Caribou Highlands Lodge Review

Love Caribou Highlands. The scenery is breathtaking and there's so much to do in summer or winter.

Great spot for Lutzen 99. We parked and walked to starting line. Kids loved the indoor pool with small slide.

Nice place to stay close to the event we stayed there for. Not cheap, but it's tourist season.

Beautiful, comfortable accommodations. This was a perfect spot for my family of 5 to get away. We loved the townhouse style rooms, private deck, fireplace, kitchen, views, and all the rustic decorative touches. The bedrooms were on the upper floor so you didn t hear the noise of hallway guests. It felt very private and like we weren t even staying at a hotel at all - more like a cozy cabin in the woods! The kitchen had plenty to cook a simple meal, everything was very clean. My only complaint was the air conditioning. We came during the summer and the window unit on the main floor kept that area plenty cool, but the upstairs was considerably warm and stuffy, especially the back bedroom. Fortunately the nights were cool and we opened the windows, so it wasn t much bother for sleeping.

Great location, excellent service and Staff, Very clean room. We could hear the neighbors walking in the room above ours but for the most part the hotel was quiet. Restaurant, bar, and pool were closed due to COVID-19.

Stayed 3 nights in Nordic whirlpool condo. It was clean, excellent linen and great pillows. Air conditioning helped. Nice whirlpool. Well cared for. I would suggest a ice machine. Nearest one in main lobby which is a hike.
The pool was constantly loaded with kids and parents who seem to think it's solely for them. Would have liked better parenting and more sharing. Same in the restaurant. Parents, stop allowing your children to run around while others want a nice dinner. This resort isn't your own personal romper room.

We stayed in one of the ski-in/ski-out townhomes, and loved it. The townhome was clean and kept up very well. The staff at the front desk were very helpful and friendly. They offer a complimentary shuttle up to the ticket office at Lutsen Mountains, and have plenty of parking. I highly recommend the Carobou Highlands Lodge and will definitely be staying there again in the future.

Stopped for breakfast on the way out of town. Pancakes were a little dry according to my wife, but overall enjoyable. I'd stop again.

Needs some work. Rooms, and overall facilities are in poor condition - peeling wallpaper, worn carpets, common areas are really beat up. Service was a miss across the board, from the front desk to the pool areas, and restaurant. Strong smell of chlorine throughout the building.

Great place to stay when skiing at lutsen. The townhouse was clean and had everything we needed for a stay. We slept 6 comfortably.

Where do I begin? Dirty room with cobwebs, very dated. Double beds, no queen size beds (which we had requested). Mgmt could not move us to a better room. Mold on the ceiling, hair in the bathroom. Small tv with 7 channels. (You can check out DVDs). Not enough towels. No continental breakfast. The room had an odor, it was in the basement - 3 flights of stairs - and no elevators. Will never return, terrible room for 195.00.

Great experience with the kids, friendly service and loved the ski in/out condo. Definitely coming back

Really enjoyed staying at caribou Highlands Lodge. Very beautiful area with a awesome supportive staff

I don't recommend it at all. We were trying to get a group together, and contacted hotel to get some group pricing. I spoke to Kacy, who promised to send a contract for a group. It took her 3 WEEKS to send it. She used all possible excuses for that. At the end she offered me the same rate as on their website. Basically, she wasted my time.
If you are a business customers - don't even start dealing with Caribu Lodge. They don't treat people right and they make you feel not wanted. Spend your money somewhere else. There is a lot of other lodging options.

We stayed at Caribou Highlands during the slow season beginning of November when there is no snow to ski on and the whether is not the best. But the great thing is that it is awesome for hiking. The room cost was a good deal, the room was clean, with a fire place and a balcony, and it had a good size kitchen with stove fridge and all the utensils. Whenever you go up to Northern Minnesota, I feel like you need to bring your expectation for lodging down just a bit. Outside the room, the lodge was exactly what you should expect from northern MN. No thrills, food at the restaurant was fine, and everything is over priced (food/drinks). I suggest staying here and bringing some food and a case of beer with you and enjoying the great outdoors!

Caribou Highlands is a great cabin/ family resort. We typically stay at Bluefin Bay, but this is another great option. Serious cabin feel, right next to state parks. Great location, and onsite restaurant.

Nice facilities but some is outdated. They are doing a lot of upgrades which should make a lot of improvements. We've been very happy with it and love the area.

