Want to sleep in a caboose or near an active volcano? Visit these national parks.

National Geographic

10-07-2025

Lava eruptions, ghost towns, stargazing beds, and horror films are features of the most unusual accommodations in or near U.S. national parks. Visitors to these 63 majestic parks can choose from a variety of traditional options, including convenient motels, cozy lodges, luxurious cabins, and modern hotels. Or they can add a curious twist to their wilderness holiday by staying in one of these six distinctive properties. Buffalo Creek Vacations, Clyde, North Carolina
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Best for: Train spotters
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.'
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.
(6 alternatives to the most popular national park lodges) Open Sky Zion Resort, Virgin, Utah At night, guests staying at Open Sky Zion Resort near Zion National Park can gaze at the stars through the glass ceiling of their bedroom. Photograph by David Adam Elliott, Open Sky Zion Resort
Zion National Park
Best for: Stargazers
Like sleeping inside an observatory, guests at Open Sky Zion Resort can study the twinkling universe while lying in bed, as they peer through a giant ceiling window of their room. Zion National Park thrills visitors by day, with its cinematic landscape of sandstone cliffs and canyons. After dark, meanwhile, it becomes an elite stargazing location.
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. Treehouse Mount Rainier , Ashford, Washington Located near Mt. Rainier National Park, Treehouse Mt. Rainier offers guests incredible views of Mount Rainier at sunset. Photograph by Mark Stone, National Geographic Image Collection
Mount Rainier National Park
Best for: A once-in-a-lifetime experience
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 unique creation, Treehouse Mount Rainier, the result of a lifetime of aspiration and 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.
(Escape the crowds at the lower 48's most remote national park) The Ahwahnee , Yosemite National Park, California
Best for: Haunts and history buffs
Nightmares, royalty, and war populate the strange back story of Yosemite National Park's The 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. Kennicott Glacier Lodge, Kennicott, Alaska The Kennicott Glacier Lodge can serve as a home base for visitors to Wrangell-St. Elias National Park is the U.S.'s largest national park. Based in Alaska's largest ghost town, this lodge also provides access to the 3-mile round-trip Glacier Trail to see Root Glacier. Photograph Courtesy of Kennicott Glacier Lodge
Wrangell-St. Elias National Park
Best for: Icy wilderness immersionists
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 the U.S.'s largest national park.
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.
(Avoid crowds at the 10 least-visited U.S. National Parks) Volcano House, Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park , Hawaii
Best for: Adrenalin junkies
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 scarily near its summit. 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. Ronan O'Connell is an Australian journalist and photographer who shuttles between Ireland, Thailand, and Western Australia.