If you are looking to stay in the northern portion of Yellowstone National Park you will want to check out Mammoth Hot Springs hotel and cabins.
This hotel was recently renovated and offers the perfect place to stay to explore the Mammoth Hot Springs area and have easy access to the Lamar Valley.
Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel and Cabins - Yellowstone National Park
2 queen bedroom with a private bath
We stayed in a 2 queen bedroom on the 2nd floor of the hotel. The room included 2 queen beds, a reading chair and ottoman, a nice size closet with a luggage rack, a private bathroom that included a clawfoot tub, a coffee set up, and a mini-fridge.
The room was nice sized with space to spread out and relax. The bed was firmer than we like but great if you like a firm bed.
The coffee station was perfect for starting the day with a hot cup of tea and coffee. There is a variety of organic Tazo tea blends available along with organic Rainforest coffee in both caffeinated and decaf.
The water glasses are made from recycled wine bottles that have been turned into water glasses. There is a soda machine down the hall and an ice machine on certain floors.
Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel History
Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel is located within Yellowstone National Park, near the north entrance. It stands near the stone buildings that were once Fort Yellowstone.
Of all the hotels in Yellowstone National Park, Mammoth has been transformed both in name and appearance the most over time. Five name changes over a span of 139 years began as the National Hotel and is now called Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel and Cabins.
The McCartney’s Hotel opened near the current hotel in 1871 a year before the area was declared a national park by Harry R. Horr and his partner James C. McCartney. Mr. Horr named the Mammoth Hot Springs.
Yellowstone became America’s first National Park in 1872. Pressure to protect the newly established park was strong over the coming years and by 1910, Fort Yellowstone housed over 300 soldiers.
In 1918, the army moved out and transferred the fort to the newly developed National Park Service. Just north of the Fort is where the National Hotel was built and the history of the now Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel began.
As America’s first National Park grew and brought in droves of visitors each year, construction of lodges and hotels were necessary and multiple locations began coming to fruition in the late 1800s.
In 1883, Mammoth Hot Springs Hotels was the first high-class hotel to be built. The construction of the hotel was the beginning of the end for the Yellowstone Park Improvement Company.
The company’s goal was to control the park by renting miles of land to extract timber and other materials to build the grand hotels. The construction of the Queen Anne style Mammoth Hotel was done during the winter of 1882-1883.
Workers used local lumber and lived off of game hunted from the park. By the time summer hit and the hotel was scheduled to open, the YPIC could not pay the workers for the job they had done all year and subsequently went bankrupt.
The hotel was taken over by the Northern Pacific Railroad. Eventually, in 1886, it was taken over by the National Park Association.
The original hotel was over 400 feet long and 50 feet wide. It had four stories and was painted green with a red roof.
It enjoyed a few years of grandeur as one of four high-class hotels in Yellowstone alongside Lake Hotel, Canyon Hotel and the Old Faithful Inn.
Visitors who arrived on the Northern Pacific Railroad would land at this location upon arrival to the park. Stagecoaches brought guests from the depot straight to the hotel.
Between 1911 and 1913, the hotel was greatly scaled back. Seattle architect Robert C. Reamer supervised renovations to the hotel.
The fourth floor was removed and the roof flattened. A north wing was added next to the main building.
By the 1930s, due to the growth of touring the park by car, remote cabins, and other facilities offered by the park, the hotel saw declining business and most of it was torn down in 1936, with the exception of the added North Wing. Robert Reamer returned and designed a new complex of cabins to meet travelers’ interest.
A newspaper out of Helena, Montana called the Helena Independent wrote an article about the project in August of 1936.
“New buildings to be erected include one to house the lobby, lounge and general offices, a huge recreational hall connected to a small lobby with public service units housing a curio shop, barber shop, hairdressing parlor, and similar departments, and a large modern dining room. . . A two-story building will house the [hotel] lobby, lounge, hotel office, telegraph and telephone divisions, news and cigar stands, and other public services. . .
A new dining room will rise on the site of the present one, but the structure will be rebuilt from the ground up with a second floor constructed as living quarters for general office employees. A new front and complete renovations to the newest hotel addition [current North Wing] will provide accommodations for upwards of 200 guests.”
