6 of the most unusual places to stay at U.S. national parks

Accommodations in or near national parks in the United States run the gamut, from rustic lodges and campsites to luxurious cabins and modern hotels. Many also offer unique experiences, like sleeping in an antique train car or in a comfy bed, while gazing up at the stars or out at a volcano.

Whether you love nature or history, these six distinctive places to stay are bound to make your next national park visit extra special.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Where to stay: Buffalo Creek Vacations, Clyde, North Carolina

Why: Sleep in renovated train cabooses

Cheryl Hillis grew up in a household stacked with model trains, which were her father’s passion. To celebrate his legacy, her family converted four old American caboose railway cars into accommodations, alongside eight cabins. Set in a mountainous area of North Carolina, this 72-acre working ranch is home to bison, llamas, goats, and horses, and is just 13 miles east of the Cataloochee entrance to Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

“Since cabooses are slowly dying off, we felt as if it was also important to try to preserve the original features as much as possible,” says Hillis, founder of Buffalo Creek Vacations. “The interiors were totally gutted out so they can be made into a modern, useful lodging. (But) we made sure to repaint the exterior in some of the original liveries, maintaining the historical paint schemes and numbers that the trains used to bear.”

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Each caboose is pet-friendly features a full kitchen, two TVs, a bathroom with heated floors, and a charcoal grill on its large deck, where guests can sit and watch the bison roam. Guests may also see wild deer, elk, black bears, and groundhogs while slowly driving this national park’s Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail.

Good to know: North Carolina summers are hot and humid, so Hillis recommends guests cool down with a dip at nearby swimming holes. Standouts include Skinny Dip Falls, Sliding Rock, Midnight Hole, and Graveyard Fields. 

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Zion National Park

Where to stay: Open Sky Zion Resort, Virgin, Utah

Why: Go glamping under the stars

By day, Zion National Park thrills with its cinematic landscape of sandstone cliffs and canyons. After dark, the park becomes a prime spot for stargazing.

Luxury glamping resort Open Sky Zion takes advantage of the park’s unique landscape by offering rooms that come with a giant ceiling window, allowing guests to feel like they’re sleeping inside an observatory.

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As a boy, Bygnal Dutson adored staring up at the cosmos, so he created this glamping resort on the southwest edge of the national park in Utah. “The whole premise was to connect folks with nature without sacrificing the comforts of life,” says the Open Sky Zion Resort owner.  

This 80-acre, off-grid property has safari-style canvas cottages, each with plush linens, a Keurig coffee maker, indoor and outdoor showers, and a private fire pit. All complemented by the resort’s chic, farm-to-table Black Sage restaurant.

Good to know: August and September are Zion National Park’s prime months for stargazing when the Milky Way is at its most visible, and the annual Perseid meteor shower creates a celestial spectacle. Bear in mind that, in summer, darkness doesn’t fall here until about 10 p.m.

Mount Rainier National Park

Where to stay: Treehouse Mount Rainier, Ashford, Washington

Why: Fall asleep in a treehouse

Attached to eight Douglas Fir trees and suspended 16 feet above the forest floor, these living quarters are a manifestation of Scott Atkins’ childhood dreams. “You feel as though you’re on an old wooden ship,” Atkins says of his Treehouse Mount Rainier, the result of 30 years of experience building treehouses. 

“Because it’s fully supported by trees, you have to allow for nature to do its thing, and trees grow and move in the wind over time,” he explains. “The foundation hardware needs to slip to allow the tree movement, which can result in a popping sound.”

This 420-square-foot treehouse with one bed is one of five rentable treehouses across the U.S. designed and built by Nelson Treehouse, a small American firm where Atkins is project manager. Generous windows provide striking forest views from every nook of this petite, yet well-equipped cabin. 

Modern comforts, such as Wi-Fi, air conditioning, a smart TV, and a fully equipped kitchen, seamlessly blend into its splendid wooden interior. And it is just seven miles west of Washington State’s Mount Rainier National Park, renowned for its dramatic waterfalls, kaleidoscopic wildflowers, and the snow-flecked 14,410-foot peak of the same name as the park. 

Good to know: Treehouse Mount Rainier offers quick access to some of this national park’s highlights, like glassy Reflection Lake, thunderous Comet Falls, and the memorable Van Trump hiking trail. 

