Best Views in Glacier National Park

Courtesy Glacier Park, Inc.

St. Mary Lake

Glacier's 762 mountain lakes are stunning for their sheer size and the towering mountains rising from the shores of their clear waters. Little Chief Mountain imposes a formidable flank over this high-altitude lake. Second in size to Lake McDonald, St. Mary is often frozen completely over in winter with ice up to 4-feet thick.

Courtesy Montana Office of Tourism

Swiftcurrent Lake

Moonlit nights provide wonderful extraordinary views of Mount Gould, Grinnell Point and Mount Wilbur at Swiftcurrent Lake. The deep, cold alpine lake is fed by many of the glaciers in the area, including the Grinnell. The largest hotel in the park, the historic Many Glacier Hotel, is located on its eastern bank.

Courtesy Montana Office of Tourism

Lake McDonald

Stretching northeast for some 10 miles from near the west entrance to the park, Lake McDonald has a beauty that seems easy, almost lazy, with dense forest sloping down to the glass-smooth water. Lake McDonald is the largest (10 miles long) and deepest (464 feet) body of water in the park.

Courtesy Montana Office of Tourism

Grinnell Glacier

Book time (a day by foot) to visit the park’s best-known and most accessible glacier, Grinnell. Its name honors environmentalist George Bird Grinnell, who lobbied Congress to establish Glacier as a national park in 1910.

Courtesy Montana Office of Tourism

Going-to-the-Sun Road

Glacier’s Going-to-the-Sun Road is 52 miles of wonderment: a sinuous lesson in geological, ecological, and human history on the largest possible scale. Three companies went broke trying to construct this mountain highway, which was finished―after 13 years of work by Italian, Russian, and Montanan laborers―in 1932. Considered an engineering feat, it is one of the most scenic roads in North America.

Courtesy of Al Wilson

Two Medicine Lake

A river of ice left its ancient mark on conical Sinopah Mountain and carved out a hollow for shimmering Two Medicine Lake. Two Medicine Lake makes a perfect afternoon outing. If the water’s calm, you can rent a rowboat or canoe to paddle under the looming presence of Sinopah Mountain. Or you can take a narrated cruise on the handsome 1930s-era launch that bears the mountain’s name.

Courtesy of Richard Peat

Logan Pass

Going-to-the-Sun Road peaks at the 6,646-foot Logan Pass, bisected by the Continental Divide―which the Blackfeet Indians called the Backbone of the World. Mountains rise everywhere. A short walk on the 1 1/2-mile (one way) Hidden Lake Nature Trail will lead you past a subalpine meadow dotted with beargrass, to an overlook, and perhaps to a glimpse of mountain goats.

Courtesy of Brian Michelsen

Hidden Lake

Hidden Lake is one of the most visited places away from the road in Glacier National Park. Lying nearly at the top of the Continental Divide, the overlook of the lake is easily reached by a relatively flat hike of 1.5 miles.

Glacier National Park's top wow spots

St. Mary Lake

Swiftcurrent Lake

Lake McDonald

Grinnell Glacier

Going-to-the-Sun Road

Two Medicine Lake

Logan Pass

Hidden Lake