Kalispell Travel Guide : More Information

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.

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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.

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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.

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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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