5 Scenic Cabins to Cozy Up in This Winter

Embrace cold-weather season at these storybook cabins

a cozy cabin surrounded by a snowy forest and a stream

Consider a scenic cabin getaway to embrace winter.

Getty Images

T.J. Olwig,

AARP

Published January 26, 2024

It’s that time of year in some parts of the country when the trees are bare, the air is ever-frigid and the dial on your backyard thermometer is in perpetual drop mode. Winter has settled in, and Jack Frost will be nipping at your nose for the foreseeable weeks ahead.

But winter doesn’t have to be a countdown to summer. It can be an adventure unto itself – or hygge, the Danish concept of cozying up and savoring the simpler side of life. We’ve corralled five cabin getaways in scenic locales to welcome Old Man Winter with open arms.

Hit the slopes by day and lounge fireside with a book and a hot beverage by night. Here is some cabin inspiration to participate in the season and kick-start your winter escape.

huttopia cabins in a snowy forest along iona lake in new hampshire

Huttopia White Mountains’ 10 cabins are situated along Iona Lake in New Hampshire.

Huttopia N. America

Huttopia White Mountains, Albany, New Hampshire

Boston is only 2.5 hours away, but Huttopia’s 10-cabin, 50-acre property on Iona Lake is a world unto itself, tucked in the rolling foothills of New Hampshire’s White Mountains. Housing up to six guests per unit, the French-outdoor firm’s wood chalets (about $330 per night) are an ideal winter base camp, great for R&R-seeking couples and adventure-fueled families eager to take on New England’s bitter chill.

The downstairs layout features a bedroom with a queen-size bed, a full bathroom, a dining area, a living room and a fully equipped kitchen with two electric burners, a microwave, a refrigerator, a dishwasher and a coffee maker. You can hit the hay in the upstairs loft, furnished with two twin beds and a sofa bed. At night, sip on hot chocolate or a nightcap around the outdoor firepit or on the covered terrace, complete with a picnic table.

There is no shortage of adventure in the White Mountains. Three ski resorts lie less than an hour away from your chalet: Cranmore Mountain Resort (12 miles), Attitash Mountain Resort (19 miles) and Loon Mountain Resort (about 38 miles). They offer a mix of slopes for skiers and snowboarders of all levels. For snowshoeing, cross-country skiing and views of Mount Washington – the northeastern United States’ highest peak at 6,288 feet – head to Jackson XC (20 miles away) for its 90-plus-mile network of groomed trails. In North Conway (11 miles away), snag a box of artisan sweets at Bavarian Chocolate Haus and a vacay read from White Birch Books.

the bright birchwood living and dining area of an a frame cabin

At A-Frame Club, the birchwood structures feature kitchenettes and Malm fireplaces.

Stephan Werk of Werk Creative

A-Frame Club, Winter Park, Colorado

Born in 2023, inspired by 1970s ski culture: the A-Frame Club is a hip, uber-Instagrammable throwback to skiing’s heyday, less than a third of a mile from Winter Park Resort. Dotted with 31 A-frame cabins (from $199 per night) doused in mid-century flair, the two-acre compound looks like the cover shot of a modern home magazine and a time portal to skiing’s classic beginnings.

Inside each of the birchwood structures (which sleep four) is a kitchenette, Malm fireplace, onsen-style soaking tub, desk and vaulted ceilings with tall windows that bring the Rocky Mountains indoors. On your private patio, you can hear the trickling soundtrack of the Fraser River. The highlight of this retreat might just be The Saloon, a nostalgic apres-ski watering hole. The on-site bar and restaurant serves microbrews and craft cocktails (try the Smokey the Pear) alongside a hearty menu of mountainside fare.

Winter Park is a playground for the outdoor-inclined. Sixty-seven miles from Denver, this nook of Colorado High Country (elevation: 9,000 feet) offers snowshoe and ski bike tours, ice skating, tubing and some 3,000 acres of skiable terrain. Want a lay of the land? Grab your skis and join the free daily orientation at the top of the gondola for some local secrets and mountain history. Extend the range of your winter wonderland by visiting Rocky Mountain National Park (about 40 miles away), where bald eagles, elk and the camouflaged snowshoe hare are wildlife treats. If you need a break from the cold, head to Cozens Ranch Museum (4 miles away), Fraser Valley’s first homestead, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Fireside Resort, Wilson, Wyoming

Fireside Resort’s 25 luxe-rustic cabins in snow-packed Jackson Hole glisten at the base of the Teton Range, one of the most enchanting alpine backdrops in the world. But it’s the upscale mountain design of its pint-size cabins, clad with modern fixings, that sets this resort on the edge of Grand Teton National Park (6 miles away) apart.

