7 Destinations for a New Type of Luxury Travel
Canoe Bay in Chetek
There’s no place like close to home: A new Cambria Suites survey found that 25 percent of Americans are opting for vacations near where they live. With the expense and hassle of airline travel, those numbers are growing. So forget your passport and consider these surprising “one-tank” luxe destinations instead.
1. Home Run Haven
Find your inner Natty Bumppo at the Otesaga Resort Hotel in Cooperstown, N.Y. With this luxurious Gilded Age grande dame as your base, go canoeing on Otsego Lake, tee up for a round of 18, and enjoy the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Glimmerglass summer opera.
2. Colonial Classic
If it’s good enough for Thomas Jefferson, it’ll be good enough for you: Charlottesville, Va., that is. Swap the Beltway Blues for the Blue Ridge Mountains at the Colonial-style Keswick Hall, where you can play golf or tennis, taste local wines and explore 18th-century luxury at Monticello, the renowned retreat of the third U.S. president.
3. Southern Ultra-comfort
Antebellum ambiance awaits at Barnsley Gardens Resort, 70 miles north of Atlanta in Adairsville, Ga. Do as much or as little as you like: horseback riding, sunning by the pool or smelling the heirloom roses in the 160-year-old gardens.
4. Lone Star Luxe
Texas Hill Country beckons at Washington’s Inn at Dos Brisas, easily accessible from Austin and Houston. Saddle up for a trail ride on the ranch’s 300 acres, cast a fly, shoot skeet or take a cooking class before settling into your charming Spanish-style casita.
5. SoCal Sophisticate
The Resort at Pelican Hill is 45 minutes — and a world away — from Los Angeles International Airport. This Mediterranean-inspired beauty overlooking the Pacific Ocean offers a choice of bungalows or villas, two Tom Fazio-designed golf courses, a quiet beach, hiking trails and sailing at Newport Harbor.
6. Wine and Glam
If coffee and Microsoft leave you sleepless in Seattle, head to the elegant Willows Lodge in nearby Woodinville wine country for some R&R. Sample Washington state’s pinot noirs and merlots at local wineries, book a spa treatment and hop over to the Red Hook brewery next door for a frosty.
7. MI oh MI
Two hours east of Minneapolis, you’ll find rustic elegance at Canoe Bay in Chetek, Wis. It’ll be tough to tear yourself away from your cozy wood-paneled cottage, but consider kayaking and hiking — or in the winter, skiing and dashing through the snow in a horse-drawn sleigh.
