West - Idaho and Montana

Two week trip beginning in Boise....to Sun Valley....to Salmon, ID, then Missoula, Flathead Lake, Whitefish and then enter the Park.

Not sure how to allocate the days? We have one night at Lake McDonald on West, then a night at Swiftcurrent on east entrance and one at Prince of Wales. Probably flying out of Kalispell. Or should we go to Coeur d'Alene and fly out of Spokane. Any suggestions?

Sun Valley - 2 or 3 nights - free lodging there

Missoula - one or 2 nights

Flathead vs Whitefish. one night each or two nights in one place

It depends on what you want to do....if you want to maximize hiking, etc, spend more time in the areas around Ketchum, Salmon, and Montana. You might consider flying out of Missoula instead of Kalispell - I think it would be cheaper. If you want to fly out of CDA, plan on spending a day or two there. That route will be beautiful and scenic!

It depends on what you want to do....if you want to maximize hiking, etc, spend more time in the areas around Ketchum, Salmon, and Montana. You might consider flying out of Missoula instead of Kalispell - I think it would be cheaper. If you want to fly out of CDA, plan on spending a day or two there. That route will be beautiful and scenic!

After more research, it is much cheaper to return a car in Helena or Bozeman and the jets out of Bozeman are larger which I prefer. Anyone familiar with the drive from East Glacier area to Bozeman. Are we doing the right thing by not going back west if we decide to fly out of Bozeman. I wouldn't mind seeing the capital and it would be about the same distance of traveling but probably not as scenic. Worth it?

On my first trip to Glacier I flew into Bozeman and drove to Kalispell. BZN had better prices and flight times than flying to an airport closer to the park, but it wound up being a long drive, over 5 hours with stops. Driving to the east side of the park would be about 30 minutes less. But I found a faster alternative for my second visit: I flew to Calgary, which was a nonstop for me coming from SFO, and drove from YYC to the east side of Glacier in about 3 hours.

Montana is full of a lot of nothing - it is part of the beauty of it all. I haven't done that exact drive, but I have spent time in Central MT and in the Bozeman area. I have been to Helena, so I can't speak of it. Bozeman is a great town. The drive might be long, but the scenery should be awesome. Wide open spaces with mountains. Is this trip for hiking? Climbing? Billings has the biggest airport, but you could also look at Missoula too.