End of Route 66 Hotel Roundup

Every great journey eventually comes to an end—even a ride on Route 66. Once you push past Adrian, TX, the number of miles left to go keeps only getting smaller.

But there are still many miles to go, and you’ll need to sleep somewhere along the way. We’ve previously listed some of the best hotels in the Illinois and middle sections of Route 66, but now it’s time to look at the end of the road.

Here are some of the best and/or most quirky hotels, motels, and inns toward the tail section of Route 66. We slept in most of them on the RoadRUNNER Route 66 tour, so they have our seal of approval.

Blue Swallow Motel—Tucumcari, NM

The Blue Swallow Motel is a true historical curiosity on Route 66. This Tucumcari, NM, establishment has housed travelers on the Mother Road since 1939. To catch your attention, a neon sign from the ‘60s still buzzes alight each night outside the motel.

Once you step inside, you’re transported back to the 1940s. The furnishings are carefully chosen to recreate the Blue Swallow experience from Route 66’s glory days. There’s even a rotary telephone in each room—good luck explaining that if you’re riding with your kid.

Despite the historical vibe, the Blue Swallow has been extensively renovated and restored, so you can enjoy a modern, comfortable sleep with the 100% refrigerated air promised on the neon sign. There’s even a new-fangled EV charging station if you’re traveling on an electric bike.

The motel doesn’t serve breakfast, but you’ll find many coffee shops and restaurants within a couple of blocks.

Roadrunner Lodge—Tucumcari, NM

There are too many classic, restored motels in Tucumcari for us to feature just one. So, we naturally picked our namesake as well.

The Roadrunner Lodge is an interesting establishment, since it consists of two different motels that have become conjoined over the years. The oldest part of the building dates to 1947, and even the “newer” sections didn’t exactly go up last week.

The interior is done in the style of the 1960s, allowing you to chill with the vibes of the Route 66’s last days. To further immerse you in the setting, some rooms even feature a radio playing ‘60s tunes through the motel’s private radio station.

With surprisingly well-sized rooms, the Roadrunner Lodge is another excellent choice for sleeping in Tucumcari. It’s one block over from the Blue Swallow, so the same dinner options apply.

El Rancho—Gallup, NM

Back in the ‘40s and ‘50s, the striking Southwestern landscapes around Gallup, NM, made it a hotspot for filming Westerns. El Rancho Hotel was built in 1937 to house the Hollywood stars arriving in town to shoot the latest cowboy flicks.

And what stars they were. Among many others, John Wayne, Katharine Hepburn, Ronald Reagan, and the Marx Brothers have slept under El Rancho’s roof.

When you step into the hotel, you might think it’s a museum, with pictures of actors lining the period-appropriately decorated walls. In the well-sized rooms, you’ll find the kind of retro luxury that the stars of yesteryear demanded.

We also must highlight the on-site El Rancho Restaurant, one of the finest eateries you’ll find for miles around. This hotel takes you back to the golden age of Hollywood and makes you feel like one of the stars while you’re at it.

Wigwam Motel—Holbrook, AZ

This motel takes it's name after the semi-permanent domed or cone shaped dwelling formerly used by certain Native American tribes.

Wigwam Motels were once a chain franchise, famous for the large artificial tents that housed travelers. Today, only three of the locations remain, and this is one of them. Although, the structures are made out of concrete instead of tent fabric.

The rooms (or tents) are well-sized, with plenty of room for all the gear you’ll bring along. You also get to park right in front of your room, so there’s no need to carry your bags very far.

Before you turn in for the night, you can admire the collection of classic (if rather rusty) cars parked around the motel grounds. You shouldn’t make a fire in your wigwam/tipi for cooking, so mosey to one of the nearby restaurants for dinner.

Historic Route 66 Motel—Seligman, AZ

The Historical Route 66 Motel was founded in the early ‘60s as Navajo Motel. It went up just in time to see the arrival of I-40 and the end of Route 66 traffic flowing through Seligman, AZ.

Angel Delgadillo and other Route 66 lovers in town founded the country’s first Historical Route 66 Association and got the State of Arizona to declare Route 66 a historical landmark. That may have well saved this motel, which now offers comfortable and affordable rooms to all friends of the Mother Road.

The rooms are basic, in the sense you’d expect from a historical motel. That said, they are quiet and reasonably sized (for the time they were built at), and there’s a real historical ambiance here.

Once dinner time rolls around, you have two of Seligman’s best restaurants quite literally next to the motel. That’s a perfect excuse to book two nights here so you can eat at both.