Family Fun in the Southwest

Christopher Creek Lodge

Christopher Creek, AZ

A rustic cabin-and-motel court tucked right on the bank of spring-fed Christopher Creek, deep in the ponderosa pines below the Mogollon Rim, where real log cabins with kitchens, fireplaces, and back porches sit steps from the water. Add exterior-door "Pony Express" motel units for smaller stays and this is the kind of piney, creekside base that makes you slow down the moment the car door shuts.

Reed's Lodge

Springerville, AZ

A lovingly restored 1949 White Mountains motor court where every room is its own individually themed world, each opening onto the lawn through its own exterior door. It feels less like a motel and more like a place a family has kept warm and welcoming for a very long time.

The Strawberry Inn

Strawberry, AZ

A stylishly reimagined Rim-country inn where the rooms, cabins, and tiny cottages come with a handwritten welcome note waiting inside and a coffee window that opens onto the pines each morning. It all wraps around a fire-pit yard stitched into a tiny mountain village, so a whole road-trip crew can scatter into their own little corners and still gather under the same tall trees at dusk.

Purple Sage Motel

Panguitch, UT

Red rock canyon country visible from every window in a husband-and-wife operation that takes its name from Zane Grey's most celebrated novel. The name does the landscape justice.

Zion Park Motel

Springdale, UT

Covered outdoor sitting areas with canyon wall views and a shuttle stop directly across the street since 1972. A clean vintage property where the canyon is close enough that it sets the agenda.