated to the modes of travel—from stagecoaches to planes—people employed to get to Yellowstone before World War II. Films provide insight on topics such as the fire that devastated Yellowstone in 1988 and the way earthquakes affect the area's hydrothermal features.

See eye-to-eye with mountain lions, black bears, bobcats, coyotes, and bison at this nonprofit center sheltering injured animals that cannot be released in the wild. Year-round educational programs are offered, and there is a summer camp for children.