Catskills Getaway – Scribner's Lodge
One of the best wedding gifts that Scott and I received was a gift certificate to Scribner’s Lodge in the Catskill Mountains of New York. Built in the 1960s, the lodge is widely regarded as one of the best hotels in the region — and with good reason! Less than a 100-mile drive from NYC, Scriber’s Lodge certainly knows where its bread is buttered, catering to trendy city folk hoping for an idyllic and luxurious mountain retreat. City dwellers have looked to the Catskills as a calming retreat since the turn of the century, and Scribner’s Lodge carries on that tradition with thoughtful design, tasty food and elevated rustic charm.
From the second you walk in, you get a sense that each detail has been curated to evoke a modern, woodland oasis — from the Pendleton throws and blankets draped over each stick of furniture to the welcome basket of s’mores fixings in every room.
The lodge is nestled into the base of Hunter Mountain, one of the premier ski destinations in New York, and while Scott and I were too cozy at the lodge to check out the slopes, we were more than happy to soak in the après-ski culture (i.e. daytime cocktails, card-playing and reading by the fireplace).
One of the reasons we were most excited to visit this area of the Catskills was that it was only a twenty-minute drive to perhaps our favorite restaurant in upstate New York — the Phoenicia Diner.
Built in 1962, the Phoenicia Diner retains its retro charm while delivering locally sourced diner favorites with a contemporary spin. We love the Phoenicia Diner so much that we actually returned two times on this trip because we had a hard time deciding what to order! With their constantly rotating menu, there was a legitimate fear of missing out.
Between our two breakfast trips, we sampled the cornmeal waffle, “shrooms on a shingle,” a pork belly skillet and the fluffiest buttermilk pancakes we’d tasted in years.
While we often enjoy quiet, sleepy getaways, a weekend at Scribner’s is actually pretty happenin’, those seeking solitude would probably be better suited to check out a different resort. Once four p.m. rolls around, the common area becomes a serious place to mingle — once their in-house DJ began blasting throwback tunes, the majority of guests swapped their books for cocktails and dance moves. We closed out every evening sitting by the fire, availing ourselves of the complimentary s’mores (which you can totally get more of by asking anyone on staff :P). As we drove back to the city, we were already planning our return to the lodge, the next time hopefully with friends.