Missoula is western Montana's largest city and its cultural centre — a university town in a mountain valley where five rivers converge. The University of Montana gives the place an energy and a literary culture that you would not expect from a city of 75,000 people in the northern Rockies. Norman Maclean set A River Runs Through It here, and the town's connection to fly fishing, writing, and the outdoors runs deep.
Downtown is compact and walkable, with good independent bookshops, breweries, and restaurants. The Clark Fork River runs right through the centre of town, and the riverfront trail is excellent for walking or cycling. Caras Park, along the river, hosts a Saturday market in summer that is one of the best in the state.
The surrounding mountains are the real draw. You can hike to the "M" on Mount Sentinel directly from campus, ski at Snowbowl in winter, or drive up the Bitterroot Valley or into the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Glacier National Park is about four hours north. Missoula also sits on the route of the former Milwaukee Road railway, now converted into a cycling trail that stretches east across the state.