One of the Western cabins at Bryce Canyon National Park/Kurt Repanshek file
I've stayed in national park lodging from Cape Lookout National Seashore on North Carolina's Outer Banks to Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve in Alaska. While some of those stays were very memorable, others were easily forgettable.
There have been nights in extremely basic lodgings (the cabins on Great Island at Cape Lookout, the cabins at Colter Bay in Grand Teton National Park, and the tent camps at Yosemite National Park), and a few in extremely sumptuous lodgings (Lake Hotel in Yellowstone National Park). And there have been nights spent in my own tent and lean-tos on the Appalachian National Scenic Trail that surpassed some of the park lodgings in overall experience.
There have been nightly rates that took my breath away, and accommodations that made me wonder why they were going for nearly $300 a night.
There are many lodges I haven't spent a night in, including such high-end places like The Ahwanee at Yosemite, the El Tovar at Grand Canyon National Park, or Jenny Lake Lodge at Grand Teton. With that understood, here are my top five lodgings:
1. Lake Hotel, Yellowstone. This gorgeous, Colonial Revival structure on the north shore of Yellowstone Lake is elegant. Its accommodations are extremely comforting after a long day in the park, and if you snag a lakeside room the views are beautiful. The Sun Room off the dining room is a great place to relax with your favorite beverage while a string quartet plays. The history is rich, as the hotel was built in 1891 and today lays claim to being the oldest existing hotel still standing in the park system. It's not cheap, with rooms in September ranging from $359 to $1,000.
2. Old Faithful Inn, Yellowstone. Sit in a rocking chair on one of the interior balconies of the inn after sundown amid the log railings with their crooked branch supports with a view of the crackling fire in the massive, four-side fireplace down below, and you know you have one of the best perches in the National Park System. The rooms aren't necessary something to write home about, but the entire experience — the magnificent log structure, rooms with views of the Upper Geyser Basin's waterworks, the history tied to the world's first national park — is superb. Rates are variable, from low $200s to over $1,000 a night.
3. Zion Lodge Cabins, Zion National Park. Located on the floor of Zion Canyon across from the lodge, these log cabins are charming, with hardwood floors, small stone-lined gas-log fireplaces in a corner, and queen or double beds. They're not as spaced out as one might like, but they're cozy. Rates in the mid-$200s and up, depending on the season.
4. The Inn at Death Valley National Park. Long known as the Furnace Creek Inn, this lodging rivals Lake Hotel. Its stone and adobe construction and Mission-style architecture are something you won't quickly forget. With a landscape of palm trees you can explore via stone pathways and a pool to relax in before, or after, dinner, this serves as an elegant (albeit expensive) base camp for exploring the park. Rates quickly go from about $300 to over $400 a night.
5. The Lodge At Bryce Canyon, Western Cabins, Bryce Canyon National Park. A late-September, early-October stay in one of these cabins is a great way to close out a tour of the national parks in Utah. Gas fireplaces take the chill off the night, peaked ceilings held up by Ponderosa logs take you back a century, and the very short walk to the edge of the colorful rock amphitheater can make you feel like you own the park. Low $300s/night.
All of the above carry a definite sense of place, unlike some park lodgings that are nothing more than roadside motels. My list also is West-centric, mainly because there aren't many park lodgings in the East or Midwest, and those I've stayed in didn't greatly impress.
How about you? What are your favorite accommodations in the National Park System? Can we build a definite list of the best places to stay?
Comments
My daughter and I were lucky to be able to stay 4 nights in the Fred Harvey Suite in El Tovar at the Grand Canyon in 2021. It was amazing! The deck overlooking the canyon - we ordered room service for most every meal and ate on the picnic table while enjoying the views. We also LOVE LOVE LOVED the rooms without private bath in the Old House at Old Faithful Inn. The nighttime in the lobby after the dayguests had gone and the pianist played. It will always be a core memory of ours. Same with the string quartet at Lake Yellowstone Hotel!
So many to choose from. How do you compare getting visited by a moose right in front of our window at Isle Royale's Rock Harbor housekeeping cabins with a Mount Rainier Inn room where you witnessed a stunning Alpenglow sunset? Unforgettable experiences. Speaking of sunsets, the one at Kalaloch Lodge was amazing, too. I loved the atmospheric Historic Cottages at Mammoth Cave as well. Then there's Hawaii Volcanoes NP, where I was able to stay in the Volcano House at a time when Kilauea was erupting and glowing in the night. What a sight.
I had rather mixed feelings about my first Old Faithful Inn visit in June this year. The building itself is stunning and you're so close to the geysers, but it was very noisy, even at night. Plus I was shocked by the overpriced, ghastly buffet food.
Spent the night at the Granite Park Chalet in Glacier National Park on an over night hike from Logan Pass to SwiftCurrent with my then 15 year old daughter. Basics accommodations, but watching the night sky, the sunrise shadows on the mountain range and seeing the mule pack bring supplies was one of many wonderful memories of that trip.
