This small Montana town near Glacier National Park is full of surprises

Most people heading to northwest Montana have one destination in mind: Glacier National Park. But if you’re rushing toward the mountains, you’re missing one of the state’s most surprising small towns.

While Kalispell is best known as Glacier’s gateway, it’s a destination all its own, where you can kayak a glacier-carved lake, sip huckleberry milkshakes at a retro soda fountain, and pick cherries straight from the tree at a family farm. Throw in ghostly paddle tours, grain silos converted into a hotel, and Gilded Age mansions, and you’ve got way more than just a pit stop on the way to the park.

Here’s why Kalispell deserves a few days on every Glacier National Park itinerary—and what not to miss while you’re there.

Sundaes, sodas, and serious nostalgia at Norm’s

If Montana had a signature flavor, it would be huckleberry—and there’s no better place to try it than Norm’s Soda Fountain. This downtown Kalispell institution has been the go-to spot for sweet treats since 1938.

Norm’s is steeped in nostalgia. Inside, you’ll find a retro lunch counter, shelves lined with more than 700 kinds of candy, and servers balancing trays of ice cream sodas and burgers. The real star, though, is anything huckleberry. Go for a huckleberry sundae dressed up with whipped cream and a cherry on top, or try a phosphate, float, soda, or milkshake. However you order it, it’s one of the tastiest ways to experience Montana’s most iconic fruit.

Paddle through the ghostly remains of a 1900s lumber pier

Located about 10 minutes south of Kalispell, Flathead Lake—the largest natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi—offers up one of Montana’s most unexpected paddling experiences. On a guided kayak tour of Somers Bay with Sea Me Paddle, you’ll weave through the skeletal remains of a century-old lumber pier, ducking under beams and gliding past weathered pilings that look like they belong in a pirate movie.

But it’s not all shipwreck vibes. In between the wooden ruins, your guide will point out what makes this part of the lake so special: glacier-carved shoreline, views of the Swan and Mission ranges, and eagles flying overhead. Equal parts eerie and serene, it’s one of my favorite things to do near Glacier.

Experience Montana’s Gilded Age at the Conrad Mansion

The Conrad Mansion feels less like a museum and more like a family home someone just stepped out of early in the last century. Built in 1895 for the founders of Kalispell, the 26-room estate still looks exactly the way it did when architect Kirtland Cutter designed it, right down to the original furniture, dishes, books, and Thomas Edison lightbulbs still glowing in the fernery.

On a guided tour, you’ll get more than dates and architectural details. A letter from Alicia Conrad, the youngest daughter in the family, to her grandmother still sits in the home’s built-in mail slot. The freight elevator? Still works. And in one of the upstairs bedrooms—fittingly named the “antique bedroom”—Teddy Roosevelt once spent the night. It’s the kind of place that makes history feel less like a lecture and more like a story you can relate to.

Pick chubby cherries at a family farm

Huckleberries get most of the glory, but cherries hold their own in this part of Montana. The lake effect from Flathead creates a microclimate that the orchards along the shoreline just love—and come summer, those trees are heavy with cherries. At Farmers O’Dell, a family-run orchard, you’re invited to grab a bucket and pick Lapins and Rainiers right off the tree.

Cherry season usually runs from mid-July to mid-August, but if you’re visiting earlier in the spring, it’s still worth a stop—the pink-and-white blossoms lining the lake look like something out of a postcard.

Take a cocktail-making class near Glacier National Park

After cycling the Going-to-the-Sun Road or hiking the Highline Trail, there’s nothing better than winding down with a good drink—or learning how to make one yourself. Just 10 minutes from the park, Josephine’s Speakeasy hosts cocktail-making classes in a cabin tucked up the hill from Glacier Distilling Company.

The speakeasy feels more like a friend’s rustic hideout than a bar (there’s even a wood stove to dry out your boots if you got caught in the rain!). Classes run daily in summer and feature house-infused lemonades, spruce tip-infused gin, and the only huckleberry whiskey in the world. Nearly everything is local: they forage more than 2,000 pounds of huckleberries a year and collect spent grain from nearby breweries to use in the distilling process. It’s an offbeat, delicious way to end a day in Glacier country.

Sleep in a grain silo

Of all the places to stay near Glacier, a grain silo might be the most unexpected. At Clark Farm Silos in Kalispell, five former grain bins have been turned into stylish, circular retreats with views of farmland, mountains, and sky for days.

Each silo comes with modern comforts like plush beds, kitchenettes, private patios, and climate control, all wrapped in a rustic, back-to-the-land vibe that fits the setting. It’s not your average hotel room—and that’s part of what makes Kalispell such a fun addition to a trip to Glacier.