The D.E.A.L. (Dining, Entertainment, Attractions & Lodging): The Underground Cave Suite is the Largest, Deepest, Darkest, Oldest, Quietest Motel Room in the World by Jeanne Brei
Winding up our interstate travels, we find a one-of-a-kind motel “room” just off Route 66 in Peach Springs, Ariz. The Underground Cave Suite is 220 feet below the surface in a cavern that took 65 million years to form, in a room that is 200 x 400 feet with a 70 foot ceiling. The largest dry cavern in the United States, it is “so dark that it is completely absent of any light, so quiet because it contains
no life forms; nothing lives in the caverns, not a fly, not a mouse, a bat, bug or animal. Nothing. The only thing moving or breathing is you. The air is as dry and clean as one can get with zero humidity, coming in via 65 miles of limestone crevices from the Grand Canyon to the caverns. The limestone takes out all moisture and impurities…”
You take an elevator down 22 stories underground and spend the night in a room that is furnished with two double beds, a living room with a queen fold out sofa, a library of old books dating back to the late 1800s, and magazines such as a National Geographic collection dating back to 1917, a working record player with records, table and chairs, a bathroom, and several lighting options for
the overnight stay.
Check in time is normally with the last tour of the day (4 p.m.) and check out is shortly after the first tour begins at 10 a.m.. You can check in earlier and stay later but the caverns have guided tours 363 days a year along the concrete trails that curve around all sides of the room, so your privacy is limited during tour hours.
There is only one Grand Canyon Caverns Cave motel room, open 364 nights a year. There are plenty of motel rooms above ground at The Caverns Inn located at the entrance of the Grand Canyon Caverns in case the entire group is not as adventurous. But for the daring, it’s $850/night for two, plus an additional $100 for every person after two, with a maximum total occupancy of six people.
Grand Canyon Caverns & Inn is located at 115 Mile Marker AZ-66, Peach Springs, AZ 86434. Telephone: (928) 422-3223 or (855) 498-6969. For more info, visit www.gccaverns.com/rooms-packages/the-grand-canyon-caverns-cavern-motel-room/.
This story originally appeared in the January/February 2018 issue of Exhibit City News magazine, p. 83. For more pictures and original layout, visit https://issuu.com/exhibitcitynews/docs/jan-feb_ecn2018.
