# Glacier National Park - closest airport??



## Jwerking (Feb 5, 2013)

Hi All:

We have exchanged into Glacier Wilderness Resort for Sept 7-14 - followed by a week at Banff Resort - close to Calgary. 

Since hubby and I just retired and will visit our daughter enroute in Milwaukee, we will likely drive cross-country from the Wash DC metro area.  However, my cousin and wife from Houston will fly. 

RCI resort info states that airport in Kalispell (FCA) is the closest airport.  It was over $700 to fly into FCA and depart from Calgary. 

Are there any other airports relatively closeby to Glacier NP that may be cheaper?  

Thanks for any help. 

Joyce


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## Passepartout (Feb 5, 2013)

Spokane WA. (GEG) or Great Falls, MT (GTF) but they may not be a lot cheaper than Kalispell. All are a bit off the beaten path.


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## ampaholic (Feb 5, 2013)

Passepartout said:


> Spokane WA. (GEG) or Great Falls, MT (GTF) but they may not be a lot cheaper than Kalispell. All are a bit off the beaten path.



Southwest flys into Spokane - it may be cheaper. By car in the summer it is 4.5 to 5.5 hours to the west entrance at Glacier from GEG.

FYI Meadow Lake Resort has a lot of availability and is 15 miles or so from the West Gate.


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## gomo2010 (Feb 5, 2013)

Also keep in mind that maybe Amtrak's Empire Builder might fit into your plans.


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## DaveNV (Feb 5, 2013)

Check Missoula airport (MSO.)  It's only an hour or so further away than Kalispell, and may have better service. Alaska Airlines flies there via their Horizon partner.

Glacier Wilderness Resort is a pleasant, if v-e-r-y rustic place in the boonies.  Be prepared to drive a fair amount to get anywhere.  We stayed there in June two years ago.  Comfortable, very low-key place, but pretty isolated.

Dave


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## DianneL (Feb 5, 2013)

*Spokane*

We flew into Spokane as the fare was so much better than other airports. We spent the night near Spokane and drove to Whitefish, Montana the next day.  By the way,that is a nice drive with beautiful scenery. Crestwood is the name of the resort into which we traded, which was about 30 minutes from the entrance to Glacier. We loved Glacier -- a beautiful part of our country.


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## Dollie (Feb 6, 2013)

*Using a major hub*

When we did a Glacier NP-Banff trip we found it was cheaper to fly into Seattle.  We had a rental car.  We spend a night in a motel on the way to Glacier; several nights in Glacier, US side first then Canadian; drove on to Banff spending several nights there; then on to Jasper and back to Seattle. 

We are retired so we have no problem adding days on if needed.  This is not the first time we have found it overall cheaper to fly into a major hub and drive even if it requires spending an extra night in a motel rather than flying into a small local airport.  Las Vegas is another hub which usually works out this way.


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## eal (Feb 6, 2013)

We own at Glacier Wilderness Resort and a couple of years ago we had a friend join us from Seattle.  He took the Amtrak train to West Glacier and raved about the trip.


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## Bxian (Feb 7, 2013)

We stayed at Meadow Lake near Glacier  2 summers ago and flew into Missoula-spent a couple of nights there-a fun, college town. Our originating airport was Philadelphia-we had a quick change of flights in Chicago and then went on to Missoula.  We used United's miles plus cash frequent flyer deal.

Agree with the Spokane suggestion as well-you may want to fly there and stop for a couple of night at Lake Couer D'Alene. We went from Missoula-Lake Couer D'Alene-meadow Lake/Glacier and the drive was not bad at all. A lovely patr of the country.


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## Jwerking (Feb 7, 2013)

Thank all of you for the information on the airports and the area.  I suggested to my cousin that she consider using Alaska Air into Spokane and then out of Calgary.  They will have to overnight in Spokane, but we can pick them up enroute to Glacier NP from Yellowstone NP area.  A bit out of the way, but who cares, we are retired and have plenty of time.     But cousin is still on 2-week vacation schedule for working folk!


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## Timeshare Von (Feb 7, 2013)

gomo2010 said:


> Also keep in mind that maybe Amtrak's Empire Builder might fit into your plans.



I did the Empire Builder from Milwaukee to Whitefish, MT and loved it.  Here's a link to the travel journal I wrote on that experience with Amtrak and while in Montana.


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## marymccord (Jul 30, 2013)

Visit http://www.ranker.com/list/best-to-worst-u-s-airports/voteable it has a huge list of the best and worst both types of airports for ease of deciding. If its late already, for next time You can take help from here.


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## talkamotta (Aug 7, 2013)

Don't be worried about driving......that is the trip.  When you are driving up to Banff there is so much to see.   You might want to drive straight to Banff and then on your way back go through Kootenay and Yoho Parks.   That's a wonderful drive too.


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