I've been to Lutsen numerous times- some for family trips and I spent an entire spring, summer, and fall here for work, staying at the various hotels. This is by far the best. The continental breakfast is the best offered of the six different hotels we stayed at for work, and the rooms are great. They keep the doors in shape- a nice tight seal to keep the wind out on cold nights! The bedding has normal quilts on for covers- not the normal scratchy material that is present at most hotels. The rooms were always clean when I stayed, and I never had problems leaving my belongings in the room during the day. If you're coming up to spend the day watching tv, you won't be impressed by their tv- little selection, and older sets. But who needs tv when you have the beautiful view of Lake Superior out on your deck?! The guy that runs this place is awesome, too. Very friendly and professional. Price is great compared to others around this area. They also have wifi and a sitting area inside the main office area.

We were greeted by "Buddy", a very well behaved dog upon arrival. We did not have a prior reservation but the management showed us several rooms before we agreed upon a first floor room with a refrigerator and microwave. The price was reasonable. The view of Lake Superior was fantastic both in the evening as well as sunrise the next morning. The breakfast was great and included omlettes, home made poppy seed muffins, as well as the usual bagels, oatmeal, waffles, and fruit. The room was clean. When we asked about an exercise room we were reminded that the great outdoors is our exercise room. This was one of our most memorable motel stays on this 7 day trip.

We stayed here on our way to Canada, and found the hotel very well suited to our needs. It could hardly be closer to the lake, and when we sat out on our small second floor balcony the view was peaceful and stunning at the same time. The breakfast area faced the water as well, and there was also a games / TV room which had the comfortable feel of a tidy and well-maintained den. Even the hotel layout was agreeable, a welcome change from the standard motel with its long, straight corridors; I was surprised to find it used to be a Best Western, as it felt so different from the chain template. The public areas must be by Ikea out of knotty pine; our room, admittedly, was nothing special, but certainly very clean and comfortable and, as I say, endowed with a very fine view (which I think would be true of all the second floor rooms - and possibly the first floor too, though I couldn't say for sure). The entrance to the hotel is on Route 61, but we heard no traffic noise and, parallel to the highway (on the side facing the lake), there's a nice bike path - so, although there aren't any stores or restaurants immediately nearby, you needn't feel you have to get in your car to go anywhere. The price was also reasonable for the area. All in all, a fine start to our holiday.

We stayed here two nights for a Spring break ski trip at Lutsen. Our room was very clean with easy parking right outside the door. Nice little balcony overlooking Lake Superior. Nice breakfast and the owner and staff (and dog) are all very friendly and helpful.

If you're looking for a nice room, close to Lutsen, at a good rate, I'd highly recommend the Cliff Dweller. If you want things like ski-in/out, pool, hot tub; or a 5-star hotel with all the latest updates and amenities - you'll need to go elsewhere, and spend a lot more money. For our family, while it would have been nice to have all those things, we were really focused on the skiing (which was really fantastic this Spring) and didn't feel it was worth the extra money for a little pool or spa time.

For a similar type of vacation, I would stay at the Cliff Dweller again.