The Best of Glacier National Park: One Week Itinerary

By Becky Lomax, author of Moon Glacier National Park

Explore Glacier National Park for indelible memories. This one-week itinerary guides you through the best natural features of the park with visits to beautiful lakes and rivers, wildlife hot spots, and the top hiking trails.

If you’d like to stay in one of the historic lodges inside the park, plan to make reservations 13 months in advance.

tranquil mountain lake scene in glacier national park — Start your trip with a visit to Swiftcurrent Lake. Photo © Dendron/iStock.

Day 1

Wow yourself from the start by heading to historic Many Glacier Hotel for three nights. In the afternoon, rent a canoe or kayak to paddle Swiftcurrent Lake, or walk the trail that circles the lake. Then, feast on dinner in the dining room followed by relaxing on the hotel deck and watching for bears on Mount Altyn, moose in Swiftcurrent Lake, and the sunset over the Continental Divide.

Day 2

Hop the first boat across Swiftcurrent Lake and Lake Josephine to hike to Grinnell Glacier with a park naturalist for a close-up view of one of the park’s remaining glaciers. The route climbs along cliffs to reach the steep switchbacks ascending the moraine to overlook Upper Grinnell Lake and the shrinking ice. For a shorter hike from the boat, go to turquoise Grinnell Lake instead.

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Day 3

From Swiftcurrent, hike to Iceberg Lake and scan the hillsides for wildlife. For a shorter walk, go to Red Rock Falls. In the evening, drive Many Glacier Road to look for wildlife.

Day 4

Get an early departure up Going-to-the-Sun Road, stopping at overlooks and pullouts for photos. Hike to St. Mary Falls and Virginia Falls. Skip Logan Pass for now (you’ll be back) and descend the west side to the historic Lake McDonald Lodge for three nights. Dine early in Russell’s Fireside Dining Room in time to take the evening boat tour on Lake McDonald.

car approaching a tunnel through mountain on a cloudy day in Montana — A drive along Going-to-the-Sun Road is an experience in and unto itself. Photo © Teacherdad48/iStock.

Day 5

In the morning, hike Trail of the Cedars and Avalanche Lake to revel in the rainforest environment. In the afternoon, saddle up to ride horseback with Swan Mountain Outfitters.

Day 6

Choose your option for visiting Logan Pass. Drive up early to hike to Hidden Lake Overlook. Ride one of the historic red buses to the pass so you can soak up the scenery. Or depart at 3:30pm to drive to Logan Pass with a picnic dinner to hike to the overlook and stay after dark for stargazing.

lake with rapids winding through forested riverbanks — Ride the rapids of the Flathead River’s Middle Fork to close out your week-long trip. Photo © Ershov Maks/iStock.

Day 7

For your finale, don a life jacket for splashing down the Middle Fork of the Flathead River with one of West Glacier’s raft companies. A photographer will capture you paddling in frothy Bonecrusher Rapid.

Becky Lomax

About the Author

Becky Lomax grew up hiking, camping, and skiing in Olympic National Park, North Cascades National Park, and Mt. Rainier National Park (where her dad used to serve as a ranger).

During college, she worked summers in Glacier National Park. After teaching high school English for many years outside Seattle, she and her husband moved to Montana, where she served as a hiking and backpacking guide in Glacier, worked at a ski resort, and began to write about the outdoors. She relishes visiting national parks to hike, bike, backpack, kayak, and raft.

Through her writing, she advocates for conserving wild places for their unique attributes and the renewal they bring to humans. She has written about hiking trails, historic lodges and roads, camping, paddling, skiing, bicycling, wildlife, wildflowers, birds, and climate change. For magazine stories, she has tagged along with biologists into the field to radio collar bighorn sheep and grizzly bears, even touching the bear's claws and smelling its fur to discover its earthy scent.

She has published stories in several national travel magazines including Smithsonian and Backpacker. She has also authored Moon USA National Parks, Moon Glacier National Park, and Moon U.S. & Canadian Rockies Road Trip.

Learn more about this author