Going to Glacier This Summer? What You Need To Know for 2025
If you’re planning to visit Glacier National Park this summer, here’s a glimpse into how the 120-day advance timed entry vehicle reservations work through recreation.gov. This summer’s reservation system began today (for reservations on Friday, June 13) and these 1-day reservations will now go on sale every morning at 8am Mountain Time, exactly 120 days before your planned visit.
A timed entry vehicle reservation is required from June 13 to September 28 for the West Side of Going-to-the-Sun Road and the North Fork. There are two ways to purchase these reservations:
•The 120-day advance booking window as explained in this post
•A second booking window, for next-day entry, will be available starting June 12, 2025, at 7 pm.
The entry time blocks for Going-to-the-Sun Road and the North Fork will be in two-hour increments; 7 am to 9 am, 9 am to 11 am, 11 am to 1 pm, and 1 pm to 3 pm.
My advice is to download the recreation.gov app and have all of your profile and payment information stored prior. Search the reservation beforehand (either “Going-to-the-Sun Road via the West Entrance Timed Entry Vehicle Reservation” or “North Fork Timed Entry Vehicle Reservation”) and familiarize yourself with how the booking process works.
The two screenshots in the photos of this post show the reservation process described here ➡️When you first access the reservation page, make sure your desired date is already auto populated in section 1. Be sure to click in section 2 and at the bottom of the screen you’ll see the 4 time frames for entry and how many tickets are still available in that timeframe. Scroll through to choose your desired time. In section 3, click the + sign to 1 and then click book now. It’ll open up the payment page for your $2 reservation. I had my Apple Pay set up on my phone so it was super quick to checkout.
These two screenshots were taken this morning a little over an hour after reservations went on sale. This is the first year timed entry is required, so the reservation page looks a bit different. I thought folks may appreciate being able to see this along with the steps listed above.
Going-to-the-Sun Road will not be fully open for the first few weeks of reservations, so there aren’t as many reservations sold for those days. More reservations are offered once the road fully opens, but obviously many more people are trying for those peak season reservations. So just because these screenshots show there was still availability this morning an hour after going on sale, it likely won’t be that way once the reservations for July- Sept become available. Plan to be ready to purchase at 8am and get a reservation in your cart as quickly as you can.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Remember, you can enter without a reservation on the East Entrance to Going-to-the-Sun Road at St. Mary or you can enter through the West entrance without reservations before 7am and after 3pm. You can also access Apgar Village and Two Medicine without a timed entry vehicle reservation.
If you have lodging, camping, transportation, or commercial activity reservations (like a boat ride on Lake McDonald via Glacier Park Boat Company), you access your intended service within the Going-to-the-Sun Road reservation area with proof of your reservation. Only commercial reservations that originate beyond the Apgar vehicle reservation checkpoint and west of Logan Pass will provide entry in place of a vehicle reservation.
An entrance pass (aka park pass or site pass) is also required to get into Glacier at all times and is sold at the park entrance gate or online. If you have a 4th grade child, you can get a FREE pass for all National Parks at https://everykidoutdoors.gov/index.htm.
More info about timed entry reservations and glacier entrance passes: https://www.nps.gov/glac/learn/news/timed-entry-vehicle-reservations-open-february-13.htm
I know none of us are fans of having to make reservations to visit our beloved Glacier but it’s the only way to preserve something so fragile and irreplacable. Glacier has become such a busy and popular place over the past 5 years, making this reservation system necessary. But please don’t shoot the messenger. I’m just here to help. I miss the good old Glacier days too 🥺
#glaciernationalpark #goingtothesun #glacier #montana
Jacole Johnson is a Missoula local, business owner, and mom of two who co-owns a 1930s era generational home in the Glacier area. She has been navigating trips to Glacier National Park and using the ticketed entry system since it’s inception in 2021.
