174 East Gore Creek Drive, Vail, CO, 81657, 877-LAV-ROCK (528-7625), 970-476-5011,
Rates: Standard rooms start at $139 now and $459 per night during ski season. A bed-and-breakfast package is available. Parking is $20 a day until winter, when it is $25. Note that there is a $20 daily resort fee per room that covers Internet access, fitness room access and other services and amenities.
Stay here if you: want to stay in a property that manages to feel timeworn and venerable in a resort town that will always have that new-money smell.
It’s close to: the heart of Vail Village. The Lodge was built in 1962, and the Village actually grew up around it, so anything your heart desires Village- wise is within walking distance. The shuttle from the main transportation center to Lionshead is but a block away.
The rooms are: stylish in an old-fashioned way. Beds are topped with plush linens; bathrooms are spacious. The deluxe rooms, worth the extra cost, have heated marble floors, towel warmers, private balconies and flat-screen TVs.
They put all of the money into: redoing the fitness center and spa to make it one of the top destination spas in the mountains. The couples room has a soaking tub, and the treatment options include mud and other wraps and scrubs. Yoga and Pilates are available at the fitness center, free for hotel guests.
The bottom line: Modeled after the 1936 Lodge at Sun Valley, the Lodge at Vail has continually updated while retaining an Old World charm. The reasonable shoulder-season prices put it solidly in the getaway class for fall mountain biking and hiking, and again in the spring and summer. And its two restaurants, The Wildflower and Cucina Rustica, are among Vail’s best.
Kyle Wagner
