Hotel Review: The Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel is located at…you guessed it, the Mammoth Hot Springs! This area is in the northern part of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, only a few miles after arriving through the north entrance, and is one of the most popular and famous attractions in the park. I’ve got some pictures and description of the actual Mammoth Hot Springs area in the next post about the activities we did in Yellowstone so I won’t spoil that for you by talking about it here. This review is mainly about the hotel and lodging itself.
In This Trip
1: Not So Boring Trip to Yellowstone National Park: GSP-ORD-BOZ on United Airlines
2 :Not So Boring Trip to Yellowstone National Park: Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel Review
2.1: Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel Location in Yellowstone National Park
2.2: Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel Public Areas
2.3: Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel Room
2.4: Final Thoughts
3 : Not So Boring Trip to Yellowstone National Park: Yellowstone National Park Activities
4 : Not So Boring Trip to Yellowstone National Park: BOZ-DEN-GSP on United Airlines
Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel Location in Yellowstone National Park
The location of this hotel to the north entrance of Yellowstone National Park was definitely a benefit, although it was quite far to drive to some of the sights like Old Faithful and Grand Prismatic. However the drive is quite nice and part of the experience, so it wasn’t too much of a hassle.
The landscape near Mammoth Hot Springs is quite beautiful as well, and winding through the mountainsides to get to some of the other spots was quite a nice experience.
This vantage point was taken up at the Mammoth Hot Springs area on one of the boardwalk hikes up where all of the hot springs are located. It was quite a beautiful sight up there, overlooking the hotel!
Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel Public Areas
The main lodge building had the lobby, a gift shop, and a room called “The Map Roomâ€. Also this is the main building where you could stay in more traditional hotel room accommodations as opposed to cabins. There were a few other hotel-like buildings toward the back of the lot as well.
The entrance to the hotel was through this small atrium where I could imagine you could get bellhop service if you needed it.
The lobby was really pretty, and masks were required per federal law!
The gift shop was located off the side of the main lobby.
There was also a really nice looking fireplace in the seating area.
The Map Room was off to the other side of the lobby, which was where you could get coffee and some breakfast items like muffins and oatmeal in the mornings, and then get some alcoholic beverages in the evenings.
It was a cool space that I imagine would be neat to hang out with a cocktail after a long day of hiking. We didn’t do this though because we weren’t really wanting to be indoors without masks, which were required in all buildings, this being federal property, but were allowed to be removed while eating and drinking as is common.
One of the days while we were in the lobby, they were actually setting up a Christmas tree…in AUGUST! What has this world become?!?!
There was a main dining hall next to the main lodge building.
We had dinner here one night, which was pretty good for being a touristy food option. Unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures inside the dining room! It was quite large though, which was nice because they were still limiting capacity to 50% and were able to space out the tables enough that we felt comfortable eating inside here.
I had a meatloaf dish which was made with locally sourced beef and was very good. Pretty much everything on the menu was sustainably sourced and most items were locally sourced as well, which was nice to see from a national park restaurant. I also got a beer from a local Bozeman brewery.
The property also had a café type dining option called Mammoth Terrace Grill which was currently takeout only and only open for lunch and dinner. My parents got dinner here the first night and said it was just okay and was mostly fried foods and burgers.
Also next to the property was a small general store that sold some snack items, and a gas station that had some snack items as well.
The trails up into the hot springs were a short walk from the hotel which was really nice.
I have more photos of the area when we spent more time hiking around, but we did visit for a brief time one of the first nights we were there. Tune in to the next post for more pictures of the Mammoth Hot Springs themselves!
Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel Room
Behind the main building, there were the other hotel style buildings.
My parents and their friends (and now myself as well) were staying in two separate one-room/one-bath cabins toward the back of the property.
There were quite a lot of cabins! From what I could tell, there were probably some multiple-room cabins as well as the single-room ones we were staying in.
The ones we were staying in were in a circular formation with a nice green area out front.
We even saw a bunch of elk grazing on the lawn one morning!
The area allowed for a single car to be parked on the side of a single cabin, and it was first come first served.
I never had any issues parking, I think people generally just park outside their own cabin, which makes sense.
I thought the cabins were really cute, and pretty nice for being a bit older and more rustic.
I loved the little porch, although it was a little too chilly to sit outside for a long period of time.
We eventually did have to be careful stepping down from the porch after some kind of creature (likely a badger) dug a huge hole in the ground right in front of the porch steps!
The cabin was a nice size, with two queen beds, a desk, a sink outside the bathroom, and the toilet and shower inside the bathroom. I apologize for the very messy photos, my parents had already gotten comfortable before I arrived!
The desk was a nice thing to have, and there was more than just the one chair which was nice to have for the amount of people that the room can accommodate.
There was also a bench and a ledge to put more junk on!
I did make my bed so you could see what it looked like before getting messed up!
I loved the fleece blanket, it was so warm and the pattern was great for the mountain lodge aesthetic.
The bathroom with the toilet and shower was a decent size (good thing it wasn’t too messy for the photo!)
As much as it is nice to have a sink outside the bathroom for times when you need to use it when someone else is using the toilet or shower, it’s quite annoying during the middle of the night if someone gets up to use the facilities! That’s not specific to this hotel, just a general annoyance!
There was also a really cool photo on the wall of some ladies in what looks like the late 1800s/early 1900s standing right on top of the mineral formations! Definitely not allowed these days!
There was no TV and not even a phone in the room! Very much “off-the-gridâ€. There was WiFi on the property but apparently it didn’t reach the cabins because I was never able to get on unless we were in the lobby/main building. I did have a little bit of cell service so I was able to jump online occasionally but it was VERY slow and almost unusable.
Final Thoughts
Overall I would recommend the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel and the cabins for a great place to stay on a trip to Yellowstone! The cabins were rustic enough but comfortable enough as well. I thought that staying right in one of the most popular areas of the park was nice because we didn’t have to drive to see the sights in this spot! It was a little far from some of the other spots, but honestly the drive was part of the experience (more details to follow in the next post!)
The lobby was really nice, and it was great to be able to pick up breakfast in the morning. Although it would have been nice to have a coffeemaker in the room (oh yeah, there was no coffeemaker in the cabin style room…), having coffee available on site was nice, and you could even get an espresso drink if you wanted! The Map Room would have been nice to hang out in with an alcoholic beverage after a long day hiking, even if we didn’t partake. The dining hall was nice and had pretty decent food for being on site at the park.
There was so much more to see in Yellowstone that I will definitely need to go back. I would definitely stay at the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel again, especially in the cabins, and might bring James with me next time!
Tune in for the next post about all of the activities we did in Yellowstone National Park!