Continuing on our family vacation brings us to Springdale Utah. Springdale is surrounded on all sides by Zion national park. It’s pretty much just a town of hotels that tourists use while visiting the park. It’s a beautiful area that’s a little hit or miss. Some of the restaurants are great, some are pretty poor. Kinda comes with the territory, tourists towns are like that.
At the Cable Mountain Lodge, my family had booked 2 suites for the 7 people. This was just about perfect for all of us. We had two different types of rooms, a “Luxury Suite” and the “Judy Ann Suite.” Both were very nice, and had ups and downs for our particular situation. My family had been at the hotel for 2 days before we arrived.
In This Trip
1: Family Vacation, Zion National Park: CLT-SCL-CDC Delta 737-800 First Class and CRJ200 Economy Review
2 :Family Vacation, Zion National Park: Cable Mountain Lodge(Springdale Utah) Review
2.1: Cable Mountain Lodge Hotel Grounds and Location
2.2: Cable Mountain Lodge Luxury Suite
2.3: Cable Mountain Lodge Judy Ann Suite
2.4: Final Thoughts
3 :Family Vacation, Zion National Park: Angels Landing
4: Family Vacation, Zion National Park: CDC-SLC-CLT Delta CRJ200 and 737-800 Comfort Plus Review
The Cable Mountain Lodge Grounds and Location
The Cable Mountain Lodge is absolutely the best location for going to Zion NP. There’s not a better location in Springdale. It’s the last hotel before the park entrance so you can just walk right across the bridge and into the park.
Across the parking lot is a little store that has some groceries, beer(Utah Beer), and snacks. As you can see, the main road is lousy with little restaurants, stores, shops, and coffee shops. We tried several and liked almost all of them. Unfortunately the only place we didn’t really enjoy was also the closest, The Zion Canyon Brew Pub was just ok. The beer was fine, but the food was very generic.
Our favorite restaurant was the Whiptail Grill. Who doesn’t love Mexican food in an old converted gas station.
There’s a NP shuttle bus the runs through the town. It’s a great way to get around, another great way is to rent bikes. We did both and while I was skeptical about the bikes to start with, I really ended up enjoying it.
We arrived at the Cable Mountain Lodge at night and were greeted by beautiful grounds. This is an all outdoor entrance hotel as most of the hotels in the area are. It’s an outdoor destination, who wouldn’t want to walk right outside.
Look at the view from the balcony. This is really a beautiful destination.
The pool at Cable Mountain Lodge was excellent. We would hike in the mornings then relax by the pool in the afternoons. Perfect way to spend a vacation. Plus, look at that view. Surrounded by mountains, enjoying what Utah calls beer, sitting in the pool.
On the right side is the Virgin River. It flows down from the park and along side the town. In the distance you can see some propane grills that we used almost nightly to cook our dinners. With 7 people it was way easier to just bring food back and cook ourselves.
It’s hard to imagine a better place to grill out and enjoy a vacation.
Cable Mountain Lodge Luxury Suite
Walking into the room is a sitting area with TV. These aren’t the fanciest of rooms but they are very large and clean. I’m good with that and would gladly make that trade.
There was a separate bedroom, again somewhat plain. But the bed was good and there were outlets surrounding the bed. Perfect for what we needed.
TV, luggage rack, and dresser were all perfectly usable. But as you can see, it’s really not a fancy room. Not a lot of ornamental value here.
Same thing continuing into the bathroom. Clean, large, and plain. I guess it’s to be expected in Utah.
I’d much prefer a walk in shower instead of the tub and shower curtain, but again, very clean.
Sadly I forgot to take a picture of the kitchen and eating area. This picture is from the Judy Ann Suite, but it was exactly the same, just the mirror image. This was great for cooking our meals and hanging out as a family.
The Luxury Suite was great for 3 people. The bathroom was directly off of the living room so it makes it much easier than if the bathroom is attached to the bedroom. I would highly recommend this room.
Cable Mountain Lodge Judy Ann Suite
Walking up the stairs at this hotel is always great. The views are just incredible in all directions.
Walking in brings you to the sitting area. Very similar to the Luxury Suite.
The kitchen is off to the left. Yes this is the same as before, just a different picture. We really got great use out of these kitchens. Having a full size fridge and even a dishwasher was useful when you’re feeding 7 people.
There was a closet behind the table, didn’t need it but it does exist.
Into the bedroom we found a very comfortable king size bed. Yes, there’s an alarm clock, yes, I like having that. I don’t know what it is, I sleep better when I can just roll over and see what time it is. There were also plenty of outlets and USB ports around the bed.
The opposite wall had the TV and dresser. This is a pretty bad picture, not sure how I screwed that one up.
This is where the Judy Ann Suite starts to differentiate from the other room. The bathroom is much larger, nicer, and is also attached to the bedroom. This has it’s ups and downs. If it’s just two people like an involved couple it’s not a big deal. When you and your wife sharing the room with you’re brother, it’s not so great.
There was a cool fireplace in the bathroom, but when I say the bathroom was attached to the bedroom, I mean the bathroom and the bedroom were the exact same room. I’ve talked about this in the past, but I’d much prefer just having the bathroom and bedroom as separate areas. The Luxury suit has that advantage.
The sink and toilet area. The toilet is in it’s own privacy room, but the sink is not. If you turn on the lights to wash your hands in the night, you’ll wake whomever is sleeping in the bed.
This really shows the situation. The shower is definitely not a private indulgence.
The lovely balcony was right outside the sitting area. This hotel has outdoor beauty in spades. It really is an amazing contrast to the plain and understated rooms.
Final Thoughts
Cable Mountain Lodge, is without a doubt, is a perfect hotel to visit Zion National Park. The two room types that we got to stay in were perfect for our needs. This hotel has lots of different options too. They can very much accommodate different group sizes and needs.
The Luxury Suite was a great choice for a family with a single bedroom and then sofa beds for 2 more people. It also has the bathroom as it’s own room off of the sitting area and not behind the bedroom. It also had a great kitchen that was more than adequate to cook for 7 people, albeit creatively, it was very possible.
The Judy Ann Suite would have been better suited for a couple than a group but we took what we could get. The only downside was because the bathroom was not very private and was through the bedroom. Very romantic, but not great for a small group.
In the end I’d gladly stay here again. The location is perfect, the amenities like the pool and grills really make it livable for a longer stay. It’s also great to have the local store available to grab supplies and drinks. My whole family really enjoyed this stay and so did I.