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There are numerous lodging options at the Grand Canyon but you have to plan ahead. You cannot arrive at the Canyon without reservations and find anything. First you have to decide on location. You have two choices : Grand Canyon Village, right on the rim, or Tusayan, at the entrance to the park. We highly recommend the Village. This is a special place and you need to immerse yourself in it. Tusayan accomodations are cheaper, but you have the daily bus shuttle back and forth. You can't just eat and stroll over to the overlooks or the trailheads, watch the sunrise or sunset, or drop in on ranger talks, camp fire presentations or Indian dance performances. Second, you need to decide on camping or lodge. We have camped many times at the village. It is a very nice facility, with great restrooms, a huge general store, and shuttle stop. It is a great way for Scout, school and church groups to save money. However, for couples or families, we recommend one of the lodges. After a day of hot, strenuous hiking, you'll appreciate the amenities. |
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There are five lodges in the Village : El Tovar, Thunderbird, Bright Angel, Maswick and Yavapai. El Tovar, Thunderbird and Bright Angel are right on the rim, so the views from windows, balconies and porches are spectacular, plus they have a certain historic cachet. Maswick was built more recently and sits straight back from the rim, up a gentle hill. Yavapai sits in the trees about half a mile along the rim but back across the road from it. These lodges, plus the campground, gift shops, general store, restaurants and even Phantom Ranch, are all run by the concessionaire Xanterra, which also handles facilities at Bryce, Zion and Big Bend National Parks. Be aware that no matter where you stay, cell phone and internet access will be extremely erratic. Most people will get nothing at all. Some will get signals sometime but not consistently. And they'll be weak signals. You may be able to read your email but not send new emails, or you may be able to read Facebook posts but not post new ones. Xanterra advertises wireless access, but don't count on conducting any business while here. Also realize you're not staying at a Marriott in a big city. Water and electricity are precious here in the Desert. To conserve, Xanterra does not remake rooms for guests staying multiple nights. This significantly reduces laundry, which means a huge savings in water and power. |
| El Tovar is the grand old dame of Grand Canyon lodging. Built by the Santa Fe Railroad in 1910, it is an architectural masterpiece and one of the nation's greatest national park lodges. Presidents, monarchs, and the usual line of movie stars and corporate executives have stayed here. Built like a European hunting lodge, El Tovar features a dark lobby (photo top right), halls and restaurant, but the rooms with their windows are brighter. This is a huge building, which sprawls across the landscape at the top of a small rise (photo top left). Its windows look out across the village, the train station, and the Canyon. It has multiple porches and balconies for viewing and enjoying the cooling breezes which continually blow up from the Canyon. If you can get a reservation (figure on six months in advance), you MUST stay here. The front rooms (with the best views) are expensive, but you can take a side or rear room and still enjoy the porches, the location, and the ambience. |  |
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Kachina - Thunderbird Lodge is the next one in line down the hill from El Tovar (see photo top left). It's a much more modern facility but lacks its own lobby or checkin desk; you check in at El Tovar for Kachina, which is the upper part of the complex, or at the Bright Angel for the Thunderbird, which is the lower part. K-T lacks the historical significance of Tovar or Bright Angel but shares the same views and has more modern bathrooms. The building sits further back on the lawn (60 ft. from the Rim) than its neighbors, so if you can tolerate the inconvenience of carrying suitcases upstairs, you're better to request an upper level room for the better views. This is the least known of the Rim lodges, so it's often possible to pick up reservations here when its neighbors are full. |
| Once you've stayed at El Tovar once, our personal favorite is Bright Angel Lodge. The name "lodge" is misleading. Many of its "rooms" are really connected cabins right along the rim. In this photo, visible to the left are two people sitting in Adirondack chairs, enjoying wine and cheese and watching the sun set gloriously over the Canyon. We're standing on the South Rim Trail taking this photo, the West Rim Trail begins a few yards West of here, and to our right the Bright Angel Trail starts its descent, so if you're coming to hike, this is an ideal location. Elk will nose around the trees outside your window early in the mornings. The rooms are quite small but modernized and cozy. They have fridges and good beds. There's no air conditioning but during the day you'll be out hiking or exploring and after sundown you'll need a jacket. The only problem is parking. You'll be allowed to park for unloading luggage, but then you have to drive to the Back Country Office and park, walking back the two blocks or taking the bus. There's just no place for vehicles to park along the Rim. |  |
