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Highway 8, Swiftcurrent Lake, Montana, 59434, United States
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vmarano
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The largest of the Glacier National Park hotels. Situated near Grinnell Glacier and some incredible views and hiking trails, this hotel is modeled after a Swiss Chalet. Rooms are basic, old but well kept. Keep in mind all the lodges are 100 years old.
Unique Quality: Located on a lake with sightseeing boat and boat rentals. Sunsets over the balcony must been seen to be appreciated.
Many Glacier Hotel
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richiecdisc
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The Many Glacier Hotel is a fantastic old historical inn built in 1915. It is a classic national park hotel, made with lots of wood and breathing atmosphere. You could tell me it was haunted with ghostly guests of another era and I would not blink an eye. I would still gladly stay there too. Built much like an alpine Swiss hotel and in a setting even the Alps would envy, the sprawling old inn of 214 rooms offers rooms of all shapes and sizes to fit different budgets. The Value Rooms are a mere $142 and are simple, small and perhaps poorly located. The high suites are $285.
The lakeside Ptarmigan Dining Room is a great combination of rustic Americana and old time upscale camp. The Interlaken Lounge offers a more laid back place to grab a drink or something to eat.
Unique Quality: Though the hotel is good value, it was out of our range since we were traveling for six months. I will say, it is a place I would like to stay in one day but we did enjoy its facilities a few times. This great old hotel has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1976 and as part of the national park, is open to the public even if not staying there. The lobby has an immense fire place and lots of seating around it. We had quite a few rainy cold days while camping at nearby Many Glacier Campground so came here a couple times to escape the awful weather. Nothing like sitting in a rocker by the fire, writing postcards or planning the next backcountry adventure. Well, it beats sitting in your cold tent!
Many Glacier Hotel Photo: huddling around the fireplace at Many Glacier
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Toughluck
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Many Glacier Hotel is located in the “Switzerland of North America”. The hotel rests on the shore of Swiftcurrent Lake in the heart of Glacier National Park. The Great Northern Railroad built this historic hotel in 1915. Many Glacier Hotel boasts a true Swiss atmosphere with alpine beauty that surrounds the five-story building.
Unique Quality: Just so you know, the hotel has no elevators. So if you're on the top, it's a long climb each day. When you go out, you'll want to stay out for the day. Don't forget about your luggage. The Bellhops have a multitude of duties. They'll haul it up for you, but you may have to wait if a tour just arrived.
Many Glacier Hotel
Bwana_Brown
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As with Glacier Park Lodge, Many Glacier Hotel also has a very impressive internal construction, especially in the Atrium area where the huge logs and chains used in the construction allow the ceiling to be three stories high. Not only was the view great, but one of the hotel staff was playing classical tunes on the grand piano at the bottom right side of the photo.
Unique Quality: This hotel only operates for about 2-3 months of the year because the winter weather does not easily release its grip so deep into the mountains. We noticed that our room windows were only a single pane thick and our door was made out of wooden slats that did not fit tightly together. With the window open, the wind off the lake was whistling across the room and getting out through the various cracks and poor seals on the door. Using the door in these conditions required you to hold onto it with both hands to keep the door from slamming closed. That did not bother us, the rustic atmosphere was great and the beds did the trick.
A dock for the cruise boat 'Chief Two Guns' was located at lakeside, very handy for our Grinnell Glacier hike in the morning. We also enjoyed watching the sun slip behind the western mountains as the evening wore on (3rd photo).
There was no TV or internet access at the hotel nor elevators to carry luggage up the 2 or 3 floors that might be required. Our assigned room here was again in the middle of the range of $125-250. Although the quoted rate was US$148, the Room tax and Utility surcharge along with the $15 Parks booking fee brought the final tab to $177.
