Groveland Hotel-Yosmite National Park

My hubby found the Groveland hotel on
as a last minute overnight near Yosemite. We had only driven through the tiny town once before and remembered it being a convenient drive to the park entrance. I usually have a say in what accommodations we stay at but let him choose this time. While we were on our way there I pulled up the their Unilocal reviews and immediately scolded him in his lack of research.
While it appeared charming based on their website, a handful of other Unilocalers had left 1 – 2 stars because of bed bug infestations and for being haunted. Great. At least our dogs would be there with us to catch the bugs and ghosts…
As we checked in I started peeling back the sheets and inspecting every inch of the room for signs of bed bugs. No bugs. The rooms were clean and front staff very pleasant. Each room had its own name-​we stayed in Betty Fries. They have a few resident cats there to greet you and are friendly. For $ 50 per pet per night our pups each got a bed and water bowl and it seemed like there were more doggie guests than human guests. We also had complementary breakfast in the morning which was surprisingly good. Go for the French toast breakfast!
All in all we missed out on the ghosts and bed bugs and I’m happy to report that our overnight was comfortable and uneventful.

Hands down one of my favorite weekend get-​aways. I’ve been here 4 – 5 times and love it more each time.
It’s only about 3 hours from Sacramento, and only the last 20 – 30 minutes of driving is even remotely difficult (as in curvy or steep mountain driving). There is plenty of free parking located conveniently right behind the hotel.
It is bed and breakfast style, and looks like a TV grandma’s house. Yes, there are teddy bears everywhere. Yes, floral everything. Yes, antique furniture that squeaks. Yes. If you like sleek and modern, this is not your place. I can appreciate either, and I love the Groveland Hotel.
The staff is always warm, funny, and inviting. The hotel is gorgeous, cozy, and (yeah) quaint. The rooms have large comfortable beds with plenty of soft blankets, private bathrooms, wifi, and the little things you find yourself needing (bottles of water, cups, robes, etc.). Here and there throughout the hotel are common areas with tables, couches, etc. where you can meet up with your friends to play board games and drink wine. Room service is available, but it is just as easy to run down to the bar for another cheese plate and pint of beer.
The price of your room always includes actual breakfast the next morning. Not cereal and overripe bananas. You get to pick what you want from a menu and have it prepared fresh. Choices include things like biscuits and gravy, scrambles and omelets, and French toast. The food is good quality, a large portion, and I find myself actually looking forward to it.
In the evening, the hotel’s restaurant, The Cellar Door, opens. The food is wonderful, the service is flawless, and the atmosphere is just fancy enough to remind you that you are on vacation. The prices are reasonable and I have never had a bad time. If the weather is nice enough, you can even sit in the beautiful garden courtyard.
One of my favorite memories of the Cellar Door is flipping through their GIANT wine list and commenting on how surprised I was that they had so much wine. The waitress said, «oh, we have a whole wine cellar». I had already had a glass or two, so I asked if we could see it. She totally took us down to the basement and showed us the cellar where they have thousands of bottles. The selection is huge and a lot of it is local. I discovered a winery in Jamestown that I now love.
From the hotel it is almost exactly a 1 hour drive to Yosemite Village. For the casual Yosemite visitor, it is nice to be able to enjoy the park throughout the day, but then retire back to the hotel for dinner, drinks, and a soft bed.
We’ll be back in April and we can’t wait.

The rooms:
We stayed in two different rooms because the first room had noisy pipes and the water went cold for a shower. (That’s no fun in the middle of snowy weather!) Also very difficult to access the small Armour/​closet and pretty uncomfortable bed. (That room was $ 175.)
So we switched for our second night to a twin bedroom. One of the beds had no frame support. The mattress was hanging in the middle. It will fall through if it’s not attended to.
(That room was $ 145.)
The restaurant:
We both ordered dinner upon arrival. It took a long time to get service. (Not the servers fault. The hotel had understaffed and she was in charge of the entire dining room… six tables, two were more than two people and the rest were couples.)
Then the food came out cold. We had lamb that was very rare and vegetables that were not only cold but some of the broccoli was not even fresh. We sent back the vegetable for warming. Ate the lamb cold.
We gave it another go at breakfast. Cold again. And horrible coffee. (Which is inexcusable considering the fabulous Fire Fall Coffee roasting place just two doors down!) I asked for soft scrambled eggs thinking they actually made each serving fresh. Got hard eggs scraped from the bottom of what must have been a pre-​cooked holding pan. Cold sausages. And again with the understaffed servers.
We have been at The Hotel Charlotte across the street which is a much cleaner hotel with proper mattresses and newly decorated by the new owners, but the restaurant is weird with small servings and very weird entrees… breakfast is a lot of carbos.
SO HERE IS THE WAY TO STAY IN GORVELAND:
Stay at the Hotel Charlotte. Eat at the lovely restaurant across the street (The Iron Door Grill has a restaurant (not in the saloon), that is wonderful with servers that are plentiful and great hot food for breakfast and dinner.)
The Groveland Hotel is visually lovely and the rooms are visually charming. If Peggy would just keep the place in repair and attend to mattresses that have never been replaced, deal with the plumbing, provide proper service in the dining room and deal with the cold food issues, etc. etc. etc… she could offer a great night in a charming place… but she does not do that… no matter what the difficulty, no matter how many complaints. She has to be making enough profit to provide these things! It’s a real shame.
We have given the place MULTIPLE tries and visits over the past 15 years and we always regret it for one reason or another. We have stayed at the Hotel Charlotte twice.
We have never had an experience with bed bugs, but having read the reviews and seen the pictures, Peggy is lucky no one calls the Health Department.
I WISH I COULD BUY THIS HOTEL AND MAKE IT SING AGAIN!!!

