No More Roughing It: 6 New Luxury Hotels Near National Parks
America’s premium nature attractions keep pulling in visitors, but until recently, most of the accommodation options were not too grand. These chic inns offer everything from soaking tubs to telescopes for stargazing.
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America’s national parks experienced their busiest year ever in 2024 with tens of millions of visitors seeking a slice of nature at sites from Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula to the Great Smoky Mountains.
Though the U.S. park system is facing budget cuts, its popularity isn’t slowing down.
And thanks to a spate of luxury boutique hotels opening near these storied landscapes, Americans can now bond with nature more poshly.
“National parks offer accessible, restorative travel experiences, but for years, visitors had to choose between some version of camping, select service hotels or inconsistent independent properties,” said Mike Weiss, co-founder and co-CEO of Trailborn and Castle Peak Holdings based in New York.
He and his co-founder, Ben Weinberg, are among those updating the idea of “camping out” by launching boutique hotels near national parks.
While demand for legendary lodges, such as the Ahwahnee in Yosemite, the Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone and the cliff’s-edge El Tovar Hotel at the Grand Canyon hasn’t dwindled, boutique hotels draw guests with serene spas and fine-dining restaurants that offer spectacular views.
Among their non-rustic features: soaking tubs, fancy high-count bed linens and telescopes for stargazing. Here, the new hot tickets where swooning over Mother Nature doesn’t mean roughing it.
Hotel Yellowstone at Jackson Hole
Don’t let the name fool you: Wyoming’s most famous park is a 2.5-hour drive away.
But at this adults-only lodge that opened last summer, waking up in your roomy suite includes perks like views of the Grand Tetons and Snake River Valley.
Should the scenery become too overwhelmingly majestic, focus instead on the house granola or a huckleberry and peach smoothie, options on the breakfast menu.
Situated right outside the billionaire bustle of Jackson Hole, the retreat houses a tranquil spa, where guests can book 10 minutes in the Himalayan Salt Treatment Room ($60) to wind down after a day spent with Old Faithful at Yellowstone National Park.
Others watch the sunset from the patio with a glass of William Knuttel “Atlas Peak” Cabernet from Napa Valley, Calif. From US$1,199 a night.
Trailborn Grand Canyon
Set in Williams, Ariz., arguably the Route 66-iest town in America, this newly opened outpost dispenses with road-trip kitsch to offer 96 colorful rooms beside the celebrated ravine.
Consider a curated hike, lounge by the pool or schedule a laser-guided constellation tour for a group of up to 10.
A Southwest-inspired steakhouse and on-site saloon (named Miss Kitty’s after Amanda Blake’s character in “Gunsmoke”) are nods at the area’s rootin’, tootin’ heritage, while extras like bocce ball courts and a scavenger hunt board for children provide entertainment before, or after, visiting the main attraction. From US $123 a night.
Firefall Ranch at Yosemite
For California travelers exploring Yosemite’s granite domes and sequoia groves, this gaggle of pet-friendly cottages and villas in the town of Groveland, Calif., makes a good base camp.
Guests can kick back in spacious indoor-outdoor living spaces, play cowgirl on a trail ride or try mountain cuisine (like bone-in wild boar) at on-site restaurant YOVA .
Opened in the spring of 2024, the welcoming spot has a heated saltwater pool and hot tubs.
Its proximity to the northwest entrance station of Yosemite is a plus too. From US $525 a night.
Kosmos Stargazing Resort & Spa
Colorado’s Great Sand Dunes might not be the best-known national park, but this luxury resort in the San Luis Valley (a certified Dark Sky region) is attracting travelers with its inventive design and focus on astronomy.
The rooms—transparent geodesic domes—cater to those who want to marvel at the Milky Way by night and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains by day.
Amenities include private Jacuzzis, heated floors and, of course, high-end telescopes. Situated 3.5 hours from Denver. From US $700 a night.
Ofland Escalante
Nestled between Utah’s iconic national parks—Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef and Zion—this adventure-focused retreat sits within a landscape no one would call dull. Choose between vintage Airstreams, cozy casitas and 4-person cabins.
When you’ve had your fill of nature, spend an evening at the drive-in movie theater, cannonball into the pool, or order patty melts and soft serve at its Americana food truck.
For a more secluded experience, deluxe cabins come with private bathrooms and fire pits. The cozier lodging options feature shared bathhouses with shower stalls. Tiny cabins start at US $169 a night, deluxe cabins, US$259; Airstreams, US$175.
The Pathmaker Hotel
Bar Harbor’s newest boutique hotel is two blocks from the sandbar to Bar Island, a part of Maine’s Acadia National Park. Situated downtown on Cottage Street, with its nearby shops and restaurants, the Pathmaker’s 46 rooms have Americana-style furnishings and smart TVs.
Dining is easy too: The mid-century-furnished restaurant serves up a complimentary breakfast, which includes Belgian waffles or spicy frittatas. From US$139 to US $329 a night, depending on the season.
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A five-bedroom Palo Alto home designed by Steven Ehrlich is listed for $44 million, making it the city’s most expensive listing. Built around a dramatic concrete spine, the home features four courtyards and a pool.
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For years, tech entrepreneur Asher Waldfogel and his wife, Helyn MacLean, dreamed of building a modern house in Palo Alto, Calif.
The couple, however, worried about clashing with the Mediterranean-style architecture typically associated with their neighborhood of Old Palo Alto.
So they tapped architect Steven Ehrlich to create a design that paid homage to its surroundings with stucco, mahogany and titanium zinc cladding. They spent $20 million over several years building the house, completed in 2005.
Now looking to be closer to their adult daughter on the East Coast, they are putting the five-bedroom home on the market for $44 million—the most expensive listing in Palo Alto.
Waldfogel is an angel investor who co-founded Redback Networks, a telecommunications-equipment company. MacLean previously had a career in fundraising.
The couple purchased the roughly 0.4-acre site for $7.1 million in 2000 and demolished a circa-1930s Spanish Colonial home. The house they built pinwheels around a central staircase. It has 7,900 square feet of livable space, with four distinct courtyards and a pool.
A key feature of the home is a cast-in-place concrete wall, or spine, that is two stories high and about 80 feet long. “There’s a little bit of controlled chaos in what comes out of the form,” unlike a perfectly uniform surface, Waldfogel said. “If you want that, you do it in plastic.”
Waldfogel said he and his wife are thinking about the next phase of life now that their daughter is grown, although they have not decided where they will move. They also have a home in Sun Valley, Idaho.
“Right now we’re just trying to emotionally let go and decide what to do next,” he said.
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Arthur Sharif of Sotheby’s International Realty—San Francisco Brokerage has the listing.
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