Buffalo Valley Ranch — Attraction in Jackson

Beautiful place, terrible communication. The ranch hands were helpful and happy to interact with kids. The place is beautiful and the theme is awesome. Close to Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks and lots of horse related activities. Expect to wake up to revving engines and get ready to watch the horses run into camp at 7am. The horses themselves are obviously well cared for, and if you have a horse girl (like my in-laws girls) expect to spend most of a day doing horse things instead of going into the national parks.

But it's 3 stars instead of 5 because of the bathrooms, management, and hospitality. I know it's a tent, no running water or electricity with a sheltered place for my sleeping bag is what I expected (put a pin in that) but it is nearly impossible to plan a long stay there effectively because of the communication issues. No, I don't mean cell phone service, though obviously that's patchy for the entire state if you are on a road trip. I mean getting a straight answer about the camp site before you arrive is hard and once you are there they are rude as if you should have magically known how the run things.

The website is unclear about what is and is not at this campsite, which makes planning the trip difficult. Emails make it out like you are renting just a tent and nothing, not even wifi, is included. You see it in the many negative reviews: being suprised by having the wrong type of supplies at arrival is always a bad time even when (as we were) you are overprepared or pleasantly surprised to have more than expected. Big red flag: The "confirmation" email did not have our dates, price, or the type of booking - they have tent, wagon, and cabin - or even the number of guests or units we reserved for. It did have a very aggressive list of things we could be fined for and all the things we can pay extra to do, like riding horses and having a camp dinner on the trail. Unfortunately, that email was written as if we were staying in a bare tent or on a wooden shelf when we were in a wagon, making it seem like the following amenities did not exist: Wifi! A decently fast connection too. Four power outlets, two with USB-C ports to charge your gadgets. (Didn't need that solar panel.) Pillows and thick fleece blankets for each mattress. The wagon has four twin mattresses and one king, not bare platforms (how can we pack bedding if you don't tell us how big the beds are? Why could I not get that answer either time I asked on the phone, just told that sheets are $20 extra?) Heaters! The gas one we didn't use due to the warnings about it we received by email, phone, and one we had to initial like a contract upon arrival, but in August the little electric one provided was fine.

3 shared bathrooms for all: Floors are wood under lino with holes drilled through for drainage to make double sure the wood rots out from under them. 🤔

The email not confirming the details may seem like a nitpick, but there was an issue with our reservation. Having worked the back end bookkeeping for small businesses- we could have left, disputed charges using that terrible email and not had to pay for the cancelation because the written description of the booking did not match the provided service. That goes triple for not quoting a price in the confirmation- I was going to cancel the moment I read the email and had to be talked out of it twice. It was a terrible first impression.

It is great once you settle in. I'm glad we stayed. It's nicer than the marketing depicts.

The bar and grill is a great bar, but take your camp stove into the national park and make your own pancakes. There is no cooking on the property (the most important thing for planning a week long trip was not in the email.) The plain coffee at the bar is sold chewy and burnt for Starbucks espresso prices. Descale your percolator, it will stop spilling grinds and running so hot. Saves electricity and wear and tear too. If you charge resort prices for biscuits and gravy with sausage sold separately at least get the...

We stayed here for 6 nights in mid/late June. It was great, mostly. The price can't be beat, neither can the location. You are 20 mins from Grand Teton and 40mins from Yellowstone. We stayed in two tipi's and they were as advertised. Rustic, with 4 twin sized beds in each. Gravel floors with enough room for our luggage. We got extra bedding because of a cold spell (snow in late June), and we were all comfortable at night. The views were AMAZING! They also take great care of the ranch part of this. The animals are in great shape! Very impressive. They have a restaurant and a shop for anything you may have forgotten.

The cons: the bathhouse was on the messy side. Now, we are campers, so we are used to this. However; people who don't camp might see them as dirty. There are two bathroom stalls and 3 shower stalls. The handicap shower was out of order when we were there. I never had to wait for a toilet and only waited 5mins once for a shower. The water was always hot and with shower shoes on it was fine. It would have been better had they been cleaned more often and some needed maintenance been done however.

Secondly, the quiet time curfew of 10pm was not enforced. Though I can appreciate children having fun at a camp ground, parents letting kids run through the tipi's at all times of the night was difficult and there were times I had to find parents to get their kids in line because staff was already gone for the night.

The biggest complaint I have though is the restaurant. It is expensive, which I can forgive given it is the only place within 45mins to eat at other than the parks except you have to go to the bar to order, there are no refills on drinks, even water, and the food was not quality at all. It was also very crowded and hot in the building and took us over two hours. It isn't explicitly shown that you have to order at the bar, you just kind of have to figure it out after waiting for so long. Drinks are $5 for a 32oz "souvenir cup" with no refills and water is $3 in a "souvenir bottle". 6 of us ordered and it was just under $200 for burgers and soggy fries. We didn't go back after the first night.

Over all, we would stay again for sure. We would just make sure to not plan to eat at the restaurant and maybe bring eat plugs for nights. The view and the location along with the price can't be beat. The staff we encountered were all awesome and we enjoyed our stay. I'm not sure what others expected with their stays when staying at a rustic style ranch, but we got what we paid for and a little more...

I am so glad we stayed here in spite of the many (unfair) bad reviews. As another review mentioned, this is a working dude ranch! It's not an IG, Pinterest dolled up tipi and covered wagons. It is primitive camping with a few more amenities than you would normally have camping.

This place is exactly as described and actually even better than I expected. The following is my rebuttal to the unfair claims of previous reviews.

First, the cafe: a lot of people complained that it was pricey? It certainly wasn't cheap, but it's comparable to other restaurants in the area and for the quantity and quality of food definitely worth the price (ex, steak was $40, but you could get a burger and fries for $18). Also the cafe was super cute! Great vibes, excellent food, and friendly staff.

Secondly, the accomodations: we chose a tipi since we literally just needed somewhere to crash and have all our own camping gear. I had braced myself for the worst, but it was really cool and exactly what it promised to be: a canvas tent with cots in it. They do provide some (somewhat sketchy) blankets, which we did not use since we both had our mummy sleeping bags and pillows and were perfectly comfortable. It rained all night and we didn't get wet but some areas had a few drops in it. No more than if you were camping in a regular tent. Yes, it is a gravel floor. Better than mud.

Third, the bathrooms. The people who complained about these clearly have never been camping before? I've been camping all my life. These are flush toilet shared bathrooms with showers just like you would find in any average state park. Yes, there are bugs and mud from people walking in and out. Wear flip flops in the communal shower. Whoever said they are are far walk from the tipis- it took me 20 seconds to walk there from my tipi. My only "complaint" about the bathroom situation is I wish there was also an outhouse since there are only three stalls and at least 20 tipis, plus all the wagons, so if you really gotta go you could end up having a pee pee dance in your tipi!

Lastly- what too many people failed to mention. THE INCREDIBLE VIEW! This place is barely 15 minutes from Grand Tetons National Park and overlooks a beautiful river you drive by to get here. I would absolutely recommend staying here and would stay again in...