Mohonk Mountain House
I have been to the Mohonk Mountain house on several different occasions. Once after a terrifying car accident where my friend and I climbed to the top of the mountain and admired the view as much as we did the fact our bodies were still in tact. Another time, I went with a young love and we drank red wine from the bottle while hiking through the trees. The last visit was with my now husband, when we stayed overnight an October weekend celebrating our one year anniversary of our first date.
Mohonk Mountain House is located six miles west of New Paltz, New York – or 90 minutes from NYC (once you get out of NYC). The resort, or Mountain House if you will, was built on Lake Mohonk in 1869. It has the décor, presence and feel of a Victorian castle. The property has over 130 kilometres of hiking trails. One of the trails takes you to the top of the mountain through a series of inner caves and paths until you are essentially “birthed” out the top of the peak to a spectacular mountain view where you can see three state lines.
The hotel itself has over 250 rooms including tower rooms with fireplaces and individual guest cottages. Almost all of the outdoor activities are included with your room rate. During our October weekend we enjoyed a tennis court all to ourselves, a boat ride on the lake, a horse drawn carriage ride, a game of table tennis, a nature hike through the woods and gardens, rock climbing to the top of the mountain and even a little time to relax in the library and read about the history of the resort.
All rates also include three meals – a breakfast and lunch buffet and a traditional sit down dinner. We were so amused by the dinner dress-code that we went all out, dressed to the nines. And as we dined on beef tenderloin in a blue cheese demi-glaze and polished off a bottle of Merlot, we sat tall proud of ourselves we had accomplished so many activities in one day and still managed to clean up for a fancy dinner.
If you ever have the unique, wonderful, expensive, wild experience of living in Manhattan. Don’t forget about Mohonk Mountain House, it truly is a safe haven from chaos and well worth every penny.
Visit Mohonk Mountain House
