Breckenridge Mountain Lodge, Breckenridge, America
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Hotel Description:
The Breckenridge Mountain Lodge is a rustic, cosy, Western-style motel with a variety of facilities, including two outside hot tubs to steam away those aches and pains! It consists of two buildings and the inexpensive accommodation is located in both. loading...
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Breckenridge Mountain Lodge Reviews
" First impressions - Cosy, warm, and... "
Submitted By: Mr J Morse
First impressions - Cosy, warm, and very, very friendly staff at the check in desk gone 2am. Inside was the main reception area, the breakfast room, and recreational area with a TV, pool table and arcade games.
Above this was some of the rooms. To reach most of the rooms in this building, you had to walk outside, and the door to your room was on a balcony, this proved great in the morning and the views from both sides were excellent.
There is however a separate out-building where the majority of the rooms are. To get there involves steps and walking in ski-boots, well what can I say!
The breakfast was what you expect from bed & breakfast, muffins, toast, orange juice etc.
Its location was very close to shops, cafes and restaurants, and you have got to get a pizza at Erics!
The main ski-lift is at beaver-run, which is not too far to walk in ski-boots once you know the lanes and paths to take.
Staff are on hand 24 hours a day in this small, mountain lodge, but there is definitely a need for refurbishment.
The resort is owned by Vale (another local ski resort) and they also own the hotel. As it is aged compared to some of the other hotels, they are not going to refurbish it.
If you want a warm, cosy and cheap ski lodge then look no further than the Breck Mountain Lodge. But I suggest splashing out a little more on the Beaver-Run hotel, as it is in the best location possible to all skiers, and has the best selection of amenities possible.
Above this was some of the rooms. To reach most of the rooms in this building, you had to walk outside, and the door to your room was on a balcony, this proved great in the morning and the views from both sides were excellent.
There is however a separate out-building where the majority of the rooms are. To get there involves steps and walking in ski-boots, well what can I say!
The breakfast was what you expect from bed & breakfast, muffins, toast, orange juice etc.
Its location was very close to shops, cafes and restaurants, and you have got to get a pizza at Erics!
The main ski-lift is at beaver-run, which is not too far to walk in ski-boots once you know the lanes and paths to take.
Staff are on hand 24 hours a day in this small, mountain lodge, but there is definitely a need for refurbishment.
The resort is owned by Vale (another local ski resort) and they also own the hotel. As it is aged compared to some of the other hotels, they are not going to refurbish it.
If you want a warm, cosy and cheap ski lodge then look no further than the Breck Mountain Lodge. But I suggest splashing out a little more on the Beaver-Run hotel, as it is in the best location possible to all skiers, and has the best selection of amenities possible.
- Date of Holiday:Feb 2006
- Board Basis:Bed & Breakfast
- Tour Operator:Crystal
This is my second review on Breckenridge (Breck to the locals) And my 2nd Holiday there, and what a ski opinion changing moment it was.
Breck is fantastic in all respects (please see my Beaver Run Resort review). This time I will share with you my experiences on a budget.
The Mountain Lodge hotel is a basic kind of hotel, more a motel you would say. However do not be put off by that. The room was a massive space with 2 double beds, coupled with a modest bathroom. The lodge itself is set back from the main road into the primary ski area, 7 or so minutes walk away, and next to a fantastic pub restaurant called The Brewery. Set on 2 floors, classic wooden cabin styling, just on a larger scale, after all everything is "bigger and better" in the States. No dry air ski locker, thats a downside, you have to sleep with you gear, including the pile of snowboard boot socks, it’s not pretty after 10 days I can tell you, but it’s a small sacrifice for the fun in the snow you will have.
The hotel itself has a part time reception arrangement, but on a ski holiday you don't spend a lot of time in the hotel anyway, when you need assistance, it’s always there. Again nothing is too much trouble for any of the workers, and it’s a pleasure just chatting to them. This is a B&B style motel with a basic breakfast, and basic is basic; all the cups and plates are disposable, and all the food is in little bags and disposable containers, just like airline food, just bigger portions. The menu consists of a continental style setup; cereal, fruit, fruit juice, coffee, and pastries etc etc etc. (no wonder all Americans have a weight issue). It’s served until 10am.
