Pssst – this post has affiliate links sprinkled throughout. This helps me keep the blog up and running so I can provide FREE content for you. And I only recommend things I really like. Keep reading for some super important tips for driving Going-to-the-Sun Road.
If you’re planning a trip to Glacier National Park, driving Going-to-the-Sun Road needs to be on your itinerary. The road is one of the most beautiful places in the country, potentially in the world! It’s surely a sight to behold and you will definitely want to clear some memory on your camera before you get going! Due to its location in the Rockies of northwestern Montana, it does take some preparation to be fully ready to traverse Going-to-the-Sun road.
In this post, you’ll find some background information to help plan your trip to Going-to-the-Sun road, helpful tips about driving it, and information on snagging a coveted Going-to-the-Sun entry ticket.
Don’t have time to read the whole post? Bookmark this page so you can come back later, but here are the highlights.
☀️ Going-to-the-Sun Road is approximately a 50 mile drive between St. Mary, Montana and West Glacier, Montana.
📆 The road is open when weather permits. You can expect it to be open sometime between mid-to-late June and mid-to-late September.
🏷 Starting in 2021, entry between 6 am and 4 pm requires a ticket. You’ll have to go through reservations.gov to apply for the lottery.
⏱ Plan for 2+ hours to drive down the entire road. Aside from heavy traffic, you’ll want to make plenty of stops!
⛽️ Fill up with gas and stock up on snacks before you go, as there aren’t any gas stations along the drive.
Table of Contents
Tips for Driving Going-to-the-Sun Road
Getting to Going-to-the-Sun-Road
Going-to-the-Sun Road is located within Glacier National Park. There aren’t any airports very close, so you’ll need to plan to drive or fly into Kalispell, MT or Missoula, MT and rent a car from there.
Going-to-the-Sun Road runs from two Glacier entrances: West Glacier (Apgar) and St. Mary. The road is approximately 50 miles long and features a high point of 6,646 feet at Logan Pass. There are 3 visitors centers at Apgar, Logan Pass, and St. Mary.
When is Going-To-The-Sun Road open?
Because this area of the Rockies gets so much snowfall and the nature of how dangerous the road is, Going-to-the-Sun Road is closed for much of the year. Once the snow starts to fall consistently, this road is closed until there is a decent amount of snowmelt in the summer.
The exact date varies from year to year. However, you can generally expect it to open sometime between mid-to-late June. Don’t be surprised if it’s still closed until early July, though! Going-to-the-Sun Road is usually open until at least late September into early October, but again this is contingent on weather conditions.
You can check to see if the road is open here.
Prior to the full road opening in late spring and early fall, you can access the road via bicycle. This is a popular option for people visiting before the road is open to cars. May I recommend an e-bike?! Not sure I could do this without a motor (lol).
After June 15, the road is closed to bicycles from 11 am to 4 pm from Apgar to Sprague Creek and Logan Creek to Logan Pass until Labor Day.
How to score an entry ticket in 2022
Ah, the coveted entry ticket. Trying to score a ticket last year probably took a couple years off my life… but it was well worth it!
Due to overcrowding within the park, the National Park Service implemented a lottery system to access Going-to-the-Sun road back in 2021. While getting access can be a pain, it truly makes it more of an enjoyable experience!
There are a few different ways to gain access to Going-to-the-Sun Road during the summer months:
- Have reservations within the park for lodging
- Have reservations within the park for a guided tour
- Reserve a ticket 120 days in advance through reservations.gov
- Score a ticket 2 days before through reservations.gov
- Enter before 6 am or after 4 pm
We were lucky enough to get a ticket 2 days before but it would’ve made our lives a lot simpler had we tried a few months before!
Entering the Lottery
Tickets are released 120 days prior to the first required day (as of 2022 it’s May 27) and from then on a rolling basis. For example, if you want a ticket for September 5, you can enter the lottery at exactly 8 am MDT on June 4. If you want a ticket for 6, you can enter at exactly 8 am MDT on June 5. So, set an alarm for 8 am MDT (check your time zones!) 120 days before your trip. The pass is good for 3 days, so you won’t need a pass for every single day.
From there, it’s basically luck. The website gets overrun with tourists attempting to snag a ticket which can lead to lagging, freezing, and a whole lot of frustration. Tickets are usually gone within about 3 minutes. My recommendation is to be ready to click submit at EXACTLY 8 am and then refresh and retry as quickly as you can. The website will show you how many remaining tickets there are on each refresh… no pressure, right?
The system is pretty much the same 48 hours before. The park reserves a certain number of tickets to release 2 days before you want to get into the park and you can claim them at exactly 8 am MDT.
If you’re not able to get a ticket through the lottery, don’t stress too much. You can still get into the park between the hours of 4 pm and 6 am! In the summer, there’s still plenty of daylight at 4 pm. On our first day in Glacier, we actually drove the entire road by entering after 4 and got back to our campground with plenty of time before dark! And if you’re hiking, you’ll probably want to get up early to beat the crowds anyways… so just scoot in before 6!
To be quite honest, if we hadn’t snagged an entry ticket… my plan was to get in around 5:30 and sleep in our car until sunrise haha!
Lodging + Tours
Want to skip all the hullabaloo and just stay along the road or take a tour? This tactic doesn’t require an entry ticket.