I always love checking into my hotel room to find wet towels hanging in the bathroom and hair on my bed sheets, but hotel check-in staff made it awesome for us by upgrading us to a suite room, awesome ,thank you.

The place is convenient to the hill but needs renovation. The Christmas tree in the lobby by the fire was nice.

Great atmosphere! Alpine condo very nice, fridge and stove. Prefect for 5 people. Easy to access the hills

It was a very convenient location and the rooms were luxurious

Horrible experience. My girlfriend and I booked a weekend stay here through Groupon but the hotel said they didn't have our reservation. Groupon was very helpful and provided us with confirmation they had been in touch with the hotel and that the hotel had taken our money. The hotel manager was nothing but condescending and rude. She even started checking in the next guest without even pausing to try and figure out what happened. She even said that the whole situation was our fault.

Groupon tried many times to get in touch with the hotel but after the manager at the front desk started to yell at them over the phone, the hotel staff stopped answering their calls and refused to give Groupon their money back. The manager didn't even try to make things right, and would ignore me whenever I approached the front desk. We ended up having to drive five hours back home to Minneapolis because the hotel refused to honor our reservation or accommodate us elsewhere. Did I mention that we had proof they had taken our money from Groupon? Groupon said that this situation has never happened before, and they refunded our money and then some. But the hotel staff were too busy standing around to return their calls.

Meanwhile we went to try and get something to eat at the hotel restaurant "Mogul's" which happens to be the only restaurant for miles. The 70s called: they want their decor back. Everything was dusty, and the the food looked like it had been in the freezer since the hotel was built. Did I mention that the cheapest appetizer, four quarters of a potato with the tiniest amount of cheese and bacon on top, costs $10. Mac and cheese? That will set you back $20. Never in my life have I seen such horrible quality for such ridiculous prices. I will NEVER be back and I recommend that everyone else stay FAR away from this hotel hell.

This was our first time to the North Shore and our first time at Caribou Highlands. The condos and grounds are fabulous, yet the condo we were in was really disappointing. It was dated and smelled a bit musty, the upstairs sink stopper is broken, the toilets don t flush easily and continue running after they should have stopped, the additional fan that we could really have used because the unit is hot upstairs is broken, the plugs upstairs don t hold chargers ,they fall out, the couch cushions have tears in them, some pulls are missing from drawers, etc. For the price we paid I expected all to work and be in better condition. To their credit when I complained the moved us to a much larger unit for the same cost in which all worked well. There was a foul smell like a dead mouse downstairs, several spiders and windows that didn't work, but it was much better than the first unit. Basically, the photos on the website of rooms are of the best units they have and didn't look at all like the units we stayed in. The outside of the buildings have been redone--but not insides of those we saw that appear to be about 40 years old.

Great location at the mountain, friendly, clean, helpful

Great staff and the amenities are very good. WiFi network really allows us to stay connected when we want to.

Had a great time skiing. Great lodging. Comfy. Skiied straight out from my Lodge.

Rather spend less money and stay in a beautiful condo in Colorado in summer.

Get well managed facility. On the hill with direct access.

This is a review simply for the restaurant as we stopped in but did not stay at the lodge itself. The food is good and the service is excellent, as well as the atmosphere.

Friendly staff, beautiful surroundings, and lots of nature activities!

This place is fantastic! Wonderful activities, hiking, and amazing staff.

It has a lot of space in their townhouse option. You can fit quite a few people traveling to the North Shore here. It was also a split-level, so it never felt like there was that many people. The games of bocce ball and giant ladder ball entertained the kids and adults alike. I wasn't quite willing to swim in the pool, but the ping pong was an unexpected joy. We'll be back sometime.

Very high price, rooms are fine but not worth the price. The location is the big attraction.

I didn't know what to expect since this was our first visit, and the internet site had only a few picture. I was impressed with how nice the facilities were and how helpful and nice all the staff were during our visit. The rooms were clean, well stocked, and roomy. We checked in easily, and found the staff to be helpful when asked for assistance. It was a top notch facility with great access to skiing. Everything I was looking for and more.

We loved it except that the room was not clean very well before we got there

Great place to visit. Good for families, fun summer hiking area too.

