LOCAL LIST: Some of the Best Small Towns in Montana

It's hard to compare Montana's coolest small towns because there's a lot of them, and they can be vastly different. Montana is a huge state with a lot of geography to cover. The eastern part of the state is not like the western side.

However, you'll find really cool small towns all over the place...no matter what corner of Montana you're in. This list didn't come from some foo-foo national magazine - it came directly from locals and frequent visitors.

What makes a small town cool? That depends. We all know what makes a town uncool - crime, pollution, or lack of resources. Thankfully, Montana doesn't have more than a handful of those issues. What do people expect from the best small towns?

• "The best part of small town life is sense of community. Sometimes to a fault. LOL. Everybody in your business happens a lot but it's part of the charm."
• "My favorite Montana small towns are very pretty, and very hard to get to."
• "Small towns seem to be 'older and wiser'. Their history and the people that live there."
• "Slower pace of life is not for everyone, and that's the good news."
• "The best small towns in Montana have changed in the last few years for sure."

Thompson Falls, MT - When your town's motto is "Genuine in Nature", it's probably a good looking town. With the Cabinet Mountains, the Clark Fork River, and Thompson Falls State Park - this might be one of the coolest of Montana's cool small towns.

• "Road tripping along Highway 200 through Thompson Falls is my favorite weekend getaway. Such good views along the Clark Fork river."
• "Thompson Falls is definitely SMALL, but as long as you don't want or need every store it's a really nice place to live. Not having a whole lot to do sometimes is what makes it so great. Slower pace."

Fort Benton, MT - History buffs need to spend some quality time in Fort Benton. It's PACKED with museums about Montana and the "old west". You can pick from all of these in one small town:

Old Fort Benton, The Museum of the Upper Missouri, The State of Montana’s Museum of the Northern Great Plains, Homestead Village, The Hornaday Smithsonian Buffalo Gallery, The Upper Missouri River Breaks Interpretive Center, The Overholser Research Center, The Schwinden Library, and The Montana Agricultural Center.

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Three Forks, MT - Three Forks feels like a 'big' small town with it's proximity to Belgrade and Bozeman. All the perks of larger towns are close, without having to deal with any big box stores your town.

• "I love this town! (Three Forks) I feel very safe, and it is a great community to raise children."
• "There is plenty to do for people who enjoy the outdoors, and it is beginning to grow, so soon there will be even more to do."
• "I have lived here for almost 6 years now, I enjoy all the people I have come in contact with. It is a very small close knit city."

City of Three Forks, MT on Facebook

Anaconda, MT - This historic mining town northwest of Butte lucked out in the charm department. That can't be said of other mining towns in Montana. Anaconda has somehow aged well, and became the cute and modern little town 'with the cool golf course'.

• Philipsburg, MT
• Ronan, MT
• Glendive, MT
• Eureka, MT