Where to Camp in Glacier National Park: Inside vs Outside the Park ($30 – $259 a Night With Kids)

Glacier National Park is one of those places where you can spend $30 a night or $1,000 a night depending on how you want to do it. We are firmly in the camping category when we are in a national park, so our version this trip was a tent site inside the park and a KOA camping cabin just outside the gates. Both are roughing it, just with very different amenities and a very different price tag. Here are all our thoughts on where to camp in Glacier National Park!

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The Big Decision: Should You Stay Inside or Outside Glacier National Park?

If you plan ahead and you want to camp, staying in the park is by far my favorite thing to do.

If you are not going to plan ahead and you want a little bit of a treat and some activities for the kids, staying at a KOA is perfectly fine.

That was our takeaway, but here are all the details…

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Option 1: Camping Inside Glacier National Park, Fish Creek Campground

We stayed at Fish Creek Campground for two nights, more specifically at Loop A, Site A28. Fish Creek is bookable six months out on recreation.gov, and I wound up booking about 5.5 months out (so don’t feel like you have to book the minute it opens unless it’s a holiday weekend). Some campgrounds in Glacier are not available online six months out, but Fish Creek is.

The campsites are a bargain at just $30 per night. If your plans change, the website or app allow you to easily cancel your reservation. However, we watched sites sit empty every night at Fish Creek because people did not cancel, so make sure to actually get your $20 refund back and cancel if you cannot make it so others can camp!

Our site was fantastic. It backed up to woods and you could hear the creek down below. The woods on two sides made it feel private in the best way. Far from the bathrooms in a good way but not too far. It was a basic plot with a picnic table and fire circle. Nonelectric with shared toilets. It was shaded inside a forest and had easy access to Fish Creek and the lake nearby for cold water swimming. The sunsets right on the lake were some of the best we saw all trip.

Showers and bathrooms were clean and tidy. It is still a campground but overall it was fine. Bring shower sandals.

We used a family tent advertised as a 10-person that perfectly fit two queens, one twin, and a pack and play with extra room to play cards in the middle. This is the tent we used. Fair warning, the price has gone up significantly since we bought it in May, but I am sharing it so you know exactly what we had. This size was plenty for six of us with mattresses.

Fish Creek Campground: Bear Box, Fires, and Firewood

The bear safety setup at Fish Creek is more manageable than it sounds once you know the layout. The bear boxes all seemed to be the same size, and they are big enough for a large cooler. We fit ours in with room for our food bags. You can also stash coolers in your car instead if needed, which is allowed at Fish Creek.

For bear safety, we did buy bear spray and kept it with us in the tent and on every hike. [BEAR SPRAY LINK — add when you have it] We also noticed it was available at Costco in Kalispell.

Yes, you can have fires at Fish Creek in the fire ring. We bought firewood at the KOA and brought it with us into the park. There is also firewood for sale at the camp stores inside.

Glacier NP: Groceries, Cell Service, and Park Passes

Cell service and groceries were the two things I thought about most before we went in, and both are easy to plan around if you take care of them before you arrive. We bought groceries before we came into the park. There is a nice grocery store about 10 minutes from the KOA in the Columbia Falls direction, away from the park. Stock up there. Although there are places inside the park for overpriced last minute groceries (pictured below).

We had minimal cell service at Fish Creek, but we did have service at the KOA. Plan to be offline while you are inside the park.

You also need a national park pass for the days you are in the park, but you can get that upon arrival or use an annual pass. We have a fourth grader and were able to get the free Every Kid Outdoors pass this summer. You can get it here: https://www.everykidoutdoors.gov/

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We stayed at West Glacier KOA Resort in a Comfort Camping Cabin, Patio Single Room, no bathroom. The Comfort part meant AC, which was clutch in July, and linens were included.

All in with taxes and fees it was $259 a night. The listed capacity is four, but it was roughly the size of a large family tent and worked for our six, two adults and four boys under 10, with the pack and play for the toddler tucked in. Other cabin sizes are available at this KOA if you book further out, but this was what we found last minute. As long as some of those people are kids, you will be fine.

West Glacier KOA Amenities and Activities

The amenities were abundant and it was the nicest KOA we have stayed at. Outdoor heated pool that was still chilly but the kids loved it. There was also an adult only pool with sauna which we didn’t have time to use, unfortunately. Great playground for little kids and big kids, gaga ball, plastic axe throwing. Lots of activities, some paid and some free. Live music outside an old Airstream turned bar in the evening with huckleberry cocktails and local craft beer. Store on site for souvenirs and groceries.

All of this was about 10 minutes to the west entrance without traffic or lines. But note there are usually long lines (the major con for this location).

West Glacier KOA Food Options and Keeping the Budget

The West Glacier KOA has a full on-site restaurant called the Lazy Bear with breakfast and dinner options, and the Airstream (‘bear’ stream) handles drinks. I have photos of both menus from our July visit below so you can get a sense of the prices before you decide. For us, the restaurant prices were higher than our camping budget so we passed on it, but we did splurge on a local beer from the Airstream bar.

Our Comfort Cabin had a fire circle outside, a microwave, and a mini fridge, which made cooking our own food easy. We made burgers on the fire ring for dinner and oatmeal in the cabin for breakfast. We always try to keep our camping budget even when we are staying somewhere with more amenities. Groceries from Canyon Foods Supermarket in Hungry Horse, just down the road toward Columbia Falls, before you arrive is the move. Food prices climb once you are inside the park, so stocking up on both ends of the trip saves you real money.

