Horseshoe Bend Motel
375 E Main St
Lovell, WY
Vintage vacation feeling, modern comfort, and a garden firepit gathering, gateway to Bighorn Canyon.
About Horseshoe Bend Motel
Horseshoe Bend Motel is a newly renovated, family owned and operated roadside motel on Main Street in Lovell, Wyoming, a small town in the Bighorn Basin between the dramatic walls of Bighorn Canyon and the peaks of the Bighorn Mountains. The owners describe their aim simply: vintage vacations with modern updates. Starting in 2020, they rebuilt the property room by room, redoing every space with new flooring, fresh paint, and unique custom woodwork rather than a generic refresh. The result is a genuinely personal small motel, the kind of family run roadside stop that road trip travelers hope to find and rarely do. It sits under an hour and a half from Yellowstone's east entrance and minutes from Bighorn Canyon, an unpretentious and well kept basecamp for a stretch of Wyoming most travelers pass through without stopping.
What Horseshoe Bend Motel Is Known For
Horseshoe Bend proves how much a genuinely dedicated family can do with a small roadside motel. Instead of a cosmetic touch up, the owners rebuilt every room by hand with custom woodwork, then built a real outdoor life around the property: a raised vegetable garden, a firepit gathering space, grills, and a picnic area that guests actually use. In a corner of the Bighorn Basin where lodging is usually purely functional, that level of care and personality stands out. It is a warm, well kept, family run basecamp between Bighorn Canyon and Yellowstone, exactly the kind of find a road trip lives for.
Amenities
- Pets Welcome
- WiFi
- Raised bed vegetable garden
- Evening firepit and seating area
- Barbecue grills
- Outdoor picnic area
- Custom woodwork in every room
- Retro radios in rooms
- Coffee and tea in a common area
What Guests Love
- Every room was rebuilt during the renovation with new flooring, custom woodwork, and new mattresses topped with mattress toppers and fresh linens.
- The outdoor gathering space includes a raised vegetable garden, a firepit and seating area, BBQ grills, and a picnic area.
- A retro radio in each room leans into the vintage vacation feeling the family owners set out to create.
- It makes an easy, well kept basecamp between Bighorn Canyon and Yellowstone's east entrance.
Worth Knowing
- Lovell is a small Bighorn Basin town, so stock up on fuel and groceries before longer drives out to Bighorn Canyon or toward Yellowstone.
- Pets are welcome. Pet friendly rooms are limited, and a pet fee applies; contact the property directly to confirm current amounts, availability, and any restrictions before booking.
- If you plan to arrive late, contact the property in advance to arrange check in.
- Bring layers. The Bighorn Basin runs hot by day and cool at night, and the garden firepit is best enjoyed with a jacket on hand.
The Room
Every room was completely redone during the renovation, with new flooring, fresh paint, and custom woodwork that gives each space a handmade character. Beds are new, layered with mattress toppers and fresh linens, and rooms come in single queen, double, and pet friendly configurations to suit couples, families, and travelers with dogs. Practical comforts are all present: microwave, mini refrigerator, in room coffee maker, air conditioning, hair dryer, and a work desk. The nicest touch is a retro radio in each room, a small nostalgic nod that fits the vintage vacation spirit the owners are after. The overall feeling is clean, comfortable, and personal, a real step above the standard small town roadside room.
The Grounds
Behind the rooms the property opens onto its best feature: an outdoor gathering space built around a garden. There is a raised bed garden growing fresh vegetables, a cozy firepit and seating area for evenings, barbecue grills for cooking your own meal, and a picnic area for eating outside. The single story motel has rooms opening to the outside with free private parking right at the door. Coffee and tea are available in a common area. The setting is quintessential Bighorn Basin: wide Wyoming sky, the Bighorn Mountains on one horizon, and the red rock country toward Bighorn Canyon on the other, a quiet town where the outdoor space genuinely gets used.
The Experience
What makes Horseshoe Bend memorable is how much it feels like staying with people who care. Evenings draw guests out to the firepit in the garden, grills going, vegetables growing in the raised beds nearby, the kind of unhurried outdoor gathering you would not expect from a roadside motel in a small Wyoming town. The rooms are clean and comfortable, the custom woodwork gives them character, and the retro radios lean into the vintage vacation feeling. By day the location does the work, with Bighorn Canyon minutes away and Yellowstone within reach, and by evening the garden and firepit bring everyone back together. It is the sort of honest, personal place that turns a highway town into a stop worth remembering.
Details
Lovell, WY 82431
The Boutel designation is earned, not purchased. Boutels is editorially independent and has no financial relationship with any listed property.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Horseshoe Bend Motel have EV charging?
No, Horseshoe Bend Motel does not have EV charging.
Does Horseshoe Bend Motel serve breakfast?
No, Horseshoe Bend Motel does not serve breakfast.
Does Horseshoe Bend Motel have WiFi?
Yes, Horseshoe Bend Motel has WiFi.
What is there to do near Horseshoe Bend Motel?
Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area: 10 miles, about a 20 minute drive. Pryor Mountain Wild Mustang Center: 0.5 miles, about a 5 minute drive, or you can walk. Yellowstone National Park east entrance: 95 miles, about a 190 minute drive.
How far is Horseshoe Bend Motel from Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area?
10 miles, about a 20 minute drive.
How far is Horseshoe Bend Motel from Pryor Mountain Wild Mustang Center?
0.5 miles, about a 5 minute drive, or you can walk.
How far is Horseshoe Bend Motel from Yellowstone National Park east entrance?
95 miles, about a 190 minute drive.
How far is Horseshoe Bend Motel from Bighorn Canyon?
Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area is about 10 miles from Horseshoe Bend Motel, roughly a 15 minute drive from Lovell.
Does Horseshoe Bend Motel allow pets?
Yes. Horseshoe Bend Motel has pet friendly rooms, though they are limited. Contact the property directly before booking to confirm current pet fees, availability, and any restrictions.
Does Horseshoe Bend Motel have a firepit?
Yes. Horseshoe Bend Motel has an outdoor firepit and seating area in its garden gathering space, along with BBQ grills and a picnic area.
Does Horseshoe Bend Motel have a pool?
No, Horseshoe Bend Motel does not have a pool. It offers an outdoor garden with a firepit, grills, a raised vegetable garden, and a picnic area.
Is parking free at Horseshoe Bend Motel?
Yes, free private on site parking is available right outside the rooms at the single story motel.
How far is Horseshoe Bend Motel from Yellowstone?
Yellowstone's east entrance is about 95 miles from Horseshoe Bend Motel, roughly a 1 hour and 45 minute drive over Sylvan Pass.
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Things to Do Near the Bighorn Basin
Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area
10 miles, about a 20 minute drive.
10 miles, about a 15 minute drive. A dramatic canyon of red rock walls and a deep blue reservoir, with the Devil Canyon Overlook, wild horses in the Pryor Mountains, and boating on Bighorn Lake.
Pryor Mountain Wild Mustang Center
0.5 miles, about a 5 minute drive, or you can walk.
0.5 miles, about a 2 minute drive. A small local center in Lovell dedicated to the wild horses of the Pryor Mountains, a good first stop before heading up into Bighorn Canyon to look for them.
Yellowstone National Park east entrance
95 miles, about a 190 minute drive.
95 miles, about a 1 hour and 45 minute drive. The east entrance road climbs over Sylvan Pass toward Yellowstone Lake, one of the most scenic approaches into the park through the Absaroka Mountains.