The Holiday Inn hotel is situated on Highway 64 and there are a number of other hotels in close proximity as well as a few shops and foodmarkets within walking distance. The IMAX theater  where they show an excellent movie about the Grand Canyon, is also only a few minutes walk away.

We got the best deal through the Holiday Inn website for about $70 a night. If you walk off the street and book this room direct with the hotel (which we did for another two nights) it is $99, which is still a bargain considering the amenities and conveniences that you get for your money.

We stayed a total of 4 nights at this hotel on two separate occasions in March 2008. The first two nights we were in room #332 and for the other 2 nights room #324 . Both of these rooms were marked “Priority Club” as we are both members.

Membership is free and entitles you to earn points for staying at any of  more than 3,500 locations. The Priority rooms were all overlooking the front of the hotel so I assume this meant a better view although I can’t really compare as we didn’t get to see any of the other rooms.

The beauty of having the room at the front of the hotel is that we could see our car parked in the parking area below. And speaking of parking, this is a great hotel if you are bringing your car along. Parking is free and there were plenty of spaces right near the entrance making it easy to get our luggage into and out of the hotel.

Check-in was quick and easy. We found during our entire stay that the staff at the front desk were just a delight. They were all very friendly and went out of their way to help whenever they were approached.

Our room was on the third floor which was the top floor and we got there via the elevator (which we always found to arrive quite quickly). We also found another elevator down the other end of the hotel which  didn’t seem to be used very often so this is worth keeping in mind during busy times of the day.

On walking to our room we noticed that the hallway had a wonderful smell as did the room. I am not sure what they use but it was always a nice feeling to walk to our room after being out all day.

We had the twin room which had 2 double beds and the room was large enough to accommodate two people comfortably.

The beds themselves were very comfortable and each had four pillows which were marked with the words ‘Firm’ and ’soft’ which we thought was a great idea and not a luxury that you would normally see in a three star hotel. The linen on the bed was fresh and clean.

The facilities in the room included a TV, table and two chairs, an alarm clock, a mini fridge (which was empty), a microwave and coffee maker.

The wardrobe area, which was to our right on entering the room, contained an ironing board and iron.

The room was made up of four separate areas - the entrance way which had the open hanging wardrobe, the main area with the beds, the bathroom with the bathtub and toilet and finally the dressing room area which held the sink. This bathroom had a lockable door but the dressing room area was open. I prefer bathrooms where the sink is included and don’t really like the open dressing room arrangement but this is just a personal preference.  An open dressing room doesn’t really work where friends are travelling together, so changing meant going into the bathroom.

Overall both rooms were in great condition and were clean and well maintained and we felt comfortable in the rooms.

All was not perfect however as we did find a few faults. The first was the minor chipping on the toilet seat in the first room we were in and again in the bathtub of the second room. We also found that the second room didn’t have a plug for the bathtub. These were all very minor problems however and didn’t affect our stay in any way. If either of us had wanted to take a bath we could have easily rung the front desk and they would have brought up a plug.

Now to what makes this hotel such great value for money. The first is the free internet connection. We connected via a wireless connection and with just a few clicks we were on the net. We did find the connection dropped out quite often until we connected the laptop to the blue cable which we found in the TV cabinet. It seemed to work fine after that with only minor drop-outs.

The second value for money part of this hotel is the free breakfast. This is held until 9.30am. Wish it was held until 10am but it’s free so I am not complaining. The hotel advertises this breakfast as being a Continental Breakfast but we would have to say that it is better than that. It includes omelettes or scrambled eggs (depending on the day), sausage patties, muffins, bagels, danishes, boiled eggs, yoghurt, whole fruit and about four different juices and of course coffee and tea. The eating area had plenty of seating and room to get around.

A nice finishing touch was the free newspaper which was outside our door in the mornings.

We really enjoyed our stay at the Holiday Inn at the Grand Canyon and would have no hesitation staying there again.

Note : If you need somewhere to wash clothes there is a coin operated laundry at the next hotel and you don’t need to stay at that hotel in order to use it.

For a 26 minute load it cost us $1.50 and the laundry powder was $1.25. The dryers cost 75c for 30 minutes and 25c for each extra 10 minutes.

Make sure you have plenty of quarters before you head on down there as the coin change machine wasn’t working when we were there. Wanda went to the reception area of the neighbouring hotel to get some change and this involved a long walk and conversations with various staff with limited English. However, she finally got change from a machine in the sportsroom. 

