bishop&holland

Earlier this month, we visited one of our favorite mountain destinations; Vail, Colorado. We’ve visited Vail in the summer and we’ve skied Vail a few times over the years, but this was our first time to visit in the fall. It’s off season and even though the town is quiet, it may now be our favorite time to go!

Stay

We’ve always stayed at Four Seasons Vail and this trip we did the same. The boys love it – they set up the room with a tent, cookies to decorate and child size robes and slippers. We stayed in this room this time and it was plenty of space for our family of five. We swam every day, walked to Vail Village and loved our cozy nights in the room with the fireplace.

Eat

• Yeti’s: Such a great, casual breakfast spot. Delicious coffee, pastries, smoothies, breakfast tacos, etc.
• Up the Creek: As the name says, this restaurant sits right on the creek. We sat outside and the boys ran around playing in the grass/creek area.
• Joe’s Famous Deli: This is a Vail staple. We grabbed sandwhiches one day and had a picnic by the river.
• Pazzo’s Pizza: We always order pizza one night and this is our favorite spot.
• Back of Haus Burger: This is something we did years ago, but is on it’s way back! At Four Seasons Vail, you can book a table in the kitchen aka “Back of Haus” and eat burgers while enjoying the entertainment of a very busy kitchen! It’s such a fun experience and you end dinner making your own milkshakes with the pastry chef. We did this on our most recent trip and highly recommend!
• Mountain Standard: Always worth a visit! We’ve gone for both lunch and dinner and have never been disappointed!
• Remedy: This is a restaurant at the Four Seasons. It’s more casual dining then Flame and has the most beautiful views. We ate here on our last night – it was cold and rainy and we loved sitting by the huge fireplace!

Do

• Pirateship Park: My kids favorite park ever. We usually go in the winter when its been snowing and this time we spent a few hours with them running around playing in the most beautiful fall weather!
• Piney Lake: We spent one afternoon here – the boys loved playing/adventuring here and we saw a moose!
• Rent bikes: We rented bikes one day and rode all over Vail, Lionshead and along the river. It was one of our favorite days!
• Betty Ford Alpine Park: We rode our bikes here and spent a lot of time at the playground (it’s huge!) and at the visitor center where they had a lot of fun activities for the kids indoors.
• Glenwood Springs Adventure Park: This is an amusment park at the top of the mountain. It’s about an hour from Vail, but the kids thought it was worth it! You take a gondola up the mountain and at the top is an alpine slide, roller coasters, swings, caverns, etc. We spent most of the day here!
• Pool: The pool at Four Seasons Vail is heated, so we swam and used the hot tub most days!

What to Pack

The weather changes quickly! I brought mostly activewear with layers for the day and jeans/sweaters/boots for night!

Cheers,

Stia, Jean and Katherine