How to Book a Great Lodge in the National Park
When booking at National Parks you have to be careful. Googling will give you some very official looking sites, which are not affiliated with the National Parks and which will charge you an extra 10% to book your room. You can book any National Park room directly, with no additional costs, if you book through the concessionaires who manage each Park. The concessionaires in 2010 were Xanterra, Delaware North, Aramark, Glacier National Parks, Inc. and some others. The concessionaires get to manage the park properties through a bidding process and are held to very high standards by the NPS. We were very impressed with all the companies.
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| Crater Lake Lodge |
Crater Lake, Grand Canyon (including railroad), Yellowstone are all managed by Xanterra. To book any of these parks, click
http://www.xanterra.com/
They manage other National Park lodges which we did not visit. See all their destinations here:
A World of Unforgettable Experiences | Xanterra
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| El Tovar Lodge, Grand Canyon |
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| Old Faithful Inn from Lobby, Yellowstone |
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| Old Faithful Inn |
We stayed at Crater Lake lodge (two thumbs up!!!), Bright Angel Lodge (near El Tovar), and Old Faithful Inn (our absolute favorite).. El Tovar at the Grand Canyon is probably worth the money if you can get into it. Very Historical, but we liked Bright Angel too. If you are willing to give up your bathroom (not a problem as they have very modern individually locked, clean shower stalls) you can get into the Old Lodge at Old Faithful Inn, which are the original rooms--I highly recommend those (and for $90 a night, the price is amazing!!) You have to book REALLY early, like 13 months out for everything, unless you are very flexible.
Yosemite, Sequoia: Managed by Delaware North.
Yosemite. Wawona was wonderful, and if you can afford it, Awahnee is a beautiful lodge. A classic. We stayed at Wawona, in one of the cottages, and were thrilled. To book:
http://www.yosemitepark.com/reservations.aspx
Sequoia: We absolutely loved Wuksachi lodge and would recommend it highly. Click here to book:
http://www.visitsequoia.com/lodging.aspx
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| Awahnee Lodge, Yosemite |
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| Awahnee Lodge Dining Room |
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| Cottage at Wawona Lodge, Yosemite |
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| Wuksachi Lodge, Sequoia |
See other lodges at http://www.nps.gov/seki/planyourvisit/lodging.htm We did not visit any of the lodges in Kings Canyon managed by Kings Canyon Park Service, and thus have no recommendation one way or the other on them.
Mesa Verde: Aramark manages the Far View Lodge. We were really impressed with this lodge too. I would strongly suggest staying here if you are visiting the park and do not want to camp. The drive into the park takes forever, up really winding roads, and it is the only lodge in the park. The Kiva rooms are worth the upgrade if you can get them. They can be reached at:
http://www.visitmesaverde.com/
Glacier National Park
Glacier Park Inc. manages all the lodges and the red buses in Glacier National Park. Although we didn't stay at them because of our time table, we would recommend Lake McDonald and Many Glacier. If you make it to Canada, Prince of Wales is said to be wonderful, but it is a long way there. We did eat lunch at Lake McDonald and were very impressed. See..http://glacierparkinc.com/lodging.php
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| Lake McDonald Lodge, Glacier National Park |
Mt. Rainier
We didn't stay at Paradise Inn, but visited it and intend to stay in the future. It is a classic Great Lodge. Mt. Rainier has accessible and beautiful trails and was one of our favorite parks to visit. Check out our blog post and slide show of the park.
You can book a room here: http://www.mtrainierguestservices.com/accommodations/paradise-inn/pi-rooms-and-rates
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| Paradise Inn, Mt. Rainier |
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| Trails near Paradise Inn |
One of the most original of all of the Grand Lodges resides at Oregon Caves. This lodge, nestled deep in the back woods of Oregon, is reached after 15 miles of driving on a very narrow winding road. It was a beautiful lodge, and although we did not stay there, we had lunch at the Cafe. Book at:
http://www.oregoncaveschateau.com/index.asp
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| Chateau at Oregon Caves |
Other notes: Don't forget to book your tours at Crater Lake, especially a boat tour if you want one. If you want to book a donkey at the Grand Canyon, or Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the Canyon, you are usually talking 13 months advanced reservations. We did neither of these things, but talked to people who did.
Eating:
Most parks have plenty of deli and cafeteria style eating establishments.
If you want to eat a sit down dinner at the lodges, Crater Lake, Yellowstone, Wuksachi and the Yosemite lodges take reservations. Call ahead or you will end up eating at the bar or the deli, which is still fine, as most have great food. The sit down dinners do not come cheap, but are some of the best restaurants in the US. Totally worth it; we were continally amazed at the quality and ambiance of the great lodge dining rooms. Plus the wait staff are many times foreign exchange students who will talk to you about their experiences if you ask. Grand Canyon is first come first serve, which means show up and get a spot on the waiting list (they'll give you a pager). This could change at any time, so a phone call to the lodges a few weeks (or even months) in advance is prudent. The confirmation of any lodge reservation you make should have the phone numbers on where to call to make reservations for food and tours.
--Mike
