The Best Hotels in the United States

Tucked into the Black Hills a few minutes from Mount Rushmore, K Bar S Lodge is a 96-room lodge-style hotel where a good number of rooms come with private patios or balconies looking out at the trees. A coffee bar handles mornings, a pub handles evenings, and two outdoor hot tubs plus a fire pit handle everything in between. The natural setting draws a steady stream of wedding parties, so weekends here have a certain celebratory hum.

Tall pines crowd the parking spots right outside your door, which is either charming or just the Pacific Northwest experience delivered to Montana, depending on your mood. This small, family-run motel keeps things modest: compact rooms, tidy bathrooms, comfortable beds. The owners are genuinely invested in the place, which you notice. Worth calling ahead in winter, when only a handful of rooms stay open.

A few blocks from the Yellowstone entrance, this mid-range motel puts you close enough that leaving early for the park doesn't feel like a production. Rooms are spacious by roadside standards, and the breakfast patio with its fire pit softens the drive-in energy considerably. Note that upper floors are stairs-only, the pool is seasonal, and the parking lot crowd is largely in fleece and hiking boots by seven.

A two-story stone fireplace anchors the lobby of this West Yellowstone lodge, a few blocks from the park gate. Rebuilt after a fire using reclaimed wood for handrails, trim, and headboards, the place carries its history without making a fuss about it. Main building rooms run cozier and more polished; motel-side rooms are plainer and pet-friendly. Snowmobiles can ride straight in and out, which tells you everything about the clientele in winter.