Glacier National Park
Glacier National Park is a remote wilderness area in Montana’s Rocky Mountains, with glacier-carved peaks and valleys running to the Canadian border. Here you’ll experience Glacier’s pristine forests, alpine meadows, rugged mountains, and spectacular alpine lakes. Iceburg Lake is one of my favorites. Glacier National Park has about two dozen active glaciers, which researchers have estimated will all be gone by the year 2100.
Places to Stay While Visiting Glacier
Glacier is a park that is best experienced from staying inside the park. You’ll get to take advantage of the early mornings and late evenings without the need to travel back out of the park. There are a couple places to stay within the park, most surrounding Lake MacDonald. However, it should be noted that these in-the-park accomodations fill up very quickly. They recommend making reservations 13 months in advance.
If you decide to stay out of the park for whatever reason, the towns of Whitefish and Columbia Falls both have a good bit of Airbnbs available. Both towns are about 30 minutes away from the park’s entrance.
VISIT Glacier National Park:
Park Details
Glacier National Park was established in .
| Address | |
|---|---|
| Phone | 406-888-7800 |
| Hours | Open 24 hours a day, but the Fall, Winter and Spring seasons may bring massive closures due to snowfall. |
| Entrance Fee | $35 (summer), $25 (winter) - valid for 7 days |
When to Visit: Weather vs. Peak Visitation
The park is open year-round, but park conditions and accessible areas vary greatly by season. Most businesses and services are only open during Glacier's summer season, which generally runs from late May through September. With services very limited in winter, visitors need to plan ahead and be entirely self-sufficient. Most business and services in and near the park are closed from early October through late May.
Conditions permitting, Going-to-the-Sun Road usually remains fully open until the third Monday in October. The visitor centers close in late September and early October. Restrooms at the Apgar Visitor Center remain open year-round.
Using Historical Data to Predict
We crunched 30 years of historical weather and/or park service data to find the best months to visit Glacier National Park. We looked for the optimal temperatures, the least amount of snow and rain, and stayed away from peak visitation months if we could help it. All this data then helped us paint a picture as to what the absolute best time to visit Glacier National Park is.
Our data shows the best months to visit Glacier National Park are July, August & September.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Park Visits | 13,581 | 11,240 | 23,989 | 35,491 | 167,403 | 544,088 | 879,711 | 771,874 | 488,909 | 78,408 | 20,008 | 15,137 |
| Precipitation | 93 | 69 | 87 | 76 | 89 | 99 | 39 | 41 | 40 | 60 | 105 | 85 |
| Avg Temp | 23 | 25 | 33 | 43 | 53 | 61 | 70 | 69 | 60 | 45 | 30 | 22 |
| Max Temp | 34 | 37 | 46 | 59 | 69 | 76 | 81 | 80 | 75 | 63 | 45 | 34 |
| Avg Temp | 13 | 14 | 20 | 27 | 35 | 41 | 48 | 47 | 39 | 29 | 19 | 12 |
| Min Temp | -12 | -5 | 1 | 13 | 20 | 28 | 35 | 34 | 26 | 11 | 0 | -11 |
Glacier National Park Road Trips
Many family vacations consist of stringing one or more national parks together during a week-long trip. Creating these types of trips is our specialty! Here are the road trips we've created where Glacier National Park is visited.
| Trip Name | Trip Miles | Trip Days |
|---|---|---|
| Continental Divide National Historic Trail RV Road Trip | 2,315 | 14 |
| South to North, Arizona to Montana & Saguaro to Glacier | 2,120 | 14 |
| Glacier, Yellowstone, Grand Teton & Craters of the Moon | 1,188 | 11 |
| Glacier to Canadian Banff & Kootenay | 1,035 | 9 |
Other Nearby National Park Sites
From national monuments, to historic sites to seashores and more, here are the other parks closest to Glacier National Park.