jpie

I am researching a trip for this summer. We will be going to the Zion/Bryce area and Grand Canyon. I am trying to decide whether to stay in the Natl. Park lodgings in these parks or not. Here are my questions:

I am assuming that in the Grand Canyon South rim area it is preferable to stay in the Park Lodging-since it is high season and already late to book-the only available are Bright Angel, Yavapi Lodge, and Maswik Lodge. Given that, do you think it is still worth staying in the park versus nearby in a "holiday inn" level kind of motel. We will be a large group 4 children, 10-16 in age, so thought that maybe we are better off in a nearby town with a pool etc. Then again, it means more piling back in the car.....

Really the same thing in Zion Bryce area-we are thinking to stay in/near one of the parks so that we don't have to constantly change hotel rooms.....any thoughts or particular favorites in this area-I saw Springdale mentioned and I like the idea of a small town since it seems like there might be more to do in the evenings.

Thanks again-3 cheers for all the fodorite planning help

utahtea

If you decided not to stay in Zion, then Springdale is the best choice. The park shuttle system runs in Sprindale and the park so you won't have to drive your vehicle once you get to your lodging. Most of Zion you have to ride the shuttle system and it's very good.

If you stay at Rubys Inn near Bryce, you can also take the free park shuttle buses into Bryce. At Bryce the shuttle system is optional and I haven't used it.

There is 86 miles between Bryce and Zion. I think you would save a lot more time packing and move to the next park. Each is so different and everyone has their favorite so there's no telling which you family will like best.

If you don't stay in the Grand Canyon I would stay in Tusayan just outside the S. Rim entrance, to cut down on driving to and from the park.

Since we camp, I can't recommend lodging.

Utahtea

ellen_griswold

"We will be a large group 4 children, 10-16 in age, so thought that maybe we are better off in a nearby town with a pool etc. Then again, it means more piling back in the car....."

I agree. Having a pool and other diversions for kids that age worked well for us, and actually still does. For all of us! We always combine down time, pool time, shopping / commercialism !! with our hiking and exploring the parks. Makes the trip much more enjoyable for all.

Having said that, we preferred staying in Bryce Lodge in Bryce and El Tovar, but loved Desert Pearl Inn in Springdale. (lodging in zion isn't too cool) Do a search here for lots of info on all the above. Or click on my name for our last outwest road trip.

orangemew

I went to Grand Canyon half a year ago and part of the group stayed in the Park (fortunate enough to get rooms at El Tovar) but I stayed outside in Tusayan at the Best Western Grand Squire Inn. The difficult part was that it was at least a 15-20 minute drive from Tusayan to actually go into the park, so it was quite a pain getting up early to watch the sunrise, if you plan to do that in the Grand Canyon.

Once it gets dark though, it is pitch black at the canyon and unless you have worn yourself out hiking, you will not have much to do because the lodges don't offer much. However, out in Tusayan there were activities- for instance at my hotel they had a game room and bowling alley, and you can catch the I-max film, etc.

gail

I have a disagreeing vote here - I would switch hotels in order to stay as close to various Parks as you can. Of course, I don't know these particular kids (and we only have 2), but our kids would rather feel they are AT the place than at some non-descript motel on the side of the road. We deal with the pool situation by staying some places with, some without (although I do admit a pool at the Grand Canyon in August would have been nice)

I would stay at Ruby's while at Bryce - the shuttle bus into Bryce is nice after all that driving. Pool is nice at end of day. Also, we were able to drive into Bryce to see sunrise and sunset. (We stayed 2 nights, but arrival on first day was late afternoon)

At GC, if I understand your post, there is still space at Bright Angel. Again, I would definitely stay at South Rim - the drive from hotel area outside park, while in mileage not that great, was crowded and annoying (on our way out - we did stay at Bright Angel). Again, see sunrise and sunset, do a little hiking. There is a shuttle bus from Bright Angel area that goes along rim to lookouts which are car-restricted in the summer. Most of the time we were the only ones at various lookouts, even in the middle of the summer!

Our trip was LV - Zion - Bryce - Lake Powell - South Rim GC - San Diego (via Yuma). Took 12 days. Stayed most places 1 or 2 nights. When our youngest was 10 (3 years ago) I discovered that I could stop being super-Mom (very difficult) and just tell them to pack up their stuff and get into car. I still can't imagine how dumb I was to think I had to race around at each hotel cheange playing presonal valet to each. And they actually like the adventure of exploring each new hotel room (who knew coffee makers, new vending machines, etc. could be so exciting!) So I think the urge to get settled and nest in a hotel room for a few days is at least equalled out by the pain of piling kids into car for another drive to see something - even if drive is only 20-30 minutes.

jpie

Hi guys-thanks for all the thoughtful replies! I think based on these I am going to go ahead and sort of "split" the approach-I think in the GC it will be easier to stay in the park even though the available lodgings aren't supposedly the 3 best/most scenic-it just seems nicer to stay in the park.

In Bryce/Zion I think maybe we will try to get in the Desert Pearl so that we have a pool and are nearby a little town with some shops, etc. To complicate matters, the kids are French (my sister-in-law' family visiting from Paris), so TV won't be a big draw but a pool or bowling would be. But I figure this could turn out to be a rare/only trip to the Grand Canyon for them-and since their father is the hyperactive has to do it all kind of guy-it probably makes more sense to be in the park.

Does anybody have any preference between the Bright Angel, Yavapi Lodge, and Maswik Lodge-they are a large family 4kids, so they will probably need 3 rooms since I don't think these room allow rollaways-I don't think they will be bothered by rustic, so that won't be a concern........but do folks out there think any of the 3 are preferable to the others??

utahtea

Just thought I would mention that in Zion and Springdale is the Virigin River. Very nice for playing in and cooling off. You can rent intertubes in Springdale to go tubing in the river. Kids love it during the hot middle of the day.

