Glacier Red Bus Tours

[Lowmiler]

Will be in Glacier for 5 days early July this year. Our tow vehicle is too large to travel on Going to the Sun.

From what I can see, pretty much all the Red Bus tours are the same route, they are just differing lengths?

Trying to determine which one to choose, and I think it may just be our appetite for how long to be sitting on a relatively hard bus bench?

We plan on leaving from the west side, for what that's worth. Will be moving halfway in the stay to the east side and plan on hiking to Many Glacier Hotel and Two Medicine Lake.

 

[RPR]

Did it few years ago and then they make stops where you can get out.

 

[stustoner]

The Red Bus tours fill up quick...if you cannot get a spot, Sun Tours is an alternative. Sun Tours is operated by the local Blackfoot tribe. Last year we had a native Blackfoot tour guide and he doubled as a troubadour; in fact he was Montana's Gordon Lightfoot. Had several CDs out. He sang us a tune at every stop along the Sun Road. I believe they only operate out of St Mary (east entrance to the Sun Road).

 

[LeeandKelly]

Spent time in Glacier in 2019, we had our tow vehicle with us and drove the very narrow "going to the sun road". I would highly recommend the Red Bus Tour, you get a great view of the scenery, and the buses can pull over to stop for photos. Our guide was very informative. We went from Lake McDonald to Logan Pass.

 

[RPR]

Depending on the time of year the routes they take. Going to the sun road opening dates dictates that. Of course Mother Nature dictates that. Our guide/driver was a retired USPS manager. His knowledge of the area was great.

 

[Lowmiler]

For what it's worth, we did our RV trip last summer and arrived at Glacier second week of July, just after a 6' late season snow fall.

Going To The Sun was closed to motorized traffic until the last day of our stay. Our Red Bus Tour was not canceled, but would be rerouting to sights off of GTTS, not ideal.

Doing a white water rafting trip on one of our first days there, our guide mentioned that one way to get up GTTS was by renting e-bikes. The pitch and duration of GTTS is like one of the mountain stages in the Tour de France, so riding a normal bike up it is not recommended unless you are a top athlete.

Lucky for us, I was able to score the last three e-bikes available for rent in the area.

We set out from Avalanche Creek at 10am in excellent weather and had an amazing, amazing adventure, "pedaling" all the way to the Pass.

I would not have wanted to do this sharing the road with motorized traffic, but doing this with the whole road to ourselves and other hikers and bikers was just incredible. What a way to see the sights!

The ride down was in a surprise rainstorm, cold, wet and windy, but it was all downhill:

 

[Happy wife / happy life]

Great pictures. Magnificent scenery