National Park Inn

National Park Inn is a 25-room historic hotel in Longmire, with a restaurant and adjacent general store. It is the only lodging in Mount Rainier National Park that operates year-round, which makes it a handy base inside the park for Longmire walks and time around its historic district. Come for the in-park setting and the old building; this is a simple, historic inn rather than a modern resort.

There are rooms with private bathrooms and rooms that share hallway bathrooms and showers. Rooms are small and simple; most are upstairs, while the operator lists two first-floor accessible rooms. Confirm bath type and access details for the room you book. There’s no in-room internet, TV, or telephone, so download what you need beforehand.

The dining room serves table-service meals with Pacific Northwest fare, from hearty classics to lighter options. It’s a useful meal option in Longmire; people don’t agree on value, so I’d choose it for convenience rather than a destination meal. The adjacent general store carries basic groceries and gifts, plus summer firewood and winter snowshoe rentals.

Longmire grew around mineral springs that the family marketed as a health resort; James Longmire’s guest cabins were operating by 1889. The National Park Inn opened in 1906 as a separate railroad-built hotel. After the original building burned in 1926, the surviving Annex took over the National Park Inn name. The old clubhouse next door is today’s store. Longmire became park headquarters when Mount Rainier became a national park in 1899; the 1916 headquarters now houses the museum.

The inn’s porch has Rainier views when the mountain is visible. A short spur off the Trail of the Shadows leads into Longmire Meadow, with views of Rainier and Rampart Ridge. The low-elevation meadow formed around volcanic mineral springs, making it a worthwhile nearby walk while you’re staying here.

In winter, the road from Longmire to Paradise closes nightly. Check road status before planning to drive farther toward Paradise.