Luxury vs. Rustic: Mohonk Mountain House and The Getaway House in the Catskills

With COVID still lurking around and a limited budget I decided to take the kids upstate New York to the Catskill region. We decided to do a luxury stay one night and a rustic stay the next to see which one we prefer. My older son Chase invited his friend and his friend’s brother so it was one mother and four boys.

Mohonk Mountain House

Mohonk Mountain House, a Victorian Castle Resort is in the Hudson Valley, is about 90 minutes from NYC. Surrounded by 40,000 acres of forest, this resort offers farm to table meals and an award winning spa.

We stayed in a room with 2 queen beds and a balcony. The stay includes dinner, breakfast & lunch along with many of the resort amenities. There are 85 miles of hiking trails and Mohonk lake where you can rent boats and fishing gear. This resort is centered around enjoying the natural environment.

The Junior Naturalist Experience, created by staff naturalists and incorporated into the Mohonk Kids’ Club, introduces children to the wonders of the outdoors through eco-friendly activities with a hands-on approach. Each child receives a Junior Naturalist Certificate and a Mohonk Mountain House Eco-Kit that includes a list of simple eco-activities to take home, as a way to encourage earth-friendly practices.

Our room was not ready when we first got there but they were excellent about unloading our luggage and storing it in an area that was easily accessed. We played frisbee in the field while we waited for the tomahawk throwing which was on the daily recreation schedule. The age for tomahawk throwing is 13 and up so Dylan was not able to participate. They separated us in to family groups so nobody touched anything outside of their personal group. The kids enjoyed this activity and have already been online searching on where to buy their own tomahawks.

We had about 2 hours before dinner so we decided to attempt the Labyrinth/Lemon Squeeze hike. The start of this trail was right outside the hotel as you walk along Mohonk Lake. Follow the red arrows. Right from the start you are climbing and scrambling rocks. The Dylans, 10 & 12 years old, were scared and didn’t think they could do it. The other two older boys were PSYCHED! About 3/4 of the way through you can stop at the sky tower or continue onto the Lemon Squeeze Crevice. At one point before the crevice I thought we were lost and we needed to pull out the map. Justin assured us we were correct so we continued. The name is correct- it is a crevice. I barely fit with my backpack on through the top of the crevice. If you are a pack mule mother like me, make sure you pack light! The trail ends at a tower, which can bring you to an even higher height with beautiful views. We took the path back to the mountain house instead of scrambling the rocks backwards. If you follow the tower road you will see a sign for the mountain house. I HIGHLY recommend this hike for kids and adults.

Meals include an option for an outdoor buffet or indoor seating. We chose outdoor seating for all meals. Mohonk Mountain House does a great job of keeping people separated and COVID safe. The buffet had tons of options and the food was great. The ice cream was delicious!! There is a booth that sells wine and beer for an extra charge.

Breakfast could be brought up to the room or eaten on the picnic tables overlooking the lake. Two kids woke up earlier then the rest of us so they enjoyed going down to get some food and eating it on the balcony. When the rest of us woke up we all went for breakfast and ate outside overlooking the lake. We had some time before archery where we fed the trout on the dock and tried to catch some fish with our fishing poles. We brought our own poles but they also have poles to use on the dock.

I took a walk into the gardens while the boys fished. It is BEAUTIFUL.

Family archery, which is age 7 and up, was at 11am. There was a lot of waiting since we had to wait for each group of four to complete their four arrows and some of the younger children took a long time. The kids enjoyed this activity though.

We ate lunch, some ice cream of course, and then headed out to our next adventure. We were spending the next night in the Getaway House, a tiny home in the forest. We stopped at the Peekamoose Blue Hole along the way.

The Peekamoose Blue Hole is located in Sundown Wild Forest, set within the secluded wilderness of the Catskill Forest Preserve. The Blue Hole is a depression in the streambed rock of the Rondout Creek, a unique natural feature formed by sand and swirling gravel in an ancient whirlpool. The creek is part of the New York City drinking water watershed. Over the last few years, the wilderness experience has been affected by the presence of large crowds on summer weekends. You now need a permit to visit the Blue Hole on the weekend.

We weren’t exactly sure which parking lot was for the Blue Hole and people are very protective of keeping it a secret. One couple let us know where the path started for the Blue Hole and we found parking after a 15 minute wait. It was POURING when we finally parked. We waited it out a little but then decided to change into swim suits, take our shoes off and embrace the rain.

The rain ended up being a good thing because almost everyone had left. It was still drizzling and the water was FREEZING but three of the boys still had it in them to jump in. The water didn’t look as blue due to the weather but it was still a beautiful spot.

I suggest taking a picture of your map and know which way to go to get to your next destination because there is no service and you will not have any for some time. We ended up going in the wrong direction and it added 30 minutes to our journey to the getaway house.

The philosophy of the Getaway cabin rentals are to escape to nature to empower you to be off. They believe in building balance into modern life- taking the time to rest and unplug from the daily hustle and to focus on yourself, your relationships, and the wonder of nature. You can find getaway rentals throughout the US.

The Getaway cabin was our “rustic” portion of the trip. Our cabin had queen bunks, a small kitchen, refrigerator, sink, table and bathroom with toilet (non-flushing) and shower. There is a picnic table outside along with a fire pit area. We spent the night playing card games since it was raining outside. The next morning the boys made a fire and ate smore’s for breakfast. We searched for frogs in the creek along the house and tried to find bears. Definitely bring bug spray!

We had two stops on the way back home, Opus 40 & Paintball. Opus 40 is a world-famous sculpture park and museum with nearly 60 acres of meadows, forested paths and bluestone quarries — including 6.5 acres of earthwork sculpture — in the heart of the Hudson Valley in Saugerties, NY. Created by pioneering artist and professor Harvey Fite and founded as a nonprofit by his wife in 1978. You must have a reservation beforehand with a scheduled time. It took us about 30 minutes to walk through the sculptures. I imagined it to be much bigger than it was. The kids were not too impressed.

Last stop: Liberty Paintball! The facility sits on 350 acres of varied terrain. Liberty has 17 unique playing fields for exciting play whether you’re a new player or a veteran. Their playing fields feature buildings, two and three story towers, helicopters, spaceships, tanks, trenches and much more!  

The boys voted they enjoyed the luxury stay over the rustic! They liked all the things there are to do at Mohonk Mountain House and loved the food. They did say the best scenario would be to have the getaway home on the grounds of Mohonk and that would be the best of the best. 🙂