Bozeman, Big Sky & Livingston, MT, Guide and Information

There’s a lot more to Big Sky than the endless views and wide-open skies that give this Montana town its name. Big Sky is home to the Biggest Skiing in America® with over 5,800 acres of skiable terrain spread across four mountains, 4,350 vertical feet, and an award-winning Nordic trail system at Lone Mountain Ranch. Enjoy spectacular, unspoiled nature and wildlife, breathtaking experiences by day, and relaxing hospitality at night. Big Sky, Montana is the little town that’s next to everything.

Bozeman, Montana, is an eclectic mix of ranchers, artists, professors, ski enthusiasts and entrepreneurs, drawn here by world-class recreation, rich culture, an easy pace of life and the energy of a university town. It’s where blue jeans meet blazers, down home meets downtown and Gore-Tex meets gourmet. And with Yellowstone National Park just a stone’s throw away, and a number of blue ribbon trout ­fishing streams in even closer proximity, you’ll ­find endless opportunities to carve out your own outdoor adventures.

Resting on the banks of the Yellowstone River surrounded by majestic mountains. Livingston delivers an eclectic blend of shops, museums, galleries, live theater and music, as well as unique restaurants for every taste. So come and explore Park County to experience breathtaking mountain ranges, fun and hardworking ranches and romance under the big sky. Whether you seek the rugged outdoors or culture within our many art galleries and live theatre, comfort cuisine to fine dinning or luxurious comforts to casual clean rooms, come visit us as you’ll find exciting things to do and friendly faces here in Livingston, Park County, Montana.

A scenic forty-mile drive south of Bozeman lands you in Big Sky, Montana; this resort, big on alpine allure, has seen a lot of growth in recent years and is slated to really blast off within the upcoming decade. And yet it’s doubtful it will ever become crowded. No, lift lines are more for Vail. Here in Big Sky you’re still too remote to have crowds become an issue. With the acquisition of Moonlight Basin and Spanish Peaks in 2013, Big Sky proudly boasts “the biggest skiing in America.” Indeed these purchases made Big Sky really big in terms of skiable terrain. Their amenities are keeping up with the boon, too. And there’s no doubt that some might venture here just to have the luxury of riding in one of their new, heated six-person chairlifts. With a plexiglass bubble to block the wind, that’s what you’d call one heck of a six pack.

The really big news is that Big Sky has developed Big Sky Town Center over the past decade and it has become a vital place of activity for the resort, something very much needed in this remote locale that has been largely populated by wildlife (and not people) for centuries. It’s no wonder there’s a Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center nearby in West Yellowstone! Speaking of Yellowstone, know that Big Sky Resort is considered basecamp to Yellowstone National Park. Their lineup of summertime activities in particular ranks tops.

As you gaze out upon the vast expanses of land surrounding Bozeman, Livingston and Big Sky, Montana, it’s easy to conjure up images of what life must have been like back in the day, back as far as hundreds of years ago. You can envision Native Americans hunting buffalo that grazed upon the plains beneath the wide-open sky. You can imagine wagons rolling in with pioneers gritty and weary from the trail, yet ever so hopeful of making a new life in this land full of promise and plenty. Stop and listen to the thunder of the hooves stomping across the prairie from the first cattle drive–some 1,000 longhorn strong–making its way through what was once known as “hostile Indian territory.” The steam whistle from a Northern Pacific Railway (NPR) train chuffing through the valley could also be heard around and about those days toward the end of the 1800s.

With the founding of Yellowstone National Park in 1872, America’s first national park, this part of Montana was quickly becoming a busy place. But it was not an easy feat to access the park, even after the arrival of the NPR. Stagecoaches played a vital role at that time, horse–drawn modes of transportation that operated up until 1917 when all park transportation was converted to motor vehicles. Check out the Yellowstone Historic Center Museum in West Yellowstone to learn about these early forms of transportation to this area.