Eastwind is on the edge of the small town of Windham in the Catskill Mountains, with easy access to some of New York’s best skiing and hiking.
Planes
The closest airport is Albany International (an hour’s drive from the hotel), where flights arrive from 15 US cities including Chicago and Atlanta. If you’re coming from further afield, fly into New York City – Eastwind is around two and a half hours’ drive from Newark and LaGuardia airports, or three hours from JFK.
Trains
The hipster town of Hudson is a half-hour drive from Eastwind, and has an Amtrak station with trains running to and from New York’s Pennsylvania Station in two hours flat.
Automobiles
Having your own car is recommended in these parts, because it’ll give you the freedom to explore the rural region and experience the Catskills at their best. You can hire at any of the airports or in Hudson, and park at the hotel for free.
Worth getting out of bed for
Curl up and stay cozy in the lounge, steel yourself for a spell in the sauna, or skewer a marshmallow and toast it over the firepit. Most importantly, make time to just step outside and take a long, slow breath – there, that’s what you came here for.
The hike to Kaaterskill Falls is steep-ish but under a mile, so you might feel you barely deserve the reward – a 230ft cascade of water, plunging through the forest. In winter, slip into your skis and head for Windham Mountain, one of New York’s most-loved snow traps with a vertical descent of more than 1,600 feet; in summer, the ski runs are replaced by mountain biking trails.
There are countless mountain hikes across the Catskill Mountains, but if you’re less-inclined towards inclines, head for the Saugerties Lighthouse. The postcard-pretty outpost on the Hudson River is the end-point of a gentle half-mile nature trail.
Local restaurants
For farm-to-fork goodness sourced from the local area, look no further than Gaskin’s (2 Church Avenue, Germantown); the housemade cavatelli with braised goat is best paired with a Suarez Family pilsner. In Windham, go for old-school Italian under the vaulted ceiling at Millrock (5398, Route 23), or fuel-up for the day with no-fuss buttermilk pancakes at the Catskill Mountain Country Store and Restaurant (5510, Route 23).
Local bars
Your local well-to-do watering hole is Ze Windham Wine Bar (5369 Main Street). Drop into West Kill Brewing (2173 Spruceton Road) for hop-heavy IPA or a crisp cherry lager. The Catskills’ classiest cocktails are at Deer Mountain Inn (790 Co Road 25, Tannersville) – just make sure you’re not the designated driver.