BED BUGS! This hotel has a bed bug infestation and is doing nothing about it. A week after our stay we are covered in bites and in a lot of discomfort. They never replied to our email and do not seem concerned or intent on fixing the problem. Do yourself a favor and stay anywhere else.

Stayed here on a recent trip to Yosemite. It’s not bad. It’s definitely closer to a bed & breakfast than a hotel. Lots of anitques, florals, teddy bears and cutely named rooms.
The good: The best part of the place was the breakfast that was included in the room rate. Rather than having a continental breakfast setup, they give you a $ 15 credit per person to order off their menu, which is more than enough. The food was standard breakfast fare but it was tasty and the coffee was good.
The not as good: The rooms could be a bit cleaner and better arranged. There was too much furniture in the room and it was oddly placed. While they were perfectly nice, there could be a little more discretion practiced by the employees. When the server brought the check for breakfast, she mentioned that tips were not included. She also circled the spot to enter the tip on the check, and mentioned it again. I get it, you want a tip.
The odd: This place is supposedly haunted by a ghost named Lyle. I don’t buy into that kind of thing, but they take it very seriously. At least he’s a nice ghost. He also has a ghost girlfriend named Charlotte, who haunts in the hotel (Hotel Charlotte) across the street. So if you don’t see him, he may be visiting his girlfriend. But hey, some people must like haunted things because apparently his room is the most popular at the hotel. I did not have any ghostly experiences here, but it did provide some amusement.

Adorable! You definitely feel like you are staying in an old fashioned hotel from the mid 1800s. My daughter and I stayed here and all the staff was so friendly and nice. Recommend for a quaint and hospitable getaway with a historic touch. Amazing complimentary free breakfast too.

Bed bugs for $ 250/​night. Now we’re dealing with the issue in our own home. There’s that, and the extension chord laid down the middle of the hallway and the charge for my 1-​year old and being pet friendly except telling us we couldn’t leave him in the room alone, even for dinner. It’s a quaint little place, and the cook one morning was very nice, but not worth the price.

Our stop here was unplanned but very much enjoyed. The staff was super welcoming and professional. We were welcomed with fresh cookies and waters left in our room for us! The rooms have a funky eclectic feel to them that reminded me of my grandmas house, so I instantly felt at home. Bed was super comfy and they provided an air mattress for our daughter to use which was great as well! Breakfast was included with the stay and is cooked by their in house restaurant. It was delicious and had very generous portion sizes. Great romantic stop for a couple with onsite massages available and just as suitable for a family! Highly recommend!

Second time we’ve stayed here! Everyone who works here is so friendly and helpful. They surprised us with some sweet surprises after I let them know ahead of time it was our anniversary. So sweet! The rooms are all unique and extremely comfortable. It’s nice how well kept the place is for its age. The location has many places to walk to for entertainment. Great place to escape to!

Pricey for what you get. Please do something about that breakfast. It should not take that long… perhaps you should consider a buffet. The wait staff was very unfriendly… maybe because of the voucher system they don’t get tipped?
The room was fair. I guess you pay for being close to Yosemite.

We stayed here along with a few folks from our wedding party. The rooms were great — fantastically comfortable beds, great water pressure, and beautiful decorations. We also had dinner here the night after the wedding and the outdoor seating for the 20 of us was wonderful on a warm spring evening. The fact that there was a concert that night (Credence cover act) was just icing on the cake.

I don’t usually write poor reviews — but this place had a lot of issues. Noisy room, shower water not consistent, uncomfortable bed, broken door knob on our bedroom door, etc. I give it a blah.

The staff is very friendly and the rooms were clean and attractive. However, the beds were very creaky, there was a dripping sound all night, and the old building made for a noisy night.
We considered all that part of the experience when staying in a vintage place.
We had reservations for our holiday dinner but the hotel owner chose to make less food than they committed to serve. We showed up at our reservation time but didn’t get seated for half an hour.
Prime rib, stuffing, and potatoes were sold out. I ordered soup and it was cold. I ordered a beer and it was barely cold.
The staff was obviously stressed and the owner had taken in lots of walk in customers instead of making sure there was enough food for their guests with reservations.
I will not recommend this place to any of my travel friends.

