We are heading there tomorrow having not been before and so thought we should see what all the fuss is about. Any must sees or stay away froms?

Stay away from tweakers.

Yeah
Stay away

Hi AC - we have been to both Great Falls and Kalispell and definitely preferred Kalispell for things to see and do, shopping and general enjoyment (we love exploring the little towns around the Flathead Lake - especially Big Fork!).

Great Falls seemed to be a much more "industrialised" town in an architectural way - bigger solid buildings, large structures. There is a nice river running through the town which had some good walks. Oh, the Lewis and Clark Center was pretty interesting (it's located next to the river) if you are into history.

Hope you have fun! J

Very well Put.

Personally I prefer Missoula to Kalispell, and Helena to Great Falls. BUT (assuming driving isnt an issue) you cant beat Bozeman-West Yellowstone down the 191.

Thanks all

We have done the Whitefish bit and thought we would try the other side. It thought there would be little to do, it seems I was correct

Well you could always go check if you can find any difference between the Home Depot and Old Navy in GF and the Home Depot and Old Navy in Calgary

Thanks Butch! I seem to remember your earlier comments about Missoula and we have definitely put that on our list of places to go next time we plan a trip down that way.

J

I second that.

If your driving to Great Falls, It may be worth driving onto the next place. We personally didn't see anything in Great Falls worth going back for, especially as it's that much further than Kalispell/Whitefish. I think we would actually go to Idaho for a change rather than down to Great Falls, but then we had a big build up for Great Falls that didn't meet the expectations. You never know you might love it

Have a great trip though!!!

Am I the only one who didn't "get" Kalispell ? S'alright! We drove straight thorugh and thought we'd just carry on. Whitefish was cutesy (bit like Cochrane in many ways ) with a very nice pizza/italian restaurant.

The drive and lake, and stop-offs around the area, however, were lovely.

I've been told Grand Falls is for shopping only - maybe it was by the good people of this site?

Do report back

What shopping??? We have found more in Kalispell and that's not a whole lot For us the 'Kalispell' thing is 360 degree views of mountains and the scenery around the area - not the town itself - but I suppose living in Cochrane it might not be as much as a novelty seeing as your surrounded by mountains anyway???? I'm looking forward to checking out Idaho and more Montana at some point.

exactly
are you confusing cochrane and canmore by any chance? Cochrane is close to the foothills (but they are foothills NOT real mountains)

Ok, Ok, Ok, Hills! They're much bigger hills than I see on a day to day basis

where as I can SEE the foothills AND the mountains from my windows EVERY day