Shenandoah National Park cabins
Fifteen minutes from the park gate, and big enough for everyone.
Hespera Reach is two private five-bedroom cabins near Luray, Virginia, fifteen minutes from Shenandoah National Park and Luray Caverns: ten bedrooms, twelve beds and seven bathrooms, sleeping twenty.
Where to stay near Shenandoah when there are ten of you, or twenty.
Most lodging near Shenandoah National Park is built for two to six people. The lodges on Skyline Drive — Skyland, Big Meadows and the Lewis Mountain cabins — are rooms and small cabins, open seasonally and booked months ahead. The motels and inns in Luray are rooms off a corridor. Neither gives a group one place to cook, eat and sit around a fire together.
Hespera Reach is two private cabins on a hill five miles west of the Thornton Gap entrance. Each has five bedrooms, a full kitchen, a hot tub, a cedar barrel sauna, a fire pit and a games and theatre room. Take one cabin for ten, or both for twenty and the whole property to yourselves.
The park from here
Thornton Gap puts you on Skyline Drive at mile 31, between the northern and central districts. Marys Rock is just north of the gap. Stony Man and Skyland are about ten miles south along the Drive, Big Meadows a little further. Old Rag is on the far side of the ridge, and best done early.
Compared with staying in the park
Inside the park you wake up on the ridge, which is wonderful and hard to book. Here you wake up looking at the ridge, with the whole Blue Ridge from north-east to south across the eastern windows, and your own hot tub on the deck. You drive fifteen minutes to the gate; in exchange you get a kitchen for twenty, ten keyed bedrooms and no neighbours.
- Thornton Gap entranceUS-211, Skyline Drive mile 31≈ 15 min
- Luray CavernsJust past the town of Luray≈ 15 min
- Downtown LurayRestaurants, brewery, groceries5 miles
- Washington, DCI-66 west, then US-211 over the mountain≈ 2 hr
Questions people ask
Are there cabins inside Shenandoah National Park?
Yes, a small number. Lewis Mountain Cabins, Skyland and Big Meadows Lodge are inside the park, run by the park's concessioner, and open seasonally — roughly spring to late November. They are rooms and small cabins, so a large group is usually spread across several buildings.
How close is Hespera Reach to Shenandoah National Park?
About fifteen minutes. The Thornton Gap entrance on US-211 is five miles east of the cabins and puts you on Skyline Drive at mile 31.
Can a group of twenty stay together near Shenandoah?
Yes. Hespera Reach sleeps twenty across two private five-bedroom cabins on the same hill, with a table that seats all twenty. You can also take one cabin for ten.
Is it open all year?
Yes. The cabins are open in every season. Skyline Drive can close for a day or two in snow and ice, but the valley roads, the town and Luray Caverns stay open.
Do we need a park reservation?
No. Shenandoah does not use timed entry. There is a vehicle entrance fee, good for seven days, paid at the gate.