Staying overnight in a national park lodge is a excellent way to enhance the
experience of a national park visit. The lodges are generally situated in scenic
areas where guests are able to enjoy a variety of activities and experiences.
Several dining rooms in the park lodges, including Yosemite's Ahwahnee and the
North Rim's
Grand Canyon
Lodge, are magnificent. Walk a short distance outside the front door of
The Chateau at Oregon
Caves and begin a guided cave tour. Walk down the lane from the Kettle Falls
Hotel in
Minnesota's
Voyageurs National Park
and stand beside a waterway where French-Canadian trappers portaged canoes.
Stand on the deck of Cedar Grove Lodge in
California’s
Kings Canyon National Park
and delight in the roar of a rushing mountain stream. Walk out back of Crater
Lake Lodge (photo upper left) and enjoy a view of one of the most beautiful lakes in
North America. Look out the window of Olympic National
Park's Kalaloch Lodge and gaze at the
Pacific Ocean
surf crashing into the rocky beach. These are just a few of the
experiences enjoyed by travelers who choose to stay in a national park
lodge.
Lodging in
America's
national parks varies from the exquisite to tent cabins. Likewise, prices range
from $537 per night at
Yosemite National Park’s Ahwahnee (photo right) to approximately $60 per
night for tent cabins in
California's
Yosemite National Park
and
Grand Teton
National Park's
Colter
Bay Village. The wide
range of facilities and prices makes it important that you understand the type
accommodations that are being reserved. Some national park visitors are
disappointed in their lodging facilities, but it is generally because they
didn't fully understand the type lodging they reserved.
A different type of facility may have been available in the same park or
at the same general location. National park lodges are often rustic and without
many of the amenities you may be accustomed to in commercial hotels. You are
unlikely to have access a swimming pool, may be without a television, and don't
expect that someone will be available to park your vehicle. You may even find that
you have to walk down the hallway to use a shower. Remember, these
facilities are in national parks, not in downtown
Chicago,
Los Angeles,
or
New York City.
Many of the lodges were built many decades ago and some over a century ago.
Lodging Availability
Most of the 388 areas administered by the National Park Service do not offer
lodging within the park boundaries. For example, some very popular national
parks such as
Great Smoky Mountains National Park (Tennessee/North
Carolina),
Acadia
National Park (
Maine), and
Rocky Mountain
National Park (
Colorado) do not offer regular overnight
visitor accommodations within the parks. At the opposite extreme,
Yellowstone
National Park
has nine different lodging facilities scattered about the park including three in the
Old Faithful area.
Yosemite
National Park in
California
has four very different lodging facilities in Yosemite
Valley, one hotel (the historic Wawona) near the south entrance to the park, and two facilities
with tent cabins on
Tioga
Pass in the High Sierra.
Shenandoah
National Park
(Virginia) has three lodging facilities and the
Blue Ridge Parkway
(Virginia and
North Carolina) offers four different
locations with overnight accommodations. Eight lodging facilities are offered in
Montana's
Glacier
National Park
includig
Glacier Park Lodge that
sits across the road from an Amtrak
stop and Many Glacier Hotel that is situated in what may be the most scenic
location of any national park lodge.
Oregon
Caves
National Monument offers a
unique lodge with nearby cave tours offered by National Park
Service rangers. Use the link to the left to see a complete
listing of national park lodging facilities.
Management
Overnight lodging facilities in the national parks are operated by private
concessioners, not the
U.S.
government or the National Park Service. For example, Xanterra Parks & Resorts,
a private corporation, operates all the lodging facilities in Crater Lake
National Park (Oregon), Zion National Park (Utah), Yellowstone National Park,
and Bryce Canyon National Park (Utah, photo upper left). The same company also operates three of
the four lodging facilities in Death Valley National Park (California) and all
of the lodging facilities on Grand Canyon National Park’s South Rim (Arizona),.
Forever Resorts operates lodges in Big Bend National Park (Texas), Grand
Canyon National Park (North Rim only), Olympic National Park (Washington), Isle
Royale National Park (Michigan), and the Blue Ridge Parkway (North Carolina &
Virginia), Mammoth Cave National Park (Kentucky), and Badlands National Park
(South Dakota). Aramark, a well-known company in the hospitality business,
operates lodges in Shenandoah
National Park
(Virginia),
Mesa
Verde
National
Park (Colorado),
Glen
Canyon
National Recreation Area (Arizona), Glacier Bay
National Park (Alaska), and Olympic National
Park (Washington,
photo right).
The National Park Service superintendent at each park
exercises ultimate oversight over the lodging operations and must generally
approve prices charged for rooms, food, tours, and items sold in gift shops. In
most cases, the National Park Service owns the buildings although some remain
under private ownership. This latter group includes Furnace Creek Inn,
Furnace Creek Ranch, and Panamint Springs Resort in Death Valley National Park,
facilities on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, and Log Cabin Inn in Olympic
National Park In some instances, the concessisonaire retains a
partial ownership interest, such as when major improvements or additions have
occurred.
