Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - GRAND CANYON EL TOVAR

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Oh and the art is fantastic!!!! You need to go into the El Tovar and check out the paintings. There are lots of them and they are very very cool. You can do this without having a room but the art in our room was real cool too. We had a painting by Thomas Moran hanging over our bed.

@Chris_Brown: sorry to hear the El Tovar didn't meet your expectations. National Park properties don't promise you luxury, but they've got location nailed!

BTW for everyone else considering El Tovar or other Grand Canyon hotels, don't let having a view or most likely a lack thereof be a deal-breaker. It's really hard to get a view of the Grand Canyon since only about 6% of rooms are situated facing the canyon. Even those that do they won't guarantee a view from since trees or bushes might be in the way. Here's a link to a more extensive piece I wrote on this subject for another forum ->: http://bit.ly/zvNLzV

THANKS for the trip report.

We're all set to be there in June!!! We were unable to get room at El Tovar...we are at the Maswik. We hope to get dining reservations at El Tovar...but can't book until one month out. WISH US LUCK!!!

@benitaswan - thanks for keeping us updated. Maswik is perfectly fine, it's 1/4 mile from the canyon rim. Don't be surprised to find deer out grazing in front of your door in the morning :) Make that dinner reservation at El Tovar as soon as they open up. Call 928-638-2631 x6432 to do so.

If for some reason you can't get a dinner reservation (which can happen if you wait too long to phone!), try to at least enjoy 1 meal there, such as breakfast or lunch. These are first come first serve. If you choose to do lunch, be sure to get there before 11.30 am as that's when the Grand Canyon Railway arrives from Williams and drops hundreds of people who glom the rimside restaurants. Once that happens, it's very difficult to get a table on the rim.

Here's a video re: other Grand Canyon dining options ->: http://youtu.be/C8Oius7wMPg Maswik has since changed their sports bar into a "pizza pub," but the rest of the information is accurate.