The cabins at Roosevelt Lodge are among the first to be sold out at the beginning of every summer. It's not because of any great location -- the cabins are located on the east side of the Park, far away from the Park's trademark geyser fields to the west -- nor is it because the cabins are nestled on the edge of a lovely landmark like Lake Yellowstone.

A wide variety of rooms are available at Canyon Lodge and Cabins. While they are not especially rustic and can be a little noisy, Canyon's various lodging options are billed as being the most centralized in the Park. That's probably true, and if you want to spend any time from the madding crowds descending on the western geyser fields, then Canyon is for you.

Back when Yellowstone National Park was first starting out, most of the tourists coming out to see the park were those who could afford the trip out there. That is why places such as the Lake Hotel aren't just humongous log cabins. Lake Hotel was built for the cultured (i.e. rich) tourists who were coming out to the Park. Lake Hotel's Ionic columns and sense of elegancy reflects this (it's also the most expensive hotel in the park).

We are not going to lead you astray and tell you the hotel rooms at Grant Village are high on our list of favorite places to stay in Yellowstone National Park. Truth be told, they're our least favorite. They lack any sort of character; no standard-issue Yellowstone lodge furniture. The exteriors look like they could be anywhere in the northern United States; no echoes of parkitecture here. Above all, they don't feel like they are part of Yellowstone. The six buildings with 50 units apiece are utterly interchangeable and fairly anonymous.