Things To Do

The Ennis Area

Downtown Ennis

A town built on the outdoors, fishing, and tourism, Ennis's downtown includes some very Western gift shops and clothing stores, plenty of outdoors shops, some art galleries, a two-screen movie theater, and a handful of restaurants. Yesterday's Soda Fountain is a good place for a cheap lunch.

Fly Fishing

Though many of the rivers will be unfishable due to seasonal runoff, there's still chances for fishing. We can kit you out to practice your fishing on the Madison Valley Ranch's stocked trout pond, and local flyshops can help you set up a fishing trip on other local waters.

McAllister Inn

The McAllister Inn has some of the Ennis area's best fine dining and a great bar area.

Virginia City

A former gold rush town, Virginia City now preserves the history of the Gold Rush era through historical reenactments. Step back into the 1860s and go see a Vaudeville show by the Virginia City Players, ride the 20-minute train between Virginia City and Nevada City, and explore history museums. A 20-minute drive out of Ennis.

Norris Hot Springs

Norris Hot Springs is an outdoors natural hot spring. It's a great place for a soak in their rustic hot spring pool, and located midway between Bozeman and Ennis. They often have musical guests on Friday nights.

Willie's Distillery

Kelsey and Rowan's favorite huckleberry liquor is made in this rustic Ennis distillery.

Bozeman Recommendations

Downtown Bozeman

Downtown Bozeman has an amazing selection of boutiques, outdoors shops, restaurants, and bars. Rowan and Kelsey are especially partial to the yarn and quilt stores.

Bozeman Hot Springs

Here you can soak in the hot pools (fueled by a natural hot spring), splash around the cold pool, enjoy a spa treatment, and dip into a cold or hot sauna. There's live music on Thursday and Sunday nights next to the beautifully landscaped outdoor hot pools.

Museum of the Rockies

A great spot for the curious, MoR is famous for its fossil collection (it was home base for the dinosaur team behind Jurassic Park) and has some fascinating displays on pioneer life, Yellowstone biology, and other rotating subjects. The planetarium often has great shows.

Bozeman Hiking

The Bozeman and Ennis area have plenty of opportunities for a good afternoon's hike. The Drinking Horse Trail (starting from the map location) is a popular short hike near Bozeman, and there's plenty more with varied levels of difficulty and length.

La Châtelaine Chocolat Co.

Delicious and nationally known chocolatiers

Bequet Confections

Bequet's award-winning caramels are sold across the US; you can see how they're made and buy a few for the road at their factory.

Emerson Center for the Arts & Culture

The Emerson is an arts incubator with a couple dozen studios selling everything from pottery to paintings. A couple blocks from downtown.

Bozeman Restaurants

The Nova Café

The Nova Cafe is Bozeman's best brunch. Reservations advised for a delicious, creative, and local meal.

The Rest of Southwest Montana

Yellowstone National Park

Ennis is about an hour's drive from West Yellowstone, a small town that sits at one of Yellowstone's entrances. Consider driving down to "The Park" for a day's wildlife watching and geyser basin wandering. There's also places you could book a couple nights in Yellowstone itself.

West Yellowstone

Sitting at the entrance to Yellowstone, the town of West Yellowstone (about an hour's drive from Ennis) has a Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center (highly recommended by Rowan and Kelsey), an IMAX theater, and the Yellowstone National Park Visitor Center. A good stop on the way to The Park.

Quake Lake

If you're heading down to Yellowstone, Quake Lake is a great stop. The lake was created in 1959 when an earthquake sparked the largest landslide in American history. The view is fascinating, and they have a good visitor's center.