When it comes to winter travel, you have one of two options: Run from the cold and find some tropical beach where it’s sunny right now, or embrace the seasonal chill and opt for maximum coziness. We’re talking wintry hideaways where firepits are abundant, the smell of wood smoke fills the air, and the interior design goes heavy on comfy wools and flannels. They’re places where it’s just as rewarding to go out and explore as it is to sit by a window with a good book and take in the snow globe–like scene outside. As part of our Hotels We Love series, we’ve selected our 10 favorite winter retreats from around the country, listed here in no particular order.
1. Blackberry Mountain
- Location: Walland, Tennessee
- Why we love it: Memorable Great Smoky Mountain views with a commitment to local flavors
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Situated over 5,200 acres across eight miles of the Great Smoky Mountains’ protected ridgetop, Blackberry Mountain—sister property to wine-and-dining destination Blackberry Farm—pitches itself as “your own private national park.” With three on-site restaurants, a spa, fitness classes, and seemingly endless hikes, we’ll take it. It’s the perfect home base from which to explore the mountain range, which straddles the Tennessee–South Carolina border and is known for its natural beauty and biodiversity.
Accommodations are divided among cottages, cabins, tree houses, and private homes; many include their own wood-burning stoves or stone fireplaces. For an added touch of warmth, the hotel has collaborated with Newly, a certified B Corporation that makes sustainable (and ultra-comfy) throw blankets out of recycled cotton and water bottles; if you love the plush bedding in you room, they sell the complete set online on their Blackberry Farm Shop.
Unsurprisingly, the star of the show here is the comforting seasonal food on offer in the two on-site restaurants, the flagship Three Sisters, in the lodge, and Firetower, which is built around a 1950s lookout tower. Drawing on the wild ingredients and culinary inspirations of this stretch of Appalachia, dishes like quinoa-fried quail with chili honey, wild boar sugo, and spruce-rubbed lamb ribs are designed to feel like a warm hug—even more so when the snow is falling outside. From $1,595
2. The Green O
- Location: Greenough, Montana
- Why we love it: Sleek stand-alone retreats with fireplaces and postcard-worthy forest views
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The adults-only Green O comprises 12 stylish stand-alone accommodations, or “hauses,” with four sleek, Scandinavian-inspired designs on the forested grounds of the Resort at Paws Up in northwest Montana. They include a “light haus,” with two fireplaces and skylights ideal for star gazing, and a “round haus,” with curved windows that showcase forest views. The “green haus” features an atrium that maximizes indoor-outdoor living.
For maximum cozy winter vibes, the best choices are the “tree haus” accommodations, which are elevated 23 feet into the canopy. These suites are three-story, glass-encased, Tetris-stacked structures with a cylindrical spiral staircase at the center. In addition to multiple viewing platforms and a fireplace, there’s also a hot tub at ground level. All come with floor-to-ceiling windows, Wild West–chic furniture in leather and wrought iron, and more than 1,000 square feet of indoor living space. There are also on-site hiking trails, which begin steps from your door, horseback rides along the Blackfoot River, and hot-air balloon rides over the majestic Swan Mountains. From $2,268
3. Hotel Jerome, Auberge Resorts Collection
- Location: Aspen, Colorado
- Why we love it: Old West ambience with one of the best après scenes in the Colorado Rockies
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Opened in 1889 during the silver boom, this brick landmark exudes a rustic-meets-refined elegance that has come to define this well-heeled Colorado ski town. The hotel has been a favorite over the decades for the likes of Gary Cooper, John Wayne, and especially Hunter S. Thompson, who used the J-Bar as his informal campaign office when he was running for sheriff. An Old West masculinity pervades the public spaces, with their moodily lit nooks, crackling fireplaces, and deep-set leather chairs; up in the rooms, mounted wooden deer heads, cowhide chairs, and tree-stump lamps extend the theme. Guests staying in the most luxurious suites also have access to Lindsey Thornburg designer cloaks to wear during their stay.
