For the love of God, update the bathrooms. I can appreciate keeping the aesthetic of the period era hotel. The showers and bathroom are deplorable. What opportunity that has been missed, to hire locals/contractors during the eight months that you’re closed. You really miss the Mark. For this reason alone, we would not return to that hotel

I stayed for 2 days @ Glacier Park Lodge, which is located across the street from Amtrak’s East Glacier Park station. The shuttle car from the Lodge (a 1969 stretch Checker Cab) will wait up to drive you to the lobby, even if the Amtrak Empire Builder train is very late. Our train from Chicago was ~4 hours late, but the Checker Cab (and doorman) was still waiting for us when we finally arrived. The exterior & interior of the Lodge are built from Pacific Northwest pine & cedar logs brought in starting in the 1920s. The good news is that the Lodge is extremely rustic & scenic, with an airy central atrium that uses the tall logs to good effect to create an impressive open space, Oil wall paintings and other decorative effects highlight the historic nature of the Lodge and its connection to the adjacent Blackfoot Tribal lands and its peoples. The bad news is that nearly all the rooms date back to the 1920s, with sometimes small rooms and really small bathrooms (with fixtures dating back to that era). Our grandparents shared the same tight accommodations, so I’d plan to take advantage of the various outdoors activities (such as the bus tours of the adjacent Glacier National Park) to get into nature. Some of the more recent additions to the Lodge have larger rooms and more up-to-date bathrooms. I found that the wifi during my stay was very spotty; I wouldn’t anticipate getting much more service than simple e-mail during a stay. And bring a good device; there are no televisions in the rooms and no nearby broadcast television stations in Northern Montana to pick up. The Lodge is listed associated with Glacier National Park, so the multiple bus tours and shuttles to rafting and other expeditions will also depart from the lobby. There are free talks that take place in the (expansive) lobby organized by the Park Service that highlight the local culture (such as a talk by a local Blackfoot Tribal commentator). The Lodge also has nightly tours of the building’s architecture; another worthwhile thing to do while you’re here. This Lodge is definitely with visiting as a classic American tourism experience, and as a way to visit Glacier National Park.

Glacier National Park is vast, so seeing it all means that a hotel in Apgar (where we stayed for the first half of our trip) puts you a 2-hour drive from some of the most scenic spots and best hikes. Once we realized we could not stay in Apgar for our entire trip without a lot of extra driving, we came up with a good solution: The Golf House at Glacier Park Lodge. It's a hour drive from Many Glacier but makes seeing that area do-able, especially if you want to spend more than one day on the east side or middle of the park (St. Mary, Two Medicine). The Golf House is a short walk from the main lodge. It was built (and decorated in) the 1970s -- but we found that to be a throwback to our childhood and really just fine. You have to be up for harvest gold appliances and wood paneling, but the truth is that there is nowhere on the east side of the park that's modern in decor. What you get by staying at the golf house is not just proximity to the other side of the park, but all of these nice things: two separate bedrooms (each sleeps 4, plus there are two twin roll-away beds), a full kitchen (with pots, pans, dishes, silverware, glasses, and a coffee maker), daily housekeeping/trash removal (you do have to request it), bed linens, towels, a washer/dryer (with detergent), a drip coffee maker, an outdoor deck overlooking the golf course, a gas grill, plenty of parking, privacy, wifi, a TV, and SILENCE for a good night's rest. (Bring your own napkins and paper towels.) We picked up groceries in Kalispell so that we were able to make a great dinner every night and avoid the not-so-great restaurant choices in the area; cooking together became our evening's entertainment and was fun. You won't find many reviews online of the golf house, but don't let that dissuade you from staying here. It's not much more expensive than the actual hotel and, with a little planning and advance warning about the throwback to the 70s, is a lot of fun. Plus, the hotel is just a phone call away (on a corded, push-button phone) if you need anything. Staying here worked out great for us.

Very nice historic hotel with fantastic views of the mountains. Location is in a good spot for the East side of Glacier National Park. The rooms are nothing special as the hotel was built in the early 1900's, but all of the staff are very friendly and nice.

Plan to totally unplug, and pay dearly to do it. The lodge is beautiful. They do a very short lodge tour daily touching on the history of the lodge. Transportation from the train station to the lodge is free, fun and nostalgic. The staff was laid back and friendly. The rooms are very basic: Bed, bathroom and shower, and a couple of electric outlets. Rooms have no TV, and even getting a radio station on a cell phone from anywhere on property was impossible. Individual wall heaters warmed the room. Rooms are very spread out, and there are stairs involved. The lobby is charming when you enter. There's an old piano that is open to anyone who wants to play it, and puzzles, usually with pieces missing, set up all over the main floor. If you don't do puzzles, there's a fireplace where folks can sit and enjoy overpriced coffee or a cocktail from the bar. There are no TVs anywhere in the common areas, no way to check weather, or world events. Cell phones rarely worked. Lobby music was on the calibre of a local band, and local talent, even though they had come in all the way from Ohio. There are two restaurants. One was expensive ($22.00 and up for a burger) and the other was "more upscale" serving things like steak dinners. The upscale restaurant hosted the breakfast buffet. It had a fireplace, and a weird set up so nobody could enjoy the fire from any table. There is a small convenience area in the lobby that sells overpriced coffee and snacks. They ran out of Diet Coke on our first day there. Don't expect special food accommodations: They will say OK, then serve you what they want to anyway. Fortunately for me and my shrimp allergy, there was no shrimp there during my stay. However, none of our meals came as ordered, in spite of the very long wait. Going out at night to look at the stars was discouraged, due to ongoing bear activity. The entire place shuts down for "quiet hours" by 10 pm. Lights are turned off and all bar and restaurant services are stopped. We were there on a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night. The saving grace was a small strip of stores just the other side of the train station, mostly closed, but with a small diner that is only open for breakfast and lunch, and a very basic grocery store. Groceries and souvenirs were still expensive, but available. We went on two tours from the hotel: One was supposed to be going to the sun road ( road was closed by a snowstorm), and the other was a boat ride. The boatride was fun but cold. It dropped us off at the only building to wait for the bus, a gift shop. but nothing more than a shuttle to get hikers to and from trails. Two nights would be plenty. We were glad to get back on the train and move on.