Developed by prefab home builder Wheelhaus, Fireside’s wooded 8-acre property delivers a sumptuous homage to the area’s homesteading history. Guests have two lodging options: the Wedge Cabin (which rents from $200 per night and sleeps up to four) and the Caboose Cabin (which rents from $300 per night and sleeps six). Both come with a kitchen, private deck, flat-screen TV, fireplace and outdoor fire pit and access to the resort’s community hot tub.

You’re a 10-minute drive from Jackson Hole Mountain Resort in Teton Village, where some of the country’s most epic powder blankets its two terrain parks and 131 trails every season. After shredding the slopes, pop in the Mangy Moose, a Teton Village landmark since 1967, for a pint of beer, a bison burger and live music.

Snow King Mountain – 15 minutes in the opposite direction – offers an additional 500 skiable acres in the walkable Old West town of Jackson, Wyoming, awash with restaurants, art galleries and boutique shops. For indoor entertainment, the National Museum of Wildlife Art showcases the work of more than 550 artists, from Andy Warhol to Georgia O’Keeffe. Twenty minutes south of Jackson, six thermal soaking pools await travelers at Astoria Hot Springs, a self-care oasis overlooking the Snake River.

Outsize cabins, some with lofts, at Big Cedar Lodge can accommodate seven people.

Big Cedar Lodge

Big Cedar Lodge, Ridgedale, Missouri

Southwest Missouri might not be the first destination that springs to mind for a winter escape, what with its average daily temperatures in the 40s. However, its diverse collection of cabins and cottages, especially those at Big Cedar Lodge, are surefire cocoons for a quiet – and off-the-radar – seasonal getaway.

Spread across 4,600 acres in Missouri’s Ozark Mountains, Big Cedar Lodge sits near Table Rock Lake, with many of its outsize cabins – for example, the 840-square-foot one-room log cabin with a loft (from $199 per night with the Winter Rates Special) – perched above the water’s rocky edge. With king- and queen-size beds and sofa bed, seven people can enjoy secluded lakeside views over morning coffee on the wooden deck; come suppertime, your outdoor space moonlights as a barbecue hub before you cozy up in front of its stone fireplace. Big Cedar doesn’t get much snow, but it has plenty of entertainment, day and night. Whether they opt for a guided excursion or cast your line on a solo adventure, anglers rejoice in Table Rock Lake’s surplus of year-round fishing. Hiking, wildlife viewing (bison, elk and bald eagles) and horseback riding at Dogwood Canyon, a 10,000-acre expanse south of the lake, is a winter thrill.

With more than 35,000 living creatures, Johnny Morris’ Wonders of Wildlife National Museum & Aquarium was voted America’s top aquarium five times, according to 10Best.com, a travel website from USA Today. At the Ancient Ozarks Natural History Museum, check out its impressive arrowhead collection. And don’t skip a spa treatment at the Cedar Creek Spa & Salon.

FivePine Lodge & Cabins, Sisters, Oregon

Patterned after the storybook chalets of the French and Swiss Alps, this family-run property a half-hour’s drive from the outdoor mecca of Bend, Oregon, is a picture-perfect pinup in the Ponderosa pines and Douglas fir trees of Deschutes National Forest.

Its Classic Cabin (from $208 per night) has everything a couple could want: king-size bed, gas fireplace, waterfall tub and a private patio with Adirondack chairs facing the evergreen woods. For a bigger layout, the Caboose Cabin (from $219 per night) affords you and your family or friends some extra space over a long weekend. One of FivePine’s perks is its convenient “campus,” home to a spa, four-screen movie theater and Three Creeks Brewing brewery/restaurant, just steps from your log abode.

Less than 45 minutes away by car, Hoodoo Ski Area beckons winter sport enthusiasts to its 800 acres of ski terrain, where a tubing park resides at the summit of Oregon’s Santiam Pass. Forty minutes northeast of the lodge, Smith Rock State Park’s hiking and mountain biking trails supply surreal views of the Crooked River Gorge and surrounding Oregon High Desert. From your cabin, a 10-minute walk will take you into the quaint town of Sisters. Fuel up at Sisters Coffee Co. before scoping out its variety of shops, galleries and restaurants.

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T.J. Olwig is a St. Louis-based travel writer who has penned stories for BBC Travel, Delta Sky, Missouri Life and Virtuoso Life.