Motel Lake McDonald

Jessica Pearson

We stayed here for 5 nights. I had read previous reviews and was unsure what to expect once we arrived. We were with a Road Scholar group, and this was the accommodations they selected for the trip. Location: Amazing. About 20 min drive from the West entrance of the park. Logan Pass is about a 30 minute van ride. Short walk to the lodge for restaurant and bar. Even shorter walk to the pebble beach of lake McDonald. I recommend a refreshing swim after a long day of hiking! Camp store is just steps from the motel. Free water fill up. They have snacks, beer, apparel and trail needs. Well stocked store. Rooms: Spacious rooms. CLEAN! Fresh new white bedding. Beds are fine. Bathroom was comical, but we made the best of it. The box fan provided, kept us cool at night for sleeping. We were at the park during a stretch of several 90° days and the fan provided made the rooms comfortable. Wi-Fi: they have Starlink! We had no cell service but we’re able to make calls over wi-fi. Wi-fi service worked perfectly, we were even able to stream shows from our iPad. Overall, to be in the park, and wake up to Mountain and lake views, you can’t beat it. I would recommend this spot to anyone looking to stay in the park, just be flexible to the TINY bathroom set up.

Deborah

Staff does what they can, I think. Location is excellent. Camp store is steps away and Lake McDonald Lodge is a close walk. I was afraid to step on room "carpet". Very dank, dingy, icky. Put a towel on chair as it looked like someone had some sort of accident on it. Beds were ok - not very comfy but sheets and bedspreads were clean. If neighbor in next room snores, you Will hear them!

Carlos Rojas

This is a motel. Not a hotel. The fortunate thing about this motel, which is the primary reason why we booked it is that there was availability AND it's on the Going to the Sun road inside of Glacier National park so you did not need to get the pass. The bathrooms are small, the shower is smaller then 3ft by 3ft. There is no A/C in the room. There is no tv. There were mosquitos. The wifi works fine in the morning and during the majority of the day until guests arrive from their hikes in the evening then it stops working. If I'm fortunate enough to go to Glacier again I will try to plan over a year in advance to stay at one of the nicer hotels within the park, if not this will be a suitable back up plan.

nunya bidness

Very difficult to find ... there are no signs, even when you finally get there ... asked directions several times, no one knew where it was ... tried calling the number, but no one answered ... tries GPS, but couldn't find a valid address and cell service is non-existant ... found it completely by accident after 3 hours of driving. Told the clerk, he just blew it off and laughed. Don't expect to be comfortable, no a/c, no hot water, dingy room, no privacy (because you MUST leave all the windows open or stew in your own juices). Also, there's NO lake access. Yeah, it's near the lake, but all of the land around it is private and posted. When we asked about lake access from a couple different sources all we got was go to the lodge and rent a boat ... we didn't want to rent a godd- - - boat! There's no where to eat that's convenient or open or doesn't involve a multi-hour wait ... we wound up in freakin' Whitefish and still had to gag down mcdonld's, 'cause guess what, even though the sun doesn't set til midnight-ish, everything closes at 8 or 9. Have fun with the tire shredding road construction too ... brand new set of tires, installed one month prior to the trip ruined. Of the epic trip we're on this has been the only dark spot ... my advice ... skip this motel and glacier all together.