Helpful website: https://www.nps.gov/glac/planyourvisit/vehicle-reservations.htm
What is helpful to book early/reserve:
Lodging- especially if trying to stay at any of the in park lodges (if you can’t find something right away keep looking as rooms do open from cancellations eventually but you need to check several times a day) https://secure.glaciernationalparklodges.com/booking/lodging
Reservations to drive onto the Going to the sun road https://www.recreation.gov/timed-entry/10087086/ticket/10087087
Reservations if you want to enter Many Glacier area, Two Medicine or North Fork
Currently you don’t need a reservation if you arrive before 6am or after 3pm- the line to get in at 5:30 am looked crazy!
These can be very frustrating to get! Check website for when the dates open! They typically fill in 5 min and the site often crashes. If you know your dates and try right away you might get lucky.
We tried several times for the road and never got a pass- I worked around it by buying a random boat tour reservation ticket for one adult on Lake McDonald which allowed us to drive on the road the days we had one booked. I do believe per the internet that “Visitors can catch the free two-way shuttle service to Logan Pass from Apgar Visitor Center on the West Side or from St. Mary Visitor Center on the East Side.” We wanted to drive through so we just bought the boat tickets. They check your pass before you arrive at entrance. The website above shows what reservations also allow you to what areas/roads.
We stayed at the Many Glacier hotel which allowed us into that area as well without having the reservation.
Hopefully they get this figured out better for years to come. Even with the reservations needed there was still millions of people there!
Transportation to and in the Area:
We drove down from Banff- took 4-5 hours to get to the Many Glacier area
If you fly – many fly in Kalispell Airport or Great Falls.
There is a shuttle on the Going to the Sun road you can utilize- you will most likely need to use this if you ever want to do anything at Logan’s pass. There is limited parking there that fills before 6am – you are better off parking anywhere else along the Going to the sun road and then taking the shuttle to Logan’s pass. https://www.nps.gov/glac/planyourvisit/shuttles.htm
Lodging:
For the North/West area outside the park I would recommend:
St. Mary/East Glacier KOA https://koa.com/campgrounds/st-mary/ (it comes highly recommended by a friend, we ended up staying at Many Glacier hotel for this area)
St. Mary’s Village https://www.glacierparkcollection.com/lodging/st-mary-village/
There are other simple in the park lodges in this area- all fill up fast!
Many Glacier Hotel was a great location in the park for several hikes
Swift Current Motor very close to Many Glacier Hotel
For the South/East area:
West Glacier KOA (we stayed here, cute little cabins and a pool option for kids, easy access to the south/east park area)https://koa.com/campgrounds/west-glacier/
Lake McDonald Lodge (north side of Lake McDonald) or Apgar village lodge and cabins (south side of the lake)- they are in the park right on lake McDonald, I would stay there in the future, but the KOA’s are definitely more kid friendly!
There many more options especially if you want to stay out of the park in the South/West area towns
Activities/Hikes/views worth seeing:
Many Glacier area is beautiful and several hike options
We loved the Grinnell Glacier hike– There is an option to take off 4 miles of the hike with Many glacier Boat reservations https://reserve.glacierparkboats.com/index.php
You can take the boat across the two lakes, hike up and then on the way back take the boats back across the lake (its an out and back hike (the boat rides will takes out 2 miles there and 2 miles back of hiking) We couldn’t get reservations for an early ride there, but managed late day tickets so we just walked the whole way there but they gave us the return boat tickets that we could use any time of day so that saved us 2 miles on the way back. With the boat back it was 10.5 miles total of hiking. You can also just hike to the lake which is much shorter if you want a shorter easier hike that is still beautiful!
Hiking around the lakes in Many Glacier is also beautiful
Hiking to the Hidden lake Overlook from Logan Pass
Hiking any part of the Highline from Logans Pass- we only did the first mile but most will hike one way from Logan’s pass and then take the going to the sun road shuttle back to Logan’s pass.
Sacred Dancing Cascade- on the river at the north end of Lake McDonald, beautiful river and falls area to play in
Lake McDonald is beautiful- we visited it at the Apgar area, but I am sure its great at the north end at Lake McDonald lodge as well.
And that is just a short list of options- there are so many more but that filled out days there! Be patient, the park was very busy all times of the day but seemed crazy from 8am-6pm.
ITINERARY (including Banff and Glacier National Park)
| Day # | Activities/Schedule |
| Day 1 | Drive Day |
| Day 2 | Drive to Icefields Parkway, Alberta Canada (15 hours) –gain one hour with time change, leave by 5/6am Stay at Glacier View Lodge- reservation made |
| Day 3 | 9am-Family experience on Icefields and skywalk Drive to Lake Louise and stop at Payto Lake, Emerald lake and Takakkaw Falls (not enough time for Emerald lake) We have shuttle tickets for Lake Louise and Moraine 2pm (should be able to take connector shuttle to Moraine lake any time from LL)- Possibly go to Moraine Lake PM –didn’t do Moraine Staying at Chateau Lake Louise |
| Day 4 | Hike to Tea house, possibly little beehive(just went to Tea house), and/or any hikes from lake louise for view from across hotel We have shuttle tickets to LL/Moraine lake 5pm -can use connector shuttle from LL to Moraine anytime –possibly go to Moraine lake PM Eat at Chateau at some point-did just grab and go (all restaurants are crazy expensive) Staying at Chateau Lake Louise |
| Day 5 | Sunrise at Moraine Lake- need to book-booked through Chateau Head to Banff Gondola by 11:50 (1 hour drive) Banff gondola – reservations made for up at 11:50am, down at 2:50pm- Eat at sky bistro at 1:30pm Explore town of Banff and visitor center/garden area (or run to it in the morning) Staying at Banff Park Lodge |
| Day 6 | AM more time in Banff , After lunch head to Many Glacier – 4-5 hour drive |
| Day 7 | Boat Tour reservation at 4:30pm- try to get tickets earlier by going to boat launch early morning so we don’t have to hike as far to Grinnell Glacier- otherwise hoping can take boat shuttle back, maybe hike the whole way there, use boats on the way back Stay at Many Glacier |
| Day 8 | Drive to West Glacier KOA along road to the Sun (we have lake McDonald reservation for boat tour for 1 to get on the road) –will try for road pass and cancel this if able –had to use boat tour to get on road-getting pass was impossible Stop at Logan Pass and red rock trail (maybe Virginia/hidden falls)-did hidden lake overlook-had to park at a different parking area on the road and use the shuttle-impossible to park at Logan pass any time of day. Eat at Swift Current –Nells Staying at West Glacier KOA- pool time (no pool, just dinner and bed) |
| Day 9 | Activities??-try to get reservations for going to sun road-had to use boat tour pass again-did Lake McDonald in AM and 1 mile into the Highline trail Pool time, and packed Car ready for early AM depart Friday Staying at West Glacier KOA |
| Day 10 | Start Driving home- no reservations made for lodging this night, think about where to stay and make reservations |
| Day 11 | Arrive home at 11am |