wintersummer

We like to travel in somewhat remote locations, far from center cities, far from where a lot of people travel. Think Idaho, Utah, Northern California, Upstate New York, Michigan, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas.....you get the idea. We also like luxury hotels. For these types of areas, the definition of luxury has to be modified a bit. A really nice hotel would do!

I'm not asking about specific locations in this thread because we like to take about 2 extended back roads vacations each year - and if I can find a good hotel, I'll plan the trip around that particular hotel. Just an example: Blair Hill Inn in Maine. Middle of nowhere, but made for a great trip. http://blairhill.com/

I have used Select Registry as a way to find nicer places to stay. Is there another hotel grouping that would help me find nice hotels/inns in these somewhat out-of-the-way places?

Kagehitokiri

any types of things that are good or bad for a property? that would include activities for example. time of year and driving from where to where are some other factors.

idaho - (sun valley resort?)
utah - amangiri (sundance resort?)
upstate new york - the point

http://www.relaischateaux.com/ has at least some (maps)
oh right, youve been to a quite a few incl R&C

interesting thanks

8 rooms http://blairhill.com/11_Dining.php

MikeFromTokyo

Off the top of my head the following come to mind, but there are many more that would meet your requirements, especially if parameters are expanded to include nice four star hotels and inns.

Twin Farms
The Point
Amangiri
Amangani
Lake Placid Lodge
Blackberry Farm
Four Seasons Jackson Hole
Auberge du Soleil

btw I agree that Blair Hill looks very interesting. Beautiful location.

wintersummer

Thanks for these suggestions. We've made it to Blackberry Farm and Lake Placid Lodge several times, Amangiri once.

Kagehitokiri, to your questions: time of the year - any except middle of winter; location - we like to fly to the area, base ourselves in nice hotel, then explore; activities - none necessary; food - very important, if not at the hotel, but very close. However, that's not really a problem, because most places like this have good food.

MikeFromTokyo - I'd love nice 4 star hotels. Where can I find them in the middle of nowhere?

Kagehitokiri

kiwi collection also has maps, might be useful

not sure amex FHR maps will be very useful

Ericka

Nice list!

What can you share about Blair Hill? Looks lovely. Dogs allowed?

MikeFromTokyo

I came across Three Forks Ranch on a jetsetter flash sale once, and think it looks very interesting.

I have never booked through jetsetter, but I look through their flash sales. There are occasionally interesting finds.

This is a very interesting thread, I would also love to find remote properties in beautiful parts of north America.

Kagehitokiri

agree could turn out to be great thread

ill bet flash sale was after three forks ranch changed their pricing in mid 2012

MikeFromTokyo

Dunton Hot Springs in Colorado looks promising.

wintersummer

Blair Hill is wonderful. It's cross between inn/hotel, with wonderful interiors - and views beyond belief. Nothing beats sitting on the porch, perched high above Moosehead Lake, watching the sunset. They serve dinner 4 nights a week. Food is terrific. It's one of our favorite places. But, it is about a 3-4 hour drive from Portland ME. I'm pretty sure they do not allow dogs...but you could check!

MikeFromTokyo

There is a cute picture of a dog on the website above the link to "Get Away Packages." I would imagine a small property like this might be flexible about pets, especially for a lovely and well behaved dog like Ericka's (as we know from her Lake Placid Lodge trip reports)

http://blairhill.com/11_Innkeepers.php Owners appear to have three dogs, so it would seem they are very pet friendly!

According to the website the inn is around five hours away from Boston by car. IMO very doable for a long weekend or longer stay.

It seems Bangor airport (BGR) is about 1.5 hrs away by car (direct flight to LGA, DCA, PHL, etc..)

Kagehitokiri

Blair Hill being AAA 4 diamond seems incredibly impressive

example of properties discussed here (in national parks) >
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/luxur...-over-nye.html

trying to avoid mentioning random properties, but >

- http://www.littlestsimonsisland.com/

outside continental US, in alaska >
- http://www.withinthewild.com/
and >
- http://www.sanctuare.com/RMI_frame/n...creekranch.php / www.creekranch.net

wintersummer

Include ranch! We're not horse riders, but would love a ranch type place.

Here's another addition to this list. We stayed at Idaho Rocky Mountain Ranch two years ago. http://idahorocky.com/index.html Another splendid place, good food, super comfortable rooms.

Stayed at Potosi Hot Springs Ranch about 7 years ago. No longer in business. 4 wonderful cabins, set back in middle of nowhere in Montana (well, about 10 miles outside Ennis). Had ranch style architecture. Dinner was delivered and served in your cabin. Sorry to see it go.

Kagehitokiri

there is ranch and ranch style discussion here, for example triple creek and paws up

no idea what yellowstone club requirements for prospective buyers are, but could look into that ("pretend" in order to stay in 1BR guest cabin)

edit - interesting post from SanDiego1K. i feel like i recall a california island with a beachfront hotel, but im probably wrong. description of catalina island vaguely reminds of me of peaks island in maine. maine seems to have a lot of islands. peaks was pretty interesting. think there was a small hotel, but mostly rentals. re cars, there is a car ferry from portland, but more interestingly cars on the island did not have to conform to state regulations. homeowners could get special decals, and then only drive them on the island. also lots of golf carts.

doesnt have to be super remote to avoid masses. but not sure where youll find village like atmosphere outside europe, besides a few ski areas. then you have to find properties. verbier in europe was interesting. not empty, but that depended on exactly where you were. i really enjoyed The Lodge. all other villa rentals were shuttered during summer. as i sat in the outdoor jacuzzi one night, i only heard a faint sound of distant music extremely briefly. other than that one moment: utter and absolute silence. first time ive experienced that. they have all sorts of municipal regulations. look for places that limit tourism, possibly for homeowners.

then again, maybe sea island partially qualifies for example (as opposed to kiawah)
because basically everywhere is dependent on timing and avoiding group bookings

re amangani, it is right next to spring creek ranch. interesting i dont recall that coming up in reports here. jackson hole seems like the right kind of area though.

SanDiego1K

This isn't really in the geographic area that the OP mentioned, and yet it's one I wonder about. Catalina Island is off the shore of southern California. It's charmingly frozen in the 1950s-60s. While there are some cars on the island, visitors can't rent them. Thus, you either walk or rent a golf cart. Hotels on the whole are also frozen in the 50s. There is one exception: the former home of Mr. and Mrs. Wrigley of chewing gum fame. He did a lot to preserve Catalina Island. He owned a stake in the Chicago Cubs and brought them to the island for spring training in the 1930s. He has a 16,000 sq ft home built as a winter home.

After the death of both Wrigleys, the home went thru various incarnations, eventually becoming a B&B called The Inn on Mount Ida.. We stayed in the Wrigley suite for our 25th wedding anniversary. There are only six rooms. When we stayed, every room was assigned its own golf cart to go into town. We rented a plane to fly over from our local airport, as we didn't want to bother driving to Long Beach and going by ferry. It had closed sometime thereafter, but I recently spotted that it is again a B&B. I've no idea of the current condition or service attitude, but it was quite special when we were there.