floridakathleen

Driving from SLC to Williams AZ in our 45' motorcoach. No place for our length inside park but can park at the GC Railway RV and have booked passage on the last car of the train into the park. Then stay at the Maswik Lodge for the night and return the next day by train. I know that this lodge is 1/4 mile from the rim but at least we have a room. Has anyone taken this train and what was your experience? It looks charming in the advertising and an interesting way to get to the park. Should we be concerned with which room we get at the lodge? Have read that some rooms are very small and other quite nice. Is it worth trying to get a better room since we are not on the rim anyway and it is only one night. Have also heard good and bad reviews about all restaurants. Was going to try to make a reservation at the El Tovar for dinner. We are looking for good food with a view if possible. Does anyone have any recent experience or other ideas? Also from our lodge how far are the other lodges? Are they close enough to walk to?

J62

General consensus here on Fodors is that the GC Railway is a big waste of time and $. It takes several hours (5?) to travel the distance you can drive in less than 1/2 that time. The ride is over flat, open, nondescript landscape, and you don't ever see the canyon until you get off the train inside GCNP. The only other bigger tourist ripoff in AZ is the glass bridge over some part of the canyon close to Vegas.

Maswik is close enough to the rim that you can walk. The 1/4 mile is the distance to the rim and the other lodges on the rim.

There are 2 restaurants at the Bright Angel lodge - both are adequate. I was there in early July and had no problem simply walking in. There were big crowds during the day, but thankfully they all left with the train before dinner time.

Another option, if you're not locked into GC Railway, is to stay at a hotel in Tusayan, just outside the south entrance. There is a free shuttle bus to/from the park every 10-15min or so.

When are you going? Some of the rooms at Maswik have AC (the larger ones), some do not. In the heat of July AC is nice to have, but even then evenings cool down quickly so it's not a must have.

As for El Tovar - I haven't eaten there. IMO dining with a view is over rated. Nice, but not necessary. You will spend your entire day with a view - the exact same view you'll get from the restaurant, minus the glass window and the other tables in the dining room.

There are lots of tour buses longer than 45' that park at GCNP. I stayed at Yavapai lodge and there were several parked at that hotel.

floridakathleen

Thanks J:
We will be there in late September and with the 45' we are also towing a 30' trailer. Not so easy to get around. We are the size of a full size tour bus + 30'. Somewhat limiting.
Don't really need to stay at a hotel anywhere but DH thought it would be nice for one night in the park. Didn't do it at Yellowstone or Tetons so I guess this is the place. Other than that we stay on the coach. Will A/C be an issue at this time of the year?
Think they quoted 2 1/4 hours for train trip and again think DH who travelled across country with his grandmother 50 years ago wants to relive memories. Will pass on the news and see what the final verdict is.
Thanks for the heads up on the Bright Angel Lodge I will look into that one also. Probably will just walk through both and take a look.
Am not even considering the glass bridge, that just sounds like way too much money for something I am not sure I really want to do anyway. I'm not afraid of heights but why push the issue.

china_cat

Maswik is close enough to the rim to walk, but in October it was very cold and very dark. you may prefer to take the shuttle at night at least coming back from dinner.

We ate at El Tovar, and found the food quite a bit better than Arizona (the steakhouse restaurant in Bright Angel). Neither was truly outstanding, but the food and service and ambience at El Tovar was nicer. Cost was more, but not outrageous. We didn't have a table with a view, and if you go after sunset you can't see anyways. However, for El Tovar you really should make reservations. If you want to wait and check them out, you'll be eating at Bright Angel.

I think all the cafeterias in all the lodges serve basically the same food. Its pretty atrocious, but cheap, and will do for a simple lunch or breakfast.

I can't really speak for whether there are good or bad rooms at Maswik. We seemed to have a pretty good one. It was clean, basic, comfy bed, reasonable bathroom. I think we were in the newer rooms in the north lodge.

FainaAgain

I stayed at Maswik a couple of years ago, in the last building away from the rim. Not a problem! It's an easy walk to the rim, and you'll see birds/animals on the way.

There is a cafeteria in the main building, not bad, not good, nothing to brag about, but nothing to complain either.

Don't worry about being away from something. There are different shuttle lines, one stop in front of the office, one across from a parking lot.

The railway takes you almost to the rim, but it does not run along the canyon, so don't expect great views.