Any info on Grand Canyon lodges operated by National Park Service (listed as Zanterra Lodges elsewhere in Fodors). Seems that there are 6 lodges walking distance from South Rim of Canyon. We want to spend perhaps 2 nights at Grand Canyon this summer. Will not do any serious hiking, but walk or mule rides are on agenda. Thanks.

Lodges, cabins and hotels at the park are: El Tovar, Bright Angel, Kachina and Thunderbird -- all at the rim, although not all rooms overlook the canyon -- Maswick and Yavopai, both 1/4 mile away; Trailer Village for RVs, 1/2 mile away, and Phantom Ranch, at the botton of the canyon. El Tovar and Bright Angel are historic, while Kachina and Thunderbird are more contemporary. Bright Angel is a hotel but has rustic cabins, which we enjoyed very much. They're not out in the woods -- a parking lot surrounds most of the cabins -- but we liked the privacy and being able to see the canyon from our room. Staying at the rim makes it easy to catch sunrise, a must.

For an early May trip, we made reservations the previous November. At that time, El Tovar was booked. So don't delay!

For details, go to the National Park Service website -- www.nps.gov -- and find the Grand Canyon site, then select Lodging.

Also keep in mind that the 4 hotels located on the rim (Tovar, Bright Angel, Kachina & Thunderbird) are all in the same area, very near to one another. The Kachina and Thunderbird are very generic and have not lobby or restaurant, the other 2 have more charm. In any case you can eat and enjoy the common spaces in the Tovar and Bright Angel. Check on availabiliy, the nicer accommodations book up fast so you may not have much of a choice. You can also periodically check for cancellations if your first choice doesn't work out.

Thanks for the info, especially warning about availability - August still has rooms, but not many on some dates, so I guess I need to get moving to finalize dates and make reservations.

We went to GC last June and stayed at the Maswik Lodge. It was the only one available when we made our reservations in Feb. It was nothing fancy but the rooms were decent sized and clean. The cabins around the property were a little seedy looking but I didn't go into any of them. It also had a cafeteria on site that was handy although nothing to write home about in regard to the food.

It took us less than 10 minutes to walk over to the rim trail so you are still close if the others are booked. For our next visit we plan on booking early and staying at the El Tovar--it just had this charm about it (although others have said it is not worth the extra $).

Like the rooms, the mule rides book up early as well. We hiked down because the 2 husbands in our party were over 200 lbs. and that is their weight limit!

Have fun--our trip was one of the best vacations any of us had ever taken.

Gail, I was searching the internet - there is a free shuttle running every 15 minutes in the village and to hiking points. Check it out, it may help you to make a decision. Just search for Grand Canyon, there is a very detailed map with all lodging, shuttle, parking, etc.

Eva, thank you for Maswik info - I will be there in 2 weeks.

Gail, We stayed at El Tovar about a year ago. It is very pretty in the lobby and the restaurant was very good, but expensive. You will need reservations ahead of time for the restaurant. Our room was very simple, and old. They are also very expensive for what you get. We only stayed one night - which was plenty, as there really is nothing to do there if you aren't going down to the bottom (which we didn't do due to the fact that I had a broken foot). Of all the hotels, El Tovar definitely has the best atmosphere. We stayed there once before several years ago and had some sort of suite which was lovely.

We were at the Grand Canyon just last month for three days. We stayed in one of the historic cabins at Bright Angel Lodge. We really liked it. It was close to the rim and near the start of the Bright Angel trail. They are not air conditioned though. The daytime highs were in the lower 80's when we were there. In the evening we had the windows open, and with the temperature drop outside we were very comfortable.
We are not hikers, but still walked down the trail for about a mile. It was really interesting to see the canyon from a different perspective.
There are shuttles which are free. You can take them around the village, and during high season there is a shuttle for the West Rim Drive.

I agree with the previous post about the El Tovar being overpriced. I made reservations a year in advance and was so excited to stay there. Our room was a small, dark, musty smelling room on the basement floor. No view of anything but the road. It was very disappointing. Unless I were to book a suite, that everyone seems to rave about, I would save my money and go elsewhere!