Facilities and Occupancy
Most of the national park lodges are at maximum occupancy during busy summer
months (winter months for Virgin Islands National Park) so it is advisable to
make reservations well in advance. For very busy parks including California's
Yosemite
National Park, it is not
unusual for reservations to be made nearly a year in advance. Likewise, make
reservations for
Yellowstone
National Park lodging at
least five to six months ahead of your expected arrival date. It helps to be
flexible with regard to the dates and types of rooms you will accept. Rooms
without a private bath are generally easier to book and less expensive because
most U.S.
travelers demand private bathroom facilities. The famous Old Faithful Inn in
Yellowstone National Park offers rooms with and
without a private bath. Likewise,
Lake Crescent Lodge in Olympic National Park, both
National Park Inn and Paradise Inn in
Mount Rainier
National Park, and the
Wawona in
Yosemite National Park each offer both types of
rooms. Rooms with a community bathroom are likely to save $40 per night or more
compared to rooms with a private bathroom. Even rooms with a private bath can
vary in quality at a given location. For example, the Old Faithful area of
Yellowstone offers rustic cabins, rustic rooms in Old Faithful Inn, and upscale
rooms at the newly constructed Old Faithful
Snow Lodge.
Season
Most lodges in areas that experience harsh winters are open seasonally.
For example, Glacier
National Park lodges close
in the fall and reopen in the late spring or early summer.
Likewise, Oregon’s
Crater Lake Lodge and Mount Rainier’s
Paradise Inn each receive huge amounts of snow and have relatively short summer
seasons.
All three lodges in Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park close for the
winter and only two of Yellowstone’s nine lodges, Old Faithful Snow Lodge and
Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, are open during the winter, and Snow Lodge can only
be reached via snow coach and snowmobile.
Lodges in areas with more temperate weather conditions
are often open year round.
Peaks of Otter Lodge on the Blue Ridge Parkway
is open all year. Likewise, the Ahwahnee, Yosemite Lodge, and Curry
Village in
Yosemite National Park
are open all year.
Reservations and
Cancellations
National park lodges typically require one night's deposit when a
reservation is made. Most lodges accept a major credit card or a personal check
for the deposit. A few don't accept credit cards and require that a check be
received within a specified number of days from the date of the reservation.
Nearly all the lodges allow payment of the balance of a bill by credit card at
checkout. Ask about acceptable methods of payment when making reservations.
Cancellation policies vary by lodging operation, so you should inquire about the
refund policy in the event your plans change. It is not unusual that at least
48-hour notice is required for a refund. Also be certain to request that a
confirmation be sent by mail or email so you can carry the confirmation on your
trip. On two occasions our reservations were lost and the confirmation slips
saved us. Make certain that you receive a receipt for your deposit.
Our
experience
has been
that
most
travel
agents
have a
limited
knowledge
of
national
park
lodges.
They may
have
stayed
in Old
Faithful
Inn and
experienced
a trip
to
Yosemite
or
Glacier,
but
that's
about
it.
Thus,
travel
agents
may be
of
limited
assistance
in
planning
a trip
to a
national
park.
On the
other
hand,
reservation
agents
for the
lodging
firms
are
generally
quite
knowledgeable.
They can
help
with
choosing
a place
to stay
in parks
that
have
multiple
lodges,
and
provide
assistance
with
park
tours.
In
addition,
no reservation fee
will be
required
if reservations
are made directly with the lodging firm.
Planning
a
Stay
While it is most convenient to stay in a single lodge, we often choose
to move from one lodge to another within the same park. For example, during a
trip to Yosemite National Park
we might spend a night at the Wawona near the south entrance, three nights at
Yosemite Lodge, Curry Village, or the Ahwahnee in Yosemite Valley, and another
night at White Wolf or Tuolumne Meadows on
Tioga Road. These are very different areas and
a stay in each allows a much better appreciation for Yosemite. Likewise,
you might want to spend two or three nights at a lodge on the South Rim of the
Grand Canyon and another two nights at Grand Canyon
Lodge on the North Rim. In Glacier National Park, it is beneficial
to stay in two or three lodges, depending on the amount of time you plan to
devote to the park. For example, a stay at Lake McDonald Lodge on the west
side of the continental divide can be combined with a stay at either Many
Glacier Hotel or Glacier Park Lodge on the east side of the park. You may
also want to add a night at the Prince of Wales just across the border in
Canada. All three lodges are operated by the same concessionaire, Glacier
Park, Inc. Large parks including
Yellowstone National Park and Glacier National Park
provide opportunities for staying in multiple lodges during a visit. In
fact, these two parks are so large that staying in more than one lodge will
almost certainly result in a much more enjoyable trip, especially if it is
likely to be your only visit.
Comprehensive information about all national park lodging facilities
is available in The Complete Guide to the National Park
Lodges by David L. and Kay W. Scott. The sixth
edition of this book is published by the Globe Pequot Press and retails for
$18.95. It includes room rates, reservation information including phone
numbers and web sites, room
recommendations, dining options and costs, activities, maps, how to reduce expenses, sketches of the
lodges, and information about pets. The book is available from local bookstores or online at Amazon,
Barnes & Noble, and Books-A-Million. The cover photo is of Glacier
Park Lodge in Glacier National Park.
Order the sixth edition of
The Complete Guide to the National Park Lodges from Amazon.
David
and Kay Scott have traveled American's national parks for forty years including five summers
devoted to the park lodges.
They have stayed in all nine of Yellowstone's lodges and all eight of the lodges
in Glacier National Park. They have spent several nights in each of the
four lodges on the Blue Ridge Parkway and the three lodges in neighboring
Shenandoah National Park. During each stay they explore the rooms,
sample the food, and talk with the employees and guests. These experiences have
allowed them to author the most thorough and personal book on America's national
park lodges. The photo at left shows the authors in front of Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone.
