What are the top 10 best luxury wilderness lodges in North America? Best hotels include Amangiri, Clayoquot Wilderness Resort, Fairmont Le Chateau Montebello, Old Faithful Inn, Post Ranch Inn, Ridgewood Wilderness Lodge, Sorrel River Ranch, The Resort At Paws Up, Trout Point Lodge, Under Canvas Yellowstone.
These resorts enable you to be at one with nature, to stargaze into the limitless expanse of the night sky, far away from the hustle and bustle of the big city life.
You can make this happen and more at the ten best luxury wilderness lodges and resorts in North America, many of which are located in National Parks in North America. These luxury retreats will help you escape to the wilderness without having to give up any creature comforts.
1. Amangiri, Utah
Experience the earth’s beauty at its most basic form in this red-rock, rugged desert scape. Beyond the few pine-clad mountains, there’s little vegetation in this vast arid region. The unique rock formations have been sculpted by time, water, and wind. Visit the red-rock spans in Arches National Park, the sheer-walled river gorges in the Canyonlands, and the stunning buttes and mesas of Monument Valley.
Amangiri resort is your second reason to visit this stunning region. Tucked into a protected valley with sweeping views towards the Grand Staircase, The resort is built around a central swimming pool with spectacular views. Blending with its dramatic surrounds of deep canyons and towering plateaus, this wilderness escape could not be more rugged. Amangiri’s Aman Spa features a floatation therapy pavilion, water pavilion with sauna, steam room, cold plunge and step pool, fitness center, and yoga pavilion. Amangiri’s trail system allows guests to explore the region’s striking desert scenery on foot. Aman resorts are one of my favorite luxury hotel brands, and you can read about my recent trip to Aman Grand Canal in Venice.
2. Post Ranch Inn
Is this the ultimate ocean escape? Experience Big Sur’s profound and humbling beauty with breathtaking sunsets. Perched on the clifftop of Big Sur, a rugged stretch of California’s coastline between Carmel and San Simeon sits the breathtaking Post Ranch Inn.
This is the perfect overnight stop to break up the drive along this scenic Californian Highway between San Francisco and Los Angeles. From Carmel, the journey takes 40 minutes down the spectacular Highway 1.
Bordered to the east by the Santa Lucia Mountains and enormous redwoods and to the west by the glittering Pacific Ocean, the Post Ranch Inn is a wood and glass structure built on stilts on the top of the hillside. The views from the modern rooms in cliff and ocean rooms are staggering, and there is a generous balcony complete with loungers so that you can absorb the vistas all day and all night. Mountain rooms also have large decks overlooking the mountains, and all rooms come with a wood-burning fire.
Other room options include the magnificent treehouses, which are built on stilts nine feet off the forest floor with a stairway to each entrance. These rooms offer a luxurious opportunity for anyone who has ever dreamed of sleeping amongst the trees.
3. Trout Point Lodge
Trout Point Lodge is a wilderness retreat in Nova Scotia at the heart of the UNESCO SW Nova Scotia Biosphere Reserve and a picturesque 45 minute drive from Yarmouth Harbour, where you find the international ferry from Maine, USA & Yarmouth International Airport.
This luxury eco-lodge, which is a member of Small Luxury Hotels, is surrounded by a pine and spruce forest, secluded and on the banks of the Tusket River right next to the Tobeatic Wilderness area. Here you might enjoy sightings of black bears, turtles, flying squirrels, grouse, deer, beaver, owls, loons, eagles, and even moose.
The Lodge and grounds occupy 100 acres, and at night, light pollution is minimal, making stargazing sensational. The lodge has a star gazing platform where they organize special tours with an astronomer on staff and powerful telescopes. If you are there on a clear night, the sky will be unforgettable.
4. Clayoquot Wilderness Resort, British Columbia
The Ultimate wilderness retreat in Canada’s British Columbia region is the Clayoquot Wilderness Resort on Vancouver Island. This indulgent but untamed wilderness resort is open from May to September and is located in the Clayoquot Sound World Biosphere Reserve (within the Pacific Rim National Park). This unique 21st-century-safari-style enclave of great white canvas suite tents, dining, lounge, and spa tents offers excellent cuisine and breathtaking adventures. Twenty guest and family suite tents showcase antique furnishings, opulent rugs, down duvets, remote-controlled propane-powered woodstoves, and luxurious amenities. Watch out for bears and whales.
Experience “luxury gone wild” at this all-inclusive eco-safari resort destination located near Tofino on the wild west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Arrive by seaplane, helicopter, or boat. Brilliant!
