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These A-frame Stays Make for the Coziest Winter Escapes

It’s official: The A-frame is enjoying its latest architectural comeback, this time in hotel designs from Colorado’s backcountry to the Catskill Mountains and beyond. At these six hotels, suites, and holiday homes around the world, guests can cozy up beneath the pitched eaves, and then take in floor-to-ceiling views without sacrificing modern comfort or design.

Credit: Stephen Werk

A-Frame Club (Winter Park, Colorado)

5 Stars | Website | Denver International Airport

31 | Free WiFi; Bar | 1

Old Town Winter Park; Winter Park Ski Resort; Mary Jane Base

Nestled at the foot of a famed Colorado ski resort, this brand new hotel allows guests to spread out across its 31 A-frame cabins, all outfitted with lofted bedrooms and soaking tubs. Portland, Oregon-based Skylab Architects designed the A-frames and the hotel’s common areas with a vintage 1970s ski culture in mind. So guests can expect a playful mix of streamlined Scandi design, Japanese onsen spa influence, and Euro-après style that harkens to an analog time.


Credit: Lawrence Braun

Eastwind Oliverea Valley (Catskills, New York)

5 Stars | Website | Albany International Airport

30 | 1 outdoor swimming pool; Outdoor firepit; Bar | 1

Big Indian Wilderness; Giant Ledge; Belleayre Mountain Ski

Guests at Eastwind’s latest, Catskill Mountains retreat will find all the hygge elements in place here, from Pendleton robes inside their rooms to guided foraging walks outdoors. The secluded Lushna Suites feature A-framed queen beds, so you’ll feel (almost) like you’re camping. Hot cocktails taken at the lodge restaurant and bar, s’mores seated around the fire pits, and dry-sauna sessions within wood barrels only add to the warm ambiance. 


Credit: Martin Morell

The Fox at Oddington (Cotswolds, England)

5 Stars | Website | Heathrow Airport

6 | Free WiFi; Breakfast included; Bar | 1

Cotswolds AONB; Batsford Arboretum and Garden Centre; Cotswold Farm Park

It doesn’t get much cozier than a 19th Century countryside inn, built from Cotswold stone and recently updated in owner Carole Bamford’s signature British style. The Fox is the latest of Bamford’s beloved hospitality offerings, and it’s a pub with a handful of rooms and a Coachmen’s House for larger groups. In The Master’s suite, lucky guests can fall asleep under the exposed knotty eaves which happen to create a lovely bed-framing A.


Lefay Resort & Spa Dolomiti (Dolomites, Italy)

5 Stars | Website | Bolzano Airport

88 | 2 swimming pools; Fitness center; Spa | 1

Campo Carlo Magno; Adamello Brenta Nature Park; Pista pattinaggio all’aperto

This Italian ski mountain oasis bears only a faint resemblance to Europe’s twee chalets of yore. Its sleek glass facade rises above the village of Pinzolo, and from the vantage point of the hotel’s fourth-story lounge and lofted mezzanine reading room, there’s hardly a distinction between the serenity indoors and that created naturally on the other side of the windows. Guests will experience the A-frame effect from this treeline perch (if not a true A-frame build).


Credit: Dushan Jayasinghe

PALM Hotel (Ahangama, Sri Lanka)

5 Stars | Website | Bandaranaike International Airport

14 | 1 outdoor swimming pool; Free WiFi; Spa | 1

Mirissa Beach; Galle Dutch Fort; Unawatuna Beach

Here, travelers trade that snowed-in, A-frame cabin effect for coconut trees, surfboards, and individual A-frame cabanas (swoon). Versions of A-frame architecture have existed for centuries across Asia, and this more recent addition to Sri Lanka’s boutique hotel scene incorporates new with the old. The  architectural style lends well to palm leaves and rattan accent chairs. You might even be tempted to leave the windows wide open and step out to shower in the open air.


Lilla Norr (Mora, Minnesota)

5 Stars | Website | Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport

2 | Free WiFi; Full-equipped kitchen; Waterfront | 0

Brook Park; Snake River; Whited State Wildlife Management

While hotels are getting in on the trend, A-frame vacation homes for weekend getaways and all-season escapes are still the norm. This Midwest renovation is one of the coolest examples of American mid-century architecture that’s been thoughtfully restored. Its owners outfitted the cabin with furnishings from their nearby vintage decor store, and in their design opinion, less is certainly more. Rough cedar planks are balanced by smooth curving lines and a muted color palette that seems to say: the A-frame is the star.

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