Horrible Customer Service compared to years past. This review is purely on customer service. When we arrived Sat. morning to pick our two day lift passes for the weekend the manager informed us that we bought Fri/Sat tickets that were non refundable. I don't know if the website defaults to the day of arrival but I recall being very careful to choose the right dates. They were unwilling to work with us and charged us full price if we wanted to ski on Sunday. We feel we were overcharged $250 for Friday ski passes for 4 people that were clearly never used and it can be proven. I called to ask for more options but was told I can only email the managers. I sent an email explaining the situation and was responded to a week later with all the same excuses why they would not be working to repair this mix up. I responded to that message to let them know that for that $250 that I paid them it comes with as many online reviews as I can write. The suggestion to my extended family that we do not do the 40th Anniversary celebration there but somewhere else. My husband and I have already discussed where else we will go to ski rather than risk being treated this way again. No one can argue with the terrain or the great employees however I feel sorry for them to deal with management like that.

Great place, awesome pools and fire pits. The only complaint I had was they said the offered high speed internet so I could work but it was less than 1mbps. But when you're an hour from Canada, it's understandable.

Good location for skiing, and dirty and run down. The toilet overflowed and was just mopped up, not cleaned. There was a trail of eggshells in the hallway....all staff were friendly and helpful.

The University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management MBA program should do a full class study on this place as it's a perfect example of how NOT to run a business! OMG talk about baffons! The new high speed chair lift was down cause while we were there, without getting into the details, it was obvious they have no emergency plan. For the cost of skiing at Lutsen the facilities, and overall feel of the place (now this is late Spring) isn't very 'Disney'. They should realize that people are on VACATION and expect service - I know it's tough but just a little more effort would go a long way.

Great place to stay if you are planning on skiing at Lutsen resorts. Great resturant below the hotel as well.

I've been here before and it usually never disappoints. Only problem this time was that because there were so many people this time (thanksgiving holiday) there were some confusion on where my family was staying. We reserved a 4 bedroom place and pictures were shown on what it looked like. When we got there the place wenwere suppose to stay at had already been booked full. So when we finally got things figured out we were just left with basically 2 regular places to ourselves. It was not as impressive as the 4 bedroom one but wenhad no other choice. I would still go back but would like for there to be a little better management next time.

Just stopped in for a drink with a group of people. Took about 10 minutes to get service and 20 to get our drinks. 3 out of the 5 drinks were wrong and we got charged too much.

We are staying in the second building. The unit is beautiful. Staff are very friendly. The only downfall is that the pool/hot tub chemicals are strong in the hallways and the walls so not hold sound. We can hear other people too well.

Location was ideal, ski in ski out right on the hill. Room was excellent, lots of accommodations and space.

Rooms were a little rough around the edges. Our ceiling had a hole around the fire suppression system. An the ceiling was also starting to fall apart in the shower. Food at the restaurant moguls was good but a little overpriced. Also our room was quite expensive. But with the great pool, fitness area, friendly staff, and all the outdoor activities in the area, I'd have to say it was worth the money. Deffinatly worth checking out. Would of gave 5 stars but with the cost of our kinda beat up room I just couldn't.

Have stayed here many times, always a nice stay, very friendly staff. They could do some more updates. Great value for staying on the hill.

We loved our stay at the Caribou Lodge! We had a Nordic whirlpool room and the pictures on the website don't give justice! The room was actually much nicer than on the pictures. The room looked updated, very comfortable bed, very nice kitchen and bathroom! We were very happy to pick a room with the balcony as we had our dog! Pool and spa areas were clean! There is a nice little trail from the Hotel to walk your dog! We stayed for Christmas and they brought us a little package with hot chocolate, chocalte and a card, very nice attention! The restaurant is good too! Overall impressed as like I said the pictures online show an outdated room for the condos! Our room was the opposite of outdated! Finally, they have a bunch of movies in the lobby you can rent for free!

We've been coming to Lutsen to ski every winter every year for close to 30 years. We've stayed everywhere, including Caribou Highlands. This year, it was time for changes in the rental units. The decor hasn't changed in these condos in 20 years and things are in dire need of an update.

We happened to get the same unit that we had last year and maintenance items that needed addressing last year still hadn't been taken care of by this year. The level of cleanliness left something to be desired as well. We had to call the maintenance and cleaning team in to provide a tub drain stopper, to replace sheets that had full on holes, and to clean up a major blood stain that was all over the downstairs bathroomb floor AND walls. The customer service team responded appropriately and provided acceptable compensation for the bad condition of the unit. It snowed 13 inches while we were there and the maintenance crew came to shovel/snowblow the wall and randomly only did it halfway to the door so the pack up process was messy at checkout time.

