El Tovar Grand Canyon

Classic old style hotel on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon built in the early 1900's. Very clean with restaurant, lounge and gift shop at the center of the action. Great atmosphere that has modern amenities, clean, good service at a fair price for the location in the heart of the Grand Canyon.

Location, location, location! Other than that, the room was very plain and stark and the walls were paper thin and there were children yelling at ungodly hours, also no check and you have to check in at the hotel next-door and there’s no elevator so you have to constantly use the stairs which isn’t super easy with heavy luggage-but really it was the location, it was worth the expense.

Overall our stay at El Tovar was highlighted by the Grand Canyon. If you are looking for a place that is convenient to the canyon then this is great, that’s about it. There is no designated parking for the resort which delivers a certain inconvenience. The restaurants are the only place nearby you have access to food and thus they are priced accordingly (ridiculously high for mediocre food), and grocery stores are price gouging food (it’s $11 for a pack of Oreo cookies). Get groceries while you are still 1-2 hours from Grand Canyon village. The room was old and not in the good way that it is advertised. While I found the bathroom was clean and certainly historic / rustic in a good way, I found the living area was just purposefully dated in a bad way. The furnishings are old and falling apart, just ugly particle board. The TV is like 240P and probably the worst quality I’ve witnessed in a hotel room in the past 15 years. The internet is spotty and has brief hang-ups. The room lacks a microwave so even if you have leftovers and food you brought to save money, you can’t heat it up (but it does have a mini-fridge??) Overall the experience is not worth the several hundred you may pay. At most I’d put this at a $250/night experience.