About Bozeman Proper

Bozeman Proper is a curated, opinionated guide to the Bozeman and Big Sky corridor -- the lodging, dining, skiing, attractions, and trip logistics that visitors actually need to figure out before they arrive. It's written by someone who lives in the Gallatin Valley, has picked up dozens of friends and family from the Bozeman airport, driven the canyon to Big Sky in a whiteout more times than is reasonable, and has strong opinions about where to eat a burger after a day on the slopes.

This site exists because the current options aren't good enough. The official tourism board sites list every business alphabetically without telling you which ones are worth your time. TripAdvisor ranks results from people who visited once in 2018. And the generic travel blogs recycle the same "top 10" listicles without knowing the difference between Meadow Village and Mountain Village or why the Belgrade budget hack saves you $100 a night. If you're planning a trip to Bozeman or Big Sky, you deserve better than that.

Every recommendation on this site comes from firsthand experience or verified local knowledge. The restaurant picks are places I eat at. The lodging advice accounts for real peak-season pricing, not the misleading "starting at" rates. The ski logistics cover the stuff the resort websites bury. When I recommend something, I tell you what it costs, what to expect, and who it's best for. When something isn't worth the money, I say that too.

Bozeman Proper is a companion to Montana Trail Briefs, which covers trail guides and outdoor recreation across Montana. This site handles the other half of the trip -- where you sleep, what you eat, and how you get around on the days you're not on a trail. Between the two sites, you have everything you need to plan a trip to the Gallatin Valley without opening a single TripAdvisor tab.