Many Glacier Hotel Photo: Hotel Atrium and Gift Shop
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Bwana_Brown
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After driving up from Glacier Park Lodge, we arrived in the Many Glacier area at about 11:30 AM, too early to check into our next stop-over at the Many Glacier Hotel. This was taken care of by a short hike to Apikuni Falls where we had a picnic lunch, before we returned to go through the hotel formalities during the afternoon. This is a fantastic area of Glacier NP, the one we enjoyed the most because of the activities that are available, its location deep within the Park and the Lodge itself. This is the view of the Hotel's Annex 2 as seen from the elevated hotel parking area and looking out over Swiftcurrent Lake to the mountains beyond. The second photo is just swung a bit to the right and shows the Lobby and Annex 1 complex where we stayed. Upon returning from our Falls hike, we drove past the Hotel and took two photos looking back at the Hotel from across the lake - it looks like quite an impressive structure in the first shot but this largest of the Park's hotels pales into insignificance once you show the surrounding mountains!
Unique Quality: Construction of this hotel by the Great Northern Railway ran parallel to that of Glacier Park Lodge, with the Lobby and Annex 1 being built in 1914 and 1915. The separate Annex 2 was added in 1917 and connects to the other buildings via an enclosed breezeway. Originally the hotel had a heated outdoor swimming pool but it consumed so much of the boiler heat output that the guests were unable to take hot showers! That was the end of the swimming pool.
This hotel really gets into the 'Swiss-style' theme, with its Interlaken and Swiss Lounges, heraldic flags strung here and there and even the construction of the wood-slat room doors with the numbers fastened to small plaques embossed with the Swiss Cross. The lake-side of the hotel has a huge deck with lots of room for seating so we spent quite a bit of time there in the sunshine, right up until the sun went down!
Many Glacier Hotel Photo: Grinnell Point looms above Annex 2
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Hopkid
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One of the three historic lodges in and around Glacier and inspiration to Stephen King when he wrote The Shining, the Many Glacier Lodge is the largest and was built in 1914. It's setting on the banks of Switfcurrent Lake with views of Mt. Gould, the Garden Wall (and Gem, Grinnell, and Salamader glaciers), Grinnell Point, Mt. Wilbur, the Ptarmigan Wall, and Mt. Henkel is beyond spectacular and is worth the extra money for a room with a view of the lake. The lodge has a cozy but impressive lobby with Arts and Crafts style furniture for lounging and a wonderful fireplace right in the middle on the right side as you walk in the main entrance.
Rooms (we had a lakeview room) are spartan but roomy and what one would expect in a wilderness setting. Don't expect cable TV, electronic door locks, or an adjustable massage-style shower head. However they are more than adequate. There are two dining options (virtually the same menu) and a grand porch on the back looking out on the lake. Visitors and guests alike can catch the tour boats or hire row boats or canoes. Red Bus tours also leave from the lodge as do horseback rides. And because the Many Glacier area is not on the Going to the Sun Road, it isn't quite as inundated with throngs of tourists.
We will return for a stay upon our next trip to Glacier!
Unique Quality: Great views of the park from the rooms, lobby, and dining room; gift shop; dining room; lounge (it does have a TV); snack/food shop; evening entertainment; great ambiance and atmosphere!
Many Glacier Hotel Photo: Who wouldn't want to stay here?
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You pay for the view and the atmosphere, not the room. A perfectly good night's sleep but like most places in the park, overpriced. There is a great little hiking trail behind the hotel that takes you alongside a stream. A great way to walk off dinner. You must have a drink in the bar overlooking the lake. I recommend the huckleberry margarita!
Not many National Parks can boast two incredible historic hotels but Glacier sure can. In addition to the classic Many Glacier Hotel on its eastern side, the west side of the park has the Lake McDonald Lodge, Cabins & Motor Inn. This is another sprawling, mostly wooden, alpine Swiss-influenced affair also on the Register of National Historic Places as of 1987. While full of amenities and restaurants, it still oozes the charm of another era and its lobby area, while not as big as the one in the Many Glacier Hotel is perhaps even homier if that is possible. Rooms $120 and $170, certainly good value for the location. This was out of our range on a six month trip around the US and was quite far from where we camped. We stopped by on our way out of the park to warm up after coming across a soon-to-be-snow-closed Logan Pass. We grabbed a coffee, soaked up the atmosphere and headed out of Glacier National Park after a very successful and enjoyable trip.
