East Coast Escapes: Hotel News, June 2024

The summer is here, and with sunnier, slower days comes a parade of delightful new hotels welcoming travelers for their first season. Whether you prefer to spend your days by the beach, pool or lake, these properties offer plenty of places for catching up on your reading, sipping something chilled and enjoying all of your favorite outdoor activities. These are a few of the places on our radar—and email our team to inquire about summer getaways.

In upstate New York’s Hudson Valley, an installment of The Ranch’s signature three- and four-day fitness and wellness programs recently launched on a 200-acre lakefront estate built in 1902 by J.P. Morgan for his daughter, with access to the 4,000-acre Ringwood State Park. Programming is centered around 5:30 a.m. wake-ups, two- and four-hour hikes and afternoon workouts. For those who love health-based retreats, Indagare ambassador Jim Klaus shares a first look.

Plus: When you book through Indagare, you’ll receive a $250 spa credit.

An 80-minute drive north in the Catskills, The Chatwal Lodge has added treehouses, set 15 feet above the ground, with oversized windows for prime views over the property’s 100 acres of preserved forests—a haven for bald eagles. The 1,000-square-foot treehouses can accommodate four people, with a master bedroom and a loft, as well as a living room and private deck with a firepit. In addition to hiking, fly-fishing, horseback riding and kayaking on the nearby Toronto Reservoir Lake, guests can enjoy the farm-to-table dining program by Executive Chef Karl Ulmer; a new pool and spa concept is also coming soon.

In Newport, the former Gurney’s Harbor Island has just reopened as Newport Harbor Island Resort, debuting an extensive renovation by Dawson Design Associates and new activities like clambakes and fireside s’mores, wellness experiences and a kids’ club. The favorite Pineapple Club restaurant survived the transformation—and it’s now open with a new menu and expanded seating areas, including an adults-only section.

Further down the coast, a fresh way to experience the charms of the south will arrive on August 1 in the form of The Dunlin. Located on John’s Island, along the Kiawah River in South Carolina, the long-awaited Auberge Resorts Collection property sits on 2,000 picturesque acres crossed by nature trails and marshlands (the property itself is named for the local sandpiper). The cottage-style guest suites and white-washed villas were designed by Amanda Lindroth, to evoke a whimsical, nostalgic atmosphere as light as the breezes off the river. Terraces and wrap-around porches abound for games and golden hour juleps, best enjoyed after a day of biking, crabbing and paddle-boarding—or visiting the Kiawah River Community’s full-service spa and collective of family-owned farms.