Yellowstone National Park

[Kristine]

Hello! Does anyone have any cabin lodging recommendations for Yellowstone National Park. I am planning a trip for my family for the summer of 2004 (myself, husband, 2 children ages 9 and 11). We plan to spend about 4 days at Yellowstone and don't know if we should stay in one cabin and go on day trips each day or would it be better to travel around the park, staying at a different cabin each night. Does anyone have any input on this? I have never been there and don't know which place is best to stay at. Thanks so much for any information you can give me! Kris

 

[Sonya]

I don't know about cabins, but here is what I would do. I would stay half and half. Half at the Old Faithful Lodge and half at Mammoth or Canyon hotels. It really is a long drive around the park and you are already going to be tired from hiking and won't want to drive.

 

[Deb & Bill]

We've stayed at Lake Yellowstone Lodge - nice place, but a not much to do at night. But you don't really need anything to do at night. We have also stayed at the Canyon cabins. Very rustic (read R-U-S-T-I-C!!!!), but still not bad. We stayed at Old Faithful Lodge in a room in the addition. This room was a little more modern and the OFI was really nice. (Picture Wilderness Lodge, but older and real). We also stayed in the Snow Lodge at OF in the winter. Had a cabin here and it was NEAT!!!!! 25 degrees below zero during the day and 45 below at night. We also did Mammoth Hot Springs Lodge (not the main lodge, but the add-on) in the winter and had elk right outside our window. This is where the students who work there during the summer stay during the summer months.

Stay at Old Faithful Lodge(darn, I'm getting mixed up between the Inn and Lodge, but you want the one that looks like Wilderness Lodge) in an addition room - not the bunk bed rooms, they are from the 1800's. Drive where you want to go each day. It's centrally located and you can hit West Yellowstone to see the Bear Park or Grand Tetons south of the park. You can drive over the mountains to go to Red Lodge, MT from there easily.

If you get there in late May, some of the roads may still be closed from winter snow. The lake doesn't thaw until Memorial Day or later. And the roads start closing again in September.

It's really easy to drive all the way around in a day. Or just hit the area you want in a day.

 

[perdidobay]

I agree with Sonya, we did that one year, stayed at Mammoth hotel for two nights, then we moved to Old Faithful Inn for the next 3 nights. The distances between points of interest are really far, and if you go in the summer, traffic can really add hours to your day.
Be sure and book far far in advance.
The problem with moving to a different location each night is the time you waste packing and unpacking and checking in/out.
I don't know if you have seen this yet, but it is the website of the company that handles reservations for Yellowstone Hotels and cabins
http://travelyellowstone.com/
You can check out and compare all the different lodging here. Yellowstone if my family's favorite NP. Just pm me if you want any more info

 

[Liz]

You'll love Yellowstone!!! The Old Faithful Lodge is beautiful and I'd stay there if its in your budget. We stayed at a cabin in the Lake area once and it was nice. Rustic but it had its own bathroom. Some don't. We also stayed at the hotel in Mammoth and it was nice too, but the cabin was more fun.

I'd recommend staying in a couple of different areas instead of one location. If you do the one location thing then Old Faithful Lodge would probably be most centrally located.

It might be deceiving if you look at the distance in miles, like if it looks like it would only be 20 miles back to your hotel, remember it will probably take you an hour to go that distance because a lot of the roads are winding and you have to go slow.

Have a great time!

 

[jsmith]

Definately plan at least one night in the Old Faithful area-the Inn (the one that is like WL) is awesome-even if you don't stay there book a dining reservation-the food in the main dining room is wonderful and quite reasonable for a tourist destination (cheaper than anywhere in WDW for the quality for sure) You can get cabins at Old Faithful Lodge that are cheaper than the Inn but they are pretty rustic (this is a point of view-in my mind rustic is a tent). Mammoth and Lake are good places as well. For the western side of the park you can get reasonable lodging out side of the park in West Yellowstone. If you are planning on going south to Teton Park, a cabin at West thumb or Grant Village would be a good choice for the night before you do that.

 

[Kristine]

Thanks for all the information so far everyone! I'm pretty sure we want to stay at the Old Faithful area for a few nights. What's the difference between the Old Faithful Lodge and the Old Faithful Snow Lodge. Is it better to stay in a cabin or a room in the lodge? Do the cabins have a place to cook? I wish the reservations website had more pictures because it's hard to know which to choose sight unseen. Thanks! Kris