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We’re never really sure what to expect with accommodations inside national parks as they seem to be hit or miss. Since they are always in high demand, the rooms tend to be a little outdated and stuffy. When we booked our last-minute stay at Yavapai Lodge, we figured the amenities and comfort would be average with no extra thrills but our assumptions were mistaken.

LOCATION

Yavapai Lodge is located within minutes from the Grand Canyon South Rim Trail, which is only a 3-minute drive to the Grand Canyon Visitor Center. You could even walk there since it’s less than a mile away.

Many of the restaurants inside the park were closed due to the pandemic, so we had to drive out of the park to the nearest town in Tusayan. It was an easy 12-minute drive (about 6 miles away) and there are many fast food chains, restaurants and coffee shops to choose from. We drove out to Tusayan several times to get some food and coffee at Starbucks.

At the time of our visit in July 2020, it wasn’t a problem going in and out of the park, but since we were visiting during the pandemic, we didn’t have to deal with many cars and fellow tourists. We sometimes wondered if we would have been better off staying at a hotel right outside the park, but this would probably only be convenient during the low season when the lines to go in the park are short.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

When we first drove up to our lodging area, it looked a little sad on the exterior. The grounds were maintained and clean, but the lodge itself looked small and dated. There was plenty of parking in front of our lodge; however, the numbers that marked the buildings were faded, so it was a little hard to find our room at first.

We assumed the inside would resemble what we saw on the outside, but to our surprise, everything was fresh and looked brand new. Crystal and I were pretty happy that the lodge was way more than what we had expected.

YAVAPAI LODGE LOBBY & MARKET PLAZA

The Yavapai Lodge lobby is where you will check-in and is located in Market Plaza. The lobby was clean with service counters that were properly covered with plexiglass shields. There was a hand sanitizer station placed at the entrance and signs asking guests to wear masks while inside the building. There was a nice seating area in the front and more seating available as you walked toward the coffee shop in the back.

The Market Plaza is where you’ll also find the General Store (groceries & souvenirs), post office, and bank. Everything is conveniently located in one area and there is ample parking. The General Store was great to have just in case we needed to buy water, snacks, and even souvenirs. This is the first national park we visited that had a normal grocery store, bank, and post office located within minutes from our accommodation.

THE ROOM

Yavapai Lodge is a large complex that is divided into two sections, Yavapai East and Yavapai West. We stayed on the west side in a single-story Mid-Century Modern building. Many pet-friendly rooms are located on this side.

Top & Bottom from Anatomie — Top & Bottom from **Anatomie**

Our room was a standard size with adequately equipped pet essentials. We were worried that the exterior would resemble the interior, but to our surprise, it was the complete opposite. The rooms were newly-remodeled, so everything was fresh and had a gorgeous modern vibe to it.

Pet Essentials

Yavapai Lodge provides an extra-large kennel, pet dish, and organic treats for your fur baby. We’ve never seen a pet-friendly hotel prepare such a huge kennel, so that was a nice surprise. There was also dog waste stations throughout the property for your dog walks and plenty of space for your dogs to take care of their business.

Air Conditioning

On their website, they made it a point that all lodges were equipped with AC, so we assume that their rooms did not have AC before the renovation. The AC unit was brand new and easy to adjust, but for some reason, the temperature seemed to stay at 75 degrees even though we would adjust the temperature throughout the day. 75 degrees during the day is perfectly fine, but at night we like to turn the temperature down some. Regardless, it’s better than not having any AC.

Noise Level

The noise level was minimal and we occasionally heard our neighbors, but for the most part, it was pretty quiet. This is always something we worry about when traveling with our pets because our pups think they are guard dogs and tend to bark at doors closing, cars locking, and people talking.

WiFi

We did not have WiFi in our room, so if you are in desperate need of WiFi, you will have to drive back to the lobby for free WiFi services. The lobby WiFi was pretty slow and only minimal activities on your phone like checking your email could be done. If you want to upload or stream anything, your best luck is to go outside the park and hang out in the Starbucks parking lot.

