Perched on a hill within snowball-throwing distance of Glacier National Park’s southern boundary, this historic mock-Tudor inn was originally built in 1939 to accommodate local railway personnel. It remains a daily flag stop (request stop) on Amtrak’s Empire Builder route – a romantic way to arrive. Caboose cottages with kitchenettes are available, along with a historic GN441 locomotive refurbished as a luxury four-person suite ($329).
One caveat: sleep might be hard to come by, especially on the track-side, since trains pass by every half-hour to hour through the middle of the night.
Located close to the Park Creek area, the lodge became something of an incongruity after WWII, when a plan to build a new southern park entrance in the vicinity never materialized. Dubbed the ‘Inn between’ in the years since, the Izaak has enjoyed a modern renaissance with cozy rooms, a sauna and easy access to miles of some of the only groomed cross-country skiing trails in the area.