We actually went and bought a bottle of liquid washing soap at the shop across the road from the hotel which was much  cheaper than buying from the soap dispenser at the laundromat.

Getting to the laundromat was a bit of an act, we had to go out the back of the Holiday Inn and walk through the car park until we came to a retaining wall which we had to jump down from.  Someone had thoughtfully placed some rocks to make this easier, however Wanda still had a struggle to get up and down the retaining wall because she is so short.  We then walked through a short pathway to get to the second building on the right, behind the hotel.  There is no signage to tell you how to get to the laundry or even that you have arrived until you get right up to the laundry door. So as silly as this might sound - you don’t know you are there until you arrive.

 Our Rating of the Holiday Inn & Suites - Tusayan:

Checking in and out 5/5
Room 4/5
Position 4/5
Price 5/5
Cleanliness 4.5/5

We booked this hotel through the Holiday Inn website

The service is very good and the staff are pleasant, helpful and friendly.

This is a typical roadside café with paper napkins and placemats. It is clean and presentable with paintings of the Grand Canyon on the walls.

The food at the Tusayan Café is well presented and delicious. We had missed breakfast at the hotel so stopped by before heading into the Grand Canyon National Park and we both had the 2 egg breakfast which came with a choice of bacon, sausages or patties. We both chose the poached eggs with bacon. We were given a choice of different bread types. In America we have found that there are so many choices when it comes to food.

Paula had hot chocolate and I had an absolutely delicious chocolate milkshake.

We also decided that as we had enjoyed our lunch so much we returned to have dinner. Paula had barbequed chicken with fries and vegetables. This came with a green salad with ranchhouse dressing. Paula found the chicken a little overcooked and was expecting it to be a little more flavorsome.

I had Beef Stroganoff with pasta and steamed vegetables. The meal was supposed to come with a cup of soup of the day, but this somehow got missed. Not that I minded as my main meal was too large for me to finish. The Stroganoff was absolutely delicious and after trying a bit of it Paula wished she had ordered it too.

We dealt with a number of different staff during our two visits and they were all attentive and friendly.

If you are on your way up to the Canyon and are looking for somewhere to eat before hitting the park then we would recommend this as a nice little eating place.

When we did return at around 2.30pm the room still wasn’t ready so we sat in the lobby with a number of other people who were also waiting to check in. The young lady behind the counter said she would list us as being in the hotel so that housekeeping would move our room up the list of rooms to be serviced.

Check in for the Kachina Lodge is done through the El Tovar Hotel. The El Tovar is quite an historic hotel and the lobby reflects this with its dark wood theme and deer head decorations.

Once we received our room keys we had to get back to our car and drive around to the Kachina Lodge. We were warned that parking may be sparse and were considering keeping our car space outside the El Tovar but luckily when we got to Kachina we found a space right by the entrance. If you were arriving at a busy time of the year you may find it difficult to find parking so keep this in mind.

Our room is #6313 and is situated on the bottom floor of the hotel on the Canyon side. Kachina advertises their rooms as having partial Canyon views but we found that the only thing obstructing the full view of the Canyon were a few trees. We were probably about 30 feet from the Canyon edge.

The room is similar to all the others we have been staying in. There are 2 double beds, which are comfortable, a TV cabinet with a 26in (68cm) TV and a table with one chair, large clock radio, and the usual bedside telephone.

Each bed had two pillows and one of the pillow slips had black stains which were ingrained, and although the pillow slip had been laundered the stains made it look very unappealing.

The décor is restful with nicely presented artwork and attractive lamps.

Lighting in the room is okay although as with most hotels we have stayed at in the US, there is minimal ceiling lighting and instead the room is lit by a series of lamps. As a result the room is not well lit but once the blinds are opened there is plenty of light.

The bathroom wasn’t huge but there was enough room to move around easily. The ‘Ecossential’ brand toiletries smelt almost good enough to eat, with a tangerine citrus aroma.

The room was very clean and comfortable to be in. Unfortunately there is no internet in the rooms which meant we were unable to keep up with our business committments. The internet in the Bright Angel Lodge lobby area costs $2.00 for 7 mins which is just enough time to send a couple of emails.

This hotel is expensive for what you get, but you need to keep in mind that you are paying mainly for being right on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

Our Rating of the Kachina Lodge Grand Canyon:

Checking in and out 3/5
Room 3/5
Position 5/5
Price 3.5/5
Cleanliness 4/5

Here are some of the views of the Grand Canyon that we took a week ago.  It is a great place to visit especially in March when there is still snow around. These views were taken at different times of the day. 

