The Irma Hotel Cody, Wyoming - Honest Review - The Brutally Honest Traveler

Named after Buffalo Bill Cody’s daughter, Irma, the Irma Hotel opened in 1902 and is an iconic and historic place to stay in Cody, Wyoming. But is staying at the Irma Hotel in Cody Wyoming worth it? My sister and I stayed at The Irma for just one night and enjoyed our stay. Here is my review of the historic Irma Hotel in Cody Wyoming.

Cody Wyoming - Irma Hotel — The Irma in downtown Cody, Wyoming

The Irma Hotel – Location and Amenities

The Irma Hotel can be found right smack in the middle of downtown Cody, Wyoming. This is an excellent location for exploring Cody’s cute downtown area on foot.

Parking: There is free parking in the lot for guests. It is located behind the hotel.

Rooms: Many of the hotel rooms are situated on top of the restaurant – and there are no elevators. If you have difficulties with stairs and/or can’t schlep your luggage up at least one flight of stairs, you may want to stay elsewhere or make sure you get a first floor room – but I’ll warn you! The rooms on the first floor are quite small.

Door to the Brown Room at the Irma hotel in Cody Wyoming

All of the rooms at the Irma are older but some rooms are ‘historic’ rooms. We booked an ‘historic’ room with two queen beds. Although it was an ‘historic’ room, the amenities in the room were modern – we had a refrigerator, coffee maker and a TV, and the room was spacious. The Irma does have ‘regular’ rooms with more modern decor – but staying in one of those kind of defeats the purpose of staying at a place like the Irma, doesn’t it?!

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The cherry bar was donated by Queen Victoria back in the early 1900s. - Irma Hotel Cody Wyoming — The cherry bar was donated by Queen Victoria back in the early 1900s.

Irma Hotel – Restaurant

The restaurant itself is a popular tourist attraction in Cody and it always seems to be busy. It has a spectacular “Wild West” ambiance and the bar area is beautiful. The old fashioned cherry bar was donated by Queen Victoria of England in the early 1900s and is exquisite.

Irma Hotel Cody Wyoming - Exterior photo — The Irma porch is a great gathering place – you can watch the daily gunfight right from here!

My sister and I ate at the restaurant for both the experience and the convenience. She had the famous Prime Rib buffet and I ordered a grilled chicken sandwich off the menu (I’m not a really into steak, and I didn’t feel the buffet would be worth it to me). My sister absolutely loved the prime rib buffet but felt the dessert options were lacking. The only choice for dessert was bread pudding and neither of us are fans. It would be nice if they’d offer more than one dessert choice, especially for a so-called “buffet.” The food was fine – it wasn’t anything mind-blowing but it was good.

Our experience at the Irma Hotel

The check-in and check-out process was kind of a mess. It took forever to check in, as no one was around the front desk to assist us and eventually a line began to form behind us of other hotel guests trying to check in. Eventually, the bartender checked us in. Checking out was the same painful process – no one around to help and another line was forming with impatient guests ready to get on with their day.

We stayed in the “Brown” room, which has two queen beds.

Hallway inside the Irma Hotel in Cody Wyoming — Hallway at the Irma

Like I mentioned before, most of the rooms are upstairs and there is no elevator or luggage carts. You’ll have to schlep your stuff up the stairs and possibly through the restaurant (!) – the layout of the entire place is very confusing and it’s easy to get lost, so you might find yourself trudging through the middle of the restaurant just trying to find your room like we did. Oops.

We were assigned the historic “Brown” room, which has two queen beds. We got a kick out of the Victorian-style toilet in the bathroom – you don’t see one of these every day! Everything in the room was fine – the beds were comfortable, the wifi worked, the room was quiet and we got a good night’s sleep.

RELATED: The Buffalo Bill Dam is only a 10 minute drive away.

Vintage 1800s style bathroom at the Irma Hotel in Cody Wyoming — The old fashioned toilet in the bathroom!

Buffalo Bill’s Irma Hotel – Final Thoughts

Pros:

The historic hotel was fun to stay in for one night.
Great location, in the middle of downtown – perfect for walking around and checking out the town.
Loved the Wild West ambiance of the restaurant!
The Monday-Saturday summer gunfight show takes place right outside the main porch of the Irma. You can watch it from there or depending on your room’s location, could watch it right from your room.

Cons:

There is no elevator. You will have to schlep your stuff up at least one flight of stairs.
The breakfast buffet is not free for guests and it didn’t look very appetizing.
Customer service here seems a bit lacking. It was a challenge to find some to check us in and out.
I would’ve liked a more extensive dinner buffet, but the food on the menu was good.
If you are staying here to visit Yellowstone, staying in Cody is too far away IMO. If you’re on the way to Yellowstone and need a place to stay, Cody is perfect, but to use this as a base for a Yellowstone trip, no. You will spend all day in the car.

Would I stay at the Irma again? Despite the negatives, yes, I would – I thought it was a fun and unique experience – it’s not a fancy hotel by any means, but the location is amazing and the price was reasonable, especially during the busy summer tourist season.

Have you stayed at Buffalo Bill’s Irma hotel in Cody, Wyoming? Or are you thinking about spending a night or two here on your summer road trip? Let me know in the comments!