Kaibab Lodge — Hotel in Four Corners States

When we planned our visit to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, we could not book a room at the Lodge at the North Rim —- it was full.

The next closest hotel is the Kaibab Lodge. So we book our stay at the Kaibab Lodge. For reference, the Kaibab Lodge is about 30 minutes by car to the North Rim.

The next closest hotel to the North Rim is at Jacob’s Lake and is about 30 minutes further than the Kaibab Lodge, or 60 minutes from the North Rim.

After seeing the Lodge in the National Park at the North Rim, we feel lucky that we stayed at the Kaibab Lodge.

First, the cabins in the National Park are very close. If you sit on the chair outside your room at the Lodge in the National Park, you would see and be seen by everyone walking around. No sense of privacy. Plus the cabins looked smaller.

Again, there are so many positives for the Kaibab Lodge including: The rooms offered nice privacy in a very quiet setting. We enjoyed our balcony without seeing any other guests.

The rooms are exceptionally well laid out. And the room are exceedingly clean and comfortable.

Another plus, and this is big, in my opinion, the staff feels like family. The front desk staff, Holly in the afternoon to evening and Melissa in the morning listen to what you want and do their best to delight you with outstanding service. I a not say enough kind words with how ell we were treated. For example, we had a problem with the heat in our room. I told Holly and within 5 minutes the politest and kindest person was in our cabin fixing the problem. The pilot light had gone out.

And now for the best part, I always try to save the best for last.

Meal options in such a rural place as the North Rim are very limited. In the park there are few options. Outside the park, the Kaibab and Jacob’s Lake are the only other options.

Thankfully the Kaibab lodge has both a dinner buffet and breakfast buffet. Both were outstanding; excellent food and service. Two people run the dinner buffet. Kevin the chef and his assistant whose name I forgot to learn. Kevin not only prepares all the food, he checks that you are happy with what you selected. And if you are not happy, he graciously fixes what you can select so the you will be delighted. For example. I am a pescatarian. When there was no fish at the buffet, even though the official menu advertised fish, Kevin went into the freezer and found some fish and specially prepared it for me. For desert the served a brownie which was better than every other brownie I have ever eaten. And with the soft serve machine, the brownie with soft serve just end the perfect meal with a perfect desert. Of course Kevin made the brownies. Just another example of how great a chef he is. The breakfast buffet was also very good.

Kevin, Holly, Melissa and the maintenance person are true assets at the Kaibab Lodge. Along with the rest of the staff I did not meet. These people exceeded normal excellent service by providing exceptional service.

When I go back to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. You can be sure the Kaibab Lodge will be the first place I choose for...

We’ve stayed at the other lodging options on the North Rim before, but had wanted to give this place a try. We opted for one of the little Four Plex cabins @$142/nt…it’s definitely a small rustic basic room, but it worked for us.

The bed was pretty uncomfortable. Small, lumpy, but hard? The pillows are terrible. I woke up every morning with a sore neck. The bed is pushed up against a wall, so the inside person has to climb off the bottom or climb over their partner to get out.

The shower, my favorite part…has the faucets labeled in big letters hot/cold with arrows telling you which way to turn them on/off (helpful b/c they don’t turn how’d you’d think), water pressure was good.

The tiny room gets stuffy, the windows are old and only stay open in one position (which is too high to keep open all night, when the temps are dipping into the high 30s) It looked like it had a new heater, which luckily we didn’t need to use as the sign on the wall says not to have anything within 3 ft of the heater, and they have a desk with their keurig sitting directly in front of it. :-/

The lodge has WiFi, but ONLY in the main lobby (it doesn’t even reach to the outside patio, you have to actually be IN the main lobby), which is rather inconvenient.

There is a restaurant, dinner buffet for $30/per person which seems a bit high for eating off paper plates. They ask you don’t eat in the rooms, which is understandable, but don’t offer any picnic tables near the rooms (and only one chair outside of each room- so a second person is forced to sit on the steps or steal a chair from the neighbor) if you wanted to bring/eat your own food.

Maybe some of the larger cabins are worth the money, but the tiny “hikers special” ...

This was a fine place to stay and met our needs during a busy holiday weekend near the Grand Canyon. We were able to book three nights about six months in advance, which was great given the timing. We were in duplex cabin #7, one of the older cabins. That said, it's important to manage expectations.

There are mice in the area, so we kept all food and trash locked up—storing food in our car and taking out the trash every night. The cabin walls are thin, so you can hear neighbors and anyone outside. I recommend bringing a white noise machine or a loud fan, and ear plugs if you're a light sleeper.

The location is excellent—very close to the Grand Canyon—and the views outside our cabin were spectacular. We were pleasantly surprised to find a Keurig in the room, we knew there was no refrigerator or kitchen, so we brought a cooler and supplies to make simple meals. They do offer an all-you-can-eat breakfast and dinner, though we didn’t try it since it wasn’t cost-effective for our family of 5.

Wi-Fi didn’t work during our stay, which wasn’t surprising given the remote location. If you rely on internet access, be aware it may not be available. The bathroom was dated, but that was expected, and it functioned well. The shower was hot, and the sink was nice and large. There were plenty of towels and blankets provided.

Betty D checked us in and she was super friendly, which made us feel welcome right from the start.

It did get cold at night, so we used the in-room heater. The only thing I wish I’d brought was a box fan—to help circulate heat and block out noise.

Overall, this stay was exactly what we needed when we needed it. It’s not luxury, but it’s practical, scenic, and well-located for visiting the...