Paula hadn’t been in snow before and when she stepped into it her feet sunk into the icy snow. There is a photo of her getting the ice out of her shoes. We hadn’t thought there would be ice in the Grand Canyon so we hadn’t waterproofed our shoes.  ARA shoes are meant for walking not wading through snow drifts. However, they dried out well and are as good as new.

The El Tovar restaurant is apparently world renowed although after eating breakfast here I am sure it is not because of the quality of its food. Maybe lunch and dinner are better but our breakfast was just plain terrible. It is the first bad meal we have had during our trip to the US so far.

We both ordered the two egg breakfast with bacon and fried potatoes which came with a strawberry on the side.

The food was reasonably presented but when we started to eat we realised just how bad it all was. Normally at least something in a meal will be okay but with this meal everything tasted terrible. For me to say this, means that it must be bad as anyone who knows me knows that I am not fussy with my food and will eat practically anything.

The poached eggs were overcooked to the point of being hard boiled. The bacon was chewy and tough and difficult to cut. And the potatoes were soft and greasy and dried in the middle. The whole meal looked and tasted like it had been sitting for quite a while and was haphazardly reheated to serve up to us.

We did arrive about 20 minutes before closing time for breakfast so perhaps the chef was closing up the kitchen. You may find a better breakfast served up to you if you go earlier. But even so, if they are going to advertise breakfast to 11am then then they should continue to provide a quality breakfast right up until closing time.

About the only good thing about this restaurant was the view from our table which was on the Canyon side and provided some spectacular views.

Also the waitress who served us was pleasant and helpful.

Our other two meals at the Canyon were in the Arizona Room at the Bright Angel Lodge.

For lunch we both had the half sandwich meal which included a pickle, fries and soup of the day. The soup was smoked corn chowder and was absolutely delicious and very warming as it was freezing outside.

The sandwich was okay but I wouldn’t say it was great - the bread roll was tough and it was difficult to eat as half the contents of the sandwich would spill out with each bite. Wanda had the vegetarian sandwich and I had the chicken salad sandwich but neither were particularly tasty…just okay.

The fries were really nice and so was the pickle on the side. Pickles are something that are served up with a lot of meals in the US and I love the idea.

Wanda also ordered a chocolate milkshake and I ordered a hot chocolate. They were both delicious.

For dinner at Bright Angel we ordered food to share. As we weren’t terribly hungry we thought we might order two appetizers instead of a main meal.. We ordered a dozen oysters and a quesidilla which doesn’t sound like much but the meals were huge and we couldn’t eat it all.

Having said that however, we did order a dessert to share which was Blueberry and Peach Strudel which came ala mode (which means it is served with ice cream). This was delicious.

In all, the meal was quite tasty and well presented but nothing to write home about.

Our waitress, Mary, on the other hand deserves a special note. She provided excellent service and was very helpful and chatty and showed genuine interest.

Once we have eaten we pack the car and head off from the Holiday Inn in Tusayan to the Grand Canyon a few miles away. We stop at the toll gate and pay the $25.00 per vehicle park entrance fee. The fee for pedestrians and cyclists is $12 per person and the entrance fee is valid for seven consecutive days from the date of purchase on either rim. Which is really handy if you are staying in Tusayan because the seven day pass allows you to go to and from the Grand Canyon as often as you like. There is a separate drive through for anyone who has previously paid in the last seven days.

Paula drives past the first few lookouts as we have decided to see if we can check in at our hotel first. We are staying at the Kachina lodge but we have to book in at the main reception area in the El Tovar Hotel. Book in is generally at 4pm and we are way too early at 11am, so we take a stroll around the village, through the souvenir shops and have our first look at the Grand Canyon.

WOW, what can we say, the sight is truly amazing and awe inspiring, there are just not enough superlatives to describe the view. This is a sight that has to be experienced to be appreciated; photos and movies just do not do the sight justice. The person we spoke to in Ash Fork being a local has perhaps grown used to being amongst one of natures wonders, because as good as the Imax movie is, nothing compares to the real experience.

The wind is blowing strongly and the temperature is 45 degrees F so although we are wearing pants that are reasonably warm, I only have on a cotton tee shirt, and open sandals, Paula isn’t dressed much warmer so we go back to the car and add a couple of top layers, some socks and closed in shoes. So take our advice and make sure you have warm clothes and waterproof shoes if you are coming late February, early March.

