Far View Lodge

“Lovely national park”

We were so looking forward to our stay at the lodge. We have stayed at several national park lodges over the years and although the rooms are very old, (a bit like glamping), it is affordable for all and such a nice experience to stay within the park when all the visitors have left. The rooms are … more

We were so looking forward to our stay at the lodge. We have stayed at several national park lodges over the years and although the rooms are very old, (a bit like glamping), it is affordable for all and such a nice experience to stay within the park when all the visitors have left. The rooms are what was expected, basic but extremely clean. Got the impression that the lodge had only just recently opened for the season as the staff at reception, although extremely friendly, seemed a bit at “fingers and thumbs”, not very slick. We had booked almost a year ago and had asked for an upper floor room and were given lower which seemed dark and dingy, they changed us to room 132 which was much nicer and a lovely view with patio outside. All was going well as we sat outside admiring the view before heading for our evening meal which we had booked (a month ago) for 7.30, our intention was to head for the bar first but that was closed, maybe due to early season. At about 6.30 all the electrics went off, apparently to the whole mountain , not the lodges fault by any means but apparently they were not really able to communicate with anyone due to the fact that the mobile phones were also not working. The restaurant shut, we thought they could maybe at least make a salad or sandwich but they were worried to even open the fridge door to preserve the food inside which is understandable. Thankfully when we were here in April it was still daylight until about 9pm. Unfortunately we had no food with us and had not eaten since breakfast and had been looking forward to a decent meal. Fortunately our lovely neighbours came to our rescue with some cheese, biscuits and apple, they had brought food with them and this was left over and they gave it us with pleasure, we were so very grateful and can not thank them enough. Some people decided to leave and stay in Cortez, others drove the 45 minutes to Cortez and back again just to get something to eat. We had been driving most of the day and that option did not appeal. We fortunately had a bottle of white wine with us, managed to buy the last beef and cheese sandwich from the fridge at reception ( which was very good by the way). We brought the patio table in from outside as it was too cold to eat outside, and used a towel as a table cloth. We had the sandwich, cheese, biscuits, apple, wine and nuts and to be honest, for us, 4 weeks in of a 5 week holiday where we are eating out every day (hence skipping lunch), it was plenty. We had been looking forward to leisurely cooked breakfast the next morning at the lodge with a nice view but apparently the breakfast was not served here. Instead we had to drive about 5 minutes up the road to the cafe for a canteen style breakfast. Fortunately they were making fresh omelettes and a barista was making fresh coffee so we opted for this rather than paying the $15 for a buffet style breakfast that did not look any better than something you would get at a Hampton Inn hotel. I can highly recommend the omelette, it was very nice. Came back to the room and had to hang around for while as we had only booked our Cliff Palace tour for 11.30 (due to the leisurely breakfast we though we were going to have). I think a one night stay is ample here, or better still stay in Cortez. There are no short walks from the lodge except a stroll around the car park and other lodgings in the evening, No animal life to be seen out at night and unfortunately too cloudy for stargazing on the night we were there. I think 1 to 2 days is enough for a stay here although 1 night was enough when we visited as the Wetherill Mesa area was completely shut. I also recommend the Cliff Palace tour over the Balcony house one, it is the most impressive although balcony is the most exhausting. Please do not do either if you are not at all fit. They are both classed as strenuous and the altitude is an added factor. Lovely park to visit, make sure you do the short hikes, the museum and film and spruce house and if only doing one walk then the Soda Canyon Overlook is a nice recomend.

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