St. Mary-East Glacier KOA

Yes, it is expensive, but you get what you pay for. The hot tub and pool were amazing after a long day of hiking. The staff was always helpful and friendly, even learned some berry identification tips from one of them! The sites are somewhat close together but we never felt cramped, and we have a 36' TT with 3 slides soooo yeah roomy enough. You're staying here for the location and amenities, the East Glacier gate is about a 5 minute drive and there's plenty to explore nearby.

Although expensive, this campground is all about location. Minutes from the St. Mary entrance to Glacier National Park and the Going to the Sun Road. The store is stocked with everything you need including coffee and ice cream. Big, clean laundry facility. The pool is ok - could use some upgrades and heat. The hot tub is nice. We enjoyed the walking trails. Great customer service. Recommend that you stock up on groceries before you come - the stores have low stock and are expensive. Shortage of staff has resulted in fewer hours and options for restaurants.

With respect, this marks the greatest deviation I’ve had with other members of this community regarding the rating of a campground.

I simply can’t see rating this park as low as 3. Here’s why.

We all know the national parks are overwhelmed. Glacier NP is one of our nation’s treasures, but the amount of people coming in on the west side is much greater than the east side, so that makes the east side attractive, with access to the east side of the park,Many gGlacier and Two Medicine.

This park is set on a mountainside about two miles from the gate. The views from the sites of the surrounding mountains are superb. The restrooms are clean. There is a fairly robust camp store and ice cream area. Large laundry. Pull through sites are not the closest I’ve seen, and are fairly reasonable for a private park. Ours had w/s/e. They have a pool and Jacuzzi.
Very quiet at night.

All those things cost money and contribute to a high price, regardless of whether you use them or not, which is the KOA way.

Criticisms of lawn maintenance between sites are fair, but the park is otherwise well maintained and the people who run it are nice.

WiFi exists but is poor and this is where the campground needs to do a better job. Streaming and WiFi calling for att customers who are without cell service here is very poor. Every call dropped.

We have driven through two other campgrounds nearby and they are at least two stars worse than this one, based on condition and view.

So as to location, access and noise, this is a five star location. That helps explain why people reserve here a year in advance. This was by far the most difficult reservation we made in preparation for a 4.5 month trip around the country. Don’t count on this being available during the short season last minute. Reserve for next year now.

Why are so many people making this a difficult rez to score if it’s a three-star property?

To me the location and general site amenities overwhelmingly make this a four-star campground, party given the few and far less desirable alternatives.

I hope this review helps you make your decision, and I hope the campground reads this and ups their WiFi capability.

We have a KOA membership, so the price shown reflects a 10% discount. The staff at this park was very nice, sadly... the property is not well maintained. We stayed here the first week in June, with the season just starting, so maybe it will get better. For our visit, the sites we not well maintained (at all) and the small playground needed repairs. No At&t coverage, but Verizon was strong. Diesel was .80 cents more here, than in West Glacier. We tried the local pizza place which had very thin pizza and was pretty decent. Location of this park is great for both the St. Mary entrance and Many Glaciers. The views from the park are AMAZING. Personally, we felt it should have been priced closer to $45 for the condition of the property.

We recently stay at the East Glacier KOA. The location is great and the view from our site was amazingly.

I realize it was early in the season but our premium premium site was disappointing ... weedy and overgrown. The chairs for dining table were too low and not designed for a setting comfortably at the table.

We travel with a dog and love them but many people at this park were allowed to let their dogs run loose so we were unable to have our dog outside on his tether with us because of this. There was a stray? dog that frequently all of the sites near us every day as well.

We paid for the proximity to the park and understand that but the condition of the facility and the pool/hot tub being closed should be disclosed to potential clients.

This KOA has so much potential but based on previous reviews it seems the owners don’t put much effort into it.

Proximity to East Glacier entrance(s) is great and views are outstanding. Campground is fairly basic, but overall, it's well maintained. Sites are fairly close together like many KOAs of this type. Decent playground for kids and store with ice cream was nice to stop in after a long day of hiking.

No cell service on AT&T at all hardly anywhere near this location. No real working wifi either. Two Sisters Cafe near Babb was a nice stop with good food and a nice relaxing atmosphere.

In general, this is quite a remote area with closest (below average) medical facilities in Browning or much further away. A couple restaurants and stores in the area for provisioning or dining out.

We stayed here for 2 nights so we could visit the Many Glacier area. This park is a typical KOA with sites close together and no privacy between neighbors. The pool and hot tub were very nice and we really appreciated that after a long hike at Glacier. Verizon coverage was good there, and they also have Wifi but we didn't use it. I appreciated that they don't charge extra for kids like so many KOA parks do. We usually avoid KOAs because of the "kid tax", but thankfully this one does not charge extra for kids. They are expensive enough even without the kid tax.