We didn't stay here but did visit on our last day in the park and boy did we ever wish we had spent some time here! Smaller than its historic sisters, Glacier Park Lodge and Many Glacier Hotel, the Lake McDonald Lodge has all kinds of character and charm oozing from every pore! Built in 1913 and as with the other two it sports a great high-ceiling lobby with Arts and Crafts style furnishings. The rear of the lodge has a great view of Lake McDonald, the largest lake in the park and a boat dock for the park-operated boat tours.
Besides the lodge rooms, the complex also has small cottages and a motor inn that have rooms that are less expensive than those in the lodge. 2005 rates were $96 per night for the cottages, $105 for the motor inn rooms, and $145 for the lodge.
Next time we visit Glacier we're spending at least a couple of nights here! Lakeside swimming, boat rentals, gift shop, lounge, dining room, boat tour dock
As a result of our major hike to Grinnell Glacier on the east side of Glacier NP, we did not leave the Many Glacier area until about 4 PM as we headed south and west across the Going-to-the-Sun Road toward our next destination, Lake McDonald Lodge located on the Pacific side of the continental divide. This establishment has a mixture of main Lodge, Cottages and a Motel unit providing a combined 100 rooms. The National Parks reservation service had slotted us into a second storey room in one of the older motel sections, at a rate of US$115 per night ($130 when all the dust from taxes and surcharges had settled).
We immediately noticed the increased air temperature on the Pacific-side of the Rockies, and had to get the windows open to achieve some sort of through breeze to cool the room down. Looking around for an electrical outlet to plug in a battery charger revealed that this place was so old that only 2-prong outlets were installed, so we were unable to use any of our electrical devices. The lumpy bed and noise from the parking lot below (including back-up beepers) did not make for a really restful night - I guess that is what you get when you are only one step away from the bottom of the rate structure! Fortunately, there is a convenience store on the property where I was able to get a couple of cold beers to help me wind down after a full day of hiking and driving over mountains. This is the site of the oldest accommodations in Glacier NP, with the Glacier Hotel being built here by a private developer in 1895. Following the creation of Glacier NP in 1910, the new owner of the hotel decided to tear it down and build a bigger one along the same 'Swiss-style' lines that the Great Northern Railway was doing on the east side of the Park. Realizing that accommodations for wealthy railway guests was going to have to be impressive, the newly opened (1914) Lewis Glacier Hotel featured the same large log supports, big fireplaces and Swiss chalet style construction of the GNR hotels. Because of the length of Lake McDonald and the lack of roads in the Park, the most ornate entrance to the Hotel was built facing the lake, where the boats landed. By 1920, a road had been built from the west, so now entry is via the 'back-door' on the less striking landward side. GNR bought the Hotel in 1930 to bring all the hotels and chalets under 'one roof' and they renamed it the Lake McDonald Lodge in 1957. Because of the greater nearby population density on the Pacific side, Lake McDonald is actually the busiest recreational spot in the National Park.
We enjoyed wandering the grounds and checking out the lakefront where one of the old tour boats, the 'DeSmet' still carries on. The interior of the lodge was quite impressive and has more of an American west style to it with stuffed game and mounted heads dotted around the premises. My ratings for this accommodations are for the Motel section we stayed in.
Glacier National Park has many fine campground spread over its considerable area. Organized car campgrounds are mostly clustered on the Going-to-the-Sun Road. With the great size of the park, it makes most sense to move from one area to the next rather than backtrack but if you remain in one spot, at least the road you are backtracking on is amazingly scenic! Campgrounds vary in amenities and also when they are open so please check the park's helpful website to pick the one that best suits your needs. West of Logan Pass has Apgar, Fish Creek, Sprague Creek, Lake McDonald, and Avalanche Creek. I have not stayed on that side of Logan Pass so cannot comment on them.
The east side of the Divide has Rising Sun and St. Mary on the Going-to-the-Sun Road. On that side of the park but in separate sections of the park, there is Many Glacier and Two Medicine. Most campgrounds in the park are first-come, first-served but you can reserve for St. Mary and Fish Creek.
In 1994, I camped at Rising Sun and it was a wonderful spot but on our most recent trip in 2008, we picked Many Glacier for a variety of reasons. Though remote from much of the park, it is close to some of the finest day hikes in the park. More importantly, it was close to a backcountry ranger station, making it easy for me to get up early and walk to get permits while D slept in.
