4 Days In Bozeman, MT – Here’s What We Did

After spending five days in Helena, Montana’s state capital, we moved on to Bozeman. Bozeman was originally meant to be our final stop in Montana and would be where we’d spend five days.

However, after taking a look at our long list of potential things to do in Montana, Shae spotted a couple of museums she was interested in visiting that were just outside of Billings. Driving there from Bozeman would’ve required a 2+ hour drive in each direction which we weren’t keen on. After Bozeman we’d be driving on to Dickinson, ND and could, in theory, stop at those museum along the way. That would require a bit of a detour though, along with a few hours at those museums, so that wasn’t ideal either as Bozeman to Dickinson was already going to be a long drive.

Instead, we decided to cut short our time in Bozeman, leaving a day early and staying overnight in Billings so that we’d be closer to those other attractions (check out this post for more about what we did in Billings). That meant we only had four days to explore Bozeman.

Thankfully we were staying at a hotel downtown and so that made it more convenient for exploring. Here’s everything we got up to in Bozeman during those few days.

Where We Stayed In Bozeman

We stayed at the Element Bozeman which is located downtown on the edge of the Bozeman Brewery Historic District. That meant that everything downtown was within walking distance.

Element is one of Marriott’s extended stay brands and so every room is a suite that features a full kitchen.

It was a lovely hotel, with a good-sized bedroom/living area in our studio suite, lots of amenities like a swimming pool, guest laundry area, a nice outdoor seating area and more. You can read my full review of the Element Bozeman here.

What We Did In Bozeman

Museum Of The Rockies

Museum of the Rockies is a highly rated museum that’s at Montana State University and is affiliated with the Smithsonian. Having visited, I can see why it’s so popular as it’s a great museum.

I was initially a little dubious because one of the largest exhibits was ‘Dragons, Unicorns & Mermaids: Mythic Creatures.’ It’s not often you go to a museum and see exhibits about made up creatures, but it was an interesting look at mythological creatures from around the world throughout history.

The best part of the museum though was its extensive collection of dinosaur fossils. This is what the museum is most known for and it’s not hard to see why. There were so many fascinating and well-preserved fossils, with enough information to learn about each of them without feeling overwhelmed with too much information.

Living History Farm

Next to Museum of the Rockies – and included within your ticket price – is the Living History Farm. That includes the Tinsley House, a home owned by William Tinsley and his family in the 1800s after he’d taken advantage of the Homestead Act of 1862 to claim 160 acres of land in Willow Creek, MT.

With this being a living history farm, there were people dressed up from the period, including someone weaving on a loom in one of the upstairs bedrooms. There was also a very good folk-style band playing in the living room which we enjoyed listening to while exploring the house.

Exploring Downtown

Bozeman has a cute downtown with some chain stores but also a wide range of boutique stores, restaurants and more. If you have your pup with you (or have one at home), be sure to stop in at Dee-O-Gee – a great little pet store.

Dog Days At Ace Hardware

OK, we wouldn’t normally bother posting about a hardware store, but when walking around downtown we noticed a sign in the window of the local Ace Hardware advertising an event for dogs. They were offering free pet photography, free doggie bags for the first customers, pup cups, paw paint art and more. That sounded like fun, so Shae took Truffles over to check it out while I was getting some work done.

The free goodie bag was excellent too, with some tennis balls, a plush toy, training treats, canned food and lots of loose treats. I don’t know what those loose treats were, but Truffles adored them.

Where We Ate & Drank In Bozeman

Bozeman had lots of interesting drinking places, so we went to a few of them while there.

Lockhorn Cider House

First up was Lockhorn Cider House. They had 17 different ciders on tap and, with them offering four ciders in a flight, Shae and I shared four flights to try nearly all the flavors (the one we didn’t care about trying was their chai cider as neither of us likes chai).

Our favorite cider from the first eight we tried was Lone Mountain. That set of ciders included their habanero cider; we’ve had beer and cider with peppers in it before, but the habanero cider at Lockhorn was the spiciest one we’ve ever tried.

From the second set of eight ciders my favorite was the raspberry.

If you’re traveling with your dog, Lockhorn Cider House has pet-friendly seating out on their patio.

Bozeman Spirits Distillery

Our favorite drinking place that we visited in Bozeman was Bozeman Spirits Distillery and we ended up visiting there a couple of times.

Bozeman Spirits makes half a dozen different whiskeys, as well as gin, several types of vodka, rum, agave and bourbon cream. You can do samplers of their spirits, plus they have an extensive and interesting cocktail menu.

I was interested in their spirits, so I got a couple of flights – one with four of their whiskeys, then a flight with another of their whiskeys, rum, huckleberry vodka and bourbon cream. Their Bobcat Gold and Rye were my two favorite whiskeys. Their huckleberry vodka was good and I enjoyed their bourbon cream too; the latter was a little different to other bourbon creams I’ve had, but very nice nonetheless.

Shae meanwhile got a couple of their Pink Panther cocktails. These contained their Cold Spring vodka, fresh orange and Bordeaux cherry juice, pineapple juice and coconut puree, shaken over rocks. She loved that; I tried some too and could see why she liked it as it was delicious and refreshing.

Similar to Lockhorn Cider House, Bozeman Spirits Distillery is pet-friendly out on their patio.

Last Best Place Brewing Company

We’d received several brewery recommendations for Bozeman, but unfortunately none of those Bozeman breweries were dog-friendly – even on their patios. Instead, we decided to check out Last Best Place Brewing Company which does allow pups inside.

While we loved how dog-friendly it was, the beer wasn’t as good. Their scotch ale was the best of the four I tried as part of a flight, but other than that it was sadly mediocre beer.