The renovation essentially cut the hotel in two – the dining room was separate from the main lobby, which is still the case today. The recreation hall and cottages built during this time are still standing behind the hotel today.
The new buildings were painted grey, and remodeled to what is known as the Art Moderne style. Mammoth Hot Springs hotel is one of the only hotels in the National Park System that depicts this style of horizontal structures with flat roofs.
One unique detail that was originally showcased in the hotel lobby was a massive wooden United States map created by Robert Reamer, made from 15 different types of wood.
Today it can be seen in what is the Meeting Room – now generally known as the “Map Room.”
Visiting the hotel and surrounding area today feels much like visiting what it was 100 years ago.
As visitors in the beginning years would pile into 6-horse stagecoaches and ride the Observation Coaches around a loop to experience the “grand hotels,” Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel was an important part of the beginning of park visiting history.
The Map Room off the lobby was designed by Robert C. Reamer and his associate W. H. Fey. The map contains 2,544 pieces of wood from 16 types of trees from 9 countries. Each type of wood is identified on the left side of the giant map in a frame. One thing to look for is what capital on the map is shown incorrectly!
Mammoth Hot Springs Dining Room
The dining room is located across the street from the hotel next to the Terrace Grill. The dining room is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There are large windows to gaze out at the elk and the people taking pictures of the elk.
The dinner menu has a nice variety of menu items available including items marked vegetarian. I enjoyed the bison burger with bacon and it was delicious. It came with shoestring fries that were cooked perfectly.
My wife tried the macaroni and cheese and it was not her favorite. It was slightly bland in flavor and just a bit blah.
The burrata cheese platter looked amazing. Multiple people ordered it around us and we wished we would have ordered it
Value for Money
Price we paid per night – $210 + Tax = total of $233.60
Location – The location is amazing just down the street from Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park. You can walk out the front entrance of the hotel and see the hot springs along with elk all over the place. The hotel is located in the northern part of Yellowstone with easy access to the rest of the park.
Amenities – The clawfoot tub in the bathroom is amazing. There is shampoo, conditioner and body wash in the tub ready for you. The coffee set up had organic Tazo tea and organic Rainforest coffee available with multiple packets. There is a mini-fridge in the room. There is a USB plugin on the lamp next to the bed for easy phone charging. There is an electrical plugin next to the bed in case you need to plug in a c-pap machine.
The chair in the corner is comfortable with the ottoman for reading and relaxing.
Night sleep – The bed was firmer than we normally enjoy. The room was pretty quiet once people were not walking down the hall to get to their rooms. You can definitely hear people in the hallway especially the kids running up and downplaying at 10 pm. In the morning you could hear the garbage truck at 730 am.
Would we stay here again? – Yes, the price was amazing for staying in Yellowstone and being so close to Mammoth Hot Springs. It is the perfect place to stay to easily get an early morning start to see wildlife in Lamar Valley.
Things to know when planning a stay at Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel and Cabins
Check-in – 4:30 pm
Check out – 11 am
Wifi – There is a WiFi connection. It is strongest in the lobby area and map room. It sort of worked in our room but was not very fast.
Cribs – Cribs and crib sheets are available from the front desk upon request
Firearms – firearms both open carry and concealed weapons under permit are prohibited in Xanterra operated properties.
Additional Yellowstone National Park Resources
Ultimate Yellowstone National Park Lodging and Cabins Guide- The most complete source you can find on lodging and cabin options in Yellowstone National Park
Old Faithful Inn- Plan a trip to stay in one of America's most iconic National Park Lodges!
Things to do in Yellowstone - These are the top things to do that you don't want to miss during your trip!
Yellowstone National Park Camping - Guide to every campground within the park, reservations, site photos and more.
Don't miss the waterfalls in Yellowstone you can easily see while exploring the park.
Yellowstone National Park Facts - Learn more about our 1st National Park and fun facts about the wildlife in the park.
Grand Teton NP Guide - Epic guide to all the things you need to know to plan a visit to the park.
National Parks in Wyoming - Check out all of the epic parks in Wyoming you can visit near Yellowstone.
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