5 Unique Places to Stay
One of the great pleasures of travel is finding new and different places to stay. The Mount Washington Valley has a great selection of such accommodations from glampgrounds to historic hotels. Here are just five to whet your appetite for lodging adventure.
ADVENTURE SUITES
Adventure Suites in Intervale offers not just one unique experience but a host of experiences.
Nearly two dozen themed suites range from a tree house to the love shack to a sky captain's lounge — available for overnight stays or parties.
The hotel is the brainchild of Kathy Brassill-Doucet and Alan Doucet, and is constantly being updated with renovations and new themes. The suites are decorated with art and furniture from around the world.
There's "The Dragon's Lair," whose centerpiece is a suspended bed held aloft by a dragon that is a work of art made from motorcycle parts. There's "Deserted Island," with a nautical theme, scallop-shell bed and heart-shaped tub; and "The Jungle," complete with a waterfall.
A highlight of the hotel is "The Haunted Castle," with a maximum overnight occupancy of 18, but room to host a much larger party. Along with the hot tub, full kitchen, three bedrooms and two fireplaces, the castle comes complete with a thunderstorm, many things that go bump in the night and a back story about King and Queen Tumbledown's unfortunate siting of their dream castle on the nightmare grounds of a former insane asylum. The same level of thought and detail can be seen in all the suites.
Adventure Suites also has a saloon with sandwiches, pizzas, appetizers and a full selection of beers, ciders and cocktails.
The saloon is open to all and tours of available suites are freely given to those who stop by, because your hosts know that if you see them, it's likely something will strike your fantasy, er fancy.
ALPINE GARDENS
Another great glamping option is Alpine Gardens on Route 302 in Bartlett.
This small, locally owned campground has two types of cabins as well as sites where you can set up your own tent or camping trailer.
The beautifully hand-crafted cabins include two-person, round-sided "pods" that make you think of hobbit homes and more traditional four-person cottages. There’s even a two-story tree house. The cabins are really stand-alone deluxe hotel-style bedrooms with a full private bathroom and shower, heat and air conditioning, linens, a Nespresso maker, a mini fridge and a wet bar. Each is decorated with antiques and includes a record player.
For those who come with their own tents, there is an accessible bathroom building connected to the store and office.
Other amenities include a heated pool, a summer afternoon music series and food trucks.
One thing that makes Alpine Gardens unique is the property includes a winery and cider house, featuring natural wines and ciders made with locally grown grapes and pressed and bottled on-site. The onsite winery is open year-round and tours are available.
Alpine Gardens is run by three generations of the Goff family, Dick Goff, son Richard Goff III and wife Joelle, and the next generation, Bri Classen and her brother Ryan Classen and their families. Though Alpine Gardens just opened last year, this family knows what they are doing, having run the much larger and very popular Glen Ellis Campground in Bartlett for many years.
HUTTOPIA
Camping has never been so easy. Looking to spend your vacation in a tent on the shores of an idyllic lake but don’t want the hassle or discomfort of setting up the tent or sleeping on the ground?Huttopia is the place for you.
Part of an international chain of glamping resorts that started in France in 1999, Huttopia White Mountains is located on Iona Lake in Albany, just far enough off Route 16 that you can forget the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
In case you missed it, “glamping,” combining glamorous and camping, is a growing movement in the camping world, providing all the comforts of hotel service and the magic of sleeping in the forest.
Huttopia has a dozen tents right on the shores of the lake, and over two dozen more located on brooks that run through the property.
These are nothing like the nylon pop-up you’d pack into the forest on a hike. The wood-framed canvas tents set up on platforms are as solid as cloth can be, with real beds inside. All are fully furnished with sheets, blankets, towels, kitchen supplies and grills with stove burners.
The tents come in three sizes and only in the smallest — the “bonaventure” two-person tent — will you have to bend over. The larger “trappeur” tents sleep five on two queen-sized beds and a bunk bed. They have tables and chairs; some come with wood stoves and full bathrooms with showers.
Huttopia also has all-wood cabins — small two-story chalets that sleep six and tiny houses that sleep four.
Huttopia can be your base camp for hiking in the White Mountains, rafting on the Saco or shopping in North Conway. Or you can spend your whole vacation at Huttopia, swimming, canoeing and fishing on Iona Lake.
There’s a beach hut with activities, and canoe, kayak and paddleboard rentals. There’s also a games room, camp store and outdoor cafe served by a full kitchen in a renovated Airstream Caravan, from which you can buy smoothies, crepes, pizzas and salads.
Huttopia takes the roughing it out of camping. Don’t bring your own tent. Do bring a swimsuit.
NOTCHLAND INN
For an old-fashioned romantic getaway in the mountains, the Notchland Inn is an old country inn in the heart of the White Mountain National Forest.
The 1860s granite mansion on a 100-acre estate in Hart's Location features gardens and trails on the property and is located near great swimming holes and miles of hiking trails in the national forest. The location is also within a 20-30 minutes of retail and antique shopping or attractions in North Conway, Bretton Woods or Littleton. Attractions include four downhill ski areas, most of which also offer summer adventures from ziplining to downhill mountain biking, and the Cog Railway to the top of Mount Washington.
For those with an eye for local and architectural history, the inn has items of special interest. The dining room was once the 18th-century tavern of Abel Crawford, a settler who welcomed early tourists to the White Mountains. Dr. Samuel Bemis, who built the mansion in the mid-1800s and often stayed at Crawford’s Tavern, is believed to have been the first landscape photographer in the White Mountains.
For accommodations the Notchland has eight deluxe rooms, five spacious suites and two pet-friendly cottages, each individually appointed, all with private baths, and all but one with wood-burning fireplaces.
A four-course dinner is served at one seating at 7 p.m. in the hotel dining room at individual tables, five nights a week, Wednesday through Sunday.
VILLA HYGGE
Scandinavian peace comes to New England. Ville Hygge combines the beauty of nature and the comforts of a fine hotel.
This boutique hotel and spa in the heart of North Conway Village is built around the Scandinavian principle of "hygge."
Owner Mari Corbett, who is originally from Finland, says there is no real English translation for the word, but it has to do with simple pleasures and being happy in the moment with what you are doing.
"Morning porridge is hygge. A bike ride can be hygge. Sitting with a cup of coffee can be hygge," she said. "Actually this town is full of hygge."
Corbett said she chose the site for the hotel on Route 16 in North Conway Village because it is within walking or biking distance of the shops, restaurants and entertainment in the village, as well as hiking trails, road and mountain bike rides and swimming.
Villa Hygge is across the street from Conway's town forest, Whitaker Woods, with its many trails, and just down the road from a town park at First Bridge on the Saco River, Echo Lake State Park and the White Mountain National Forest.
The hotel features Nordic cuisine with seven-course dinners, wine tastings and the option of a pre-packed lunch for excursions.
The spa includes a Nordic Sauna, a Himalayan Salt Lounge and options for massage.
The hotel itself is bright and full of light, with large windows, terraces, light-colored wood and white paint everywhere. All this, too, is very Scandinavian, Corbett says. "We try to make our houses very bright," she said, as getting enough light can be challenging at northern latitudes. "And we want to use nature, to bring nature inside. Anytime you can spend outside is good."
"It's all about the basic things, what really makes you happy," she said.
