Bright Angel Lodge — Attraction in Tuba City

We stayed during a rare May heat wave but we made do with staying indoors during the afternoon. I have attached a map of the Bright Angel Lodge complex. Here are a few tips that I think are helpful for your visit to the Grand Canyon.||• Spring for a room or cabin with air conditioning. All of them have heat but Powell rooms do not have air.|• The lodge parking is hit or miss and there are no rooms in the main lodge so do not bother to drop off your luggage in front of the south entrance (opposite of the rim) quite yet until you get you room assignment. If you arrive near checkout time (11am) or noon you will likely find a spot since people will be leaving at check out.|• If you find a spot you should refrain from leaving it, since parking is at a premium. If you do not find a spot, drop off your luggage near your cabin and then park in Lot C, you can troll for a spot closer to your room when time affords later. The rooms are uphill from Lot C so drop off your luggage nearer your room.|• There are 3 shuttle loops, Blue (Village/Visitor Center) Red (Hermits Rest Road) and Orange (Yaki Point) and you will find that the shuttles only run in one direction (Counter Clockwise)|• The Bright Angel Lodge shuttle stop is east of the Bright Angel Lodge and it will be easier to get a seat during rush hour versus walking down hill to the Hermits Rest Route Transfer on the Blue Line. A lot of people will be at the Hermits Rest Route Transfer (Blue Stop) since that is the closest stop to the Bright Angel trail and people will be wanting to go East to the Visitor Center.|• On all 3 shuttle loops, there are stops where you can exit the shuttle and walk to another stop going the other direction so that you do not have to ride the complete counter clockwise loop. The Bright Angel lodge is far apart from the visitor center and you will need 30 mins if you wish to attend a Ranger program at the Visitor center.|• The Maswik Lodge has better food options in my opinion, they have a huge variety of food with counter service and no tips necessary. Use the Bright Angel Lodge shuttle stop and shuttle to the Maswik. The Harvey Cafe is convenient table service but the food is at a premium versus Maswik. Maswik has table service pizza pub or slices in the food court. Hop on the shuttle (eastbound) when done dining at the Maswik and ride the Blue loop (30 Mins) or listen for the transfer stops to exit and take you back to the Bright Angel Lodge going west.|• If you are up for a terrific view of the canyon via ebike, reserve a bike for ½ day starting at 8/9am and use the multiuse trail east of the visitor center to Yaki point. There will be less people on the trail and the canyon views along the trail to Yaki Point are unbeatable. Most people just ride the Orange Shuttle and take in the views near the shuttle stop and hop back on.|• I would not ebike the red shuttle route (closed to cars, shuttles only) It is straight up hill most of the way and you cannot see the canyon until almost 1/3 left of hermits rests multi-use trail.|• The Grand Canyon Railroad holds up to 900 people and the village will be crowded from 12 to 3 and you will find solitude once the head back to Williams AZ at 3-4pm|• Download the official nation park app since you can use it off-line. We have Verizon but service was very spotty away from the village, especially...

The ability to sit and watch the sunset just steps from the room is priceless. We were even able to pop back to the room to refill our drinks. That said...||Yes, we knew it was July. Yes, we knew that our Standard Room wasn’t air conditioned. But the room never cooled down at night. Outside: lovely cool desert evenings. Inside: a sauna, so it was difficult to sleep. It wasn’t helped by there not being a working extractor fan for the shower, but we were grateful for the two desk fans (1 medium, 1 large) provided for the room. They made a big difference (You need to use both—one fan might be in the closet on arrival). Our room was in Powell Lodge, next to an ice machine, so in desperation I made a Wimbledon style ice pack for my head at one point. The 5* location was a massive advantage for early hiking starts, but starting the day with little sleep, was perhaps not so convenient. ||Our room packed a lot into a small space: a separate closet which contained a safe and a folding luggage rack. AND a long bench at the foot of the bed which could be used for luggage or for sitting on, plus a comfy chair. Unlike the North Rim Lodge, we could both sit down at the same time without someone sitting on the fridge. Luxury! They kindly provided a selection of teas and coffee, sweeteners and powdered creamer. We also used hot water from the coffee maker for other instant things we brought with us. ||In terms of expectations, I’d read about there not being many electrical outlets. That has been fixed! There were loads of sockets including USB as part of the lamp on the bedside table. Our room was well sound-proofed and we did not hear other guests’ conversations. We heard a few doors opening and closing, the same as any hotel, but didn’t need the earplugs that I’d packed. The bathroom was pretty tight space-wise, but had nice products including hair conditioner and body lotion. ($20 per bottle in the gift shop if you like. For people in rooms without showers, they had the same products in jumbo containers in the hallway facilities.) ||We were quite concerned about parking, but it turned out to be not a problem. To be fair, we were reluctant to relinquish our spot so near Powell Lodge, but we later passed hundreds of empty spaces in various lots around the South Rim when we availed of the free (accessible and air conditioned) shuttle bus to the scenic lookout points.||On the one hand, how can I give 5 stars to somewhere we could barely sleep? At the same time, that view! (Not from the room, but from an under 1-minute walk away). We would stay there again, even in July.||Little tip: I was sure that all the shops onsite would be expensive, but the Fountain sold huge cans of ice tea for $2. That’s less than in some...

Thanks to other reviews, we knew we were going to a rustic cabin steps from the South Rim and that parking was limited and that there was no air conditioning. None of those things were a problem for us.||Thankfully we got Cabin 6178, which at first didn't seem so good because it faced a busier access road, but it turned out great because none of our cabin walls were adjacent to anyone else, limiting noise and giving us windows and airflow on all 4 sides. It also was incredibly close to the Rim Trail and view of the Grand Canyon, day or night. Though it was warmer than usual during our October stay, the fans and open windows circulated the air nicely and we slept great.||All the room amenities are what you would expect in any luxury hotel, except for the bathroom. It was very small but quaint. The shower is extremely small, there's only one tiny glass shelf for your belongings, and the towels are very thin. It wasn't a huge problem to us, and what we expected.||We stayed two nights, and housekeeping did not come to refresh towels between those two nights. Not sure if they typically do or not. Thankfully we had enough towels, and between the dry air and the thin towels, they dry fast.||I did wish for a humidifier while there, since the humidity was 21% and I had a tough time getting used to that. The past two places we'd stayed provided humidifiers, but Bright Angel did not (I went to desk to request).||Harvey House Cafe was great for breakfast and dinner, delicious and reasonably priced. The staff remembered our seating preference and took us to the same table for every meal! One morning we made reservations to go to El Tovar Dining Room for breakfast, which was a nice treat.||It was such a treat getting to walk along the Grand Canyon rim any time of the day or night, even just for a few minutes. We went out late at night to look at the stars, but sadly there was still too much light pollution between light poles and tourists with cell phone flashlights. ||Price point was cheaper than anything in nearby towns, and what a fabulous location! We initially were only able to get one night booked, but kept checking the website for openings on the second night and it finally came through so I called to link the two reservations. Nice system in that you can cancel up to a few days beforehand, allowing you to reserve your second choice until your first choice opens up.||We lucked out on parking, finding a spot closer to the rim than our cabin. We never moved the car while there then! Seeing the line of cars coming to the south entrance when we departed made us super thankful that we stayed in the park.||Would stay here...