Ski Lodging in the Catskills: Hunter, Windham, and Belleayre

Hunter Mountain has a vertical drop of 1,600 feet, with trails on several peaks, including Hunter North. Vail Resorts has owned it since 2019. The base area has no village of its own, so most lodging is in the village of Hunter or in Tannersville, about 5 minutes east on Route 23A.

Scribner's Catskill Lodge, a renovated 1966 lodge below the mountain, has a heated outdoor pool used year-round and Prospect, a restaurant with an après-ski program on winter weekends. In Tannersville, Hotel Lilien has 22 rooms in an 1890s Victorian estate, and Hotel Mountain Brook, a 1940s lodge, is a 4-minute walk from the village center. The Catskill Forest Preserve surrounds the mountain, with hiking from the same lodging in spring, summer and fall.

Windham Mountain Club is about 20 minutes north of Hunter, with 60 trails and 12 lifts. Since becoming a members' club in 2023 it has limited the day tickets it sells to the public, so check availability before booking a weekend. The village of Windham, on Route 23 below the mountain, has restaurants and several inns a short drive from the lifts.

Windham's lodging includes Eastwind Hotel & Bar, with 23 rooms and 10 Lushna cabins, and Union + Post next door, as well as Hotel Vienna, which has an indoor pool and direct access to the Windham Path. The club's own lodge, The Outpost, has 20 rooms, and its guests can buy lift tickets even on sold-out days.

Belleayre Mountain in Highmount is owned by New York State and run by the Olympic Regional Development Authority, which also runs Whiteface and Gore in the Adirondacks. Its vertical drop is 1,404 feet. Lift tickets generally cost less than at Hunter or Windham, which makes Belleayre a practical choice for families and newer skiers.

There is no base village, so Belleayre's lodging is spread along Route 28. Full Moon Resort in Big Indian is 10 minutes away and includes three meals a day, Shandaken Inn has 15 rooms and 3 cottages along the Esopus Creek, and Margaretville Mountain Inn is 9 miles west. Phoenicia, about 20 minutes east, has more inns and restaurants.

Ski-in/ski-out lodging in the Catskills is limited. Hunter has slopeside condominium lodging at its base, but neither Hunter nor Windham has a large base village like those at Stowe or Killington in Vermont. Most Catskills ski lodging is a 5- to 15-minute drive from the lifts, in Hunter, Tannersville or Windham.

For most skiers, this distinction matters less in the Catskills than it would at a larger resort. The mountains are compact enough that five minutes of driving is not a significant barrier. Village-based lodging in the Catskills frequently offers better dining and amenity access than slope-side options, and the cost premium for true ski-in access is not always justified by the difference in convenience.

The ski season usually runs from early December through late March, depending on temperatures for snowmaking. The holiday weeks from Christmas through New Year's, Martin Luther King Jr. weekend and Presidents' Week are the busiest, and lodging near Hunter and Windham for those dates is best booked one to three months ahead. January weekdays and early March usually combine good snow with more open rooms.

Late March and April can be muddy, and the mountains turn to hiking and mountain biking as the snow melts. Year-round properties around Hunter and Windham often have their lowest rates in April and early May.