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Yosemite National Park

Where to stay: The Ahwahnee,Yosemite Valley, California

Why: Sleep in a legendary hotel with famous haunts

Nightmares, royalty, and war populate the strange backstory of Yosemite National Park’s Ahwahnee. This lodge was built in 1927 from stone and wood to help it blend into its wild California surroundings, which feature 130-million-year-old granite cliffs and 3,000-year-old giant sequoia trees.

Since then, it has witnessed remarkable events and unexplained sightings. This historic hotel is renowned for its haunted tales of ghosts who refuse to leave, including Mary Curry Tressider, who played a pivotal role in the hotel’s development. Guests may spot her folding up their clothes in one of the rooms on the sixth floor.

Meanwhile, staff and guests have also spotted her husband, Donald Tressider, wandering the hotel’s halls or heading to the kitchen for milk. And if you’re staying on the third floor, beware of the empty rocking chair, moving on its own. It’s said to be haunted by former President John F. Kennedy, who requested a rocker during his stay at the hotel.

As guests marvel at Yosemite’s famous Half Dome, through the lodge’s floor-to-ceiling windows, they share a view once enjoyed by wounded naval officers. During World War II, the U.S. Navy converted the Ahwahnee into a convalescent hospital for injured sailors. 

And while resting in one of its 97 old-fashioned rooms, guests may feel as if they’re a character in the 1980 horror classic, The Shining, starring Jack Nicholson. The film’s main setting—a hotel flanked by peaks and forest—copied the Ahwahnee’s interior.

Good to know: Luxury travelers staying here can choose the lodge’s opulent Queen’s Room, with its giant four-poster bed, where the aforementioned British Monarch once stayed.  

Wrangell-St. Elias National Park

Where to stay: Kennicott Glacier Lodge, Kennicott, Alaska 

Why: Explore a restored ghost town with glacier views

Kenniccott Glacier Lodge is eerie, isolated, unique, and spectacular. This 43-room hotel is a replica of a historic copper mining building, based in Alaska’s largest ghost town, overlooking a giant glacier, in the middle of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, the largest national park in the U.S.

Kennicott was abandoned for decades after its copper mine shut in 1938. Visitors can see about 40 restored heritage buildings, including mill structures, bunkhouses, a train depot, and a power plant, says Jill Simpson, CEO of the Alaska Travel Industry Association. “Kennicott Mill Town feels like stepping back in time, with most of the original equipment and furnishings left behind to provide a glimpse into what life was like during that period,” she says.

The lodge also celebrates this heritage by displaying numerous artifacts, historic photographs, and magazine articles from the mining era, according to the lodge’s General Manager, Christina Kirkwood. However, its most significant selling point remains its extraordinary natural setting. “The Lodge sits on the side of a mountain overlooking the 25-mile-long Kennicott Glacier and has views of 16,320-foot Mount Blackburn and the Chugach Mountains,” says Kirkwood.

Good to know: The 3-mile round-trip Glacier Trail, which starts alongside this lodge, leads tourists to the vast and spectacular Root Glacier, where they can attach spiked crampons to their boots to walk on the ice.

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Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park

Where to stay: Volcano House, Hawai’i

Why: Gaze out at an active volcano

Would you like lava with dinner? If so, ascend one of the world’s most active volcanoes, Kīlauea, and check into Volcano House, a historic hotel located near the summit on the Big Island. In June, Kilauea sprayed lava 1,000 feet into the air. This natural spectacle thrilled guests at Volcano House, where it was visible from the restaurant and some of its 33 rooms, due to the property’s elevated perch on the rim of Kīlauea caldera, some 4,000 feet above sea level.

While this may sound dangerous, the hotel is located far enough from Kīlauea’s crater to have survived since its first iteration opened here in 1846. Owners rebuilt the current version of Volcano House in 1941 after extensive fire damage, caused not by flying molten rock but rather a simple accident. Now it offers cozy accommodations, a lounge, gift shop, snack bar, and most importantly, a convenient base for exploring Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park.

Located on the Big Island, this park rises to an elevation of 13,000 feet, and features a rainforest, alpine tundra, ash-draped deserts, and lava fields, all of which are connected to its two active volcanoes. Hiking trails lead through much of this natural splendor. However, park rangers advise visitors to be cautious of jagged volcanic rocks, unstable ground, concealed lava tubes, and hazardous gases such as sulfur dioxide, which can be particularly harmful to people with respiratory issues.

Good to know: Volcano House guests can follow two driving routes, which reveal distinctive, volcanic scenery: Crater Rim Drive and Chain of Craters Road. Get maps and advice at the Kīlauea Visitor Center.