Glacier National Park in Montana attracts more and more visitors for its beautiful scenery, majestic mountains, and magnificent glaciers. Glacier National Park is one of the most remote, rugged, wild areas in the Lower 48 States and draws people who want to explore true wilderness.
Glacier National Park includes seven sessions: The North Fork, Goat Haunt, Lake McDonald Valley, Many Glacier, St. Mary Valley, Logan Pass, and Two Medicine. With sublime mountains, massive glaciers, stunning turquoise lakes, and an abundance opportunities to see wild animals, Glacier National Park has become extremely popular in recent years.
We visited Glacier National Park on our two-week trip out west. It was our first time visiting Glacier and we did a lot of preparation. However, with some last minute changes, and smoky weather from wildfires at that time, we weren’t able to see all the attractions. But we learned some first-hand information that we want to share with you, so you can have the best experience.
1. Visit Glacier National Park Between Late July and Early September
Glacier is an epic national park and is located in a remote area. Most of us will need to fly, and then drive a long distance to get to Glacier. Weather is key to have a wonderful trip. The ideal time to visit should give you more sunny days, comfortable temperatures, and a lower chance of encountering a wildfire.
The best time to visit Glacier National Park is late July through early September, when lodges, Going-to-the-Sun Road, boat tours, bus tours, shuttle buses, and activities, including fly fishing and kayaking, are open and accessible. (We use GTSR to refer Going-to-the-Sun Road in this article.) Some years road crews are still shoving snow on the GTSR in early July. The Lodges and Boat tours across Swiftcurrent Lake and Lake Josephine close for the season in mid-September.
2. Plan Your Itinerary to Visit All The Attractions, Hike Trails in One Area At Once
Glacier National Park is massive, so driving from one place to another can take an hour or more. You can save a lot of driving time if you visit all the attractions, including trails, in one area each day, such as hiking all the trails you can along the GSTR before going to another area.
Here is an example of how to plan your itinerary (this is the itinerary we are planning for our next visit).
Along Going-to-the-Sun Road
| Day 1 | Hike the Highline Trail |
| Day 2 | Hike the Hidden Lake Trail and drive towards east, stop at overlooks, and Hike the St. Mary and Virginia Falls Trail close the East Entrance |
| Day 3 | Hike the Avalanche Lake Trail and drive the western part of the GTSR, stop at overlooks |
In the Many Glacier Area
| Day 4 | Hike Grinnell Glacier Trail |
| Day 5 | Hike Iceberg Lake Trail |
| Day 6 | Hike Cracker Lake Trail |
In the Two Medicine Area
| Day 7 | Hike Pitamakan Pass and Dawson Pass Trail |
We hiked Grinnell Glacier Trail that was packed with magnificent views. The Iceberg Lake Trail was closed at the time due the high amount of grizzly bear activity. Be sure to not hike alone in Glacier National Park, and bring bear spray with you.
3. Stay Inside The Park to Be Close to The Attractions and The Trailheads
Staying inside Glacier National Park is a lot more convenient than staying outside the park. Not only do you spend less time driving to trailhead, but you also have permission to drive the GTSR on the days of your accommodation without requiring a reservation.
With a pilot program aimed to reduce traffic congestion, a reservation is required for any private vehicle to enter the GSTR, the only road that provides access to most major attractions and popular trails in the park. You won’t need to acquire a reservation for driving the GSTR when you have a booking record of any lodging along the GSTR.
It is not guaranteed that you can get the GSTR reservation for the time you plan to visit, due to the narrow timeframe when most people visit the park, the limited number of reservations, and the increasing popularity of Glacier. Staying inside of GTSR will save you from all this hassle.
Plus, you will be much closer to all the attractions and trailheads that are located along the GTSR. Some of those popular trailheads have very limited parking spots, such as only 20 spots for the St. Mary and Virginia Falls trail. If you can’t get there early enough, you may have to change your plan and come back hours later when early hikers are leaving to find a parking spot. We learned this the hard way!
