Bigfork is a small village on the northeastern shore of Flathead Lake in northwestern Montana — the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi. It has a well-deserved reputation as one of the most charming communities in the state: a compact main street of galleries, restaurants, and boutiques, a summer theater company with a serious reputation, and the lake and Swan Mountains as an immediate backdrop.
Flathead Lake is excellent for sailing, kayaking, and fishing, and the wild cherries grown on the eastern shore are famous across Montana — they ripen in July and roadside stands appear all along the lake. The Bigfork Summer Playhouse has been staging Broadway musicals and comedies for decades and is worth catching if you are here in summer. The town also makes a good base for Glacier National Park, about an hour's drive to the north.