It’s the dead of winter here in the Northern Hemisphere, and a lot of us city folk are starting to feel a bit cooped up. We’re told this affliction is commonly diagnosed as “cabin fever,” which is weird, because cabin life sounds pretty darn good right about now.
Just like a vaccine contains the virus, when you’ve got cabin fever, the only prescription is more cabins. Or, in this case, cabin hotels. You can take the cure a couple different ways — some will prefer a cozy fire on a snowy mountainside, others a comfy hammock and a calm blue sea. To help determine which remedy is right for you, here are six shining examples of each.
Lake Placid Lodge
Lake Placid, New York
Along the quiet western shore of Lake Placid, a central lodge and nineteen private cabins huddle at the water’s edge. Among their rustic pine beams you’ll find stone fireplaces, overflowing feather beds, deep soaking tubs, and wide picture windows. The Adirondacks were once the holiday destination of Carnegies and Morgans, and that luxurious charm can still be found here.
The Suttle Lodge
Sisters, Oregon
Suttle Lodge resembles nothing so much as a grown-up summer camp, maintaining that magic touch of nostalgia, despite the archery range and craft corner being replaced by a restaurant and cocktail lounge helmed by veterans of the Portland culinary scene. Pull up a chair on the deck of your lakeside cabin to enjoy views out over Suttle Lake and Deschutes National Forest.
Triple Creek Ranch
Darby, Montana
To indulge in such rugged pastimes as fly-fishing and snowmobiling, you’re willing to accept a certain coarseness of accommodations. At Triple Creek Ranch, though, it is possible to experience the spectacular Montana landscape while making your home in a luxurious private cabin with a full range of amenities like a hot tub, fireplace, room service and stocked wet bar.
Hochleger Chalets
Tyrol, Austria
This is Alpine chalet living done right. That is, with consummate respect for privacy and a slew of opportunities to engage directly with what is arguably Nature’s grand finale. From an altitude over 3,400 glorious feet, these two-story buildings partake in an extravagant display of natural wood and feature full-scale kitchens along with private terraces and arresting mountain views.
Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge
Jasper, Canada
Fairmont Jasper Park is a somewhat ramshackle collection of cottages, cabins, and chalets, all gathered around a central lodge building, alongside the idyllic Lac Beauvert. It is, essentially, the most luxurious camp you’ve ever been to. The living quarters vary widely in plan, owing to the resort’s piecemeal construction, but all are comfortable, rustic in style, yet with modern facilities.
Le Chalet Zannier
Megeve, France
This is the alpine paradise of your dreams, lavish yet wonderfully cozy. The décor mixes minimalism with rustic chic: think vaulted ceilings made with beams of rough-hewn wood, white linen sofas, stone fireplaces, hand-thrown pottery, and the occasional plant. Integrated in-room sound systems and Nespresso machines are standard features, as are stunning views of the village and mountains.
Ratua Private Island
Luganville, Vanuatu
Located on a private island in Vanuatu, Ratua is comprised of fifteen wooden villas that are traditional in the purest sense of the word. These are authentic 200-year-old Indonesian homes, transported here and rebuilt for your benefit, with electricity added, bathrooms modernized, and everything else left perfectly as-is. Best of all, none is more than just a few yards from the beach.
Xinalani
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
The natural landscape surrounding Xinalani is its main attraction. In fact, each room within these palm-thatched cabins is open-air, with just three walls and a curtain that you’ll probably leave open most of the time, the better to catch a sea breeze or gaze at the thousands of stars twinkling in the night sky. Private balconies provide further views of the jungle and the bay.
Blancaneaux Lodge
San Ignacio, Belize
Blancaneaux started as a vacation home for Francis Ford Coppola and his family; now it’s an upscale eco-lodge that even non-Hollywood royalty can stay at. From the splashy owner’s villa to the more humble cabanas, each of the twenty units is equal parts rustic escapism and unpretentious luxury, located right at a frontier where carefully tended gardens dissolve into wild rainforest.
The Lodge at Pico Bonito
La Ceiba, Honduras
There was a time in the not-too-distant past when reaching a tropical jungle paradise took a woeful lot of doing. Today you can board a morning flight from a major American city and arrive in time for a mid-afternoon lunch at a place like Pico Bonito, where that hammock on the private verandah of your cabin is surrounded by four hundred acres of wilderness on the Caribbean coast.
GoldenEye
North Coast, Jamaica
GoldenEye was where Ian Fleming sat down to write all fourteen of his James Bond novels. His original five villas are still intact on this gorgeous plot of coastal land a few miles east of Ocho Rios, but eleven new cottages, six new lagoon-facing suites, and one new airport have helped open this once private escape to a new generation of style-seekers and creative types.
Sala Lodges
Siem Reap, Cambodia
The Sala Lodges are actually authentic handmade houses, some fifty years old or more, transported from all across the Cambodian countryside and reassembled here on this site. They are carefully preserved, but have been respectfully renovated to the latest luxury standard. And while they differ widely in style and plan, all are elevated at least a few feet, in traditional Khmer style.