Grand canyon South rim stay over

[Drino]

Hello all and thank you in advance for helping me out..we visiting grand canyon my birthday thanksgiving. Still have el tovar booked but at $220 for one night..is very expensive.After sunset approx 5.15 we'll be back in room for 9pm after dinner at el tovar again expensive! Then out for sunrise early...i'm looking at a $18 tent pitch at Mather campground but were not campers...its one night right lol? Temperature is like -4 late november...could i not sleep in car at my paid tent pitch?

If not ill have to rent a tent for $16 or get one from wallmart...then i need couple sleeping bags...tbh' $50 outlay is nothing compared to what they want for a night in a 2.5/3 star hotel...any thought please

[snowbelle]

Do you really want to stay at El Tovar ?
We stayed at Tusyan ten miles from the south rim for less than half that price .
Best western tusyan has some of the best steak we have ever eaten .
We were there last November and it was Baltic it was -4 but felt much much colder there is no way you could camp there.
It was also snowing on and off .

[landandword17]

You’d still need to have gear for car camping, heavy sleeping bags etc. You can’t leave the engine running with heat on in campgrounds. Could you skip the dinner to keep costs down or stay outside the park? I love camping but there’s no way I’m camping in the GC in November or sleeping in a car when there’s lots of motels in the area.

[400ixl]

Originally Posted by snowbelle

Do you really want to stay at El Tovar ?
We stayed at Tusyan ten miles from the south rim for less than half that price .
Best western tusyan has some of the best steak we have ever eaten .
We were there last November and it was Baltic it was -4 but felt much much colder there is no way you could camp there.
It was also snowing on and off .

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Good advice

[Drino]

Looks like we staying inside park at El Tovar as ive had it booked for ages...because its Thanksgiving everywhere is expensive,one oher hotel in park is cheaper but has shared bathroom,not a fan of that and its still $130 plus tax for that...
We wont be camping or sleeping in car if its potentially -4 outside... appreciate the replies

[Sew109]

Keep checking in the Grand Canyon lodging website often cancellations come up, we would not stay out of the park but have found both bright angel and Maswick to be cheaper than anything outside

[Mary A]

We took a picnic dinner with us when staying at el tovar. En route (can't remember where) stopped at a supermarket and bought polystyrene cool box, bag of ice and supplies.
Iirc the prices in the gift shop aren't too bad? I know we've had ice creams the twice we've visited the South rim. 2nd visit was a day trip from Las Vegas with maverick- can highly recommend, very well organised.

[anneeb]

We stayed at Bright Angel Lodge in one of their cabins during April a couple of years ago and it was COLD overnight, (not in our cabin but outside). I wore a fleece jumper and fleece jacket, hat and gloves just to walk from our car in to one of the restaurants. So camping was out of the question and we are campers. We found the cabins reasonably priced to be honest.

[daytonababe]

You’d be nuts to sleep in your car or a tent when it’s that cold .

I was in William’s earlier in March and it was just below freezing in the day and night , there was no way we could have slept in the car or a tent it would have been unbearable .

[lme30005]

We were there in April and we woke up to snow - it was freezing!