Come ski season, the après scene really heats up, with experiences like curling out in the garden and floating champagne and caviar trays in the heated pool, while the Bad Harriet bar hosts prix-fixe cocktail tastings. If you can’t get enough of the cozy vibes, you can re-create them at home thanks to the hotel’s new collaboration with Hotel Lobby Candle; the soy wax candle features notes of cedarwood, pine, leather, embers, and smoke, inspired by the fires often burning in the lobby and the crisp mountain air outside. From $1,300
4. Sanctuary Camelback Mountain, a Gurney’s Resort & Spa
- Location: Scottsdale, Arizona
- Why we love it: A desert hideaway that’s perfect for spa pampering or cocktails by the fire
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Spread across 53 acres of manicured desert landscape on the north side of Scottsdale’s iconic mountain, this wellness resort remains a favorite any time of year. (There’s a reason Beyoncé and Jay-Z spent their honeymoon here.) In the summer, you might find yourself cooling off with paddleboard yoga in the infinity pool, but the resort comes alive during the Sonoran winter, when there’s a chill in the air but the sunshine’s still blazing.
The resort offers 109 casitas and suites and 8 private mountain villas, many with their own fireplaces, firepits, or outdoor bathtubs—an especially luxurious place to warm up when desert winter lows dip into the 30s. After dark, those in the know head to the patio of the Jade Bar, which is warmed by gas fireplaces, for Paradise Valley views and wintry cocktails like the Original Sin, made with bourbon, rosemary, red wine, and quince. But perhaps the coziest spot on property is the Asian-inspired spa; it’s hidden behind a Zen meditation garden and reflecting ponds and best enjoyed when dressed in one of its plush robes. From $899
5. Wildflower Farms, Auberge Resorts Collection
- Location: Gardiner, New York
- Why we love it: A working farm within easy reach from New York City with a communal firepit and seasonal activities
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Spread out across 140 acres on a former tree farm below New York’s Shawangunk Mountain Range, Wildflower Farms is only a 90-minute drive north of Manhattan but feels worlds away. In addition to 65 freestanding cottages, Wildflower Farms is also home to Thistle, an Auberge Spa, as well as three miles of trails and a working farm that provides seasonal vegetables, eggs, and yes, wildflowers to Clay, the on-site fine-dining restaurant.
Here, wellness doesn’t mean just a spa treatment or two and a yoga class; it’s a chance to truly immerse yourself in nature by going forest bathing and even collecting your own eggs from the chicken coop each morning. Each cottage and cabin comes with floor-to-ceiling windows to let the outdoors in so you can stay connected to the outdoors, even when you’re watching the sunrise from underneath a custom-made patchwork quilt or unwinding in the deep soaking tub after a hike. If you’re feeling a bit more extroverted, you can relax on the open-air Great Porch, where a nearly 10-foot-wide firepit is surrounded by velvet couches and tweed armchairs. It’s a communal space where you can share coffee and pastries by morning or cocktails and bar snacks by night.
While there are plenty of opportunities for adventure in the area, Wildflower Farms offers homier activities that are perfect for when the mercury drops, such as making wreaths with seasonal dried botanicals, baking sourdough focaccia with edible flowers, or warming up with a tasting of single-barrel whiskeys at the nearby Tuthilltown Distillery, a 10-minute stroll from the hotel. You’ll be sure to feel well-fed, well-rested, and more relaxed than when you arrived. From $999
6. Inn of the Five Graces
- Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico
- Why we love it: Eclectic decor sourced from around the globe and a decades-old local restaurant icon
- Loyalty program: Always Be Expected (Relais & Châteaux)
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Occupying a collection of formerly neglected adobe structures in Santa Fe’s Barrio de Analco Historic District, Inn of the Five Graces takes its name from the Eastern philosophy that we’re graced with sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste as a way to experience the wonders of the world. And indeed, designers Ira and Sylvia Seret have searched far and wide for treasures to create an all-encompassing sensory experience: Uzbek embroidered headboards and Peruvian prayer blankets to touch, museum-quality Afghan and Tibetan artifacts to peruse, and especially kiva fireplaces to wrap you in the sweet scent of burning piñon pine. In many of the rooms and suites, the best seat in the house is the deep soaking tub, surrounded in some cases by intricately inlaid onyx, marble, lapis, or jade.
Last winter, the owners of the hotel bought the iconic Pink Adobe restaurant, which first opened 80 years ago and was beloved for its blend of Cajun and New Mexican cuisine. You can now access the restaurant through a passageway off the inn’s central courtyard. For the height of coziness, don’t miss the warm hug of a dessert known as Rosalea’s French apple pie: Studded with golden raisins and pecans, it’s been on the menu since 1944. And if you’d rather get in on the cooking yourself, you can sign up for visit to the Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo, where members of the Naranjo family will welcome you with hot drinks and teach you how to bake in a beehive-shaped, wood-burning horno oven. From $578
7. Twin Farms Treehouses
- Location: Barnard, Vermont
- Why we love it: Tree houses for grown-ups (with a luxury twist)
- Loyalty program: Always Be Expected (Relais & Châteaux)
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If you ever climbed trees as a child, you may recall the magic that comes from looking down at the world from above. That bird’s-eye view is just what Twin Farms had in mind when the beloved luxury retreat dreamed up its eight new Treehouse suites. The suites are the first accommodations Twin Farms has added in 30 years to its more than 300-acre estate.
