Remote Catskills Retreats

West Kill, NY · Inn

Spruceton sits at the end of Spruceton Road in West Kill — which is to say, at the end of the road, literally. The surrounding terrain is some of the best hiking in the Catskills. The Devil's Path trailhead is minutes away. The inn has calibrated itself accordingly: good beds, a bar that doesn't close early, and an outdoor fire situation that makes staying in feel like the right call after a long day on the mountain.

Big Indian, NY · Resort

One hundred acres in the Oliverea Valley near Big Indian — ten minutes from Belleayre Mountain, about 2.5 hours from the city. The room package includes three meals a day, which is unusual for the region and defines the stay: hot buffet breakfasts and lunches, dinners in the dining room, occasional creek-side BBQs. Accommodations range from valley-view inn rooms to luxury studio cottages with private decks to glamping tents and multi-bedroom family cottages. A heated four-season pool, hot tub, and fly fishing on the Esopus Creek are on the property. The kind of place families book the same week every year.

Catskill, NY · Cabin Resort

Twenty-four wooden cabins across 50 acres designed by Garrison Architects, taking cues from Japanese and Scandinavian architecture. Floor-to-ceiling glass, handcrafted furniture, stone tile. The spa is built into the hillside: mineral plunge, sauna, steam room, yoga studio. Three-meal restaurant. A complete world onto itself.

Neversink, NY · Wellness Resort

Two hundred thirty acres in Neversink with private hiking trails, wildflower meadows, and a wellness program that goes beyond a spa menu. Originally a summer retreat from the early 1900s. The Hemlock Spa has pools, sauna sequences, and movement programming. For people who want the Catskills to actually change something.

Livingston Manor, NY · Inn

Twelve rooms on a ledge above the Willowemoc Valley, with access to hundreds of private acres, a river, and several ponds. The restaurant is the reason this place gets mentioned alongside the best rural dining in New York State. Private pool. Intentionally small. Regulars book the same week every year.

Big Indian, NY · Lodge

Forty-four rooms across thirteen buildings on 200 acres in the Big Indian Wilderness. Cedar soaking tubs, an Estonian sauna, a pool, tennis, bowling. The Esopus Creek meets its tributary at the valley floor. The Dining Room and Ralph's Bar anchor the social side. The surrounding terrain is serious backcountry.

Lew Beach, NY · Historic Inn

Built in 1893 and on the National Historic Register, one of the oldest continuously operated inns in the Catskills. Nineteen rooms, full meal plan, and direct access to the Beaverkill River — the most historically significant trout stream in American fly fishing. Not a design hotel. A place doing the same right thing for 130 years.

Greenville, NY · Boutique Hotel

Ten rooms in a mid-century A-frame lodge on four wooded acres near Greenville. The renovation matches the era rather than fighting it. Hammocks, fire pits, several Greene County hiking trails nearby. A well-designed, modestly priced alternative to the big-ticket lodges up the mountain — and it knows it.

Maplecrest, NY · B&B

A beloved B&B deep inside Catskill State Park in Maplecrest — a hamlet that hasn't been discovered and doesn't particularly want to be. Owners are routinely called the best in the region. The food is excellent, the setting is genuine, and the price is what you wish everything in the Catskills still cost.

Greenville, NY · Inn

A lodging property on Route 32 near Greenville in the Northern Catskills — quieter Greene County terrain, well north of the Hunter corridor's weekend traffic. An on-site vineyard planted in 2006 is working toward a winery opening. Note that on-site dining now operates as private event catering rather than a public restaurant, so plan on driving for dinner. The draw is the remove: land, quiet, and a part of the Catskills that hasn't been repackaged.

Phoenicia, NY · Wellness Retreat

A Tibetan Buddhist-influenced wellness retreat in the mountains near Phoenicia — yoga, meditation, spa treatments, and healing programs on forested grounds. Not a boutique hotel. If you're looking for genuine stillness, this is one of the few places in the Catskills that actually delivers it.

Livingston Manor, NY · Cabin Estate

A gated estate on the Willowemoc — six independently situated units including four cabins, a three-bedroom River House, and a pet-friendly Stone Cottage. Organic mattresses, Pendleton blankets, screened sleeping porches.

Barryville, NY · B&B / Inn

An inn in Barryville on the upper Delaware River — the Sullivan County stretch where the water is clean and the corridor runs at its own pace. Close to Livingston Manor and the fly fishing towns to the north, but with a quieter, more river-focused character than either. The upper Delaware has a specific calm to it that the better-known Catskills towns don't offer at any price.

Forestburgh, NY · Inn

An Adirondack-style cottage and carriage house on a 250-acre private lake — grand in scale, genuinely secluded, two hours from NYC. The lake is private. The grounds are private. Frequently booked entirely for weddings and group retreats.

Gardiner · Lodge

A 26-room lodge at the base of the Shawangunk Ridge, directly adjacent to Minnewaska State Park Preserve. The Gunks climbing and hiking community uses it as a base; others come for the ridge views and the preserve's lakes and carriage roads. Gunks rock climbing — one of the premier climbing destinations in the East — is a short walk from the property.