The best lodges upstate NY has to offer split into two groups. In the Adirondacks, around Upper Saranac Lake and Lake Placid, you get the Great Camps: log buildings, stone fireplaces laid by local masons, hand-carved beds, cold water at the end of the lawn. In the Catskills, two and a half hours from Manhattan, you get cabin properties built for design-minded weekenders. Nine are worth the money, and what each does well is below.
A lodge here is not a resort with a lobby and a lift: most of these put you in a freestanding cabin reached on foot, in the dark, in the rain, carrying your own bag. That is the appeal. Everything below is checked against each property’s current information; our hotel review method sets out what we weigh.
- Adirondack High Peaks (Lake Placid, Saranac Lake, North Hudson): the Great Camp tradition and the earliest autumn colour. Roughly five hours’ driving from Manhattan, or fly to Albany.
- Catskills (Hunter, Big Indian, Catskill): two and a half hours from New York City, and cabins designed in the last decade rather than the last century.
- Either way, book a freestanding cabin rather than a lodge room. At most of these properties the cabins are the reason to come and the rooms are the overflow.
The best lodges upstate NY has: Adirondack Great Camps
Great Camps were the private lakeside compounds built by wealthy New York families, timber-framed and deliberately rough-hewn. Many remain private or run as museums. Scarcity of the bookable ones is what you pay for here, not thread count.
The Point, Upper Saranac Lake
A historic Great Camp, now a Relais & Chateaux member. Eleven rooms sit in four original log buildings on the wooded shore of Upper Saranac Lake. It is all-inclusive and adults only: lodging, every meal, wine pairings, the bars and the activities come in one rate, and dinner is largely communal at long tables.
Two caveats. Communal dining suits some travellers and appals others, so read the format before booking, and with eleven rooms the autumn dates go early. The all-inclusive rate covers meals, drinks and activities, so compare it against a room-only night plus dinner and a bar tab elsewhere.
White Pine Camp, Paul Smiths
An original Great Camp that later served as President Calvin Coolidge’s Summer White House, restored rather than smoothed over instead of run as a hotel. Thirteen cabins and cottages sit on end-of-the-road land on Osgood Pond, ringed by state forest. Each has a stone fireplace or a wood stove, most a private porch.
The original oddities survive: a Japanese tea house, a bowling alley, a tennis house and boathouses. It is a short drive from both Saranac Lake and Lake Placid, open year round, with two pet-friendly cottages. Meals are not part of the arrangement and there is no restaurant, so bring provisions or drive in for dinner. For anyone drawn to hotels built around a proper digital detox, this is the one on this list.
Lake Placid Lodge, Lake Placid
Great Camp character with a kitchen brigade behind it. Lake Placid Lodge sits directly on the shore of Lake Placid, with lodge rooms, suites and freestanding cabins. It has stone fireplaces laid piece by piece by Adirondack masons, beds carved by local craftsmen, and cabins decorated individually rather than to a template. Two-bedroom cabins share a living room with a wood-burning stone fireplace.
Artisans, the dining room, looks across the water to Whiteface Mountain, fire-lit inside and with a terrace kept usable by heaters and wool blankets. Paddling equipment is included. If you want the log-and-stone look without self-catering, book here.
Lodges with wood fires in the Adirondack High Peaks
The Whiteface Lodge, Lake Placid
All-suite, and the right answer for families and groups. Suites run from one to three bedrooms with handcrafted Adirondack furnishings, full kitchens, balconies and cast-iron fireplaces, though those fireplaces are gas rather than wood. On site: a bowling alley, a cinema, game rooms, a spa and Kanu for dinner. Main Street Lake Placid is close enough to walk in decent weather.
Eastwind Lake Placid
The best value on this list without giving up design. Behind the guest houses sit freestanding Lushna cabins: glass-ended, loft bed, writer’s nook, private deck, good linen. They are compact rather than grand: well-made shelter rather than a suite. The property runs along the Chubb River with private access to state land behind it, and it is walking distance into the village. Bar, vintage library, sauna, fire pit and a seasonal pool. Open year round.
Elk Lake Lodge, North Hudson
The least polished entry on this list, and the most remote of the nine. Lodge rooms and lakeside cottages sit at the centre of a 12,000-acre private preserve in the High Peaks, and the draw is trails, paddling and silence rather than service. One caveat: the lodge runs a May to October season, so late autumn and winter are out, and closing dates move, so confirm before booking.
Nature hotels in upstate New York: the Catskills
On driving time alone, the Catskills answer the nature hotel upstate New York search better than the Adirondacks do. You can leave the city after work and be at a fire pit by dinner, and the cabin properties here were built for exactly that trip.
Scribner’s Catskill Lodge, Hunter
A Design Hotels member on Scribner Hollow Road, minutes from Hunter Mountain, with a main lounge built around a central fireplace and a whiskey lounge of leather club chairs and its own fire. Prospect, the restaurant, cooks New American food from Catskills suppliers and is reason enough to stay in.
