The Best Place to Stay at Grand Canyon National Park

What’s the best place to stay at Grand Canyon National Park? The in-park options are limited to six. I will address hotel options on South Rim first, the place most people visit, and make a few comments on the single lodge on the North Rim last. There are two vendors that offer rooms on the South Rim of Grand Canyon, Delaware North, that runs Yavapai Lodge, with 358 rooms, and Xanterra, the successor to the Fred Harvey Company, that runs five hotels right on the rim, with 552 rooms available. Each has a website for booking and looking for discounts. Yavapai Lodge is NOT on the rim of the Canyon, and therefore is not a favorite of mine. It requires a drive, a bus ride or a long walk to get to the Canyon Rim. It does, however, offer the lowest priced AC rooms in the Park with easy parking and access. I have a separate video about Yavapai Lodge. Xanterra’s website does offer the invitingly titled “Grand Hotel,” which might better be labeled the Grand Scam. In some parts of the world “grand hotel” has special meaning, but not here, it is just a tract hotel NOT LOCATED IN GRAND CANYON national park–you have to go through the park gate, with waits up to three hours, every time you travel from the hotel to the Park. The website has been forced to clarify that the Grand Hotel is not in the park, and I see no reason to stay there. If there were a Grand Hotel at the Canyon, it would be El Tovar, which opened in 1905 and has 78 rooms. If linen tablecloths, bellhops and maître d’s are your thing, the El Tovar is for you. To me, El Tovar has some problems. First, the rooms are expensive. The cheapest room is $372 plus taxes and fees, and that is for one full bed I a room that is sometimes described as “garden level,” or “street level,” but is actually in a basement. The lowest price room with a queen bed out of the basement is $458, which comes out to about $490 a night with taxes and fees (all other prices I mention in this video will be list prices without taxes or fees). That’s just too darned expensive for me. You can stay in a $225 cheaper room five minutes away from El Tovar, and then enjoy the ambiance by grabbing a drink at the bar and taking it to the lobby, or by using your savings to buy a meal in the fancy restaurant. The El Tovar is a public building. Walk on through and enjoy the ambiance for free! The other issue is that parking is very difficult to find, and it is a long haul from the parking lot to the rooms. I guess maybe that is why they have the bellhops. But you can do better. What I call the modern twins, Kachina and Thunderbird Lodges, have 49 and 55 rooms respectively, and are right on the rim. These are bland, but nice enough places to stay. Neither has air conditioning, but they have evaporative cooling which is some help in the heat of the Summer. The parking is very limited, and once again you have to haul your equipment from the car to the room. Room rates start at $336 a night, but you can do better. My top choice on the rim in the cooler months is Bright Angel Cabins. The Bright Angel Lodge was built in 1935 as a less expensive alternative to the El Tovar Hotel, and was designed by Mary Colter. The rooms are steps from the rim and Bright Angel Trail. I would not stay in the Lodge Rooms because of noise and odors, but the cabins are the best value starting at $233 a night, with the best cabins having a view and a fireplace, which go for $377 a night. Since I spend most of my time out hiking, I get the standard cabin for $233. I have a longer video with details about Bright Angel Lodge. In the cooler weather, and if there are only two in my party, I choose Bright Angel Cabins. But if the weather is unusually hot, or if there are more than two in my party, I choose Maswik Lodge. Maswik is the only hotel not directly on the rim, but it is a five minute walk away. The big advantage is that it offers air conditioning and easy parking, in relatively bland, motel style rooms. Maswik rooms start at $262, but they are the most commonly discounted rooms on the rim, and are often available for under $100 a night in the slow season. I have a separate video on Maswik Lodge. Finally, there is only one Lodge in the Park on the North Rim. Because I have had problems with rodent infestations in some of the North Rim rooms, the only room I would accept on is the Western Cabins, the most expensive rooms, unfortunately. The Western Cabins are $325 a night. Now, a word of caution, the North Rim Lodge was badly managed for years by Forever Resorts. I hope you enjoy your visit to Grand Canyon, and thank you for watching this video.