Mentone has a few hundred residents and something close to two hundred rental units, which sounds like plenty until you try to book a weekend in October, or the Saturday a camp lets out. The town has four or five weekends a year when there is genuinely nothing left.
Book early, and these are the dates
If your dates are flexible, avoid these. If they are not, book months rather than weeks ahead.
- Camp changeover weekends, June through early August. Almost every camp on the mountain opens in the same week and the two week sessions turn over together, so a few thousand families arrive and leave on the same Saturday. The camps page has the 2027 dates.
- Leaf season, the second half of October into the first week of November.
- The Mentone Fall Festival, Saturday 17 October 2026.
- Any weekend a cold snap opens Cloudmont, which nobody can predict and which fills the cabins within a day.
Inns and bed and breakfasts
| Where | Size | What it is | Phone |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Mentone Inn 6139 Highway 117 |
12 rooms, sleeps 26 | Operating since 1927 and the one the camps recommend to parents. Breakfast included, pet friendly, a pavilion with a fireplace. Takes whole group bookings and reunions | (256) 634-4836 |
| Bee on the Brow 16951 County Road 89 |
4 suites | A deck on the brow with the view off it, and a two course breakfast | (256) 542-7725 |
| Andiamo Lodge 3450 County Road 106 |
6 rooms and a cottage | Dining and a gallery on site. Markets itself as summer camp for adults, which in this town is not a joke | (214) 415-0476 |
| Nippersink Lodge 52 Road 936 |
8 rooms | On the river since 1935, with its own kayak launch | (256) 634-1932 |
| The Hatter Country Inn 4277 Highway 117 |
2 suites | Attached to the Hatter Cafe. A jacuzzi on each porch. Pets for a fee | (256) 634-2018 |
| Mountain Laurel Inn 624 Road 948 |
5 rooms | Now booked through the rental platforms rather than run as a traditional bed and breakfast | Online only |
Cabins and cottages
Most of Mentone’s beds are in cabins, and most of the cabins are handled by a handful of local operators. If you cannot find what you want on a platform, call one of these, because they know what has just cancelled.
| Operator | Units | Phone |
|---|---|---|
| Delightful Retreats. The biggest operator on the mountain. Mostly dog friendly, hot tubs, fire pits, kayaks. Also runs the Little River treehouses | About 42 | (256) 465-1258 |
| Mentone Rental Cabins | Several | (205) 533-6111 |
| Mentone Mountain Getaways. A frames, tiny homes and cabins, and they book Blueberry Falls Farm as well | Several | (256) 304-5715 |
| Patriot Family Homes Lookout Mountain | 10 houses | (256) 604-1093 |
| Cottages of Mentone 16569 County Road 89 |
6 | (504) 481-8666 |
| Mentone Cozy Cabins 5809 Highway 117 |
3 | (251) 605-1582 |
| Peaceful Retreats. Puts several properties together for large groups | Varies | (256) 273-9102 |
| Stay in Mentone | Varies | (256) 254-0002 |
| Enjoy Unique Stays | Varies | (423) 500-7300 |
Individual properties worth knowing by name: Hoot Owl Hollow, Wild Wood Cabins, Timber’s Edge, Creek Side Cottage, Little River Cabin, Chestnut Oaks Cottage, Hawk’s Nest Hideaway, Moonflower Cottage and Red Bird Roost on North Cool Street, Stoneridge Cottages, Tikabee Timbers, Mountainwood Cottages, and Deep Root Rentals, a tiny home a few miles out with a fire pit on the porch.
A whole family, or a whole camp family
When three generations come up for a camp weekend, the cabins are the wrong shape. These take everybody under one roof.
- The Lodge in Mentone, six bedrooms, 25891 County Road 89.
- Cragsmere Manor, a six bedroom estate on County Road 89 that sleeps fourteen.
- Valley Head Venue and Retreat, down the mountain.
- The Mentone Inn, which will take the whole building.
- Peaceful Retreats, who will put several houses together in one booking.
DeSoto State Park
7104 DeSoto Parkway NE, Fort Payne. (256) 845-5380.
Forty nine rooms and units between the lodge, the motel rooms, log cabins, four historic cabins built by the Civilian Conservation Corps, and the A frame chalets, plus ninety four full hookup campsites. It is the most reliable bed on the mountain and the one that books first for leaf season.
Things worth knowing before you book. Dogs are allowed in only two motel rooms, one rustic cabin and three chalets, for a nightly fee, and you have to ask at the time of booking. There is a two night minimum at weekends. There is no wifi in the cabins, which some people book it for. The restaurant is closed Monday through Thursday. And there is a fifteen per cent discount on state run accommodation for over sixty twos, veterans, serving military, people with disabilities and state employees.
Camping, RVs and something stranger
- DeSoto State Park, ninety four full hookup sites, plus primitive, backcountry and a wall tent site.
- Tranquility RV and Campground, 3680 County Road 165, half a mile from DeSoto Falls. Seasonal, 1 April to 15 November. (256) 634-3686.
- 1776 RV and Campground, 3588 Highway 117. (256) 619-1776.
- Highview RV Park, 22921 County Road 89. (678) 552-3922.
- Little Mole Country Club and Campground, 741 County Road 647. Eighteen holes and three stocked ponds. (256) 634-2104.
- Cloudmont, 721 County Road 614. Cabins and chalets at the ski slope. (256) 634-4027.
- Little River Treehouses, two of them, run by Delightful Retreats.
- Folklore Forest, glamping on 270 feet of Little River frontage.
There is no camping inside Little River Canyon National Preserve, and the backcountry sites there are closed. If you want to camp near the canyon, the state park is the answer.
Closed, and still being advertised
- Mentone Springs Hotel burned on 1 March 2014. It was the last of Alabama’s great nineteenth century resort hotels and it is still bookable-looking in several directories. It is not there.
- Sequoyah Caverns campground, Valley Head, closed with the caverns in 2013.
If you run a place here and we have you wrong, or missing, tell us. A listing costs nothing. Checked 22 September 2026.