Magnificent, historic, expensive: Mohonk Mountain House!
Written: Jun 02 '08
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Product Rating:
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Pros: To many to get into here!
Cons: Guest bedrooms leave a lot to be desired. Very expensive.
The Bottom Line: Read the review
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| laura10801's Full Review: Mohonk Mountain House |
I just came home yesterday from a long weekend at Mohonk Mountain House. This is my second visit there and I hope it will not be my last. That depends largely on my future financial condition as this place is EXPENSIVE, with daily rates ranging from $300 single occupancy / $480 double occupancy, to $2000 single or double occupancy per night, depending on the type of accommodation you are renting and the season. This does not include tax or the 15% gratuity that is automatically added on to your bill!
These prices include 3 full meals each day, afternoon tea and cookies, and use of many of their facilities: ”Complimentary recreational activities include:
85 miles of hiking with guided hikes led daily by our recreation staff; swimming in our indoor heated pool and Lake Mohonk, access to our comprehensive fitness center, Yoga, core conditioning and other fitness classes; Children's programs, tennis on red-clay and Har-Tru ® courts; midweek golf on a 9-hole, par 35 Scottish-design golf course; boating; croquet; platform tennis; lawn bowling; putting green; shuffleboard; House history tours and greenhouse tours.
During the winter months, weather permitting, we offer complimentary cross-country skiing on 35 miles of groomed trails, as well as snowshoeing and snow-tubing. Our open-air Pavilion offers ice skating parties on a refrigerated rink, skating lessons, and skating exhibitions in the crisp days of fall and winter, as well as outdoor receptions, entertainment, and special events in warmer months. This Pavilion is truly a place for all seasons!
Rock Climbing, horseback riding, carriage rides, weekend golf, and spa services are available for an additional charge.” This is all according to the website Mohonk.com. More about the spa, which is the crown of the resort, later.
Mohonk is located in New Paltz, NY. It is about a 2 hour drive north of New York City, and many of their guests are from the NY, NJ, and CT area.
My husband and I found that the staff and, for the most part, the guests are very friendly and pleasant. The staff goes out of their way to accommodate your needs and requests, and they do it cheerfully. I must admit, it is really nice to not worry about tipping people at all. I should mention that alcoholic drinks are not included with meals and you are expected to leave a tip should you consume such beverages.
Meals at Mohonk are quite lavish affairs. If you are on a diet, you may as well decide to take a break from it during your stay. Breakfast includes a buffet with choices changing daily, but always including an egg dish, sausage, bacon, fruit, a variety of cereals and pastries, French toast, pancakes, waffles, whipped cream, syrup, and 2 omelet stations so you can have your eggs made to order (with egg substitute if you chose). Lunch is a similarly lavish affair, with carving stations in addition to the buffet. A four course Dinner is served by waiters and waitresses and the hotel “recommends” jackets for the men. No shorts or sneakers are allowed (during the height of the season there is an option to go casual with a lavish buffet). In the not too distant past, jackets were required for men at dinner, but that has been changed. The food is pretty good, but not fabulous by any means, but it is plentiful and very hard to resist.
Mohonk Mountain House is well over 100 years old. It has been expanded over the years, but the old Victorian feel of the place has been maintained. It was built by the Smiley family and remains run by said family. Originally it was only open to the public in summertime and closed in wintertime, but it is now open year round. Because the hotel’s history is so important, presidents and other dignitaries have stayed there (as evidenced by photos of some of the historic guests), the place can have an other-worldly feel to it. It is said that Stephen King, who attended a mystery writer’s retreat a couple of years before writing The Shining, based the hotel in that novel on Mohonk Mountain House. I can definitely see the influence.
If you stay here make sure you take a tour of the barn museum, lead by the hotel’s blacksmith, a charming and interesting man, named Jim Clark. You will learn a lot of interesting pieces of history, see wonderful old photos, see buggies that are over 100 years old, and still usable, see classic cars, including a Model T, which is still driven each summer in the Independence Day parade on the grounds. Jim also does a pretty nifty blacksmith exhibition that is worth making the time to see.
Take a nice stroll around the various gardens and try to master the garden maze while you visit. You can also take some pretty interesting hikes, which can be fairly easy, or very challenging. The most intriguing hike is to “Skytop,” which is the highest point in the area. All around the grounds there are “Summer Houses,” which look like small gazebos to me. This makes for a very romantic and/or rustic experience!
The Spa is fabulous! It is also very pricey! Their Swedish massage is 50 minutes for $110, 80 minutes for $155. Their facials start at $110. Buying a treatment gets you a full day of hanging out inside the spa, but you can make use of the spa facilities without buying any spa treatments for $20.
The locker rooms are immaculate, you are given a soft, terry on the inside / satin on the outside robe, and unimpressive spa slippers. There is a women’s lounge, a men’s lounge, a co-ed solarium with a fireplace, and a co-ed lounge for you to choose from in which to relax and wait for your treatment. At the end of each treatment you are given a little Japanese-looking tray with a little cup of tea and some grapes to enjoy while you relax in one of these rooms or outside. Each room has comfortable seating and a magnificent view of the surrounding mountains, or of the mineral bath. Yes I did say mineral bath. It is a giant hot-tub, shaped like a flower, with a round island in the middle. This is the only place I’ve been to where the hot-tub didn’t leave me feeling scalded. I believe the temperature is kept at 110 degrees F. Of course nice, big fluffy towels, men’s and women’s showers, steam, and sauna rooms are available and kept very clean. Shower gel, shampoo, conditioner, body lotion, blow driers, combs, hair brushes, deodorant, razors, shave cream, and shower caps are all provided. LUXURY!
All this sounds like the lap of luxury, and it is. However, the rooms are another story. As I mentioned, I have only been to Mohonk Mountain House twice. Both times I chose their least expensive room with a king bed. The room is clean, but very small, my rooms both had balconies with rocking chairs, but not all rooms do. There is ample closet space, but the bathroom is small and not entirely well laid out, with the toilet smushed into a corner and the toilet paper holder sticking out and into my arm. The beds in both rooms were in need of new mattresses. The air conditioning was very difficult to figure out. And if you like to watch TV in bed, you’d best bring your own from home, no room has televisions, although there are a couple of TVs in the public lounges that are present throughout the building.
Mohonk Mountain House is vast and there is no way I can touch upon all the amenities in this review. Like I said, I would like to go there again, even with the less than wonderful guest rooms.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
laura10801
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Member: Laura
Location: Somewhere over the rainbow
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