we are planning a trip to the Grand Canyon.?
we are driving out Friday and i thought we would stay in flagstaff, but which hotels are better? is there a better area to stop in? we plan on driving the grand canyon saturday and returning home…any tips?
When visiting the canyon, I prefer to stay at one of the lodges inside the park. They are all pretty nice, reasonably priced (for being right next to the rim) and nothing beats the convenience of being able to from your room to the rim and back anytime you feel like it without having to leave the park or hunt for parking. All the lodges are ran by Xanterra and you can make reservations online (see below). However, if you are going this weekend, you may have trouble finding a vacancy. You may want to call Xanterra directly as they often get last-minute cancellations that take a while to show on their reservation webpage.
Just outside the park gates in the little community of Tusayan are a half-dozen or so large hotels. The fanciest and most expensive is the Grand Hotel while the Red Feather Lodge is one of the cheaper. They are all pretty generic and none of them are dives.
If you stay in Flagstaff, you will be about a 1.5 hour drive from the canyon, but will have a lot of lodging and eating options. Pretty much every major chain hotel can be found there from Motel 6 to Embassy Suites to Hilton. Most are located either along South Milton Road on the way into town from Phoenix or near where Milton meets I-40 in East Flagstaff.
Probably the largest and most upscale of Flagstaff’s hotels is Little America (also where large conventions are usually held). It is an older hotel, but has nice facilities and large grounds. However, it is going to be more expensive and is located in East Flag – quite a ways from the turn off to the canyon. I would recommend either the Radisson Woodlands or Holiday Inn Express – but you should be able to find your favorite chain hotel.
Another Flagstaff hotel which is a favorite of mine, but not for everybody, is the historic Hotel Monte Vista downtown. This was Flagstaff’s premire hotel in the 1920s to 1940s and hosted many famous people and movie stars during the glory days of railroad travel and Route 66 (in fact, scenes from the movie Casablanca were filmed here). It has been nicely restored, but the rooms are still small by modern standards, you sometimes get street noise and parking can be a pain. But if you are into historic places, it has a lot of character and is right in the heart of the historic downtown district with lots of cafes and shops in easy walking distance.
And speaking of cafes… Flagstaff also has a lot of good places to eat for such a small town – many of the better ones are in the downtown area or along South Milton. My top picks are Beaver Street Brewery (on Beaver Street south of the old railroad depot), Cafe Express (downtown, good breakfasts), Oreganos pizza (South Milton, near NAU), Bun Huggers Burgers (South Milton) and Dara Thai (downtown on South San Francisco). There are plenty of others though.
If you have a little extra time in Flagstaff, the excellent Museum of Northern Arizona (north end of town on way to canyon) and Lowell Observatory (on hill over downtown, where Pluto was discovered) are worth checking out.
Have fun!
Filed under: Grand Canyon South Rim Maps
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When visiting the canyon, I prefer to stay at one of the lodges inside the park. They are all pretty nice, reasonably priced (for being right next to the rim) and nothing beats the convenience of being able to from your room to the rim and back anytime you feel like it without having to leave the park or hunt for parking. All the lodges are ran by Xanterra and you can make reservations online (see below). However, if you are going this weekend, you may have trouble finding a vacancy. You may want to call Xanterra directly as they often get last-minute cancellations that take a while to show on their reservation webpage.
Just outside the park gates in the little community of Tusayan are a half-dozen or so large hotels. The fanciest and most expensive is the Grand Hotel while the Red Feather Lodge is one of the cheaper. They are all pretty generic and none of them are dives.
If you stay in Flagstaff, you will be about a 1.5 hour drive from the canyon, but will have a lot of lodging and eating options. Pretty much every major chain hotel can be found there from Motel 6 to Embassy Suites to Hilton. Most are located either along South Milton Road on the way into town from Phoenix or near where Milton meets I-40 in East Flagstaff.
Probably the largest and most upscale of Flagstaff’s hotels is Little America (also where large conventions are usually held). It is an older hotel, but has nice facilities and large grounds. However, it is going to be more expensive and is located in East Flag – quite a ways from the turn off to the canyon. I would recommend either the Radisson Woodlands or Holiday Inn Express – but you should be able to find your favorite chain hotel.
Another Flagstaff hotel which is a favorite of mine, but not for everybody, is the historic Hotel Monte Vista downtown. This was Flagstaff’s premire hotel in the 1920s to 1940s and hosted many famous people and movie stars during the glory days of railroad travel and Route 66 (in fact, scenes from the movie Casablanca were filmed here). It has been nicely restored, but the rooms are still small by modern standards, you sometimes get street noise and parking can be a pain. But if you are into historic places, it has a lot of character and is right in the heart of the historic downtown district with lots of cafes and shops in easy walking distance.
And speaking of cafes… Flagstaff also has a lot of good places to eat for such a small town – many of the better ones are in the downtown area or along South Milton. My top picks are Beaver Street Brewery (on Beaver Street south of the old railroad depot), Cafe Express (downtown, good breakfasts), Oreganos pizza (South Milton, near NAU), Bun Huggers Burgers (South Milton) and Dara Thai (downtown on South San Francisco). There are plenty of others though.
If you have a little extra time in Flagstaff, the excellent Museum of Northern Arizona (north end of town on way to canyon) and Lowell Observatory (on hill over downtown, where Pluto was discovered) are worth checking out.
Have fun!
References :
Arizona resident and frequent Grand Canyon visitor and hiker (will be up there myself this weekend). Grew up in Flagstaff near the canyon.
Xanterra (in park lodging):
http://www.grandcanyonlodges.com/
Tusayan Hotels (just outside park gates):
http://www.grandcanyonchamber.com/business-directory/index.htm?plcoc_search=subcat&category=338&parent=340
Flagstaff hotels:
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g60971-Flagstaff_Arizona-Hotels.html
Hotel Monte Vista:
http://www.hotelmontevista.com/
In addition to the other users advice, i stayed one time in Williams – it’s an hour south of the canyon – it may be somewhat closer than Flagstaff. However, Flagstaff is much larger and may have better hotel selection and more restaurants
If you stay in Williams, you may want to consider the Red Garter – there is a website – Nice little hotel with alot of history to it.
Staying in the canyon and near it is also good – a little more touristy and sometimes hard to get a room – but call around – you never know
Have fun !!!!!
References :
vacation traveller to AZ