To see Part 1 of Exploring the Grand Canyon (planning and Hermits Rest), click here.
In this section I am going to focus on the Yavapai Lodge and Cafeteria in the Grand Canyon.
When we were planning our trip, we went back and forth about staying in the park or staying in Tusayan, a city 10 minutes south of the south rim entrance gate. While the cost was about the same, the convenience factor won out. At first I was a little disappointed that we were not able to book a room at one of the hotels closer to the rim. However, it was nice to be in a quieter spot at the park and I enjoyed being able to walk to the Grand Canyon Market to pick up items. I am really glad that we stayed inside the park!
The Yavapai Lodge has the reception desk, a cafeteria and gift shop in the main building. The rooms are located in small two story buildings (no elevators) that are set amongst the trees. There are two different types of rooms at Yavapai Lodge – with or without AC.
Check-in for the Yavapai Lodge is 4:00pm and I had read reviews saying that they are a stickler for that time. However, with S asleep there was not much for us to do so we headed to check-in at 3:40pm. The staff was very nice and immediately checked us in.
We headed for our room a short drive away. Parking is located in front of the individual buildings. It is a little hard to see the building numbers during the day, so if you arrive after dark it may be very difficult.
The rooms are newly renovated with two queen beds and a fold out couch (similar to a futon). The room also holds a desk and dresser with a flat screen tv and mini refrigerator. There is a lot of furniture in the room, which makes the room seem a little crowded.
The sink is separate from the bathroom/toilet area. The theme of reducing waste is continued into the hotel room with large refillable soap/shampoo containers in the bathroom.
For dinner that night we headed down to the Yavapai Cafeteria, a nice short walk. There is a large selection of food choices at the cafeteria from soup and salad to hamburgers, pizza and a special of the day. A variety of desserts are available including soft-serve frozen yogurt.
I found the food choices for children was lacking. They did not have a children’s hamburger which is what my daughter wanted so we ended up purchasing an adult size with a larger price tag. I chose the soup of the day: Chicken and Dumpling. The soup was very good and a nice break from the usual fast food. My husband had the special of the day and thought it was awesome.
We would definitely stay at the Yavapai Lodge again when visiting the Grand Canyon.
Stay tuned for our Grand Canyon Trip Part 3 (Tusayan Ruin, Desert View Point and Watchtower).
If you are looking to travel to Arizona, you may enjoy my other posts about our trip here.
All opinions are my own and I was not compensated for this review.
The Grand Canyon is on my list of to-do’s! It looks gorgeous.
Thank you Madaline for visiting!
Looks like a beautiful place to visit and a wonderful experience for kids as well! I always heard you had to book way in advance to get lodgings in the park, did you find this to be true?
Yes that is true especially for the hotels on the rim. The Yavapai Lodge has the most rooms and it is off of the rim, so it fills up last. We only booked a couple months out.
The renovated rooms looked quite lovely inside. It seems that the location made for a peaceful stay. I’ve yet to stay overnight at the Grand Canyon. I’ll explore a lot more once I move back stateside.
The rooms were not what you would expect in a national park!
Love the pictures! Thanks for sharing on that’s fresh Friday! I also blog about my travels, hope you will stop by for a visit!
http://karanandmichael.blogspot.com/2013/11/how-do-you-fit-everything-into-one.html
Thanks Karen, I’ll stop by and check out your travels!
I can’t wait to get to the Grand Canyon! I am going to spend way more time on this side of the ocean now exploring the great landmarks in the USA. Grand Canyon here I come.
Have lots of fun exploring! I love to travel too!
Wow, that hotel looks so nice! I just love the Grand Canyon 🙂
Thanks for stopping by Madison! The hotel was really nice.
I have always wanted to go to the Grand Canyon. That looks like a great trip and the hotel looks pretty nice!
This is in my bucket list.. I was in Sedona a few weeks ago it was only 3 hours away from Sedona, but we did not have time.
Thanks for entering this at my Fabulous Friday Party
Thanks
Maria
I hope you enjoyed Sedona, we had fun when we visited!
I’ve never been to the States but would love to experience the Grand Canyon – staggering size.
Thank you for visiting Mary!
It looks amazing. The scale must be awesome.
Hello! I’ve nominated you for a Liebster Award! I hope you know what I’m talking about, but you can find out more on my latest blog post tomorrow at http://apronsandshoestrings.com Thank you! Laura xx