Whenever you start feeling the winter blues this season, a weekend getaway to Upstate New York is always a great way to unwind, relax and recharge from the hustle and bustle of New York City, and we’re sharing our favorites, luxe stays and rides to make your visit Upstate a memorable one.
While many towns in the Hudson Valley and Catskills have become hotspots, there’s one property that’s specially designed for cozy stays away to reconnect with nature. INNESS is an intimate country refuge and members club in Accord, New York featuring 28 cabins and a 12-room farmhouse that overlook the bucolic 225-acre landscape.
After a 90-minute drive from the city to Accord, guests are instructed to park in the main lot, where the restaurant, a farm shop and check-in building are all located. After checking in, guests are escorted to their cabin or farmhouse room via Jeep or van. The cabins are all located just a short walk to the main gathering spaces, but a driver is just a call away to give you a lift at any time.
There’s a farmhouse positioned in the middle of the cabins as a central base for hotel guests to mingle. There’s a communal lobby bar, library room, game room with pool table and a large kitchen where coffee and continental breakfast is served with cozy fireplaces situated throughout. Speaking of, fireplaces are in each of the 12 rooms in the farmhouse creating the ultimate cozy vibes.
The private cabins also deliver that intimate, homey feel. There are stocked kitchenettes with “drink and snack making” set-ups, dining spaces and outdoor seating for ample options. All the décor throughout is simple, elegant and feature neutral colors to evoke a serene calm at all times.
“When designing INNESS, Tavvo Somer and Post Company drew inspiration from the area’s Colonial Dutch architecture, and collaborated to create a series of minimal vernacular buildings that frame the bucolic landscape,” the ownership team tells GRAZIA USA, which includes a partnership between restaurateur and trained architect Taavo Somer, designers Post Company, and development team Michael Barry, CBSK Ironstate and Lee Pollock. “An attention to materiality and utilitarian function, with many architectural elements derived from the surrounding countryside, unifies the structures — with rustic details such as clapboard siding, divided lite windows and cedar shakes that call to mind an earlier era on the frontier of American design.”
There’s plenty of room to roam at INNESS — just as its founders intended. “From the onset, the concept of INNESS has been about communing with nature,” the ownership team says. “The property has been uniquely designed to be spread out as a campus plan so that guests need to move outdoors between buildings and programs, in order to invite exploration and reconnection.”
The Upstate destination has a 9-hole golf course designed by King Collins and plenty of hiking trails that all lead back to the property (a welcome touch to allow all guests fully let their mind wander while traversing the sprawling paths on the property). Along the trails, guests will find large obstacles, like wooden walls to scale and ropes to climb for those seeking a little adventure — and plenty of room to bypass if you’re not. There are also two swimming pools, tennis courts, an events barn, plenty of seats positioned to take in the view, and a 3-acre organic farm created by landscape designer Miranda Brooks that grows produce used at the restaurant and lounge.
The restaurant menu focuses on highlighting seasonal offerings from the Hudson Valley and offers delicious dishes like endive and little gem salads, pastas including gnocchetti with mushrooms, fusilloni cacio e pepe and rigatoni with prosciutto and local fish, a NY strip steak and more. (Word to the wise — don’t skip on the delicious local bread with whipped butter, trust us.) The design mimics the quaint, rustic aesthetic of the private quarters. Guests and locals alike mingle in the two-room dining space that feels like entering a private party rather than a formal dining situation.
There’s still time to book a spot for a winter wonderland escape on New Year’s Eve with INNESS’ DJ and dance party in the barn. And if your schedule doesn’t allow a trip this winter, keep in mind that a wellness building is opening in Fall 2023 featuring a state-of-the-art fitness center with space for movement classes and yoga, as well as a spa with five separate treatment rooms, a heated year round plunge pool and sauna.
Now that you know where you’re staying, you need the perfect mode of transportation to get there – and what is more luxe and ready for a ride in the countryside than the Mercedes-Benz AMG G 63? The G-Class in the AMG portfolio has represented the pinnacle of off-road driving performance over two decades and is the ideal getaway vehicle for your excursion upstate. With 577 handcrafted horses, 4.5 sec 0-60 mph and 16 mpg highway fuel economy, it’s as powerful as it is luxe.
Not to mention, driving in and out of the city is a breeze with its state-of-the-art navigation. The seats actually hug your body on every curve and offer maximum comfort when that inevitable city gridlock strikes.
Whether you want a little excursion during your stay, or want to take the long way home back to the city, we recommend taking a drive over to Hyde Park, New York. You’ll pass through the bustling city of Rhinebeck on your way to stop for a bite to eat or to shop, then enter another era by visiting the Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site and the home of Franklin D. Roosevelt and his Presidential Library at Hyde Park.
Stepping onto the immaculate property at the Vanderbilt Mansion will transport you to The Gilded Age era. Frederick and Louise Vanderbilt constructed the mansion from 1896 to 1899 and lived in the 54-room mansion when they weren’t at their other magnificent properties around the country. The home is still filled with original furnishings of the time and we recommend taking the guided tour to learn about the history of the property and the Vanderbilt family. Then continue the history-filled day by driving just down the road, where Franklin D. Roosevelt’s home at Hyde Park is located. The property houses his presidential library, and, well, his actual house. One can get lost in the many segments of the museum (he did have four terms, after all!), and is a perfect indoor activity to partake in during the colder months.
