Volcano House

“A Unique (and Great!) Choice In Volcanos National Park”

My wife and I had stayed in a number of 'historic' hotels in National Parks and while they have always been interesting places to check out they often are not the best places to stay (the Old Faithful Inn in particular comes to mind - wander into the lobby but DO NOT stay there). Anyway with our e… more

My wife and I had stayed in a number of 'historic' hotels in National Parks and while they have always been interesting places to check out they often are not the best places to stay (the Old Faithful Inn in particular comes to mind - wander into the lobby but DO NOT stay there). Anyway with our experiences in mind I hesitated to stay at Volcano House - another inn with no air conditioning and no televisions? Will it have no wi-fi like the lowly Old Faithful Inn? I'm happy to pass on that the Volcano House does indeed have no air conditioning and no televisions - but it does have good wi-fi and a lot of good character too - it's a great choice. We arrived at 10 AM - way too early to check in - but Michelle at the front desk was happy to pre-check us in anyway and was a pleasure to chat with. She gave us a good overview, stowed our luggage, and sent us out to tour with a smile. In the early afternoon we took a break to have a delicious pizza and beer at Uncle George's Lounge (the hotel bar) and found our room was ready. The room was clean, spacious (enough), and the kicker was the view of the crater out our large windows. We had a ground floor room so we were able to walk right out the door to the crater walkway, or we could sit and gaze from one of the many lounge chairs tucked up against the hotel. We had dinner at the cozy hotel bar later on (full of hardworking and friendly staff) and went back to our room to gaze at the sunset, and eventually, the Milky Way. We were able to stream whatever videos we wanted over the wi-fi, and the hotel grew quiet quickly. The lack of air conditioning was never a concern - on this early October day the daytime temperatures were in the 70s - and it got down to the high 40's overnight. The only minor downsides we ran into was the fairly loud sounds of the guests above us as they walked around their room, and the thin wall between our room and the hotel hall outside our room. The hotel's quiet hours start at 10 PM but all was quiet before then, however. The hotel is a bit pricey but we were very happy with our experience, and felt it was worth the cost.

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“You can't beat the view!”

As in many park hotels, the rooms are on the small side, especially the bathroom and shower. But you are right next to the main attraction. The staff here was extremely helpful, even letting us have 3 luggage racks to better manage our space. You can't beat the view!

“Beautiful, but the room we had was really hot!”

The view from Volcano House is magnificent. The food at the restaurants there is excellent. The lobby is nicely cooled by cross ventilation. One thing to keep in mind. If you stay there on a sunny day (we stayed there 2 nights), and if you have a room that faces the Caldera, it will also face a … more

The view from Volcano House is magnificent. The food at the restaurants there is excellent. The lobby is nicely cooled by cross ventilation. One thing to keep in mind. If you stay there on a sunny day (we stayed there 2 nights), and if you have a room that faces the Caldera, it will also face a blazing afternoon sun. There is NO air conditioning, and you have to close the curtains in the room in the afternoon to keep out the blazing sun, so there is no air moving. It gets extremely hot in the caldera facing rooms in the afternoon, and it stays warm all night long. Very warm. We were on the ground-level floor, so we didn't feel comfortable leaving the window (actually a sliding door with a window in it) open all night. I think the 2nd floor rooms that don't face the caldera would be fine because they wouldn't get the afternoon solar heating and you could leave the window open at night if desired.

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