Northern Rockies/Alberta Big Sky Transportation

[ATLSkier]

Is it helpful to have a car in Big Sky (we are staying within walking distance to the mountain, so don't need it for that). If not, any services you recommend for transportation from the airport in Bozeman to Big Sky? Thanks.

 

[Dave Marshak]

I never had a car when I stayed on the mountain. IMO the shuttle trip to town is too inconvenient for what's there. If you have a condo and want to cook, it's worth going to the supermarket in town, and the only pharmacy is in town, but otherwise there's more going on at the base area than town. If I were there for more than a week I'd probably want to do a road trip somewhere, but otherwise I don't need a car.

dm

 

[skidrew]

You don't need a car if staying at the base . . . so long as you're satisfied with the food options at the base. After several years of skiing there, we've found the better meal options to be down the mountain (Buck's T-4 does run a shuttle if you don't have a car). I think Uber etc. is pretty limited, although the Big Sky lodging has courtesy SUVs that you might be able to persuade them to take you down the mountain.

I think some of the Yellowstone tours will pick you up at hte hotel if you want to do that.

We've always rented a car because we've managed to get one that's less expensive than R/T on the airport bus (or at least close enough) for all of us (IIRC it's over $100, maybe $150, RT).

 

[mdf]

Uber etc. is pretty limited

Last year at the Gathering, @Needham planned to Uber to our condo (which was near but not in town) and discovered there is approximately one driver and he is never available. Needham eventually found someone (a shuttle? - forget) that brought him over, and was nice enough to deviate from the scheduled route and bring him right to the door.

If I remember correctly, @KevinF and @Pumba used airport shuttles that worked fine.

 

[KevinF]

For the Gathering this past winter I used https://www.shuttletobigsky.com/ to get back to the airport from the condo. mdf and I happened to arrive at the airport at essentially the same time, so I rode to the mountain with him.

There are a bunch of shuttle services to / from the airport; I don't remember seeing one with substantially better reviews than the others. I went with the above linked one because they would do door-to-door and they were able to work with my schedule (early morning departure).

I've stayed at the mountain base and I've stayed in "town". There isn't exactly a plethora of dining opportunities at either location, but there's at least a little more variety in town. Your willingness to drive between the two should be coupled with a willingness to drive several miles on a distinctly non-flat, (potentially) snowy road in the dark on probably crappy rental car tires.

 

[Tiki]

No need for a car if you’re staying within walking distance to the mountain. If you want to get down to the meadow area for off mountain dining, you can jump on the free shuttle. I recommend Karst Stage as transportation from/to airport.