For many, the very mention of Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains conjures images of cheesy 1980s commercials and heart-shaped jacuzzis. But in the ensuing decades, the region has proven itself worthy of rediscovery by even the most sophisticated travelers. Whether it's artsy little lake towns or a year-round resort that blends beauty and thrills, there are countless reasons to visit the region. The best home base for that exploration has to be The Lodge at Woodloch in Hawley.
The over-the-top luxury
of The Lodge makes it more than a sumptuous hotel. In fact, it's possible to visit The Lodge at Woodloch and not leave for your entire vacation. From more than 50 classes each day to sweet surrender at the spa to feasts plucked from the farm merely five minutes from your room, the activities and amenities on offer make your visit worth every penny. The catch is, of course, how many pennies it costs — with rates starting at around $1,230 for a single night at the time of writing, adults-only relaxation comes at a premium.
But first, you'll have to get there. At just over 90 miles away, Newark is your closest major airport, which leaves guests with a two-hour trek via Uber, Lyft, or rental car. The smaller Scranton airport is only an hour away, though private craft can land at Cherry Ridge Airport in Honesdale, Pennsylvania.
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Expand (And Quiet) Your Mind At The Lodge At Woodloch
The Lodge offers more classes than most visitors can fit into their schedules. If you're artistically inclined, you can learn the ins and outs of graffiti one morning, then pick up the basics of charcoal the same night, with instruction in watercolor painting between the two. Or maybe you wish that you could show some skill with a set of nunchaku or hatchet-throwing. And if you don't try, you'll never know if you have a knack for fly fishing, which is offered as a fully guided half-day excursion. And that's just a very small selection of the options available to guests.
Many of the activities (some of which come with an additional fee) are targeted at relaxation, but the truth is, there's nothing to put vacationers at ease quite like a spa day. Spend a weekend entrenched in The Lodge's full menu of treatments and services. The bill of fare is more than 30 pages long, with everything from massages and facials to craniosacral therapy and touchless Satori treatment. One unique area of specialty for the spa is bodywork from around the world. Many massage aficionados have enjoyed stretch-centered Thai bodywork. Here, you can try a local, herb-centered take, or go classic. But The Lodge's spa also includes opportunities to partake in lesser-known treatments. Tui Na has its roots in Chinese medicine, and The Lodge calls it a "holistic experience." There's also yang shen massage, which, like acupuncture, is focused on your body's meridians. Spa treatments are not included in the price of accommodation and cost extra.
Every Meal Is A Sublime Farm-To-Fork Experience
The reputation of spa food is one of elegant privation. Not so at TREE Restaurant, where hearty breakfasts, lunches, and dinners are included in the cost of your stay. And while executive chef William Seitzinger and chef de cuisine Olaf Wozny are responsible for multi-course dinners at The Lodge at Woodloch, it's possible to partake without packing on the pounds. Guests can go vegetable-forward with dishes like vegan artichoke and spring onion soup or a Caesar salad that uses dairy-free Parmesan cheese crafted from cashews. However, it's also possible to start with a delicious pork bao bun and continue on with a charbroiled New York strip steak served with roasted baby potatoes and a carrot-top chimichurri, much of which is grown at adjacent Blackmore Farm and Orchard.
For those who want to learn more about gardening, there are daily classes and cooking demonstrations targeted at creating green thumbs. Six days a week, the in-house sommelier hosts wine and cocktail tastings, too. It's all part of a stay that will likely keep you happy not to leave the property for anything, even nearby sights like the state's tallest waterfall. After all, as one Tripadvisor guest puts it in a five-star review, at The Lodge at Woodloch, you'll be privy to the "royal treatment."
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