Glacier National Park Vehicle Reservations Slated to Come Online Jan. 25

At 8 a.m. on Jan. 25 the first batch of Glacier National Park vehicle reservations will go on sale for visitors planning to enter the Crown Jewel of the National Park Service this year. The initial booking window will offer access to the North Fork area at Polebridge and the Going-to-the-Sun Road from the West Entrance beginning May 24.

Going forward, advance reservations will be continually released every successive day allowing visitors access to the park 120 days in the future — for example, on Jan. 25, reservations will be available for entry on May 24; on Jan 26, reservations will be available for entry on May 25; and so on and so forth.

Park officials have implemented the managed access system, now in its fourth year, on a smaller scale than in prior years, requiring advanced reservations only at the park’s three most popular entrances to Going-to-the-Sun Road — Polebridge, Many Glacier, and the West Glacier entrance. Polebridge and West Glacier will require reservations from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. beginning May 24, while Many Glacier will require reservations from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. beginning July 1.

The first advance reservations for the Many Glacier Valley will be released on March 3 at 8 a.m. Next-day reservations will come online beginning at 7 p.m. on June 30 for entry on July 1 and will continue throughout the summer season.

Another big change this year will allow visitor access to the Apgar Village area inside the West Entrance without a reservation. Instead, the reservation checkpoint will be set up past the Village for those seeking to drive the scenic Going-to-the-Sun Road through the heart of the park. This change allows guests the chance to access the Apgar visitor center, lodging, camping, Lake McDonald and the free park shuttle without reservations.

The St. Mary entrance to the Sun Road on the park’s east side and the Two Medicine entrance will not require a vehicle reservation in 2024.

“Our balanced approach for the 2024 pilot reflects feedback from Tribes, the public, partners, and stakeholders, particularly regarding access to the Apgar Village area and Two Medicine,” Glacier National Park Superintendent Dave Roemer said in a press release announcing the changes to the system last fall. “We also heard that knowing what park operations and access will look like sooner, rather than later, is important.”    

Reservations for all three park entrances will be good for one day of entry this summer, as opposed to a three-day window in previous years, after data from 2023 indicated only 2% of three-day reservations were utilized all three days.

Each of the specified areas of the park will require a separate reservation.  As in previous years, the vehicle reservation system at Glacier will be managed through the recreation.gov website. While there is no cost for a reservation, a $2 processing fee is charged on each transaction.

Visitors may also make a reservation through the Recreation.gov call center. Contacting the call center does not provide an advantage towards securing a reservation but provides an alternative for those who don’t have access to the internet or are not as familiar with technology. Call centers are open every day from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mountain Time and the processing fee remains $2. The following lines are available for callers:   

• Reservation line (Toll-Free) – (877) 444-6777  
• Reservation line (International) – (606) 515-6777  
• Reservation line (TDD) – (877) 833-6777   

Any visitor entering Glacier National Park is required to have a valid entrance pass —separate from a vehicle reservation — which include a seven-day $35 vehicle pass, an Interagency Annual/Lifetime Pass, or a Glacier National Park Annual Pass. Visitors can enter the park through all entrances before 6 a.m. or after 3 p.m. without a vehicle reservation, and tribal members and landowners inside the park are exempt from the reservation system.