I can’t imagine a better place to stay in Groveland, or while traveling to/​from Yosemite. The hotel is full of history and charm — and yes it’s an old hotel, rugs are beat up, walls are thin, etc. but that’s part of the charm and experience. They do have flat screen TVs which is more than I can say for most of the 30 hotels we’ve stayed at in the past few months!
We stayed in their cheapest room and it was small but the bed was super comfy and the sheets were incredibly soft. There’s no better word for the experience than «cozy.» It was like a touch of home.
They are also pet friendly and brought our dog a bed, toy and water/​food bowl.
Everybody was super nice and I’d highly recommend staying here (I hear one of the rooms is haunted too!)

I had a gift certificate valued at $ 165 for one night stay with December 2014 expiration date. I read the TripAdvisor reviews prior to booking a room online.
I was nervous about the possibility of bed bugs as mentioned by a prior hotel guest, but kept my fingers crossed.
Looked at all the rooms online and decided on the Iron Door room located upstairs. The room was cozy. The hotel was built in 1849 during the Gold Rush. It’s listed in the National Historic register. This means that any renovations must be to the period.
Our one night stay included a breakfast meal valued at $ 15. We took advantage of it the next morning. Hubby and I both had the classic french toast breakfast. I thought there was too much cooking oil used. I could see the oil glistening on my plate. But food was good.
The one con — the hot and cold water in the shower. After just a few minutes, there’s no more hot water. I mentioned it to Barbara at the front desk. I hope it’s resolved.
The hotel is ½ hour drive to the Big Oak Flat entrance to Yosemite National Park. Then allow another ½ hour drive into Yosemite Valley.
I’m happy to say there were no bed bugs.

Had the absolute best time! Staff was super great! Room was comfy & cozy. Highly recommend the cellar door restaurant inside the hotel for dinner. Very convenient to Yosemite. My wife gave me great credit for picking a wonderful hotel.

Love this hotel. Love the close location to Yosemite. We made a return visit after 15 years. Unfortunately the furniture is still the same… needs an upgrade. Believe it or not the fold out bed/​couch was super comfortable and the King sized bed was not… big marshmallow.
We didn’t eat in the dining room this time. wish we had the Iron door down the street was a disaster.
They have live music all summer long and very large drinks… Beautiful Patio and super friendly staff.

My first time at the Groveland hotel. The ambiance of the hotel is really cozy, I love the feel of a bed and breakfast environment. Overall my stay at the Groveland hotel is a 5 stars. Let me start with all the great things about the hotel. The person help us to check in was really friendly and nice. She has a big smile on her face and were really helpful of giving us suggestion of what is around time and what we could do in town. She walk us to our room and give us a basic description of where everything were. She is extremely nice.
We love the story and history of the hotel. Yes, we can hear the running water from the other room in the morning. But we are are fine with it since we understand it is an old building, Being a historic building, the room were very well maintain and very clean bathroom and bedroom. We love that each room has its own theme, this bring character to each room.
We purchase the breakfast with room. The breakfast were really good for being the price we paid, Especially love we could fresh squeeze the orange juice ourselves, that were something different for us, The person that help us check out is also very friendly and helpful. Overall it was a great experience. We were going to introduce our friends and family to come stay here again with us next time.
Unfortunately, during my stay at the hotel. I had bed bug bites during my stay. The bed bug bites is a painful experience. I wrote an email (
) to informing the hotel about the bedbug issue on 03/​25/​2014. But got no reply about from the hotel. I feel extremely dissapointed how they handle this issue of the horrible pain I have to go through,
Just be aware of bed bug when if you are planning to stay here.

Update: found out this place is haunted!!!
Just want to say that the person helping w/​my reservation (I believe her name was Peggy Sue) was super nice, really kind and accommodating towards me and wife. I give them a high rating for their sincerity which is a lost art in this day and age.

My boyfriend and I stayed at the Groveland Hotel for two nights in March of 2012 after purchasing a Living Social deal. Overall everything about the Groveland was great; comfortable rooms, great food, and hospitable service. The hotel itself has a very ‘antique’ feel to it, which really comes across in the guest rooms which are drenched in flowers and lace, complete with teddy bears on the bed. A little different, but you get used to it. No fridge in the rooms, but there is a nice size flat screen tv and free wifi. You also may want to bring your own pillow; mine was a bit lumpy.
The hotel restaurant serves complimentary hot breakfast in the morning and dinner entrees that are on pricier side. Although the food is phenomenal, if you’re in the mood for cheap eats there’s several other options in sleepy little Groveland that will get you by. By the way, the cinnamon rolls they serve up in the AM are insaaaane. Seriously, insane. I’ve never tasted anything more amazing or decadent in my life, so if anything, come to the Groveland for the cinnamon rolls. They will change your life. Also after you indulge you can hike it off in Yosemite. Guilt free = win.
All in all, the Groveland Hotel is great HOWEVER, keep in mind that despite what their website says ’20 minutes to Yosemite’, the hotel is at least an hour drive to Yosemite valley. Just something to consider… this hour each way will cut down on your time spent in the park, however, on the contrary, you’ll have comfortable accommodations without paying Ahwahnee prices.