The Catskills Have Cachet. Here’s Where To Stay This Fall.

A new clutch of hotels with modern treehouses, day spas and award-winning restaurants make the classic New York getaway more appealing than ever. Inside the new treehouse at Chatwal Lodge, situated on the shores of the Toronto Reservoir. Joe Thomas, Courtesy of The Chatwal Ah, upstate. That sylvan stretch of land two hours north of Manhattan, where New Yorkers traditionally go to learn how to light a fire, roast marshmallows, leaf peep, go for walks we call ‘hikes,’ suddenly decide flannel is fashion, and pretend we know how to relax. In the mid-20th century, this was the Borscht Belt, a popular vacation spot for Jewish families from New York City, evoked in the television series, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. When that golden era ended, the region reverted to moonshine mountains with bare-bones lodging. There were no new age spas, no pressed flower pottery, no mocktology classes, no guided goat hikes, and absolutely no one wrote home about the food… But in the past two years, a few ambitious hoteliers have managed to recast old, overgrown rustics in a shiny new patina with ‘luxury wellness retreat’ price points. Here’s where to stay this fall: Who doesn’t want their own treehouse? Joe Thomas, Courtesy of The Chatwal Lodge The Chatwal Lodge | New treehouses, outdoor adventures, all-inclusive The Chatwal Lodge is an all-inclusive hotel built on the banks of the Toronto Reservoir on a 100-acre site. It opened in 2022 with 11 suites and cottages, and recently added three new modern treehouses, which sleep four. (From $2,850 per night). Read More: What Alpine Hotels Get Right About Family Travel Hovering 15 feet above ground, these owl-like abodes have classic Adirondack appeal, comprising one king bed, a loft with a queen murphy bed, a living room with a covered balcony and an exterior deck with a gas fire pit. The bathrooms are also up-to-par with double vanities, heated floors and a jetted shower with a window for a true ‘forest bathing’ experience. As the Autumn equinox arrives, you’ll want to spend time outdoors on the hiking and biking trails, boating on the reservoir, or fly fishing for trout with local guides from Covert Creek Outfitting, who will tell you that the Catskills are the birthplace of American fly fishing. Back at the lodge, guests can choose between mixology/mocktology classes, nightly fires and s’mores, stargazing, or yoga and meditation classes. The property also plans to open a new pool and spa by spring 2025. It’s all very on-trend in the hotel business, which is doing everything it can to catapult all-inclusive stays into the luxury category. The pool at Wildflower Farms, part of the Auberge Resorts Collection. Courtesy Wildflower Farms Wildflower Farms | World-class wellness, foraged food, craft cocktails Take the 90-minute drive from Manhattan up to Wildflower Farms, an Auberge resort, and the first thing you’ll notice is space. It’s an 140-acre expanse in Ulster County, which attracts travelers looking to connect to the natural rhythms and rituals of a working farm, without sacrificing any of the luxuries you’d expect from a 5-star resort (Double rooms from $1,205). Guests can choose between 65 standalone cabins, cottages, and suites built with custom wood-and-stone minimalism, and featuring floor-to-ceiling windows that frame the meadows and mountains. The main restaurant, Clay, is the real farm-to-table deal, using produce grown on-site and from local purveyors. Think hand-picked stone fruits, botanical focaccia bread, leafy-green salads, and wild-caught fish, without the carbon footprint. But the main highlight here is the wellness spa, Thistle. (Tip: It’s open to non-hotel guests.) Beyond heavenly massage-and-facial treatments, it also offers things like reiki sessions and guided sound bath meditation to enhance all the exercise you’re getting in the indoor swimming pool, fitness center and yoga studio. Outdoor activities take a gentle, hands-on approach to nature with guided walks, foraging excursions, and gardening workshops. Guests can take cooking classes in the ‘Maplehouse’ at Wildflower Farms. Courtesy Wildflower Farms The Debruce | James Beard restaurant, 600 acres, digital detox The DeBruce is a 12 room, 3-star hotel in Livingston Manor that makes this shortlist due to its access to the great outdoors (doubles from $409). With over 600 acres of land, including two mountains, a private trail system, and private fly-fishing, it’s an outdoor lover’s playground. And the kitchen is making good use of it. The DeBruce restaurant is a 2024 James Beard semi-finalist. To be honest, fine dining is not the reason people typically book vacations in the Catskills, but