Best Inns and Ski Lodges

April 5, 2022April 5, 2022 Lisa Lynn 2930 Views 2022 Reader Survey, Best Inns or Ski Lodges, Black Diamond Awards

This season, 2021-22, Vermont Ski + Ride took a page from our sister publication, Vermont Sports, and sent out the Black Diamond Reader Survey. The survey asked readers to rate the best ski areas in Vermont in 14 categories, including Best Overall, Best to Avoid Crowds, Best Snowmaking/Grooming, Toughest Trail, Best Ski Bar, Best Ski Town and more. (Scroll down for links to all categories.)

Here’s what our readers said were the BEST INNS OR SKI LODGES:

It’s not surprising the “Best Ski Town” is also home to the “Best Ski Lodges,” with Stowe’s Trapp Family Lodge and Spruce Peak leading the list.

The Trapp Family Lodge was a runaway winner. It’s hard to argue with a hotel that sits high on a hillside with a network of 40 miles of cross-country trails spilling out behind it. Take one of those trails and you can ski to the charming log cabin in Slayton Pasture, warm up by the stone fireplace, drink a cup of soup and ski down. Or head across one of the broad meadows down to the von Trapp Bierhall for one of their house brews and an Austrian-inspired schnitzel and spaetzle. Rooms at the lodge often feature wood beams, fluffy duvets and views out across the valley to the Worcester range.

Spruce Peak, the complex across from Stowe Mountain Resort, took second place. From one of the cozy couches in the hotel’s vaulted lobby you can look up at the slopes or out at the skating rink. A heated pool and luxurious spa face Mt. Mansfield. Near the skating rink, there are fire pits. At the Whistle Pig pavilion, wheels of raclette cheese are roasted on an open fire. New this season, the hotel revamped two of its restaurants, now called the Tipsy Trout and Alpine Hall.

The Woodstock Inn and Resort, which owns Suicide Six ski area, placed third. The former property of Laurence Rockefeller, the classic inn recently underwent a stunning renovation, making it one of the more elegant properties in the state. Just steps away is a network of beautifully groomed cross-country trails. Lodging packages include lift tickets to Suicide Six or sessions at the resort’s spa.

You can’t get any closer to the slopes than the Killington Grand Hotel. With a pool that looks up at the mountain and the recently renovated Preston’s Bar just inside, this is a gathering spot for locals as well as visitors and the most sought-after reservation in the town. The Clay Brook hotel and residences at Lincoln Peak – just steps from the slopes at Sugarbush’s Lincoln Peak were fifth.

1. Trapp Family Lodge, Stowe. 2. Spruce Peak, Stowe, 3. Woodstock Inn and Resort, 4. Killington Grand Hotel, 5. Clay Brook Hotel at Lincoln Peak, Sugarbush

Opening photo: Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe. Courtesy photo.