Popular places to stay along Going-to-the-Sun Road:
- Lake McDonald Lodge
- Rising Sun Motor Inn
- Apgar Village Lodge
- Village Inn Motel
- Motel Lake McDonald
- Sperry Chalet & Granite Park Chalet (require backcountry hiking to reach)
Several campgrounds are also along the road:
- St Mary
- Rising Sun
- Avalanche Creek
- Sprague Creek
- Apgar Village
Apgar and Avalanche are available on a first-come, first-served basis but the others require a reservation 6 months in advance. I recommend logging on at exactly 8 am MDT 6 months prior to your desired dates to snag a campsite.
Several guided tours are also available that allow you access to the Going-to-the-Sun Road:
Tips for Driving Going-to-the-Sun Road
- Prepare with gas, snacks, and loads of patience
Traffic can be quite insane on the road, even after the lottery system was introduced. It’s much more enjoyable to sit in traffic if you are prepared for it! Be sure to fill up your tank before you head into the park and always have snacks in the car. Always. There’s nowhere to stop for these necessities once you start down the road.
- Plan plenty of time to traverse the whole 50 mile road
Going-to-the-Sun Road is over 50 miles long. But it can take you HOURS to drive the whole thing. It’s a dangerous, windy road with heavy traffic. Many people are pulling off to see the views, you never know when wildlife is going to start across the road… I would plan for AT LEAST 3 hours to fully explore this route. But honestly, if you want to stop and hike or do anything else I’d plan for a full day.
Which brings me to my next point…
- Stop for hikes along the way
Some of the best and most popular hikes in the park are scattered along the Going-to-the-Sun Road. You absolutely need to take the time to do 1-2 hikes to stretch your legs! Our recommendation would be Avalanche Lake, a 5-ish mile moderate hike down near Lake McDonald. It comes out to a beautiful lake that you’ll want to sit and enjoy for a while.
Feeling super adventurous and have some more time? Take a full day to do the Highline. We only did part of it one afternoon, and trust me… we will be back to do the whole thing one day!
- Get to the road early (or late)
As with most national parks, people seem to start trickling in around 9-10 am. If you want to avoid crowds, get into the park wellllll before then! You’ll miss a good bit of traffic and enjoy smaller crowds on the trails. If you’re not an early riser, that’s okay too! The park really starts to thin out around 4-5 pm. In the summer, you’ll still have several hours of daylight.
This was towards the end of our 7-week road trip, so we did take some mornings to sleep in. The reservation system was in full swing during this time and I will say the crowds really weren’t that bad. The worst part was waiting to find parking mid-day.
- Be prepared for traffic
I’ve mentioned it a couple times already but it deserves its own bullet point. The road is long, windy, and extremely beautiful. People WILL drive slow. Take your time–it’s all about the journey!
- Plan the route that makes the most sense for you
Several other bloggers say that the best route to take is east to west because you’ll be on the outside of the road. If you are not so sure about a drive with steep cliffs and hairpin turns, I recommend starting in St. Mary as that will have you on the side of the road closest to the mountain wall. Want to be closer to the pullouts and have unobstructed views? Starting at West Glacier will have you on the outside of the road, closer to the edge of the mountains.
This would get you more unobstructed views and access to pullouts. While this is great advice, I say just do what works for you! We were staying on the west side of the park so driving west to east just made more sense. Trust me, I do not feel like we missed out on the views because we were on the inside of the park. It would take you several hours to drive around the park just to start on the east side… and that’s just precious time we didn’t want to waste!
- Make a checklist of must see sights before you go. Here are a few we didn’t want to miss:
- Weeping Wall
- Jackson Glacier
- Heaven’s Peak
- Wild goose island lookout
- Lake McDonald Lodge
- Use the shuttle if your vehicle is over 21 ft long
In case you didn’t know, there IS a length restriction on vehicles for Going-to-the-Sun Road! For our RVing friends, you’ll need to ditch the trailer or RV. We luckily were able to unhook at our campsite and just had our car but those using the RVs without a trailer won’t have as much luck. For that, you’ll need to park at one of the visitors centers and take the shuttle.
The shuttle is free and available on a first-come, first-served basis. It is available from July 1 through Labor Day and runs from Apgar Visitor Center to St. Mary Visitor Center. The shuttle runs from 9 am-7pm and makes 11 stops along Going-to-the-Sun Road. You can see more information about the Going-to-the-Sun Road shuttle here.
- Prepare for various weather changes
We experienced cold, rain, sun, and heat all in the matter of 4 hours. In the high altitude mountains, weather changes can be quick and extreme. Plan for just about anything if you stay all day!
I recommend packing the following items (or similar!) to be prepared:
- Fleece pullover
- Rain jacket (I love this one because you can “hide” the hood!)
- Wool socks (they dry quick and are the BEST for hiking)
- Use Gypsy guides
GypSy Guides is an audio guide that you can use on your phone. It uses GPS to track where you are and gives you information about the route you are on! I’ve heard great things about it and wish we would have taken advantage when we were here!
Final Thoughts
Going-to-the-Sun Road is a route you need to drive at least once in your life. Located in the beautiful Glacier National Park, the sights are some of the most gorgeous in the world! The road is only open for a few months of the year and now requires a pass… so it takes some planning to get a trip together! The effort is so worth it, though.
I hope these tips for driving Going-to-the-Sun Road are helpful to you while you plan your trip to Glacier National Park. Be sure to check out some of the other guides here and here. Happy planning!
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