Many Glacier Hotel Review: Glacier National Park, Montana

So I stayed at the Many Glacier Hotel and I didn’t like it. To many people who adore National Parks, this comment is sacrilege! I’m probably going to be shunned for this line of thinking.

But before we get into the nitty gritty details of the Many Glacier Hotel review in Glacier National Park, let’s talk about these “Historic National Park Lodges.” Article after article, travel guide after guide, online review after online review will tell you that when you visit certain US National Parks, you absolutely need to stay in one of these lodges or you’re missing out on the entire experience.

Now, logistically, it makes sense. The lodges are in insanely convenient locations – they’re right inside the parks! And architecturally, they really are beautiful.

But personally, my love affair with them ends right there. Because, while I can admire the architecture and historical significance, I don’t want to actually stay there. And if you don’t stay at one of these lodges, the only thing you’re missing out on is utter frustration.

That said, my sister and I did stay at the Many Glacier hotel out of convenience to nearby hikes and I while I am glad I had this experience, I wouldn’t want to stay here again.

Many Glacier Hotel Location:

This hotel is in the East Glacier area, and is quite remote but absolutely stunning. The road going into this hotel is a good 12 mile one-way jaunt, and you have to take it slow, as the road has tons of potholes and ruts — and it’s crawling with cows! The open range cattle roam all day and night, so I would avoid driving here at night.

NOTE: I stayed in the Many Glacier area again and didn’t see any cows during my stay. But just because I didn’t see them, doesn’t mean they’re no longer there!

The lodge is located right on the shoreline of Swiftcurrent Lake, making for an absolutely stunning location to soak in the views of Glacier National Park.

As far as access to popular spots in Glacier National Park, this is an excellent location if you want to do some of the park’s best hikes, such as Grinnell Glacier and Iceberg Lake. Cell and data service is non-existent and the wifi in the lounge is hit-or-miss.

Parking/Loading/Unloading at Many Glacier Hotel

When we visited, Many Glacier Lodge was under major construction and half of the building was not accessible. Part of this included the unloading area. You have to unload right near the dining room. It’s unsheltered, so hopefully you won’t have to do this in a rainstorm like we had to. Plus, the bellhops (dressed in a corny lederhosen costumes because, why not?) don’t allow you to use their luggage carts unle$$ you let them do it. We had to make several trips to our room to get all of our stuff. You WILL want to unload all of your luggage here as parking is up a hill and has an inconvenient hiking path you have to take to get back to the hotel.

There is one elevator here and there’s always a long wait, so you may be schlepping all your shit up a few flights of stairs, unless you want to pay the bellhops.

Many Glacier Hotel Rooms Review:
We paid about $300 a night for this. Now, yes, that’s a lot and much more than I typically would pay for a hotel. But if you know anything about pricing at these historic National Park lodges, it’s actually pretty reasonable. We had a lakeside refurbished room, which sounds lovely but left a lot to be desired.

A ‘refurbished’ room still lacks all modern conveniences. The shower is a pain to use and looks like a medieval torture device (they include a complicated flow cart on shower operation, but come on – if you’re going to refurbish the room, at least give us a modern shower!) The shower has a pull around curtain in the clawfoot tub. The sink is located outside the shower area and has separate hot/cold handles that you can only use one at a time (in other words, the water will either be steaming hot or freezing cold, there is no adjusting the temp).

The beds were really comfy and the room was bigger than expected. There is no wifi in the rooms, no TV, no fridge, no microwave. We knew these things going in, so we weren’t surprised by the lack of amenities. Just, well, annoyed.

Gift Shop: We visited all of the gift shops in Glacier National Park, including those outside the park in St. Mary and West Glacier, and found the shop inside the Many Glacier hotel to be the best. Huge variety of souvenirs – they had everything we typically buy at National Parks (hoodies, patches, ornaments, stickers, huckleberry lotion, stuffed animals) and items we don’t typically buy (pottery). I’m pretty sure the cashiers knew us by the time we checked out.