Adirondacks Adirondacks Travel Guide: Best Hotels, Restaurants & Experiences

William Avery Rockefeller's former great camp occupies a secluded 10-acre peninsula on Upper Saranac Lake, its four log buildings housing guest rooms with twig furnishings, stone fireplaces, and period antiques. This adults-only all-inclusive operates a 24-hour kitchen—champagne and truffled popcorn at 4 a.m. if desired—and enforces black-tie dress twice weekly for communal dinners. Winter brings curling and cross-country skiing on the frozen lake; summer, mahogany boat excursions and croquet.

A modern interpretation of the Adirondacks' legendary Great Camps, The Whiteface Lodge channels that gilded-age wilderness grandeur through suites appointed with fireplaces, jacuzzi tubs, and full kitchens. The property spreads across Lake Placid's sublime terrain with both indoor and outdoor pools, a full spa with sauna, and tennis courts. Kanu restaurant ranks among the area's finest tables, serving guests who appreciate rustic luxury with polished edges.

Arts and Crafts architecture defines this lakefront retreat, where local artisans have handcrafted everything from the beds to the great stone fireplaces. Log cabins face Lake Placid's still waters, the Adirondack peaks mirrored on the surface. Days shift between hiking trails and daily Hacker-Craft boat tours; evenings bring farm-to-table dining on the deck, followed by nightly bonfires under mountain skies.

Sprawling across 3,400 acres of Upstate New York, this all-suite retreat offers 95 generously proportioned rooms—none smaller than 550 square feet—within the larger Turning Stone complex. The 33,000-square-foot Skana Spa provides a meditative counterpoint to three championship golf courses and a major entertainment venue. At Wildflowers, seasonal menus culminate in theatrical liquid nitrogen ice cream, rewarding guests who appreciate both spectacle and substance.

Firelight flickers across an intimate dining room where chef Derek Leinonen's New American tasting menus showcase Adirondack farms through seasonally shifting courses. The setting—a meticulously rebuilt lodge channeling Gilded Age Great Camp grandeur—frames views of Lake Placid and Whiteface Mountain. For deeper occasion, a vaulted brick wine cellar with vine-draped ceilings and rare vintages offers private dining of singular romance.

By morning, families gather before golf rounds and tennis lessons; by evening, dimmed lights and floral décor in pink, purple, and red transform this 65-seat dining room into a romantic retreat. The kitchen draws from nearby farms for seasonal menus featuring Dover sole and a signature Wildflower salad. Tableside Bananas Foster closes the meal with theatrical flair, while the Great Room's fireplace offers a plush interlude.

Built around an arched longhouse inspired by Oneida tradition, Skana Spa channels ancestral healing methods through contemporary treatments—the signature Dance of the Song Birds pairs full-body exfoliation with birch bud oil massage for couples. The Healing Waters circuit progresses through steam room, sauna, and a leaf-shaped whirlpool before reaching a mineral pool beneath a painted blue sky fresco. Two fireside lounges offer quiet decompression between sessions.