Stay Near The Grand Canyon's Southern Rim Entrance At A Very Affordable, Cozy Arizona Lodge

While staying a stone's throw from the Rim of the Grand Canyon can be magical, it can also be expensive and requires heroic advanced planning if you hope to score a reservation. The lodges operated by the National Parks Service can book out a year or more in advance. But as of this writing, the charmingly retro and cozy Red Feather Lodge had same-day rooms available — handy should you want to add a romantic last-minute Grand Canyon honeymoon to your quickie Las Vegas wedding. Or maybe you just want to get the kids out of the house and into the minivan for an impromptu scenic road trip from Phoenix to the Grand Canyon. 

With affordable rooms and a nearby kid-friendly breakfast buffet, the freshly renovated (yet charmingly retro) lodge, built in 1964, is a good launch pad for your park day. The National Park Service offers a shuttle from the town of Tusayan, where Red Feather Lodge is located. The shuttle bus picks up passengers just a short walk from the lodge's vintage neon sign and takes you right to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. If you're not going to get in your car at the crack of dawn, this is your ticket to skipping the impossibly long lines to get into the park via the South Rim Entrance. When you're all jazzed up for a day of majestic views and fresh air, it's a huge downer to sit in traffic for up to two hours breathing auto exhaust just to get into the park.

But even better, the lodge is perfectly positioned for our favorite way of getting into the park: hiking or biking the Greenway Trail from the hotel to the canyon's rim. This shady, 13-mile (roundtrip) trail passes through a fragrant forest and along a gently sloping paved incline, providing a perfect transition from civilization to the canyon. You can rent bikes at the Visitor Center in the park.

If you enjoy steeping yourself in history, then the Red Feather Lodge's origin story will charm you. It was built by a scrappy fellow named Bob Thurston, who happened to be the mayor of nearby Williams when he was convicted of bootlegging (or framed, depending on your viewpoint) during Prohibition. He continued to run the town from behind bars and was even re-elected. When he got out, he bought the closest land to the Grand Canyon that could be privately owned and built the original Red Feather Lodge, which still stands, albeit now with a newer hotel building that has added more luxurious rooms. Generations of Thurstons still live in Tusayan, so it's an old-school enterprise.

Another advantage of staying at the friendly Red Feather Lodge is that you can tap the staff's local knowledge for tips on getting the most out of your visit. One of their hot recommendations is to download the Shaka app. Just pop your headphones in and listen to a GPS-cued narrative tour of the Grand Canyon's highlights. It's like having your own personal tour guide. How else are you going to learn that Hermit's Rest was named after a lonely miner whose only friend was a mule named Calamity Jane?

Your own four-legged friend might be another reason to stay at the Red Feather Lodge. The hotel has a number of pet-friendly rooms and even supplies a door tag you can use to indicate to cleaning staff that Rover is chillaxing in your room solo and shouldn't be disturbed. Inside the park, the Yavapai Lodge has pet-friendly rooms, and you can also bring your furry loved ones on certain campgrounds. Although if you are planning a long excursion in the park, like a difficult rim-to-rim Grand Canyon hike, you'll be better off availing yourself of the overnight boarding available at the park's South Rim Kennel, especially because pets cannot go below the rim. It's also important to note that pets are not allowed on shuttle buses, either.

Speaking of hiking the Grand Canyon, one of our favorite reasons to stay at the Red Feather Lodge is the pool and spa. Ahh! Nothing beats a hot soak after a hard day's hike down Bright Angel Trail (pictured) to Havasupai Gardens and back. Everybody thinks it's the uphill climb that gets your muscles, but it's the steep downhills that will make you sore. You'll definitely learn why veteran Grand Canyon hikers call ibuprofen "Vitamin I," and a hot soak followed by a cool pool plunge make for a perfect chaser.