KOA Bathrooms, Booking, and Last-Minute Options

The cabin has no bathroom, so it’s a bit like camping where you share the bathrooms a short walk away. They were cleaned regularly and the ones closest to us were always in good shape for showers or toilet use. We have showered our youngest since he was little and that was helpful without a bathtub in sight. If your toddlers don’t like showers, practice before you go!

We booked only about one to two weeks prior to arrival for this cabin. Campsites for around $150 were also available that late, which was a great last-minute option.

Larger cabins at the KOA run upward of $600 a night. The lodges inside the park are there if that is your style. I have heard they open for bookings a year out and run around $500 to $1,000 a night, and don’t have many options for a family of six.

Getting Into the Park from West Glacier KOA

The major downside of staying outside the park is the long line to get into the park. I do not have a magic formula for entrance, but Sunday at 10:30am worked for us with almost no line at all. The next day at the same time it was madness. The Saint Mary entrance on the east side of the park tends to have shorter lines than the west, and Many Glacier in the northeast has its own separate entrance accessed from Babb. We spent a full day in that area and it is worth planning for separately.

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The Real Cost: What You Will Actually Pay (Campsite vs. Lodges)

Lodging Option	Nightly Cost
Fish Creek tent site inside the park	$30
West Glacier KOA tent site	~$150
KOA Comfort Camping Cabin with AC and linens	$259 all in
Larger KOA cabins	Up to $700
Lodges inside the park	$500 to $1,000

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Lines, Parking, and When to Go

For summer 2026, you did not need a Going to the Sun Road vehicle reservation. There is a limit of three-hour parking along that stretch. If you plan a hike longer than three hours, there are NPS shuttles that can help get you to your hiking spots. Once you are in the park you do not need any other road passes.

Sunday at 10:30am worked for us with almost no line and Monday was hectic. But those are entirely anecdotal, so just be prepared to wait.

My brother was in Glacier in late May or early June and the dramatic sections of Going to the Sun Road were still closed for ice and snow. It would be a shame to miss that section. July is safer if you want the full road open.

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My Honest Take: What I Would Book Again with 4 Kids

I loved the mix of KOA plus national park. We arrived in the afternoon to the KOA to enjoy the play time and have a relaxing evening, then we were in national park mode.

If you can avoid the entrance lines daily, book in advance and get yourself inside the park. We do activities over hotels, always. My kids remember the gaga ball and the cold lake swim and the s’mores, not the thread count.

Book Fish Creek if you can plan six months out and want to be fully inside the park with no distractions. Book the KOA if you are booking last minute, traveling with a toddler who needs amenities nearby, or just want one low-key evening before you go full camping mode.

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FAQs About Camping in Glacier National Park With Kids

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What We Packed That Actually Mattered

We are pretty minimalistic. No intricate cooking setup and no extra gear we did not need.

• Family tent, ours is listed as 10-person and fit two queens, one twin, and a pack and play with room to play cards in the middle. This is the tent we used, but fair warning, the price has gone up significantly since we bought it in May, but I am sharing it so you know exactly what we had. This size was plenty for six of us with mattresses.

A note on tent sizing: always size up two to four people from what you think you need. You are not sleeping backpacker style with a family. A tent listed as four-person will not be comfortable for a family of four.

• Sleeping bags and inflatable mattresses. We used this air mattress that actually held up with kids jumping on it, plus a small pump. The ground is hard.
• Pack and play for the toddler.
• Bear spray. We also noticed it was available at Costco in Kalispell.
• A cooler that fits in a bear box.
• S’mores skewers are so clutch for camping. We used them nightly for hot dogs and marshmallows. We bought them in advance but noticed them at the KOA store for much more money. Do not wait until you are near the park, it is much pricier. We did not have an intricate cooking setup. Just skewers, tin foil, and a pair of tongs.
• A cheap tablecloth for the picnic table (something we admired from neighbors and will absolutely bring next time).
• Headlamps. For a lantern we just use headlamps and hang one from the center of the tent. No need for a separate lantern.
• Water bottles and a big water jug to refill. Taps at the campsite with potable water had warning signs about the water quality so we opted to carry in our own water. Water fountains at visitors centers allowed for water bottle refills!
• Shower sandals and fast-dry towels. We keep it minimal, no shower caddy.
• Long sleeves for hikes because it gets cold and snowy even in July, plus rain jackets.
• Regular hiking boots for us, our kids stuck to sneakers for shorter hikes with the toddler.
• Our favorite travel mug for camp coffee in the morning and beer in the evening.
• This book series kept our 10-year-old busy during downtime at camp.
• A national park guide was left by a previous camper for us to find, and my sons loved it so much that now they are each picking which national park we visit next.
• Sunscreen, bug spray, first aid kit, trash bags.
• National park pass or the free Every Kid Outdoors fourth-grade pass from https://www.everykidoutdoors.gov/

I have a ton of hiking and Junior Ranger tips from this trip but that is a whole separate post.

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Glacier has a way of making the lodging feel like part of the adventure rather than just logistics. Whether you end up at a tent site under the trees or a KOA cabin with AC, the park itself does the heavy lifting. If you have a fourth grader in tow, do not forget the Every Kid Outdoors pass before you go. And if you are planning the hiking side of the trip, that post is coming.

If this helped you plan, save it for when you are deep in the Glacier research rabbit hole. I’ve been there!