Once caught, the noodles are dipped in tsuyu (a chilled, umami-rich sauce made from soy, mirin and dashi) then slurped down between bites of tempura or cool slices of cucumber. “It’s the perfect dish for summer when the heat dulls your appetite,” says Ishi Take, director at Chihonoie. “Nagashi somen is light, refreshing and easy to eat – even when [it’s so hot outside that] nothing else sounds appealing.”

He adds, “We get all kinds of visitors here – parents with kids, couples, even travellers from overseas. Everyone gathers around the bamboo flumes, laughing and trying to catch the noodles. It’s not just a meal; it’s a shared summer memory.”

Last year the rustic-chic Lone Mountain Ranch unveiled Auric Room 1915, a members-only supper club and venue where overnight guests can retreat into cowhide-swathed booths to enjoy fried chicken and pours of 18-year-old Elijah Craig bourbon. True to its cattle-ranch roots, the hotel still devotes Thursday nights all summer long to the rodeo, a rowdy, locally beloved spectacle of cowboy and cowgirl culture complete with Montana beef brisket sandwiches and plenty of beer.

Finally, in the Spanish Peaks, Montage Big Sky, which opened in 2021, expanded its lodging options last year with 47 new residences—including 15 freestanding Mountain Homes, each with five or six bedrooms—adding to the resort’s 100 original rooms and suites. Guests can take advantage of all the hotel’s perks, such as access to Crazy Mountain Ranch, an 18,000-acre working cattle ranch with ample terrain for horseback riding; an 18-hole golf course; and summertime outdoor excursions like heli-fly-fishing tours that take guests to remote stretches of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers.

This article appeared in the July/August 2025 issue of Condé Nast Traveler. Subscribe to the magazine here.