a few places like this are starting to change perceptions of the area’s culinary potential. Diners can expect multi-course dinners designed to capture the best-of the season, driven by what’s happening on-site. Your menu will depend on when you arrive, as it’s based on what the chef calls “progressions”: Heritage, Awakening, Stream, Farm and Mountain. “Starting November 1st, we will begin our Mountain progression. Along with the vast varieties of mushrooms and wild edibles from our property, trout from the Beaverkill [River] will swim its way onto the menu. The venison will start popping up again, reminding us that hunting season is right around the corner. Our plan is to re-create our environment on a 7 to 8 dish tasting menu,” writes Executive Chef JP Medina. Kenoza Hall is situated on a hill above Kenoza lake, which presents the ideal Indian Summer. Courtesy Kenoza Hall Kenoza Hall | Lake access, vintage cocktail bar, romantic events This is where you want to be on an Indian summer day, when the Autumn leaves are mirrored in the stillness of Kenoza lake, and that last gasp of warmth lets you float a few hours longer in the seat of your complimentary kayak. Just up the hill is Kenoza Hall, a 22-room lakefront inn (doubles from $329). Housed in a restored boarding house dating back to the 1880s, it maintains much of its original Victorian character with hardwood floors, turn-of-the-19th-century oil paintings, vintage furniture, antique clocks and glassware, and rocking chairs on the wrap-around porch. It’s owned by the husband-and-wife team Sims and Kirsten Foster of Foster Supply Hospitality, which runs five hotels in the Catskills. For Kenoza, the pair added 10 freestanding bungalows to Kenoza’s wildflower meadows on the 55-acre site in 2022, to allow for more group bookings. Now, the inn doubles as a wedding and events venue. As if on cue, a group of well-heeled wedding planners were having themselves a grand time in the stylish parlor room during my recent visit. Apart from this hotel’s rustic spa and lovely restaurant — the thing that wins me over is its whimsical map room, which houses maps, and local guidebooks to help you plan your stay. If there’s one thing that grates a curious traveler, it’s a hotel that tries to keep you on property. That’s not the case here. Kenoza does what Will Guidara talks about in his bestselling book, Unreasonable Hospitality. They made me feel welcome, and provided more than I expected with curated guides to local covered bridges, a mapped-out antique trail shopping trip (apparently I must look like someone who considers ‘antiquing’ a verb), and a detailed guide to the local breweries and distilleries in the region. Seasonal dishes at Bittersweet, the restaurant at Hemlock Neversink Sasithon Photography, courtesy Foster Supply Hospitality Hemlock Neversink | Goat hikes, paint pouring, stargazing, morning yoga Hemlock Neversink is a reference to the local tree (Hemlock) and the name of the town. Never. Sink. Which, in an odd way, is the promise of this 33-room, Quaker-inspired property under the Foster Supply umbrella (doubles from $323). Known for its seclusion, it functions as a kind of adults-only camp for people seeking serenity, or a place to dry out (there’s a big emphasis on new-age wellness, with a creative mocktail menu for non drinkers). In another era, this might be considered rehab. If healing doesn’t happen here, I don’t know what will. But if it’s a howl-at-the-moon party you’re looking for, this is not the place. Neversink serves as a kind of antidote to burnout, offering things like daily goat hikes with Meagan from Frederick Farm Goat Sanctuary, meditative forest walks, vinyasa flow yoga, paint pouring, candle making, make your own terrarium workshops and shamanic drumming, in a circle. Depending on the day. There’s even a dedicated yarn room for crocheting in the activities center, so you can sit and knit until you forget what year it is. The big highlight this fall will be apple picking on the property’s orchard, followed by cider pressing, in-keeping with the Foster’s running farm-to-table theme. At the communal restaurant Bittersweet, the plant-forward menu is a gift to vegans who can chow down on espresso maple-glazed carrots sprinkled with toasted almonds, flavorful shiitake mushrooms and charred cauliflower steaks. (Note: Fish and beef steak are occasionally served, but they’re not really the stars of the menu). In short, if you’re carrying around worry, guilt, anxiety or shame, you can leave them at the door right next to the “We’re glad you’re here” welcome sign outside reception. It’s time to commune with goats. Or other guests, who stay up late and roast marshmallows by the open fire like children.