FAQS

If you are hosting a large gathering, Missoula has many great options to suit your needs, all located in or very near to historic downtown Missoula.  

Hilton Garden Inn - 22,000 sq feet of meeting space - 146 rooms

Holiday Inn Missoula Downtown -20,000 sq ft of meeting space - 198 rooms

and DoubleTree by Hilton Missoula Edgewater - 7,700 sq ft of meeting space -171 rooms

The newly built Missoula Montana Airport is just 5.6 miles from downtown. With rental car options, taxis and rideshares, and free public bus transportation, getting to downtown Missoula from our airport is a breeze. 

Missoula is located between Glacier and Yellowstone national parks and can be a great launching point for adventure for either of these gems. Glacier National Park is 136 miles north of Missoula and takes approximately 2.5 to 3 hours via car to reach the park’s entrance at West Glacier. Yellowstone National Park is 265 southeast of Missoula and is approximately 4 hours by car to the west entrance at West Yellowstone, or a few more miles and minutes to get to the north entrance through Gardiner.

Missoula was made for team building! 

Your group can explore Missoula on foot and learn about the city’s history, art, and more with Unseen Missoula and Missoula Local Walking Tours. Take a group hike together at one of the many trails that borders downtown Missoula, or consider renting mountain bikes for a fun and low-stakes Montana experience. 

Indulge in arts experiences like Paint Your Own Pottery at the Zootown Arts Community Center, line dancing to local country music, or rent the historic Roxy Theater for a private movie showing. We recommend checking out our concert schedule as well, as Missoula is home to two large amphitheaters and regularly plays host to large acts year round.

Battle the waves with a white water rafting adventure with Montana River Guides, 10,000 Waves, Adventure Missoula, Pangaea River Rafting. Prefer something calmer like a leisurely float on the Clark Fork River on a raft with a built in bar? River City Brews Tours is your ticket to team bonding without the adrenaline rush. Would they rather cast a line? Experience fly fishing at its finest with Blackfoot River Outfitters or Missoula Fly Water. 

Is it important for your group to give back? A team river clean up or packing lunches for local kids create lasting memories and connections to Missoula. 

Missoula is becoming a beloved destination for groups (trust us–you’ll understand why once you arrive here and see it for yourself). We recommend booking at least 1 year in advance and, for more date availability in our peak conference months of May and October, we recommend booking 2 years in advance. 

Missoula can play host to a variety of group sizes from small board retreats and team building to large conferences. Our sweet spot is around 300 attendees considering the venue spacing for general session and breakout spaces, but we’ve had groups as large as 700 utilize the city-wide approach– booking multiple properties for guest rooms and being flexible with our large unique venues for GA spaces. 

We are very friendly around here, so our hotels work together often for meetings and events. We have several areas in town with concentrated properties within walking distance for easy overflow options. The Hilton Garden Inn in our Business District is an excellent host hotel with 22 square feet of meeting space and 9 hotels within a half a mile. Downtown, the Holiday Inn has 20,000 square feet of meeting space and 3 other properties within 2 blocks. If conferences are held on the University of Montana Campus, attendees can take advantage of the downtown hotel options, located only 1 mile away across the Clark Fork River.

Yes! Missoula is a very walkable city, especially in our downtown core, with a high concentration of restaurants, bars, shops, art galleries, and music venues just down the block from hotels. Want to stretch your legs further? You can walk along the Riverfront Trails to enjoy the Clark Fork River or access trailheads to adventure longer within a mile of downtown.

Montana is closer than you think. The Missoula Montana Airport is currently home to 7 carriers and 14 nonstop destinations. For many domestic travelers Missoula is a direct flight or just one layover away. 

Missoula venues can play host to nearly any group. We have three full service convention properties with meeting space ranging from 7,700 square feet to 22,000 square feet. The University of Montana has a dedicated conference center on campus with a ballroom space for up to 1000 attendees and a myriad of other spaces from theaters to gymnasiums to classrooms for smaller group sessions and breakouts. If your attendees are craving a more historic backdrop, the Wilma Theater, Governor’s Ballroom, or Heritage Hall showcase vintage design. For an authentic Montana setting, try out the Barn on Mullan or the flexible spaces at the Missoula County Fairgrounds. Prefer the great outdoors? Look no further than the pavilion at Caras Park, which is the heart of Missoula with the Clark Fork River running alongside. Smaller groups have even more options between the award winning Missoula Public Library and the artsy showroom at the Zootown Arts Community Center.

Montana and Missoula are all about the experiences outside the meeting room–museums to learn about the history of the area, art museums and galleries to inspire your inner artist, a food and beverage scene to rival large cities, and have we mentioned outdoor recreation? Hiking, biking, floating, fishing, rafting, skiing, and scenic drives are all on the table. Looking for great group activities? We have those too (see “Are there options for team-building or big group outings?” above). 

Yes! The Destination Missoula team is eager to help plan your meeting or event. Our staff can help with RFP distribution and site selection, site visits, marketing materials, visitor materials, and connections to local resources like catering, transportation, tours, permits, and more. 

From full service caterers to food trucks, Missoula has a wide variety of food and beverage options for groups. Some of our venues work exclusively with top caterers while others are open to fulfill your culinary dreams. Missoula’s food scene is top-notch, with a large focus on local farm-to-table and seasonal menus, and our chefs love working with large groups to showcase the flavors of Montana.

Missoula has several options for group transportation from charter buses to party buses to the more nimble 14 passenger vans. Missoula’s transit service, Mountain Line, has free ridership and can be a great option for attendees to explore the city without needing a rental car.

Yes! Destination Missoula hosts an annual FAM tour in the spring or fall for a small group of vetted planners. Contact the sales staff to find out more about FAM tours and site visits. 

Depends on who you ask, but some of our most notable qualities are our beautiful landscapes, outdoor recreation, arts and culture, the University of Montana, A River Runs Through It, and the Yellowstone tv series.

Missoula is a great place to visit year round, with various offerings and activities depending on the season. Our peak leisure travel months are July and August, where outdoor recreation is at its peak. Missoula predictably becomes a winter wonderland in the months of December through March, and many groups love to come to Missoula in the spring (April through June) and Fall (September & October) to maximize fun, affordability, and ease of travel and booking. No matter the season, Missoula is sure to impress with our welcoming community, abundance of activities, and walkable downtown district complete with great dining, shopping, and cultural opportunities.