Glacier National Park is full of amazing views and hikes, no matter which area of the park you choose to visit. Many visitors stay in Kalispell, which provides easy access to West Glacier. However, this guide will focus on East Glacier. This is ideal for anyone staying in Many Glacier, St. Mary, or Two Medicine. This is also ideal for those who are traveling on a budget and stay in Cut Bank, which is an hour further east of East Glacier.
On the eastern side of Glacier National Park, you’ll find several alpine lakes and some hiking options. Plus, get out on the water and take a boat tour of one of the three lakes. And yes, it is possible to do all of this with a one day East Glacier Itinerary.
One Day East Glacier Itinerary
This East Glacier itinerary will focus strictly on the eastern areas of Glacier National Park. Yes, Going to the Sun Road is absolutely stunning and worthy of a day of your Montana itinerary. But there’s plenty of other great things to do at Glacier National Park (but seriously, budget time for Going to the Sun Road on another day of your trip).
So, without further adieu, let’s get into how I recommend spending one day in East Glacier.
8:00 – Many Glacier
We’re going to start off the day in Many Glacier, which is a gorgeous area of Glacier National Park. There’s loads of hikes that leave from here, plus boat tours, and a picturesque Swiss-style chalet. Because of its popularity, you’ll need some kind of reservation if you plan to visit between the hours of 6:00 am and 3:00 pm. I’ll cover this reservation in more detail later in this post.
It’s up to you how you spend your morning at Many Glacier, but I recommend getting out and doing a little hiking. While there are longer trails that depart from here, I recommend sticking to a shorter trail, since there’s still a lot to do today. I’d recommend going out to the Swiftcurrent Trailhead (at the very end of the road in Many Glacier) and hiking from there.
Fishercap Lake is the first lake you’ll reach and it’s a pretty short walk (I wouldn’t even consider this much of a hike). You can continue on just a bit further to Redrock Lake. Take in the views in both lakes before turning around. Yes, the trail goes even further, but unless you’re a fast and fit hiker, you’ll likely run out of time for other activities. And while Many Glacier is stunning, there’s more to Glacier National Park than just this area.
After your hike, don’t miss the views around the Many Glacier hotel and Swiftcurrent Lake.
11:00 – Drive to St. Mary
It’s about a 45 minute drive to St. Mary, so make sure to leave Many Glacier at 11:00 at the absolute latest so you can reach your next destination in time. The route here is nice but there’s nothing too notable about the drive.
12:00 – St. Mary Lake Boat Trip
Now it’s time to take a boat ride across St. Mary Lake. The Glacier Park Boat Company operates hourly boat tours across four of the major lakes in Glacier National Park, but we’re sticking just to the tour on St. Mary Lake. Pick the tour that starts at noon, but just note that you’ll need to arrive a bit before noon so you have time to park and check in.
Your tour starts at the St. Mary boat dock (located at Rising Sun) and takes you out on the lake past Wild Goose Island and up to Baring Falls. At Baring Falls, you’ll get a chance to get off the boat and walk the very short trail to the waterfall. But don’t expect to have the waterfall to yourself. There’s also a trail to Baring Falls from Going to the Sun Road. This means that you’ll almost certainly be sharing Baring Falls with people who hiked down. The good news for you is that visiting Baring Falls from the boat dock is so much easier than hiking down from Going to the Sun Road (and then hiking back up).
Back on the boat, you’ll return to the boat dock at Rising Sun. Throughout the entire journey, your captain/tour guide will be giving you information about the history of the area, both geological history and the history of the early visitors who helped to develop this area. I found this all interesting, but it was the views from the lake that I enjoyed the most.
The entire tour takes about an hour and a half and costs $38 per person. We booked our tickets online in advance, but I would imagine that you can buy tickets from the boat dock if there are still tickets available. Our boat didn’t feel crowded so I have to imagine that it didn’t sell out. However, my dad and I originally were looking at a boat tour in Many Glacier. We tried to book tickets three months in advance and they were already sold out. Thankfully, the tour from St. Mary Lake had loads of spots available that far in advance.
After your boat tour, you can stop at the St. Mary Visitor Center before you make you way to Two Medicine.
Also as a note, this East Glacier itinerary doesn’t include a stop for lunch. This is because I have a tendency to pack loads of snacks to eat throughout the day so I don’t have to make a formal stop for something to eat. If that sounds awful, you can stop in St. Mary Village for lunch. There are a few places where you can grab something to eat for a late lunch.
2:00 – Drive to Two Medicine
It’s time to drive to the last area of Glacier National Park. The drive to Two Medicine is pretty straightforward and you can just follow Google Maps (or whichever navigation app you choose to use). However, I do have to add one important caveat. The roads to get here can be a little bit nerve wracking.
My dad describes it as the sketchiest road he’s ever driven. I’m not sure if I can say it’s the sketchiest road I’ve ever been on, but I was definitely happy that I was the passenger and not the driver. Take your time and drive carefully. You’ll be on a mountain road that doesn’t guardrails everywhere. That probably makes it sound super scary, but as long as you are careful, it’s perfectly doable.