I enjoyed Bryce Canyon Lodge, although it was relatively expensive compared to other places I stayed on that trip. I guess it's way past the statute of limitations, but we snuck in our own alcohol into Utah and was drinking a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale on the front porch of our Bryce Canyon cabin. It's also my understanding that NPS personnel have done that, and that NPS law enforcement isn't terribly interested in enforcing Utah alcoholic beverage laws. We also had an interesting experience there with a server in the dining room during an enexpected late lunch rush. She started making noises and eventually stormed out saying that she couldn't take it any more.
I do have a soft spot for cheap lodging and many of the places I've stayed in national parks no longer exist.
I suppose the Roughrider Cabins at Roosevelt in Yellowstone are still there. That was extremely rustic, and our room smelled like smoke after using the stove for heat. And we asked for extra wood disks in order to stay warm. We actually booked that lodging last day (had a travel agent in our group) and cancelled our reservation in West Yellowstone. That was to avoid a long drive at night from Roosevelt to West Yellowstone after the Old West Cookout.
I really liked the double log cabins at Colter Bay Village in Grand Teton. Those were relocated from nearby. They were very nice, clean, and relatively inexpensive.
As a young kid I stayed with my parents at a cabin at Giant Forest Village in Sequoia National Park. That's gone, and I recall seeing an advocate for it petitioning for it to be restored. But in our case, my mom was freaked out about the possibility of bears coming into our cabin and put food in a free-standing cabinet on the porch. We came back to our cabin, had our flashlights out, and saw a bear in the distance with a bag of sliced bread in its mouth. We came back to our cabin and found that a bear had swiped the door open at the hinge and absconded with several food items. Strangely enough the village handyman came over and fixed it the next morning and we weren't charged for it nor fined. I think these days that might come with a $1000 or higher fine for improper food storage.
http://giantforestvillage.com
Years later I stayed at the budget cabins at Grant Grove Village in Kings Canyon NP. It had a wall mounted propane heater that didn't work. Fortunately I was on a camping trip and could bundle up in a sleeping bag for extra warmth.
Other places that are gone include the Pioneer Cabins at Yellowstone Canyon. It felt old and it had a 50s era vibe with all that linoleum, but with was cheap ($74/night), clean, and comfortable. Also on that same trip the quad cabins at Maswik in Grand Canyon, which were $80/night. Nothing fancy, but good on a budget. Both of those are gone. It leaves me to think that NPS is only concerned with providing lodging for well to do visitors.
Have stayed at the Volcano House at Hawaii Volcanoes NP watching Kilauea through the night. Camped in Denali at the Teklanika Campground. I also stayed at the Back Country Lodge at Wonder Lake In Denali. Mammoth Hot Springs and the Old Faithful Lodge in the winter, as well as the Lamar Buffalo Ranch in Yellowstone.
My wife and I stayed at the Blue Ridge Parkway's Rocky Knob Cabins a few years before they closed. Very small, rustic, and quaint.
The Traveler did a great piece on them and called them the smallest national parks lodging: https://www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2010/06/americas-smallest-national...
Most park visits have been in our own tent or trailer. There is nothing like waking in the morning to the sun shadows on the cliffs at Zion.
Have made many trips to LeConte lodge at Smoky Mountains, rustic but extremely enjoyable. Stayed at a cabin at Curry Village in Yosemite. The cabin was nice but not like LeConte. Stayed at the Inn at Paradise in Mt. Ranier. Absolutely beautiful!
I do agree with others though, most lodging is too expensive to stay.
I was thinking that campgrounds are a completely different category, so I didn't mention it. But NPS camping has been a world of interesting experiences. I've camped at Sequoia (Lodgepole), Yosemite (Upper Pines and backpacking), Crater Lake (Mazama), Olympic (Kalaloch), and Mt Rainier (Cougar Rock).
The name LeConte (or Le Conte) is controversial these days. The LeConte brothers were former slave owners who had public views on race that were controversial, even back in the 19th Century. I attended UC Berkeley where the primary physics building was LeConte Hall. There was a LeConte Elementary School in Berkeley that was renamed. Le Conte Street in Berkeley is still using that name, but who knows for how long. The Sierra Club has removed the LeConte name from their building in Yosemite Valley. There was a school in LA named for the LeContes and that's been renamed. I know it's the south, but even in Tennessee I'm thinking they're considering changing the name of the lodge and the mountain.
I've certainly seen it where all newer lodging in NPS areas is pricey as heck. For the loss of the Giant Forest Village lodging, NPS authorized the construction of Wuksachi Lodge. But rooms (not cabins) go for about $300 a night. I'm not sure what replaced those bargain cabins I stayed in at Yellowstone and Grand Canyon, although I suppose they might not have replaced them at all.