Kalispell Travel Guide : More Information.gif)
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| Another
view of Downtown Kalispell |
Despite
what the travel guidebooks say, getting around Kalispell
during the summer is not always much fun. Traffic can be
heavy and the roads are not nearly well designed enough
to meet traffic demand (yet). Particularly, south of town,
on Highway 93, the traffic and pokiness of the speed has
driven some drivers to tears. Still, as bad as it can be
at times, the traffic in Kalispell still probably seems
light to people coming from big cities. And, the roads
in Kalispell are pretty straight-forward to figure out
and marked, so people just passing through shouldn’t
get lost too easily – with signs pointing the way
to Glacier National Park at almost every major intersection.
Planes,
Trains and Automobiles
Kalispell
also has a very nice airport, in the event you don’t feel like making the long drive up to this part
of Montana. Glacier Park International Airport is a small
but very functional place. Unlike most airports, you’re
blood pressure shouldn’t increase off the chart when
entering the place. And the small size (only has 3 gates),
means it’s easy to get around and makes it impossible
to not find your flight. The small size of the airport, though,
has one big drawback. Price. If you’re expecting
to find cheap, $100 flights in Kalispell from anywhere
but perhaps
Salt Lake City or Seattle, forget it. Also, direct flights
to Kalispell are only possible from Minneapolis, Seattle
and Salt Lake City.
Search
for Plane Tickets to Kalispell, MT
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| The
Duck Pond in Woodland Park |
And,
for train lovers, Amtrak has the busiest train station
in Montana just up the road in Whitefish. If you have time
to spare, taking the train in Whitefish is a great little
trip, although the train can be a bit crowded during the
summer. When planning a train trip, just remember Jim’s
golden rule of train travel – one night spent on the
train is just right, two night’s is one night too many.
Car
rentals in Kalispell are generally in HIGH demand during
the summer. So, if you want a car, be absolutely sure to
make an advance reservation. And prices aren’t exactly
the cheapest, either. How the car rental companies up here
work is that they import cars from places like Seattle, Salt
Lake, and other places for the busy summer season (so don’t
be surprised if your rental car has an out-state license
plate), and then ship them back at the end of the summer.
The result – higher prices than many would probably
like.
Search
for Car Rentals in Kalispell
Kalispell
Real Estate
Well, once upon a time, real estate up in
Kalispell and the rest of the Flathead Valley for that
matter was very
affordable. Unfortunately, beginning in the early 1990’s,
people started discovering this place and building these
massive mansions, golf courses and other fancy places. The
result, of course, was a big spike in home prices. And this
trend shows no sign of abating. Even though no one up here
really makes much money, housing prices continue to go up
and up due to all the out-state money flowing into the real
estate market. As such, home prices, while not to California
standards or anything, are WELL above other Montana real
estate prices.
Where there is demand for real estate, there
will of course be countless real estate agents, agencies
and realtors. And
the Kalispell real estate market is no exception to this
fundamental economic principle. Real estate agencies and
realtors are everywhere – almost rising to plague levels,
in fact. Thus, if you need a realtor, you will have no shortage
of choices in Kalispell, Whitefish or elsewhere in the Flathead
Valley – as they are everywhere.
Kalispell Hotels & Motels
Kalispell
has a ton of hotels, motels and such. Many of these hotels
are nearly deserted during the off-season (late fall through
early Spring). These hotels make up for it, though, during
the summer as the flood of tourists arrive. Basically,
if you plan on visiting Kalispell during the summer, ALWAYS
make a reservation in advance. By not making an advance
hotel reservation, you are quite likely to end up sleeping
in your vehicle in the Wal-Mart parking lot (a popular
place for RV campers, for some bizarre reason).
Also,
don’t be too shell shocked by the prices of hotels
and motels in Kalispell (and elsewhere in the Flathead
Valley during the summer). While prices won’t be
competing with New York City rates anytime soon, you won’t
be finding any $30 rooms, either. Expect to pay anywhere
from $60-$120, depending on the number of people and the
type of luxury you prefer.
See
our Listings of Kalispell Hotels & Motels
Kalispell Summary
Overall,
Kalispell is a nice town located in a quickly growing area
of Montana. Kalispell receives a ton of traffic from
tourists due to the towns location in the beautiful mountains
of Northwest Montana and it’s proximity to Glacier
National Park. Services are plentiful and the cost of living
is average. I live in Kalispell and generally don’t
have many complaints, except for many of the strange decisions
made by the town and county elected leaders. But that’s
another story.
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