Where you stay is as much a part of the ski experience as getting out on the snow. So here’s our round up of the best ski lodges to book for your next winter getaway.
The most historic lodge
Sun Valley Lodge
Located in: Sun Valley, Idaho
Nearest skiing: Sun Valley Resort
Though Sun Valley Lodge was recently renovated, kicking back in front of a granite fireplace in the palatial wood and granite lobby still feels like it could be 1940 or 2020. More than 250 archival photos – tokens of Sun Valley’s 80+ year history – decorate the walls, including pictures of celebrity visitors from Tom Selleck to Ernest Hemingway and Marilyn Monroe, as well as iconic moments in skiing. The charming rooms are fully updated, and many now feature fireplaces as regal as those in the common areas. The resort gazes upon the mountains, including 9150-foot Bald Mountain, where ski runs beckon. When it’s time to après, you can sip signature cocktails and watch the setting sun, or venture downstairs to the six regulation on-premises bowling lanes popular with kids of all ages.
The best downtown lodge
Washington School House
Located in: Park City, Utah
Nearest skiing: Deer Valley, Park City Mountain Resort
A sophisticated 13-room boutique hotel housed in an 1889 National Historic Registry landmark, Washington School House is full of surprises. Just off Park City’s Main Street, the lofted rooms and suites are tastefully decorated with both antiques and art. And whether you’re looking for an undisturbed, romantic weekend or a more social vacation, the inn can accommodate. Join other guests for a hearty mountain breakfast and share tall tales from your ski day during après in the welcoming living room, or book a private multi-course dinner in your penthouse suite. The hotel’s heated pool is terraced into the mountainside behind the hotel and gives guests another way to enjoy Park City.
The best East Coast lodge
The Lodge at Spruce Peak
Located in: Stowe, Vermont
Nearest skiing: Stowe Mountain Resort
Timberframe western ski lodge meets Adirondack Great Camp, the Lodge at Spruce Peak is simply stunning. Admire Vermont’s highest peak, Mt. Mansfield, from the lobby’s overstuffed leather chairs through the floor to ceiling windows. A hot chocolate station and board games provide entertainment inside, or bundle up and venture out to the slopeside Whistle Pig Pavilion, where a big bonfire blazes, local musicians strum tunes, and you can sip Whistle Pig cocktails or sample Vermont’s famous microbrews, chasing it with raclettes (melted Swiss cheese) prepared over the fire. Make friends with a staff member or become an owner to gain entry to the on-premises, invite-only speakeasy, where bartenders create custom cocktails based on your tastes and flavor preferences. Or book your spot at the Farm Table Friday dinner series – a multi-course beer or wine paired affair featuring all local ingredients provided by Spruce Peak’s farm partners.
Newly renovated Penthouse suites have floor to ceiling windows that look out at Mount Mansfield, custom dining and coffee tables made by Vermont Tree Company from standing deadwood, full kitchens, common rooms with a fireplace, balconies and a washer/dryer. Plus your every need is seen to by a private concierge.
The best backcountry lodge
Bobbie Burns Lodge
Located in: Parson, British Columbia
Nearest skiing: CMH Heli Tenure
It’s a three-hour bus ride from the Calgary airport through the precipitous and shimmering Canadian Rockies to Parson, BC, followed by a 10-minute helicopter ride into the backcountry to get to Bobbie Burns Lodge. Built in 1981, the lodge is best known for its glacier skiing and glades in an expansive backcountry tenure, and its subterranean wine cellar featuring British Columbian vintages.
Legend holds that CMH founder Johann Wolfgang “Hans” Gmoser used to put burned-out lightbulbs in the bedrooms to drive guests to socialize in common areas. When the $8.4 million renovation is complete this December, it will be harder than ever to leave the rustic luxury of the renovated and new rooms. But the common areas and hang time with other guests is just as hard to resist. Try your hand at foosball, darts and vintage pinball, or just relax and take in the views in the lodge games room.
The brand new spa specializes in relaxing, rejuvenating treatments that invigorate the circulatory system to help you feel fresh on your skis. Treatments complement the new steam room, wood-fired sauna, and outdoor hot tub. Follow up with a gourmet dinner, and you’ll be ready for whatever the 656 square miles of terrain dishes up tomorrow.
The most private lodge
Kicking Horse Eagle’s Eye Suite
Located in: Golden, British Columbia
Nearest skiing: Kicking Horse Mountain Resort
If you’ve ever dreamed of having a ski resort to yourself, book this private lodge for a night. By day, the gondola-accessed 7700-foot high summit lodge, which houses Eagle’s Eye Restaurant, a mountain top fine dining experience from first chair to last. When other skiers have gone home, Canada’s highest five-star restaurant opens a single luxury suite to a single couple each night. Your stay comes with butler service and guaranteed first tracks. Snuggle deep into a down duvet after a sumptuous dinner for two prepared by your private chef, wake up to sparkling snow and a continental breakfast before you carve creamy turns down Kicking Horse’s front side or side country before the lifts start turning.
The most spacious lodge
Lumiere Hotel
Located in: Telluride, Colorado
Nearest skiing: Telluride Ski Resort
Hunker down in one of Lumiere’s slopeside suites, and the end of your ski day won’t mean the end of a great day. Each suite makes you feel like you’re in your own luxurious home, complete with a chef’s kitchen stocked with Steaming Bean coffee and Rishi tea, plush couches arranged around a roaring gas fire, and a coffee table stacked with reading material.
Take in sweeping mountain views from every room. And if you’re feeling social, instead of soaking in your suite’s sunken whirlpool tub, venture out to the stone patio hot tub or après at the hotel bar. The attentive staff accommodates everything, from Black Tie ski valet service to booking dinner reservations. And when you’re ready to hit the slopes, you just walk out the door – your skis will already be waiting slopeside, attended by Lumiere’s ski valet.