The Best Places to Drink and Stay in Telluride

Ski valet at the base of the lift sets the tone at this Auberge Collection hotel in Telluride's Mountain Village. The renovated 83-room property looks like a modern Swiss chateau, with fireplaces, wood beams, and colorful art keeping it from tipping into total ski-lodge cliche. Suites have kitchenettes and balconies over the slopes. The outdoor pool sits ringed by mountains, and the Timber Room's double-sided fireplace does its job extremely well. Forbes Four Star and a Michelin Key.

Perched at the top of one lift and the bottom of another, this 32-room boutique ski lodge in Telluride's Mountain Village is about as well-positioned as a hotel can get without actually being on the mountain (it is, essentially, on the mountain). The free gondola to town glides past the front, slopeside rooms catch the snowcats at night, and the bar deck doubles as prime viewing for summer concerts. Selected by both Michelin and Forbes.

Five bedrooms tucked into a Telluride townhouse, decorated in a style that tips its hat to the town's Tyrolean roots rather than the usual antler-and-plaid. This is a boutique guesthouse, meaning a party of ten can take the whole place, and given how far in advance it tends to fill, that's worth knowing early. It sits in the same family as Dunton Hot Springs and Dunton River Camp, which have made a name for outdoor luxury that skips the Rocky Mountain clichés.