As this was a budget holiday, most of the things I did were budget funnily enough. Firstly the best budget restaurant in Breck, The Brewery. Standard grill food, served in massive quantities, Mexican, burgers, great salads, pizza, you know the form, and all cooked well and served promptly. Make sure you book a day in advance otherwise you have at least and hours wait. Not that that is a problem as the establishment is, like the name suggests, a brewery. They produce 10 or so indigenous beers, ranging from light, to "knock your damn socks off". All reasonably priced. In the states local stuff is cheap, imported is expensive, by comparison a small Heineken, imported, is $5/6, and a pint of local/American brew is $3 (plus $1 tip)
Shopping in Breck is fantastic, at present exchange rate $2 = £1, nice! That’s where the budget bit of my holiday ended. I bought new everything. From prescription glasses to a new £700 snowboard, but wait for it...$700, so in effect £350, you could feasibly go to the states with nothing and save a fortune, just buy everything new at half Uk price. There are shops for everything, not just ski and winter wear.
On this occasion the skiing was not all that great, hehe, they only had 14ft of snow on the upper slopes, and 9ft on the lower, so thats basically at least double most of Europe, even on a bumper year. But it only snowed 6 times while I was there, and it was windy. Most of the good snow was blown off the groomed runs, however as a backcountry fanatic, the powder bowls, mostly sheltered, were as good as ever. Knee deep champagne powder, that’s the dry stuff that you can’t make a snowball with :), headfirst into a drift, and come out bone dry, Colorado is famous for it. And it’s like no other snow anywhere!
As I had been to Breck before I took advantage of the 6 free away days, with your ski pass you get free location change skiing for anywhere thats operated by the same company, that covers; Beaver Creek, Vail, Arapaho basin, and Aspen if you can be bothered to go that far, I went twice to each (except Aspen), and enjoyed night snowboarding in Beaver Creek, now thats an experience, if you can bear the cold,
-30ish (brrrrrrrrrrrrr).
Vail breaks the hospitality rules in the USA, it’s the "St Moritz" of the states, nobody is friendly, and nobody talks to you unless you're in a Mink coat with a Gold Rolex. However, it’s the most scenic place I have ever been in my life, absolutely beautiful, The area boasts more mountain peaks over 47,000ft that anywhere else in the world apparently, it sure looked like the rooftop of the world, in short the Rockies...rock!
If you get the chance go, Frisco is a short bus ride away, all the local area busses are free, so when you have a day off, which you need due to the fact that the lifts are quick; you ski more, and the runs are monstrously long, have a day out. Frisco has a Wall Mart bigger than a small town, with a discount shopping park nearby, i.e. Timberland boots £120 Uk, Retail park $30, £15. Enough said. Fill your boots (hehe, sorry!)
On the whole there’s no other place in the world to ski/snowboard. Breck loves snowboarders, massive freestyle parks, novice and pro, pro WILL scare you to death, and novice is a nice playground for intermediate to advanced tricksters. To give you an idea, there’s over 200km of pisted runs, and the open areas make a total of near 350km.
Pack your bags, get the plane, 9hrs direct to Denver, if thats daunting, drop a Nytol, wake up in the snow refreshed :)
Final thought; In the states ski passes are much more expensive than Europe, check in resort prices before buying from the rep (after all you have web access, right?), you can save $100+, also its the complete opposite to Europe, you buy a 14 day ski pass, and if you have a few days off, which as I explained you will need, you can cash your ski pass back in from the local offices, and get a full refund for those days, I took 3.5 days off, got about $250 back on the last day to spend on duty free, I am glad the hotel told me this, the reps will ask you to leave the pass when you go, and don’t mention the refund situation, they must make a fortune. So it pays to be "savvy".
Hope you enjoyed this review, there’s more coming. I travel a lot :)