Weekend Warrior in Whitefish, MT

Flew direct from Chicago (!!) in to Glacier Park National Airport (FCA). Direct flights from Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles, etc. every day.

Picked up our Turo car (pick up/drop off in the airport parking lot). and headed to Whitefish for lunch before checking in to our Airbnb.

Lunch: Bulldog Saloon. Pretty good for bar food and great service.

Checked in to our Airbnb on in downtown Whitefish on 2nd street. We went back and forth on getting a place more in the mountains or in the town, and definitely liked being able to walk around Whitefish from our accommodation.

Next, we headed to the Whitefish Trail trailhead on Reservoir Dr. (trail link here: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/montana/whitefish-valley-lookout?u=i&sh=geec6f).

TIP: do NOT be like us and think you can get by without renting bear spray. We got all the way to the trail and were too freaked out to keep going so turned around, went back in to town, rented bear spray from https://bearsprayshack.com/, and returned to the trail to start again. Highly recommend this company as you can return at any time of day.

After the hike, we worked up quite an appetite. Headed to the highly recommended Jersey Boys pizzeria downtown. This place was so good we actually went twice! We got the fried ravioli and a BBQ chicken pizza.

Started the day with coffee from local favorite Loula's Cafe and headed to the Whitefish City Beach, walkable from downtown Whitefish via a short trail starting in Kay Beller Park.

We then headed in to Whitefish Lake State Park (pro tip: rent a car with Montana plates to get free entry to all state parks!).

This park was not even on the itinerary, but so lucky we stumbled across it. In the park we went to Dog Bay and rented a two person kayak for 1 hour for $35 (which was cheaper than Whitefish Beach). This was a HIGHLIGHT of the trip so highly recommend.

After, we explored downtown Whitefish (specifically Main St) going in to various shops. We got lunch at Central Ave Bakery & Deli and then headed to the main destination: Glacier National Park!

During the summer, there's timed tickets for the West Glacier entrance (most accessible entrance from Whitefish) from 7am-3pm. Since we booked this only a few weeks ago, ALL the timed passes were sold out the entire weekend. We got an untimed pass ($35) and entered the park at around 3:02pm. Thankfully, it wasn't that crowded!

Even if you're not super in to hiking, the drive on Going-to-the-Sun road alone is worth it. If you are in to hiking, we did the Avalanche Lake hike (https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/montana/avalanche-lake--6?u=i&sh=geec6f) which was GORGEOUS. Right near the trailhead is a sign for Trail of the Cedars, which we took a short detour on to see the waterfalls.

After, we drove back to Whitefish and got BlackStar BrewPub for dinner.

Today we headed to Kalispell! (but not after grabbing coffee and the most amazing avocado toast I've ever had at Folklore Coffee)

Starting with Lone Pine State Park, another park we got in for free with the Montana license plates. This smaller park has great views, where you can see Flathead Lake, Glacier National Park, and parts of Whitefish from a distance. We did part of the Lone Pine Trail here: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/montana/lone-pine-trail?u=i&sh=geec6f and the much shorter lookout trail (about 0.1-0.2 miles).

Next, we went to Tamarack Brewing Company. There were a few options around Flathead Lake, so definetly want to include some in your itinerary. The drive from Lone Pine to Tamarack included many beautiful views of Flathead Lake!

Next, we went in to town and got a flight at Bias Brewing on Main St. Then we walked down Main St in Kalispell and went in a few stores, a bookstore, and just enjoyed the little downtown.

We drove back to Whitefish and decided to go up Big Mountain to see Whitefish Mountain Resort. We didn't really have anything planned, but the scenery up there was great! On the way down, we found the Holbrook Overlook, which includes a trail you can do, but we just enjoyed the lookout site.

We then got Jersey Boys again (oops) and ran over to Sweet Peaks Ice Cream before it closed! Highly recommend getting the huckleberry ice cream as it is a very popular berry in the area :)

Departing day :(

Started the day by going to Folklore Coffee (again, oops!) and taking in the last walk in downtown Whitefish. We packed everything up and decided to drive around before heading to the airport.

This time, we went to Lion Mountain Trailhead and just did the family loop (half a mile). Full trail here: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/montana/red-lion-trail?u=i&sh=geec6f.

We grabbed brunch at Amazing Crepes which was... amazing!, returned our bear spray, and raced to the airport (because of course by stalling at Lion Mountain we were now about to be late for car drop off).

Truly had so much fun on this trip! We talk about it all the time and want to go back very soon.