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Maswick Lodge is quite different from the Rim lodges. It's less expensive, much newer and a 10 minute walk back from the Rim. As you can see by the photo at left, it is a series of low, ground hugging ranch style buildings, reminiscent of a 1950s motel. According to which building you're in, some rooms have AC and some have ceiling fans. Nights tend to be cool (you'll usually need a jacket), so it's not a problem. Beds are good and bathrooms recently updated. There's also a cafeteria style restaurant here. It serves good if basic foods, including very good daily soups, an outstanding breakfast burrito and fresh vegetables. The shuttle stops at the front entrance every 15 minutes. |
| Between Bright Angel Lodge and Maswick Lodge are two blocks of old cabins. These were originally built for staff. Now that staff dorms have been built, these cabins have been refurbished and are available for rent during the Summer only. They're a five minute walk from the Rim. The cabins have two queen beds, showers (but no tub), ceiling fans, television and phones. The landline phones become important because cell phone service in the Village is spotty. Cabin rentals are $94 a night, the cheapest rates of any lodging in the park. You're halfway between the cafeteria at Maswick Lodge and the restaurant at Bright Angel Lodge, either one 3-4 minutes. The shuttle comes right past your door. Despite their rustic nature, these cabins are reserved well in advance because of their low rate and proximity to the Rim, so you need to phone at least several months prior to your visit. |  |
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Yavapai Lodge is located half a mile up the road from the Village and is the least expensive of the lodges. A trail leads five minutes out to the Rim. The "lodge" is really a set of one story buildings set in the woods. Rooms are very comfortable, in 1960s motel style. They're not air conditioned, but do have ceiling fans, and with the cool nights that's all you'll need. They also have televisions and fridges. The very good Maswick cafeteria is close by. There's also a large gift shop, a post office, and a comprehensive General Store with clothing, hiking items, fresh fruit, cameras, and anything else you'll need during a two week stay. The shuttle comes right by both on its way out to the Visitor Center and back to the Village. Evening campfires and ranger programs are just across the road. Mule Deer and other animals will graze outside your windows. You're right on the biking trail that runs the length of the park. We've stayed at Yavapai for a week twice and enjoyed both times. Yavapai has one huge advantage over every other lodge in the park : as you can see in the photo at left, you can park your vehicle just outside your door. Since it's not in the Village, Yavapai often has rooms available when everything else is booked. |
| Probably the most famous of all Grand Canyon lodging facilities is Phanton Ranch. Of course, the only way you can stay there is by hiking, rafting, backpacking, or riding a mule deep into the Canyon. You have to make reservations six months in advance. Even then, accommodations are Spartan. However, the scenery is unmatched by anything on Earth and the stories you'll bring back will last a lifetime. Shown here are two of the century old cabins, built of river rock and tastefully modernized. There are also dorms with bunkbeds, and a campground. The main lodge serves excellent breakfasts and dinners. The staff there has had a century's experience filling up starving backpackers. Meals are served All You Can Eat Family Style. They can also pack you a lunch to take on the trail. There's a gift shop and first aid station. Even though the floor of the Canyon is a desert, Phantom Ranch is in a thick grove of trees with Bright Angel Creek flowing through, and remains cooler than its surroundings. |  |
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Mather Campground is atop the hill above Yavapai Lodge. It's a lot more spacious than a KOA or other commercial campground but about typical for a national park. There's lots of tree cover and convenient water faucets. Down the hill a reasonable walk is a very comprehensive General Store (you can buy fresh fruits and vegetables and save your freeze dried meals for the trail), cafeteria style restaurant and gift shop. The sites are well shaded but the ground is hard, so you'll need a mallet to pound tent stakes in. The shuttle stops at the campground every 15 minutes on its way out to the Visitor Center, or you can walk down to Yavapai Lodge and catch it on its way back to the Village. Water is a problem here, so there's a $2 charge for an eight minute shower. However, bathrooms and showers are meticulously clean, and include hair dryers. Mule Deer and Ravens consider the campground their own, so food and everything else has to be protected. A quarter of a mile from the Rim but nightly campfires and ranger presentations are much closer. |
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