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Room With a Killer (Grand Canyon) View: We Want to Go to There

Where: West Rim Dr. [map], Grand Canyon Villae, AZ, United States, 86023

We are suckers for a room with a killer view.  We find that we are even more likely to forgive some minor hotel inconveniences if we can stare out the window at something pretty--yeah we are that shallow. Let's help out our fellow hotel mavens by uploading rooms with killer views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. We will feature our favorites in this space from time to time. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number of the hot view.

Oh man. We don't really talk much about the Grand Canyon 'round these parts. Especially during the summer. It's hot over there right now — and our sights are usually turned to cool mountains or clear blue water and white sandy beaches. But this — well, this photo, in the words of Liz Lemon, makes us say we "want to go to there." Right?

This is a view from the Kachina Lodge, snapped by pfala. Yes, this is the Grand Canyon. And yes, it is gorge-ous.

The Kachina Lodge is one of those specialty lodges around the Canyon — on TripAdvisor, it falls around #8 of the 26 hotels in the region. Reviews are mixed — and the best reviews seem to rave about the view more than the room, but not all rooms have a view like this one. Make sure you ask for a room with a full view when you book. Rates go for around $170.

[Photo: pfala]

Tags: Grand Canyon Hotels / Desert Retreats / → All Tags

El Tovar Hotel: Sleeping on the Edge

It's been around 1905 and hosted Theodore Roosevelt and Albert Einstein, yet standard room rates at the El Tovar clock in at a shockingly bargain $166 for being perched about 100 feet from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

The El Tovar and its scattered lodges along the edge of the Grand Canyon were built for the classic National Parks family road trip. They offer hearty breakfast buffets, unbeatable views, free parking, and immediate access to the head of the popular Bright Angel Trail (an 8 mile, 4000+' descent to the Colorado River).

If you opt for the hike down, be forewarned that it is very strenuous and splurging on some Nalgene bottles and a souvenir walking stick is necessary.

Return to rest in the El Tover lobby, both a haven for wide-eyed foreign tourists and the terminus of the never-ending dining room queue, furnished predictably in mission-style.

Indeed every postcard, tchotchke and T-shirt in the hotel gift shop induces a wave of nausea-nostalgia, so that it's impossible to forget your family reunion/senior trip/friend's wedding reception and the heavily-syruped side dishes at each.

If staying at the El Tovar, remember these two rules: print a very detailed set of driving directions, and remember that pleat-front khakis with cargo pockets are de rigeur.

[Photo: Matt Bargar]