Utahtea

Jun20

When you make reservations at Desert Pearl, ask for a river view room. Our grandkids, 10, 11 and 13 enjoyed staying there for two nights last summer.

jpie

Hi Jun! I just booked the Desert Pearl-I think it will be lovely-I booked before I saw your post and booked the poolside versus the river.......thought they might like that better-so I would be curious about your thoughts or other folks who have stayed there as well about the physical layout-it sounds like the building aren't too far away from each other and whether you think there are strongs pros or cons for river versus poolside-I know the poolside ones a bit pricier....

gail

We stayed at Bright Angel - there are rooms in a main lodge - don't know what they are like - but most are small cabins, each with 2 units but totally separate entrance, bathrooms, etc. However, there is a connecting door between the 2 units that can be opened to make a 2 bedroom arrangement. Each unit had 1 queen bed. My daughter and I shared one bed but husband and 17 year old son each wanted their own bed - so they got a rollaway. It was a very tight fit to have it in their room.

Bright Angel cabins seem to fit at the GC - they have 2 full walls of older type windows with screens for ventilation, a TV that gets a few channels (with cable). We were there on the night of the Northeast blackout last summer - it was odd to watch news stories about NYC without electricity while we were at the GC.

As far as food, there is a coffee shop type restaurant at main Bright Angel lodge plus a dinner steak house place. Across a big parking lot, some railroad tracks (maybe a short 1/4 mile walk) is Maswik cafeteria - has sandwich, pasta, salad, hot food stations - food at any of these places is OK, but not great. Better value at the cafeteria.

Cats_Do_Dance

I'm really a fan of staying "in" the parks. A couple of years ago, we did the Grand Canyon - North Rim and Zion with two kids. At the GC we stayed in a rim view cabin (what a treat!) and in Zion, at one of the Western Cabins and everybody loved it. The trick - IMO - to staying inside the parks is the make the kids part of the planning. I explained that this was a different vacation, and there would be no telephones, no TV's, no swimming (although at Zion there are places to dip and cool off in). Instead, I said this vacation was a time to slow down, discover nature, and do things you wouldn't do otherwise. It worked for us; it was amazing what the kids found to do given the chance to let their imaginations run wild. But this is JMHO, every family is different. Have fun on your trip no matter where you stay!

jpie

Thanks! Your replies are great-I would love to hear from folks who have stayed at Yavapi Lodge or Maswik Lodge so I can compare it to the description gail gave of Angel-there are fairly accurate descriptions on the website but it always make a difference to hear from folks who have stayed there in terms of walking distances, bed/room confort etc.

Jun20

Re: Desert Pearl
From the poolside, you can see the rocks of Zion. The rooms are a closer to the highway (which is not a busy one), and noiser with all the kids in the pool.

My daughter chose the river side because of the grassy area in front of the rooms, and the kids could play and goof around in the river, and it was quieter. Across the river, there were rocks - she was rather non-descript about that.

jpie

Thanks Jun-that is helpful-I may just change to the Riverside rooms to save a few $$ and escape some of the noise from the pool

OliveOyl

I've stayed at both Yavapi and Bright Angel. Room for room Yavapi rooms were a bit nicer, more recently renovated, but I would stay at Bright Angel again in a flash. Rooms were fine, nothing to rave about, but rustically comfortable and they were SO convenient to the rim and the restaurants. We drove most everywhere we went from Yavapi, but walked everywhere from Bright Angel. We had a Bright Angel cabin, less than 2 minutes from the rim. Next trip we would definitely take Bright Angel over Yavapi (which was all that was available this past fall when we made our reservations--we were trying to get into Bright Angel again). We also stayed in Tusayan a 3rd trip and that would most definitely be my last choice. Just too inconvenient.

We've stayed at Rubys in Bryce, and CliffRose at Zion, different trip from our Grand Canyon trips. Would have preferred in both cases to be in the parks, but Bryce's lodge was closed when we were there (late November), and Zion only had availability for one night. Both Rubys and CliffRose were fine--basic motel style, but OK. You will find you spend practically no time at all in your room...you need a clean place to lay your head, shower, etc, but beyond that, it's wasted effort IMHO--(and this coming from someone whose husband runs a 4* hotel which we live in)!

disneynan

Dear Jpie; We imply LOVED the Desert Pearl..Stayed there 2yrs ago and did not want to pay more for a river view room..Which does have a nice big lawn area, but lots of willow type trees, hard to see the river! We had a fabulous room poolside, ground level, last room away from the pool!!! Still gave us the convenience of being by the pool, not so noisy, and the grassy lawn to walk or play on...If they let you request a room ask for those! You will love it there. The rooms were fabulous as was your own privat patio to sit out on....The pool&jacuzzi area are very beautifully landscaped, and lit up a bit at night...Very nice to overlook also. I could have spent my whole vacation based there I enjoyed it so much!

jpie

Thanks one and all-I will call back the Desert Pearl and see if I can get the poolside rooms you mentioned on the end......also thanks Olive for the feedback on Angel-it sounds like it is worth choosing just to be able to walk a bit-always really nice on long car trips-I will get in touch with my sister in law hopefully by phone in the next couple of days so we can get these parts nailed down-they are coming from France so logistics are tougher-I know that it is hard for them to believe that you have to reserve this far in advance for the GC-but gees-they are 6 people for crying out loud and my husband and I will be with them for the Las Vegas to Zion portion so that makes us a "caravan" of 8! And one thing I have learned from this board is plan, plan, plan