5. Sorrel River Ranch, Utah
Sorrel River Ranch Resort & Spa in Utah, an authentic, 100% Old West hideaway with all the trimmings of a stylish, boutique resort. This red rock resort doesn’t just look like a scene from the movies; it is a scene from the movies with multiple Hollywood blockbusters being filmed in the area since 1949, resulting in silver screen epics like the Rio Grande, The Comancheros, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
Hidden in the heart of the gorgeous, red rock wilderness and nestled against the banks of the Colorado River, this upscale 240-acre retreat lies just 17 miles from Moab, Utah, and slap bang in the middle of the adventure capital of the West. The accommodation at the resort is not what you’d expect from being in Canyon Country. Rather than a standard room, you stay in charming log cabins which offer a mixture of rustic style and luxury with opulent pine beds complete with handcrafted four-posts, cattle horn wall hangings, artsy barbed wire chandeliers, and more oak than you would see in a forest along with all the modern amenities you would expect in this level of the resort.
The Ranch offers river rafting right on your doorstep as well as morning yoga, hiking, and biking trails, limitless photographic opportunities, and it’s also close to many Moab attractions like Canyonlands, Arches National Park, and many other state parks and off-road terrains. Depending on the season of your visit, you can also enjoy ATV rides, horseback riding with authentic, friendly wranglers (the resort even has ponies for younger children), rock art tours, hot air ballooning, scenic road cycling and golf at the picturesque Moab Golf Course.
With its excellent one-of-a-kind cabins, spectacular views, therapeutic spa, gourmet dining, and riverside pool, this resort is the point at which luxury meets adventure. Join the likes of Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, who chose Sorrel River Ranch as a base to explore this beautiful red rock country.
6. Ridgewood Wilderness Lodge, Alaska
Ridgewood Wilderness Lodge is a hand-crafted Alaska eco-lodge that sits in a secluded location in Halibut Cove adjacent to the Kachemak Bay State Park and Kachemak Bay State Wilderness Park, the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge and the Kenai National Fjords.
Soak up the Alaskan wilderness at this intimate, timber-framed lodge in the island community of Halibut Cove. Enjoy three wonderfully prepared meals each day and highly personalized attention with majestic scenery, miles of beaches, and secluded saltwater coves right out the front door.
At their Alaska Wilderness Lodge, Lucinda and Jess can arrange area eco-tours, including brown bear photography trips, halibut or salmon charters, guided kayaking, and flightseeing.
7. Under Canvas Yellowstone
Under Canvas Yellowstone is on the doorstep of Yellowstone Park and is the perfect place to experience all the natural beauty of America’s most famous National Park in a setting so lavish, you will be wondering what took you so long to try this nomad-inspired lifestyle.
You can, of course, enjoy outdoor experiences like kayaking, rafting, horseback riding, and fly fishing, but you will not have to rough it in the Under Canvas Yellowstone camp. Suites come complete with a private en-suite modern bathroom, including a sink, flushing toilet, and a roll-top bath, as well as a living room and a bedroom wing with a King-size bed. Deluxe tents also benefit from private, adjacent bathrooms, as well as raised hardwood floors.
8. Fairmont Le Chateau Montebello, Quebec
Vecome Goldilocks at Fairmont Le Chateau Montebello, Quebec, a gorgeous hotel in a forest, made out of wood! Chateau Montebello is historically related to the Canadian Pacific railroad company. The hotel was built in the 1920s as a job creation scheme and became a Canadian Pacific (CP) Chateau hotel. In 1999 the hotel became a Fairmont, and more recently, Fairmont became part of Accor.
The hotel is one big log cabin with 211 guest rooms and suites. It is like Goldilocks as this log cabin is in a forest in Quebec on the banks of the Ottawa River. It is easy to get to and is only an hour’s drive from Ottawa and an hour and a half drive from Montreal.
There is a grand lobby with a big fireplace in the center. So romantic and even better at Christmas with a roaring fire. At least one wall of each room is made of the external logs which were used to build the original building. This makes every room very special and utterly charming and the perfect fairytale.
Stay here in the Autumn to see the leaves turn brown, yellow, and red, or ski from a real log cabin in winter with nearby access to Mont Tremblant, where there is another Fairmont hotel.
9. The Resort At Paws Up
The Resort At Paws Up is a luxury resort in Montana that sits on the edge of the never-ending unspoiled wilderness. Dream of the snow-capped peaks of the Rocky Mountains, the wide grassy plains, and sparkling mountain streams in this land of cowboys and ranchers.
The Resort At Paws Up places you at the edge of these wildlands. Spend a day on horseback, cast a fly in sparkling Montana waters, or hike and spa your days away. Although you can stay in a vacation home, we prefer the beautiful luxury camping tents featuring fine linens, a superbly comfortable bed, chic rustic furnishings, electricity and fans, and a camping butler (yes, they really do offer one of these!).
10. Old Faithful Inn, Yellowstone National Park
In a beautiful wooden lodge dating back to 1903, you will find one of the first true wilderness lodges. Located in Yellowstone National Park Old Faithful Inn, Yellowstone National Park is the most requested lodging facility in the park and is considered the largest log structure in the world.
There are no televisions, radios, or air-conditioning in any of the park lodgings. Instead, go outdoors and embrace nature through hiking, boating, horseback riding, or taking guided tours. Stunning scenery, sunsets, and wildlife are all just a part of the wilderness experience here.
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