Hovering between 14 and 20 feet above ground in the forest, these 800- square-foot hideaways on stilts are designed with the Japanese principles of wabi-sabi, or the celebration of imperfection in nature. The rustic materials, floating fireplaces, and to floor-to-ceiling glass windows are meant to call nature inside for communing and calm. From $3,500, all-inclusive
8. Farmhouse Inn, California
- Location: Forestville, Sonoma County
- Why we love it: A culinary and wellness getaway in an idyllic setting
- Loyalty program: I Prefer (Preferred Hotels and Resorts)
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Set on 10 tree-shaded acres in a quiet corner of Sonoma County, Farmhouse Inn has a storied past, having had previous lives as a horse farm, bathhouse, and the first gay resort in the Russian River Valley. Today, the luxury hotel is run by siblings Joe and Catherine Bartolomei, whose family goes back five generations in the wine-growing region. Farmhouse Inn comprises 25 rooms, suites, and cottages, each with a unique footprint and handsome white-washed furnishings. They feature fireplaces, patios, large bathtubs, and steam showers (with local artisanal soaps and scrubs). The farmhouse-chic aesthetic continues in the Wellness Barn spa, which offers body treatments using local remedies and holistic modalities meant to realign body and mind, as well as private yoga sessions and workshops.
Food and drink feature prominently in the hospitality experience here. There’s welcome wine on arrival, while gourmet s’mores kits are set out by the firepit each night. Chef Craig Wilmer oversees the Farmhouse Restaurant, which serves prix-fixe feasts that might include line-caught albacore. The inn’s poolside Farmstand serves casual, regionally sourced bites ranging from fried chicken sandwiches to burrata. Dedicated foodies can hop in one of the hotel’s Volvos to explore the nearby world-class restaurants and wineries, some of which offer rare private tastings in partnership with Farmhouse Inn. From $561
9. Parker Palm Springs, California
- Location: Palm Springs, California
- Why we love it: A midcentury setting where it’s just as lovely to make s’mores by the fire as it is to hang by the pool
- Loyalty program: Leaders Club (Leading Hotels of the World)
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Opened in 1959 as California’s first Holiday Inn, the Parker Palm Springs is a midcentury landmark that has lived many lives in its first six and a half decades: Western movie star Gene Autry bought the property to house his baseball team, the California Angels, during spring training in the ‘60s; TV producer Merv Griffin later took it over in the 1990s; and Jonathan Adler later spruced up the interiors, adding his whimsical hodgepodge style with eclectic art pieces (like a seven-foot-tall bronze banana sculpture) and homey touches, including needlepoint pillows and sheepskin throws.
At the on-site spa, the Palm Springs Yacht Club, guests relax in plush cotton terry robes in between treatments like hot stone massages and honey cocoon body wraps. And after the sun sets and the desert temperatures drop, many make their way into Mini Bar for a coveted spot around the mod fireplace, where the seating is divided between cushions and leather poufs, or head to the butterfly chairs around the firepit to make s’mores. With the crisp night air and the starry sky overhead, there may be no better way to experience winter in the California desert. From $699
10. Borealis Basecamp
- Location: Fairbanks, Alaska
- Why we love it: A Scandinavian-chic base for epic aurora borealis viewing
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Tucked away in a boreal forest in Interior Alaska, north of Fairbanks (Alaska’s second largest city, population 30,000) and far from urban light pollution, Borealis Basecamp feels off the grid while offering all the comforts of an upscale lodge. When it opened in 2017, the retreat quickly became a coveted spot for northern lights chasers. The collection of 28 geodesic igloos was built in the same way as the accommodations of scientists in Arctic environments, but with extra creature comforts. Each igloo has a ceiling made with repurposed 16-foot-wide helicopter windows offering views of chartreuse- and magenta-hued northern lights from bed. In winter 2022, Borealis Basecamp added a collection of modern cube-shaped cabins with floor-to-ceiling windows that make for easy sky scanning. Read our full review. Contact hotel for rates.
Additional reporting by Bailey Berg, Kathryn Romeyn, Nora Zelevansky, and Lyndsey Matthews.