That being said, you really can't beat the ski in-ski out convenience of these condos. They're situated nicely on moose access, and shuttle service is provided to the condos to start your day or to get you to the easier hills with little kids.

The pool area has been "under construction" for the last year as well and I hope they do finish whatever updates they're doing there. Since nothing much has changed, it is hard to know what is actually being updated. The facility for that is ok, but not awesome. Again, hasn't really changed in 20+ years and it needs a refresh.

5 stars for accessibility to amenities. 1 star for condo conditions and maintenance items. That averages out to a 3 star review.

It's clean, quiet, and full condo amenities. Pool hot tub n multiple of each. But they're greed annoys me more then the positive. For the amount of money they get there should be some type of punch card or frequent renter program. And the gondola ride to their restaurant where I'm going to go put more money in their pocket should be free if I'm staying on property.

Incredible views, cozy cabins, ski-in/ski-out capabilities. What more could you ask for?

It is so perfect being on the hill. The condo was so homey. Comfy. Had a wood burning fireplace. We walked to dinner each night. We continue to come here year after year.

We stay in these resort in the end of July. The facility was very nice location but unfortunately the room we had condo was not ready for quests. The stove was smoked, dvd broken and no fans or condition in the second floor. They fixed everything but first night I had my supper at 11 p.m. because they didn't fix the stove. The carpet in hallways was old too. These place need more care. Nobody change the towels and nobody took the garbage form the room. I have to call them and ask about towels. I hope to return next year and see improvement at these place. The stuff was very nice special thanks to Roxie who really make my stay!!!

Cool place at the top of the gondola with some sweet views of the mountains and the superior lake

Great place for families in winter or summer. Indoor and outdoor pool options and lots of activities offered. Stayed several times with our young family of four and I'm always enjoyed a wonderful stay.

Clean facility with an abundance of desirable amenities.

I found my stay at this resort to be ok. The mogul restaurant on site has amazing breakfast. Good price for a unit with lots of space. The TV is laughably bad, and the beds are incredibly squeeky and uncomfortable. Everything else is good. Nice showers and kitchen. Overall pretty standard. Beds are important which waited this review towards 3 stars.

I first came over 20 years ago. I always stay here when I ski. They have a wide range of ski-in ski-out accommodations. We can always find the right kind of place no matter what size of group we are with. This time O was disappointed that the condo hallway was only vacuumed once a week. There also have not been any updates in the last 20 years.

Really great service and beautiful views all around! For the price, the rooms are a bit disappointing. Our bathroom sink was clogged/wouldn t drain water, the toilets barely flush and the sheets/bedding is not comfortable. The AC and heat units hardly run. Definitely not what we had in mind for how much we paid. Also, the hotel restaurant was only open for two days of our stay and the spa is completely closed. Overall very friendly staff, just overpriced for what s offered.

Great place to stay. Simple rooms but the resort is located on the edge of the slopes... Ski-in, ski-out! Pool and jacuzzi were nice and hot. Seems they were in progress of renovation while we were there in Feb.

Absolutely loved my studio with the jacuzzi/fireplace. Can't wait to come back!

Had a jacuzzi, fire place and personal deck! Staff was very attentive and helpful! Highly recommended

Our townhouse was great and the kids loved the 2 pool options.

Front desk employees very friendly. Very quiet. We were there for the lutsen 99er. All those people and quiet. Peaceful place to stay.

The 3 bedroom unit that I stayed in was clean and satisfactory. There was a loft and 2 bedrooms, containing two queens, two twins, and a sofa sleeper. It was nice being able to ski in and ski out, however, there was no hot tub available with Caribou Highlands. Both their hot tubs were unavailable, which I was really looking forward to after a long day of skiing.

Have stayed here around 10 times over the last 12 years and I keep coming back! They could spruce up the attached restaurant a bit, they would make a lot more money and it wouldn't take much.

A room with a beautiful view of the mountains. Warm and inviting.

Nice room, missing supplies regularly like towels and dish soap

Good place to relax with the family and extended family. Family enjoy the stay in the townhouse, but we didn't really get much orientation from the receptionist of activities and amenities. saw signs about mtn bike shuttle service on out last day, trails and hike along the river, resort organized family activities we found out from other visiting guess

Stayed here the first weekend of December and we loved it! It wasn't busy so we ended up driving up to the mountain rather than experiencing any sort of "ski-in/ski-out" but it was so close!