my wife and i are looking to visit the wonder that is Moab this year, around October, and i am currently looking for a place to lay our heads for 2 weeks early in the month.
my question is-has anyone had a good/bad experience with any particular businesses please?

I stayed at Red cliffs lodge just after it opened, few miles out and fairly expensive “on season”, but a stunning, stunning location, and I’d stay there again next time.

thanks, i see they do adventure packages too!

At the other end of the scale – the :Lazy Lizard is supposed to be a bargain, and you’re bound to hook up with some people to ride with

+ 1 for Red cliffs lodge

Lazy Lizard was great when I stayed there many moons ago, depends if you want the backpacker vibe, they do offer private cabins.

i think the private vibe will be best thanks.

first thing i looked at was the restaurants! mmmm.

Big Horn lodge was good for us a few years ago. Its on Main st, has a diner next to it and the shuttle stops there to take you to the trail head. All you need unless you want to go luxury

Don’t spend two weeks there. Especially if you like alcohol in your beer ;0).
We did 4 nights which was 3 nights too much really. Depending on ability and fitness then slickrock trail one day then Porcupine Rim and set off somewhere else. I’m sure there was an awful lot of great rides left to do but there’s only so much red rock and dust and opressive heat one can take. We dirt bagged in a campsites cabins but i wouldn’t recommend it.
Especially if you like alcohol in your beer ;0)

Not far away is Fruita/Crested Butte and many many other fabulous riding places. All rideable in October assuming the snow hasn’t gone mental. Crested Butte in particular is fab in the autumn colours if the snow hasn’t arrived. The altitude is a killer though.

The day before we flew home we could have gone skiing on the way back to Denver but the day before we were sweltering in Fruita.

Ok a slight exageration but we were done with the riding and the rocks by the 3rd day really.

Worth renting a car and travelling that whole area. There is so much more to see than Moab and the trails – it would be a crime to go that far and not do a few days out to Grand Canyon, Canyonlands, Mesa Verde etc etc.

Before you go, read Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey. The guy was a park ranger in Arches National Park way back in the 50s.

Worth hiring a road bike to whiz around Arches NationalPark

thanks for the tips so far. we would be having a multi sport/relaxing holiday rather than a bike fest though.

bobby – there isn’t that much around Moab even if you relax and do everything else available as well. It is a small town in the middle of nowhere!

For the proper Moab experience it has to be Hotel Off Central..I hope it is still there, still has the film set furniture and is still run by the barking mad bloke and his Mum

we stayed in the John Wayne Suite!

Hey that was really helpful and i would like you to visit www(dot)nanaandpascountryretreat(dot)com(dot)au

Hey that was really helpful and i would like you to visit www(dot)cornwallishouse(dot)com(dot)au

any tips for Moab lodging?

Somewhere over the state border in Colorado would be my tip
We stayed in Grand Junction and it was only an hour or so to Moab

Moab is a great place to stay for 3/ 4 days: good shopping, arches national park and Castle valley for sightseeing. Slickrock, Porcupine Rim, poison spider / portal for off roading. I would think road biking around there would be pretty sweet too. (would love to road bike through castle valley)

Bike hire / shuttling is easy around there. Don’t worry about the temperature it should be just nice in October (warm but not crazy hot). 24 hours of Moab is sometime around then too, so you might be able to take that in. Fruita is not far away either….

This looks like a cool place to stay: http://uraniumbicycles.com/get_local.php (it’s very handy to be in the town, though).

Don’t think I’d spend 2 weeks in Moab though, 3/4 days then hire a car (or RV or something) and drive around Arizona / Nevada, Grand Canyon, Monument Valley etc. One night in Vegas too!

Red Cliffs is very nice, but remember it is a wee drive out of town. So if your “enjoy” your evenings, it might not be the perfect location. Also stayed in town and fair to say that rooms are generally pretty basic motel. Imagine typical US movie motel scene and err, that’s it.

But you dont go to Moab to stay in bed, do you!!

We stayed at the Hampton Inn and it’s very good. New hotel and you get free wi-fi and hot breakfast. 5 minute walk to the centre of town and is directly across the road from Poison Spider bikes for rental and shuttles to Porcupine Rim. Agree that 3-4 days will be enough.

I wouldn’t choose my holiday destination by the strength of beer! There’s a bit of a microbrewery culture and some nice tastes going around in any case. I liked Moab, been I’ve been twice now, we camped though so can’t help there.

I’ve always just stayed in Motels in town – had no problem with then and just wandered out to bars / restaurants to eat.

I wouldn’t want to spend too many says there.

My fave trails there are Amasa Back and Slick Rock

descending waterfall by rockymtnway, on Flickr

Steep climbs! by brf, on Flickr

We just stayed in the Motel 8 up one end of town, but we were on a boys biking holiday so your requirements may differ to ours. I think we did 3 night in Moab & 4 in Fruita. We thought we were being cheeky by having the bikes in our rooms, until we discovered the guys next door had their MX bikes in theirs!

The beer was better in Fruita, but we didn’t die from lack of good beer in moab

Yup beer in Moab was tasty but being asked if you’ve had 2 already is a bit odd. Especially as it’s 3% at best.