Curry Village is sometimes
referred to as People Central. Curry Village is an area of tent
cabins, cabins, and other retail establishments. It's a major
parking area for day-trippers and overnight backcountry enthusiasts.
It is the best lodging value ($89.00 to $220.93) in the park.
HOWEVER I get frequent emails from people who
are taken aback by the inconvenience of Curry Village. Please
understand that visitor density is very high in Curry Village, and results
in an almost total lack of privacy. Tent cabins are placed very close
to each other, so much so that you can frequently hear conversations from
neighboring tents. The shower facilities are a long walk for many of
the guests, and dealing with food lockers is a pain. NO food AT ALL is
allowed in tents because of bears. BUT if you can deal with the noise,
crowded environment and such, Curry Village is a great deal.
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I
received the nicest note from a family in the midwest who sent me a
picture of their son/daughter posing in front of a tent cabin at Curry
Village; her note:
"Hello! I wrote you after our fun trip in August to let you know
how great your site was. Just in case you need one more picture of a
cute family moment to convince anyone to go the Camp Curry route:
Even if you don't post this to your site, I hope you enjoy the
picture because really... this was made possible by your talking us
into the tent-cabin option.
Thanks yet again for your great site! It totally rocks!
Jill G. in Illinois".
Thank you!! Glad you enjoyed it.
ph
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Curry Village
Curry Village Coffee Corner and Ice Cream daily hours of operations will
be 6am to 10pm. Come enjoy our Seattle's best offerings as well as cool
down with our ice cream concoctions.
Curry Village Bar is open daily from noon to 10pm. Come on
over and meet your friends over a frosty one!
The Curry Village pool Lap swim from 9 to 10am with normal
operations from 10am to 5pm during summer.
Even though Curry Village has a long,
rich history, and even though it's one of the best lodging values in the
park, the customer service here has gotten worse in recent years.
Complaints are increasing about employee rudeness, inconsistent
enforcement of the rules, and the intolerable practice of reservations
calling you AFTER you've paid IN FULL for your reservation, and telling
you rates have gone up and to fork over the increase!!! (Rates at
Curry Village increased FOUR times in a 6 week period between June 1st and
mid July, 2001) I have received e-mails from people telling a very
consistent story about the same issues. Confirm EVERYTHING.
Ask questions, take the name of the person you talked to, etc. etc.
etc. And when you get there, be ready to be flexible in your daily
routine. Curry Village is sort of a rough-and-tumble place in terms
of creature comforts. They are there, but dealing with quirky camp
rules can be bothersome.
Curry Village employees are not rude, but
neither are they particularly friendly or go out of their way to be
helpful. There is an atmosphere of "get 'em in, and get 'em out".
Whether it's the Pizza Place, or cafeteria, or the front desk; employees
are overrun with people and become a little brash around the edges.
For instance, in the Coffee Corner, they ran out of the good Seattle's Best coffee, and started
serving the awful restaurant coffee from the white bags and there was no
notice they had done so, nor a decrease in the price. Also, when ordering
pizza, several times I did
not get all the ingredients I asked for; Now, to be sure these are little
things, and not worth raising a stink over, but it is indicative of the
apathetic attitude of management and employees of Curry Village.
(These issues were a bit irritating as I forked over an average of $47
dollars for 2 med. pizzas and 4 drinks for myself and three boys over the
4th holiday.)
Prices are astronomical, and will only
get worse in years to come. This has forced as condition whereby
people bring out portable tables, dozen's of ice chests and to set up
picnics in front of their cabins. More and more people go out of
their way to save money and you can't blame them.
Go out of your way not to antagonize or
to be confrontational with employees, or to give them any grief, unless you truly
have
a reasonable disagreement.... You will enjoy your stay more if you stay
off the radar of management and security.
Warning about the Taco Stand...
I've never had worse Mexican food in my life; plus, they charge .50
cents for a thimble full of salsa on the side; UGH! Absolutely
awful.
Otherwise, it's a great place! The
benefits far outweigh the negatives...
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Tent cabins |
Tent cabins interior
(that's me in the mirror) |
If you
have kids, this is a very good place to consider. Within very easy
walking distance of your cabin or tent cabin is:
a large swimming pool w/ lifeguards
cafeteria for breakfast and dinner
(GREAT food and with a huge variety, all
you can eat;
but way overpriced; $10.00 for kids, a 25% increase over last year!! and
$14.95 for adults.)
general store/gift shop
camping equipment store (Mountain Shop) w/ excellent selection of stuff.
pizza & beer place w/ shaded open patio seating (open late with
surprisingly good pizza)
small tavern
ice cream stand (that doubles as a coffee & donut shop in the
morning)
post office
showers
raft rentals
bicycle rentals
tour embarkation
ice skating rink (winter only)
several meadows for after-dinner or early-morning strolling
the shuttle bus stops here going in both directions about every 5
minutes
several hiking trails originate from here or very near
there's an amphitheater that has nightly programs.
Curry Village Foodservice hours include
the following:
- Coffee Corner 6 a.m. - 10 p.m., daily
- Curry Pizza Patio 12noon - 10 p.m. daily
- Curry Pavilion Breakfast Buffet 7 - 10 a.m., Dinner Buffet 5:30 - 8
p.m. daily.
I have to say that the food in the
Curry Village cafeteria has improved tremendously. Vegetables are
not overcooked, pot roast, fried chicken and trout almodine are
particularly good. There's a Mexican food taco bar that's not too
bad... A great variety of salads... you'll love it!
HOWEVER; the powers-that-be have done an
excellent job of hiding all this civilization amongst the trees and behind
rocks, so even though there is quite a bit going on close by, there is
still an atmosphere of being in the woods. The cabins and
tent-cabins are very well shaded, and are placed around naturally
occurring boulders, trees and high ground. It's also amazingly quiet
for being so close to that much civilization. The restaurants,
swimming pool and other businesses are similarly tucked away from the
casual observer. So, if being near creature comforts is
important to you, this is the place to be. It is extremely family
oriented, with plenty of other kids around for them to make new friends
and stay busy. Most rooms at Curry
Village are designed for one thing; sleeping and dressing. They are
not designed for hanging out in, or inviting friends for
conversation. Only the most expensive rooms (about $90) have running water.
Space is at a premium, and
you have just enough room to dress and prepare for bed. But, in the
worst of circumstances (tent cabins), accommodations are very comfortable,
with beds, linens, blankets, pillows, a dresser, and small heater.
There are no phones or TV (thank God), and ventilation is very good.
All cabins and tent cabins are very close together, so consideration of
your fellow camper, especially at night, is paramount. Earplugs might be
in order if you're a light sleeper.
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