This Is What Tourists Actually Do In Montana (Part 1)

What are the best things to do as a tourist in Montana? Well, that all depends on what kind of vacation you're looking for, your budget, and whether you'll be visiting friends on this trip to Montana. We followed some tourists on their trip and wrote down all the things they actually did.

We wanted to know what tourists are ACTUALLY doing on their vacations to Montana - not just what we THINK they're doing with their vacation time. We reached out to several groups that we knew were going to be in Montana at some point this summer, and they filled us in on exactly what attractions they saw.

Let's start this series of articles with a group of four adults (two couples) that I know visited the Bozeman area in early June. They came up to Montana without their kids for an adults only getaway and to explore the area without much of an agenda.

So what did they do in Montana and where did they spend their money? These guys were quite busy and did a lot of things but did not stick to any tight schedule. They did whatever they felt like at the time and went wherever it wasn't too busy.

• Day 1: Fly into Bozeman, Montana. Rent an SUV for a week. Hotel reservations at the Kimpton Armory Hotel in downtown Bozeman for 2 nights. (Landed mid-day so lots of time to get the most out of the first day.) Without kids on this trip, these friends were looking to relax, eat and drink whenever they wanted, and spend lots of catch-up time together.
• Went to Bozeman Spirits Distillery for a couple of local cocktails
• Walked all over the southside historic area reading about architecture and historic homes (St. James Episcopal Church, The Samuel Lewis House, Burr Fischer House, Story Mansion, Graf Building, the old Gallatin County High School, Emerson Center, etc.) Also walked the Montana State University campus.
• Dinner at Blackbird on Main Street in downtown Bozeman.
• Cocktails back at the hotel, at the Sky Shed rooftop bar.

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• Day 2: Coffees from Treeline Coffee at The Lark, then early frisbee on the big field at MSU across from the stadium. (Genius free, fun exercise!)
• Breakfast at Storm Castle Café
• One couple spent a few hours in downtown Bozeman shopping, the other couple drove over to Livingston, the Paradise Valley, and Gardiner to see the North Entrance to Yellowstone.
• Dinner at Feast Raw Bar & Bistro
• Drinks at the Rocking R Bar and The Cannery Lounge (They raved about both places. One of the guys went to MSU a long time ago, and had not been back since the R Bar remodel. They had an excellent time.)

• Day 3 & 4: In Ennis, Montana fly fishing. 2 nights at the El Western Cabins & Lodges. They absolutely LOVED their cabins and they're stay in Ennis. The guys fly fished with a guide for a couple of days. The women hung out, shopped, played golf, went down to Quake Lake and over the hill to Virginia City and Nevada City.
• The ladies went to all sorts of places in Ennis including: Willie's Distillery, the Gravel Bar, Top Shelf Botanicals Dispensary (hey, we don't judge), Ennis Sunrise Café, Madison Meadows Golf Course, and the Long Branch Saloon.

Day 5: Head back to Bozeman and stay one night at the Kimpton Armory Hotel. Dinner at Shan in the Cannery District. Drinks at the Sky Shed back at the Armory. They headed to the airport the following morning to head home.