The detail that matters is The Rounds: 11 cabins up the mountain behind the lodge, each with an oculus over the bed for stargazing, an outdoor soaking tub and a deck with views on every side, plus their own Apex lounge, so no walking down for a drink. Book a Round, not a lodge room, if the cabin is the reason you are going. Anyone who likes sleeping off the ground should also read our list of the best luxury treehouse hotels in the world.
Urban Cowboy Lodge, Big Indian
Two hundred acres between Slide Mountain and the Big Indian Wilderness, two and a half hours from New York City, and the most social option on this list. Real wood-burning fireplaces and fire pits sit in the common rooms, with Japanese cedar and clawfoot soaking tubs in the bedrooms, an Estonian sauna, a swimming hole and a seasonal pool. Ralph’s Bar and Bowling handles the late hours.
Rooms sit across more than a dozen buildings rather than one block, with standalone cabins among them, so a group can take a building to itself. Dinner and late drinks both happen on site, which is much of the point here. Not the place for a silent weekend.
Piaule Catskill, Catskill
Standalone cabins spread across a hillside on Mossy Hill Road, between the Catskill Mountains and Kaaterskill Creek. Floor-to-ceiling glass, handcrafted furniture, stone-tiled bathrooms and very little else. This is the glass-box end of the cabin idea rather than log and stone, so do not arrive expecting a hearth. The communal guesthouse adds a concrete soaking pool on onsen lines, a mineral plunge, sauna, steam room and yoga studio. Best for two nights with a book.
When autumn colour peaks upstate
Most people booking an upstate lodge are booking for autumn, and most book a fortnight too late. Colour starts higher up and further north, then moves downhill over about three weeks.
- Adirondack High Peaks: the last two weeks of September into the first days of October. Higher ground around Lake Placid and Saranac Lake turns first.
- Lower Adirondack ground, including the Lake Champlain side, runs later than the High Peaks.
- Catskill summits: usually the final week of September.
- Catskill valleys: early to mid-October, as the colour rolls downhill.
The I Love New York foliage report is the tool to use: compiled from volunteer spotters around the state and updated through the season. Book early on the averages above, then use the latest report to pick your drive. Foliage weekends at the better cabins sell out months ahead; a Tuesday arrival buys availability and empty trails. Autumn in the northeast is the clearest case of the coolcation trend reshaping where affluent travellers go.
Best hotels upstate NY: Adirondacks or Catskills
Choose the Adirondacks for architecture and scale. The Great Camps are the real historical article, the lakes are big enough to paddle for hours, and the emptiness is real. The cost is the drive and thin dining outside Lake Placid.
Choose the Catskills for a Friday evening arrival, better food per mile and cabins designed in the last decade. The cost is company: on peak foliage weekends the roads around Hunter fill. For a first upstate trip with high expectations of dinner and scenery, Scribner’s or Piaule land better. For the trip people still talk about in twenty years, it is The Point or White Pine Camp.
Frequently asked questions
What is an Adirondack Great Camp?
A Great Camp is one of the large private lakeside compounds built in the Adirondacks by wealthy New York families, built from local timber and stone to look rough while working as a country estate. Many remain private or run as museums. The Point on Upper Saranac Lake and White Pine Camp near Paul Smiths are the two on this list you can book.
When should I visit upstate New York for autumn colour?
For the Adirondack High Peaks, aim for the last two weeks of September into the first days of October, since high ground around Lake Placid and Saranac Lake turns first. The Catskill summits usually peak in the final week of September, with the valleys following through mid-October. Check the I Love New York foliage report, updated through the season, before settling your route.
Which upstate NY lodges have real wood fires?
Lake Placid Lodge is strongest here, with stone fireplaces through the property and wood-burning fireplaces in its two-bedroom cabins. Every cabin at White Pine Camp has a stone fireplace or wood stove, and Urban Cowboy Lodge keeps wood fires and fire pits going in its common rooms. The Whiteface Lodge has cast-iron fireplaces in its suites, but they run on gas.
Are upstate New York lodges open in winter?
Many are. White Pine Camp and Eastwind Lake Placid stay open year round, and Scribner’s sits minutes from the skiing at Hunter Mountain. Elk Lake Lodge runs a May to October season, so it is out for a winter trip, and seasonal extras such as outdoor pools stop well before the snow. Confirm dates directly if you are travelling between November and April.
Do I need a car to stay at these lodges?
For most of them, yes. White Pine Camp, Elk Lake Lodge, Piaule and Urban Cowboy Lodge all sit at the end of quiet roads where driving is the only option, and White Pine Camp has no restaurant, so dinner means a drive. Lake Placid is the exception to that pattern: Eastwind Lake Placid is within walking distance of the village and its restaurants, and The Whiteface Lodge is close enough to walk to Main Street in decent weather.