Bathroom

The hotel provided very nice toiletries by Bath & Body Works and included the very basics - shampoo, conditioner, lotion and bar soap.

The only thing we wished the bathroom had was some counter space. There was nowhere to put our toiletries, so this is when our hanging toiletry bag came in handy. However, we still wanted something to hold our toothbrush and other small items, so we moved some of the towels form the wall cube and used that as our counter.

Miscellaneous

The room was also equipped with a mini-fridge, hairdryer, and garment steamer. The steamer was a nice idea instead of a full iron and ironing board, but it didn’t do a great job on our clothes. It’s a pain to get out the ironing board, but we still prefer the traditional way of ironing our clothes.

If you want some refreshments or need to grab some ice, there were several ice machines and drink vending machines throughout the property. There were also some tables located by the machines if you wanted to sit outside and enjoy a meal or snack.

Deep Cleaned Guest Rooms

To ensure everyone’s safety, all guest rooms are deep cleaned. Yavapai Lodge has taken extra attention and care to deep clean areas like door handles, furniture knobs and handles, remote control, peephole, bathroom surfaces (faucet and toilet handles), and more.

YAVAPAI COFFEE SHOP

At the time of our visit, the restaurant on-site was temporarily closed, but the Yavapai Coffee Shop was open daily offering specialty coffees, beverages, and grab-and-go items. To ensure enhanced cleaning and sanitization protocols, communal objects like coffee machines were removed from our room. They understand some people need their morning coffee, so we received daily free drink tickets (coffee or tea) to redeem at the shop.

Breakfast

The coffee and tea coupons were great since it was definitely better than making coffee ourselves. The downside was that they did not open right on time. This could be due to the limited staff, but a line was quickly forming since they opened about 10 minutes late.

I wanted to try one of their “Fresh Baked Offerings”, but the cinnamon roll I ordered was rock hard, so I immediately returned it. I was told that they were made the day before and that they did not have a microwave to reheat the pastry. This definitely wasn’t the “fresh baked” pastry I was hoping for, as advertised, so I requested a refund which they were able to do. However, when I checked my credit card statement later, the refund never appeared and I had to submit a claim with my credit card provider.

Lunch

Lunch at the Yavapai Coffee Shop was a much better experience. They had a variety of great grab-n-go sandwiches, desserts, and drinks at a reasonable price. We bought lunch here and then bought some chips and other miscellaneous snacks at the General Store. You can find just about everything you need at the General Store, but we found that the sandwiches at the Yavapai Coffee Shop were a lot more appetizing and pretty much the same price. They even had dessert options and tried the Tres Leches (Milk Cake), which was delicious!

Tres Leches Cake, Turkey Sandwich, Fruit Cup, Yogurt Parfait, Snack Mix

PARKING

Parking was plentiful and complimentary. We never had any issues locating a spot throughout the day and most of the time, we parked right in front of our hotel room.

COST

We stayed at the lodge mid-July and booked the room through the National Parks Reservations. It cost us about $160.00 per night with an additional $25 pet fee per night (up to two pets).

The total cost for two nights ended up being $375.00, which we think is very reasonably priced since we were inside the park, staying in newly-remodeled rooms, and had a dog with us.

Check their current rates HERE.

HOW FAR IN ADVANCE SHOULD I MAKE RESERVATIONS?

During normal circumstances, Yavapai Lodge recommends making reservations at least 1 year in advance for accommodations during the high volume season (May through October). Reservations can be made up to 13 months in advance. Since we were visiting during uncertain times, we were able to book our room (with a summer discount) a couple of weeks prior to our arrival date.

Grand Canyon National Park Visitor Center

FINAL THOUGHTS

For visitors exploring the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, Yavapai Lodge is a comfortable and convenient base camp. The lodge was reasonably priced, pet-friendly, and conveniently located to various popular lookout points.

YAVAPAI LODGE
ADDRESS: 11 Yavapai Lodge Rd, Grand Canyon Village, AZ 86023 (MAP)
PHONE: (877) 404-4611
@visitgrandcanyon