Robert C.
Yelp
Reservations for the six hotel/lodges in the Grand Canyon South Rim area, are at www.grandcanyonlodges.com, with check in at 4pm. If you think 4pm is late, try 5pm at Yosemite Lodge at the Falls!
Bright Angel Lodge, Thunderbird Lodge, Kachina Lodge, and the El Tovar Hotel are in Grand Canyon village on a 0.4 mile stretch of the broad asphalt paved South rim trail, overlooking the Canyon, with their entrances on the one way Village Loop road.
El Tovar and Bright Angel are built of dark pine logs, with tall steeply sloped roofs, and small windows.
Thunderbird and Kachina are modern two story hotels with the block look construction popular in the early 1970s, and large picture windows facing the Canyon or Loop Road.
Bright Angels Lodge consists of Powell and Bucky lodges, the Rim cabins, and the cabins with no Canyon view.
Powell and Bucky lodges were built in the 1930s with interior corridors. These buildings have 44 tiny rooms, often with a double bed -and in my advanced age my wife and I can no longer fit in a double bed! Many rooms have no TVs, toilets and/or showers, with shared bathrooms down the hall.
The 15 Rim cabin rooms are right on the South Rim trail, with views of the Canyon. They have shared walls and connecting doors with adjacent rooms. You are SOL if you don't reserve these 13 months in advance!
There are 36 other cabin rooms with no Canyon view, 32 of these in duplexes of 2 or 4.
We stayed in cabin 6179, one of four cabins in a duplex, equipped with a full bathroom, carpeted room, comfortable queen bed, rustic chairs and desk, dresser with 19" CRT TV from the previous century, 22" mini refrigerator, no microwave, no AC, no workable WIFI, and a non functioning ceiling fan!
At night, light came through edges of the connecting door, and the 1" gap at the bottom. Light also came through gaps between the cathedral ceiling rafters, where they met the common wall -caused by local mice? My wife will go bonkers!
We heard neighbors farting, next to our bathroom. Flushing the toilet or running the shower at 530am shook the entire building! Someone next to our bed headboard snored louder than my wife! Others slammed the door at 6am, rattling the building frame, and then shined their car lights and revved their car engine, 5 feet into our window!
The Bright Angel Lodge has two restaurants -are among the few affordable, decent meals in the area.
A standard room with a double bed at the El Tovar goes for $200. A standard room with a queen bed is about $240. Deluxe rooms with one king or two queens run about $360. 12 suites, which also come with one king or two queens, but have an added sitting room, go for $400 to $500 for the well heeled!
Rooms on the ground, 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors. There is no elevator and at 6,200 feet elevation, you gals will lug all that heavy luggage of your S.O. up to the steep stairs to the 3rd floor, breathing like Darth Vader!
Most of the standard rooms are either on the basement level facing the truck delivery area, or on 1st floor. Windows in 1st floor rooms are often at cathedral ceiling level - you can't see the Canyon unless you are standing on your SO's shoulders!
El Tovar has the most expensive restaurant in the Park. Reservations advised. Early arrivals get a window seat with a view of the Canyon.
Bright Angel and the El Tovar hotel have their own parking lots, while guests in Thunderbird and Kachina have to park in the other hotel lots. Daytime visitors too lazy to take the free shuttle from the Visitor's Center, will completely fill both parking lots.
There are two other hotels in the area: the Maswik Lodge and the Yavapai Lodge
The Maswik Lodge is in a forest area, a 10 minute walk to Bright Angel and the South Rim trail, across two railroad tracks, along roads with no sidewalks and no streetlights at night.
Maswik North has been renovated with new carpets, new paint, and new bedding. Maswik South has the beds with springs that will poke your ass! Cafeteria tolerable only after a long hike!
El Tovar, Kachina, and Thunderbird have AC, but not Bright Angel nor Maswik. At 6200 feet, AC may not be needed, except during the summer.
Yavapai Lodge about 1.1 miles east from the El Tovar hotel, is the place to stay when the other 5 hotels are filled.
Yavapai East rooms are renovated and larger with king size beds, AC and refrigerator. The Yavapai West rooms have no AC. All the rooms have flat screen TVs for you couch potatoes! Cafeteria not recommended for multiple day stays!
Yavapai Lodge is a 20 minute walk to the South Rim, and a 20 minute walk along a road with no sidewalk to the Grand Canyon village -the reason it is last to fill up! Use the free shuttle, but it can be crowded!
Want a swimming pool? You will have to stay in Tusayan, 7 miles away, and join long lines of traffic paying $20 at the park entrance, and fight for parking spaces at the free shuttles stops.