Many Glacier Campground is one of the park's most popular despite being a bit away from the rest of the park due to its scenic beauty. Set in a dense forest, sites are well-spaced with picnic tables and fire grates. We had two three night stands in this campground and enjoyed both spots for different reasons. One spot was deeper in the campground and perhaps more scenic but we had neighbors in an RV next to us that ran their generator when it was allowed. Thankfully, they have cut off hours for such things. It was cold and I can understand why they would want to. They just should have invited us in! Actually, they were very nice but had a few cookouts and steak seemed to always be on the menu. Not only did this make us envious and hungry, we also were a bit worried about the scent. Here we were, laying in our little tent, freezing and smelling a sizzling steak, imagining a bear doing just the same. Well, smelling the steak, not laying in our tent. The campground has kind of rustic restrooms but certainly serviceable with flush toilets though the lack of hot running water was missed during our fairly chilly stay in September of 2008. Luckily, the campground is fairly close to the Many Glacier Hotel and very close to the Swift Current Motor Lodge. In fact, for our second stint at the campground, we opted for a spot close to the latter. It was not quite as scenic but was on very high ground. It was raining a fair amount so this was important and helped keep our tent drier. It was also a very big spot with only tenters around us. Perhaps most importantly, it was very close to the Swift Current. We spent a good amount of our downtime hanging out in their lobby and their restrooms were cozy, warm and had hot running water!
This is grizzly territory and proper food storage is required. Rangers make the rounds to make sure you are not leaving any food out when not in use. They have food storage lockers for those camping without a hard-sided vehicle but unlike Yosemite, you do not have to use them if you do have a hard-sided one. This is a lot easier logistically when you are moving around.
It was $20 per night to camp in the summer of 2008 and pretty good value.
Many Glacier hotel.
Many Glacier Hotel
Interior of the Many Glacier Hotel
Many Glacier Hotel
I am planning a trip to Glacier National Park for a surprise for my husband. Our five year anniversary is coming up and after seeing the pictures of the park, I knew that was where I wanted to go. I was planning on staying at either Many Glacier Hotel or Lake McDonald Lodge. They looked so pretty online and with the redbus system and all the guides and stuff affiliated with them it seemed perfect. BUT... the reviews for all the lodges there seem HORRIBLE. Are they really that bad? I am not looking for the Ritz type atmosphere; however, I would like something that feels special and maybe on a Hilton or Holiday Inn level of quality with the lodge atmosphere. (Although, I will take a hotel if that is my only choice.) I definitely don't want to wisk my husband away as a surprise and hate where we are staying. Can anyone provide some ideas or alternate places to stay? We will be there for 6 days and 7 nights. I am going to get a rental car, so even something just outside the park would work. I am at a loss. I truly would like to stay at the Great Bear Lodge in St. Mary Montana, but they aren't taking reservations due to possibly selling the lodge.
The lodges at Glacier (including the Glacier Park Lodge in East Glacier) are grand hotels of the NPS system. And you have to remember that they were built in the 1920s. They haven't been updated to Hilton standards and the rooms might be considered rustic. However it is the charm of staying inside the park and hanging out in the grand lobbies (a seat next to the giant wood fireplace at the Many Glacier Hotel is heaven) and taking in the breathtaking views from your room that are worth the lack of modern hotel amenities. My opinion is that they aren't horrible. They are basic (no TV, no radio, no clock even) but they are functional, clean, if not in need of some updating. But when you take in the fact of your surroundings it will all be worth it.
Great views of the park from the rooms, lobby, and dining room; gift shop; dining room; lounge (it does have a TV); snack/food shop; evening entertainment; great ambiance and atmosphere!
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Q: First Time Visitor to Glacier "I am planning a trip to Glacier for June 2012; am mostly interested in photographing the awesome scenery. Traveling with a..."
A: "It was way to long, in the 70's when we went so any places may have changed, but this nps link might help: http://www.nps.gov/glac/planyourvisit/index.htm"
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Address: Highway 8, Swiftcurrent Lake, Montana, 59434, United States