Feeling a little warmer we go into the Hopi House which was designated to be a National Historic landmark in 1987. There are a lot of excellent authentic American Indian arts and crafts for sale and we only wish we had room in our suitcases. I almost weaken and buy some Turquoise earrings but finally resist the temptation. Paula picks up some arrows but we decide that she wouldn’t be able to take them back into Australia.

We decide to leave the car in the carpark and take one of the free shuttles around the park. After receiving some vague instructions from a hotel employee we finally work out where the shuttle leaves from, although to start with we are standing at a railway station instead of the shuttle station. One thing we have found in a number of places is that the signage is very poor as are instructions. For instance we were told that to catch the bus go out the door and down the stairs, I took this to mean go down the hotel steps and wait outside, but no it meant look for some stairs some meters from the hotel and go down 3 staircases. A big sign at the top of the stairs would have helped.

The bus arrives at the Blue Angel Lodge depot in about 10 minutes and off we go. The shuttles actually run every 15 minutes so if you get off at a stop to take photos and have a look around, it isn’t too long before another one arrives. We get off at the Village Route Transfer and board the bus for the Hermits Rest route. This route only reopens on the first of March so we have arrived at the right time, a few days earlier and we would not have been able to take this shuttle.

The road is a bit rough so the ride is  bumpy but not too uncomfortable. We are sitting in a back carriage with large glass windows which give us an excellent view of the Grand Canyon as we drive along. The first stop is the Trailview Outlook where there is a great photo opportunity back to the village and you can take a 0.7mile/1.1 km walk from this point back to the village.

The second stop is the Maricopa Point and again there is a 0.7mile/1.1 km walk from this point back to the Trailview Outlook. Paula spots a fawn and a doe sitting down on the side of the road.
A further 0.5mls/0.8 kms on is Powell Point which is named in honour of John Wesley Powell who in 1869, with 9 companions were the first men to take the 1000 mile journey on the Colorado River, through the Grand Canyon.

Once you arrive at Hopi Point which is 0.3ml/0.5kms from Powell Point, you can catch a bus going in either direction, back to the village or onto other stops on the way to Hermits rest. This is great for people who have limited time but still want to see the grandeur of the Grand Canyon. There are also toilets at this stop. City slickers be prepared to experience a drop toilet.

There is another return bus trip available from the next stop which is Mohave Point and this stop is 0.8mls/1.3kms from Hopi Point. The view from any of these stops is spectacular however we have decided to stay on the bus and do the hop on hop off thing on the way back. Of course the stop we wanted to visit wasn’t one of the hop off points on the way back, so make sure you check if the stops you want to stop at are available on the return journey or you will either miss out or need to take the bus around again.

The Abyss was the stop I would have liked to check out as the canyon drops way for 4000 feet to canyon floor. This stop is 1.1ml/1.8kms from Mohave Point.

We decided to hop off at the next stop which is Pima Point and it is 2.9mls/4.7km from The Abyss. From this point there is a view of the Colorado River which looks brown from where we are. The bus driver tells us that on a calm day you can here the river roar; however, today there is too much noise from the wind. Still we get some more spectacular photos. A squirrel poses for us while we take photos and he is so close we could almost touch him, if it were permitted, which it is not. There is no touching or feeding the animals allowed, and rightly so. Still he shows no sign of fear.

Then it’s back onto the next bus and onto the last stop on the trip, Hermits Rest. This stop is 1.1ml/1.8km from Pima Point, and there are restrooms and a souvenir shop. They have a blazing fire going and we stop to warm up and thaw out. Although it gets cold back home in Canberra, we really aren’t prepared for the biting cold that seems to gnaw into our bone marrow. Of course we haven’t brought the right clothing for this weather either as the bulk of our trip will be spent in California.

One of the things we are impressed with is the quality of the tee shirts and how inexpensive they are. We each buy a Grand Canyon tee shirt, some warm socks and some gloves. At least we will be warm for the rest of our stay.

As soon as we thaw out we head off back to the bus for the return journey. Coming back the lady in front spots an elk and we see another couple of deer.

Soon we are back at the transfer point and we decide to walk back to our lodge. Paula suggest we take the Blue Angel trail back but as we set of down the sludgy muddy path she remembers having seen a sign that says the hike is 8 miles, so we backtrack onto the rim path which is a nice easy walk back to the hotel.

A fantastic way to view the Grand Canyon is by Helicopter and this is something we will definately do the next time we are here. So if you are looking for a great deal check out the Grand Canyon All American Helicopter Flight 50% off. Book now at Viator.