2:45 – Running Eagle Falls
While the Two Medicine area of Glacier National Park is most well known for its lake, we’re going to start with a short hike to a waterfall. We’ll visit the lake later.
Take a short walk through the forest and you’ll emerge at Running Eagle Falls. The entire walk is less than 0.6 miles and the NPS marks it as an accessible trail. There’s a few spots where it’s uneven and if you want to get close to the waterfall, it’s definitely not accessible. However, this is still something that most people will be able to do.
Since the trail is short, it doesn’t take a lot of time to visit Running Eagle Falls, but it’s still a really cool waterfall with the water coming pouring out of a hole in the rock. I highly recommend adding this to your East Glacier itinerary.
3:15 – Two Medicine Lake
The last stop of your day in East Glacier is at Two Medicine Lake. By this point, you’ll have visited a lot of lakes today, but now it’s time to just sit and relax. Two Medicine felt much calmer than other areas in East Glacier. But think about it. Many Glacier gets so busy that it requires timed entries and St. Mary Lake is on the far eastern end of the very popular Going to the Sun Road. Two Medicine has neither of those things. That’s not to say that there won’t be other people (there will be), but I found it to be more calm and peaceful here than at every other stop we made.
How long you stay at Two Medicine Lake is up to you. For us, we stayed for about a half hour, but we still had an hour drive back to our hotel that evening. Plus, since we skipped lunch and just ate snacks, we were ready to go find dinner.
My Experience in East Glacier
This is the exact East Glacier itinerary I used on my trip to Montana. It worked so well that I have no changes to what I’m presenting to you. The only thing I will say is that some visitors may want to consider extra time at Many Glacier to do some more hiking. I was traveling with my dad so hiking wasn’t a priority on this trip, but if I were to do this again (either solo or with someone who enjoyed hiking), I’d add a little bit of extra time (just an hour or two) at Many Glacier just to make sure that I’d have enough time to get in a good hike.
Reservations for Many Glacier
Many Glacier is one of the areas of Glacier National Park that requires a reservation. The reservations are not timed, but are good for the entire day between 6:00 am and 3:00 pm. Basically if you want to enter the Many Glacier area between 6:00 am and 3:00 pm (like on this itinerary), you need to have a reservation from the NPS, a ticket for a boat tour, or a reservation at the Many Glacier hotel. For this itinerary, you’ll want to purchase a reservation from the NPS in advance.
You can purchase a reservation online in advance. Reservations cost $2 per vehicle. These reservations go quickly. I made my reservation and the 290 available reservations sold out in less than three minutes. So, my advice is to make sure you are ready to purchase tickets right when the go on sale.
When to Visit Glacier National Park
While you technically could visit Glacier National Park all year round, you should really focus your visit during the summer months. Going to the Sun Road is only open from late May through early October (exact dates vary year to year based on the weather). To have the best experience, plan your visit for the summer months. Otherwise, you’ll miss out on some of the best experiences at Glacier National Park.
I visited in mid July and while it was incredibly hot with temperatures reaching nearly 100 degrees near our hotel, up in the mountains of Glacier it was a very pleasant 80 degrees. However, I hiked the Hidden Lake Overlook Trail from the Logan Visitor Center and there were still a few patches of snow (yes, even in July with temperatures of over 80 degrees). My only complaint with the weather was we had some haze from wildfire smoke so my pictures weren’t as clear as they could have been. Even with that, I’d still recommend traveling this time of year.
Where to Stay at Glacier National Park
There are numerous hotel options near Glacier National Park and it really depends on your itinerary where you stay.
Many people will recommend staying in the town of Kalispell, which is outside the western entrance of Glacier National Park. While you will find plenty of hotel options, these hotels can be pricey (like over $300 per night). For this particular one day itinerary, Kalispell doesn’t make the most sense as you’ll have a 2-3 hour drive each way to the start and end of this itinerary.
There are a handful of lodges in and near the park, but these are expensive and fill up fast. However, they offer some incredible views and easy access to Glacier National Park. For this itinerary, I’d look at staying either at the Many Glacier Hotel or in St. Mary Village if you want to stay in the park and minimize driving.
For a budget option, you could stay in the town of Cut Bank. This is a 60 to 90 minute drive from the eastern entrances of the park (driving time varies by which entrance you use). Hotels are very limited here, but I was able to spend two nights in a Super 8 motel for less than the cost of one night in Kalispell. Yes it added more driving, but the cost savings was so worth it.
Final Thoughts
I really loved my time in East Glacier. I was worried that there wouldn’t be enough to do, but my day was paced perfectly with enough time to appreciate the scenery without feeling rushed. For anyone traveling through East Glacier, I think this itinerary will work fantastically.
Continue Your Adventure
Glacier National Park: No visit to Glacier National Park would be complete without driving Going to the Sun Road. Use this five day itinerary to get a great taste of Montana and learn about my top budget tips. If you aren’t a hiker, I put together an entire guide for to enjoying Glacier National Park without hiking. Plus start planning your trip with my Glacier National Park Travel Guide.
US National Parks: Start planning your national park vacation with my US National Park Travel Guide. You’ll find information about each park, photos, itineraries, and everything you need to start planning your trip.