There will come a time during your stay at The Lodge at Spruce Peak, usually around the second whiskey flight, when you realize you haven’t left the property all day (and that you don’t need to.) The resort sits at the base of Mount Mansfield as Stowe’s only ski-in/ski-out hotel, and it has grown well beyond its slope-side origins into something closer to a self-contained village: over 300 rooms ranging from classic hotel to four-bedroom mountain cabin, a car-free village center, a performing arts center, a 36-hole golf course, and an ice rink that becomes a village green when the snow melts. Downtown Stowe is about 15 minutes away by car, though you might not find any reasons compelling enough to make the trip.
Rooms
Accommodation options run from classic hotel rooms and studios in the main lodge up through junior suites, one-, two-, and three-bedroom lodge suites, and penthouses on the fourth and fifth floors. For those who want more space or privacy, there are also Treehouse residences, One Spruce Peak units (up to five bedrooms), Club Residences across the Village Green, multi-level townhomes, and slopeside mountain cabins.
I stayed in a one-bedroom Lodge Suite, which at 950 square feet felt like a private apartment: a separate bedroom, a living area with a gas fireplace, a balcony overlooking the mountains, and a full kitchen stocked with Simon Pearce dishes. There’s even a washer and dryer. A weekend here will likely have you looking up Stowe real estate before checkout — and if that feeling takes hold, there’s an on-site real estate club that can move things along.
Dining
Alpine Hall covers breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily, with locally sourced ingredients and a Vermont farm-to-table sensibility. Tipsy Trout handles the après crowd with a rawbar and seafood dinners, plus ramen on Sunday lunches. Pico Taco offers casual Mexican at midday. The Pantry & Beanery does grab-and-go coffee and groceries, including Vermont craft beers, for anyone self-catering in one of the larger residences.
The WhistlePig Pavilion deserves its own paragraph. WhistlePig is a Vermont rye whiskey producer with a devoted following, and the pavilion pours harder-to-find expressions from their lineup. They also serve raclette — the Swiss dish where a wheel of cheese is melted and scraped over accompaniments. I had mine over potatoes, mushrooms, and tomatoes, after working through a tasting flight. It’s a good combination.
During holidays, the kitchen puts on special events. The Easter brunch during my visit offered made-to-order ricotta pancakes, carving stations, a mimosa bar, and live music. It was worth timing the trip around.
Spa & Fitness
Spruce Peak’s spa is the most luxurious in Stowe. Book a service in one of the 18 treatment rooms, and you’ll get access to the full facilities. I went in on a day pass, which you can buy without a treatment, and spent a good stretch of time moving between the eucalyptus steam sauna, the dry sauna, and the hot tub, sipping herbal teas and healing waters in the relaxation room between rounds.
The fitness center is one of the better hotel gyms I’ve used. Large, well-stocked with Technogym equipment and Peloton bikes, with private studio rooms for yoga and classes. The treadmills have screens that let you run through walking trails from around the world. I spent a few miles pretending I was somewhere in the Austrian Alps. It worked, more or less.
Amenities
The $50 nightly resort fee covers the fitness center, morning coffee service at Alpine Hall, seasonal guided hikes through Spruce Peak Outfitters, the game room, two reusable water bottles, and priority access to tee times at the Mountain Course and Stowe Country Club (golf itself costs extra). Valet parking runs $35 per night.
Other amenities include an indoor climbing facility at the Stowe Adventure Center, tennis and pickleball courts with equipment rental, a heated outdoor pool and two hot tubs accessible through a swim-out tunnel from the lodge, an outdoor playground, and the Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center, a nonprofit that runs regular arts programming on the mountain.