We stayed in East Glacier Park Village, which is an hour drive to the entrance of the East Entrance of Glacier. It is very hard for you to get to the trailhead early enough – you will need to leave hotel around 5:30 AM to get to the trailhead around 7-7:30 AM. I don’t recommend staying here unless you plan to hike the trails in the Two Medicine area.
When you plan to drive the GTSR and hike the trails there, stay in the lodges located within the West Entrance, Camas Entrance on the west and St. Mary Entrance on the east of GTSR.
Two websites provide tourism service, including lodging, in Glacier National Park
Glacier National Park Lodges / Xanterra Parks and Resorts offers lodging on both west and east Glacier
- Lake McDonald Lodge
- Village Inn at Apgar
- Rising Sun Motor & Inn
Glacier Park Collection offers lodging on west Glacier
- Apgar Village Lodge & Cabins
- Motel Lake McDonald
Note that Cedar Creeks Lodge is in Columbia Falls, a 25 minute drive to West Entrance of Glacier National Park, but staying here doesn’t allow you to drive the GTSR without a reservation.
When you hike the trails in Many Glaciers, there are two places offered by Glacier National Park Lodges / Xanterra Parks and Resorts:
- Many Glacier Hotel — two trails start from right here
- Swiftcurrent Motor Inn and Cabins
4. Make Your Reservation Early
The number of visitors to Glacier National Park almost doubled in 2021 from 2020, and Glacier is more and more popular. To catch the best time to visit the park and to have a room in a lodge that is inside the park, you need to act early – like a year early.
Bookings will be accepted up to 13 months in advance. On the first of each month, hotels begin accepting reservations for the entire month of the following year. For example, on July 1st, 2022, hotels begin accepting reservations from July 1st to July 31st, 2023.
All lodges inside the park have lenient cancelation policies, you can cancel for free 72 hours before your first stay, if you plan changes.
5. Get The GTSR Vehicle Reservation 120 Days Before Your Visit If You Don’t Stay Inside The Park
In any case that you couldn’t stay anywhere inside GTSR, you will need a vehicle reservation from recreation.gov to drive the road between 6 AM and 4 PM. The reservation can be made 120 days before the day you plan to visit, and one reservation is valid for three consecutive days counting the booking day as the first day. If you suddenly change the dates you are visiting, a small number of reservations will be released for booking 48 hours before that day.
I hope you never need the information below, but just in case. If you can’t get a reservation to drive GTSR, here are a few solutions:
1. Get into Any Entrance Before 6 AM.
Note, during the time of our trip, part of the GTSR was under construction and was closed from 10 PM-6 AM daily. Make sure you check the updated status on www.mps.gov.
2. Take the Free Shuttle Bus
The shuttle bus operating hours and stops are here.
3. Join a Bus Tour
Red Bus Tours offered by Glacier National Park Lodges / Xanterra Parks and Resorts
Sun Tours offered by Glacier Park Collection
Both bus tours have multiple routes, different pick-up locations, and half-day and full-day tours to choose from.
6. Get to The Trailhead Early
The trailhead of both Grinnell Glacier and Cracker starts from Many Glacier Hotel, where the parking lot is fairly large. We arrived at the trailhead around 8 AM in mid-September, and there were plenty of parking spots open, but it could fill up fast in summer.
The trailhead of both Highline trail and Hidden Lake starts from Logan Pass Visitor Center. The parking area is large, however, this area is extremely busy since it is on the GTSR, so definitely try to get to the parking lot before 7:30 AM.
The parking lot of St. Mary and Virginia Falls is small and can hold only around 20 cars. If you hike this trial in the morning, try to get to the trailhead before 7 AM. Or you can hike this trail after driving the GTSR in the afternoon. This is an easy short trail, 2.8 miles which is not going to take long time to hike.
There are three parking areas near Avalanche Lake Trail. A lager one along the GTSR, and two small areas of the west, on the other side of the road. This is also a busy trail, so hit the trailhead before 7:30 AM.
We learned those tips from our trip to Glacier. We wish we knew all of these things before we went. We want to share with you so you have the best experience in Glacier. We already want to travel to Glacier again as we are writing this article.
