There's a restaurant on site, as well as a coffee shop/cafe. You can enjoy a drink at the bar/lounge. Paradise Inn also features gift shops/newsstands, a picnic area, and a fireplace in the lobby. Free self parking is available.
Great historical hotel, beautiful place, really enjoyed staying there. Great location, so close to lots of trails, amazing park.
What I did not like much: quality and variety of meals at the restaurant was not great. The hotel has just one restaurant, it is expensive, but the meals are not good enough for me, did not enjoy them as much. And very limited vegetarian options.
It was amazing to be able to step right out of the hotel onto the trails. The big lobby, main seating area was also a great place to hang out, though it got a little crowded at times.
It was nice to have dining options, from the reasonabl-priced cafe to the more expensive buffet.
Next time we'll try to book soon enough to get an ensuite bathroom, because our room was a bit small and it was a bit inconvenient to have to go down the hall to the bathroom in the middle of the night (though they did provide bathrobes). Bring bath shoes or flipflops if you plan to use the communal showers.
All that said, I would come back (but book early enough to get an en-suite bathroom).
The area was beautiful and it was great to have the trails right out the door for Mt. Rainier. The room was tiny, but clean and comfortable. The lodge was cozy and historic.
The staff was a mix of nice and indifferent. Dining options were very limited so we paid for the pricey dinner buffet ($100 for two people after tip) that was still had an hour left before it closed. The buffet was out of chicken and beef and all the side dishes were picked over. We were literally scraping the sides of the serving trays to get any food. Eventually they brought out more beef and chicken, but the chicken was like something you'd get in a high school cafeteria. The only thing they had plenty of was dessert, so we had dessert for dinner. The grab and go food in the snack bar was expensive and soggy.
Enjoyed the lodge and location immensely, but the food and it's expense was a huge disappointment.
Staying at Paradise Lodge is experiencing history. I first stayed here in the mid 1980s so this time was reliving those memories of 35 years ago. The lodge is old and interesting. The guest rooms are updated and comfortable. We had dinner in the lodge dining room and it was very good. All the staff were friendly and polite. We had a great time.
Pros:
Right in the park, beautiful views, next to all the trails.
Cons: shared bathroom and showers, thin walls, over priced everything. Felt like a retirement home, choice between overpriced buffet or overpriced pre packaged food.
Plus: Great location, a few steps from the popular Skyline Loop trailhead, the building has a very long history.
Minus: For almost $300 a night, the guest room is very small and there is no microwave or coffee in the room, not even a microwave in public place for guests to use.
If I could give this place zero stars, I would. This was by far the worst hotel experience Iâve ever had.
When we checked in, the room hadnât even been cleaned. We were forced to wait in the hallway for an hour, exhausted, until midnight. It was beyond frustrating. And how did they handle it? They didn't give us another room. The front desk woke up some poor staff member to clean the room in the middle of the night. When we finally got in, the bed was STILL dirty, with visible filth/hair on it. Absolutely disgusting.
This is the best choice you have around Paradise area, if you want to do an overnight trip to Mount Rainier. Yeah, it is expensive, of course. The room is clean, but tiny. We didn't dine in the restaurant on site, since the reviews are so bad. We brought our own food, got beer, tea and coffee from the cafe (yes, there is a cafe where you can get drinks). We had a quiet and peaceful time sitting on the porch with mountain view. A pianist played piano in the lobby which added the charm.