Ever since I spent the weekend up at my buddy’s cabin in the Catskills, I’ve become obsessed with browsing the Airbnb website. His cabin is only 2 hours from our house, in a completely remote area with tons of property and it was an amazing weekend of good, quality family time. Immediately after leaving I felt so good about the ability to disconnect from reality and really just had the best time with my family and friends. I always thought I would need this extravagant vacation on a beach in the Caribbean or a thrilling ski trip on a mountain somewhere out west or overseas in order to have the best time, but honestly, sometimes these little local getaways are just as good! Don’t get me wrong, I am craving my yearly Caribbean trip and cannot wait to take the family out west for skiing, but for now, with everything that is still going on, my family has made the personal decision to just stick to local getaways for now. And this is where my Airbnb obsession has begun! 🙂
I’m excited to have partnered up with Airbnb, one of the world’s largest marketplaces for unique and authentic places to stay and things to do, so keep reading for some of my listings I found that I hope to experience with my family. There are so many incredible places on there that you would not believe might be hiding practically in your back yard! When I came across some of these locations I couldn’t believe they were all within a maximum 2 hour distance from me. I’m in Stormville, NY, and although the NYC folks consider me upstate and in the middle of nowhere LOL I definitely do not live in a remote neighborhood in a dome house, or up in a tree, or a have a year round heated pool that we can enjoy, so I still get the urge to venture to even more remote places and to experience the incredible uniqueness that some of these listings have to offer! Check out some of my Airbnb picks for a unique experience all accessible from the tri-state area for a weekend getaway!
WILLOW TREEHOUSE
As soon as I saw the first image of this place I clicked. The first thing I usually do is check the distance of the location from my house to see if it’s a realistic drive for a weekend. I could not believe this incredible piece of architecture is only an hour and a half from me! Besides being completely obsessed with the unique shape of it, I love all of the natural wood and all of those windows (click through to see what I mean)! I lack a lot of natural light in my house so I’m a sucker for a ton of windows and great lighting. Look at that big rectangular window overlooking the pond! I can only imagine my family’s enthusiasm if we pulled up to this place. The loft bed area is so cozy and Nate always sleeps with us when we’re on vacation so I imagine a ton of good snuggles while looking through those skylights. And that wood burning hot tub is calling my name. For me, I’m all about finding unique places that are not too far, and that has amenities that my family and I can enjoy together. Nate loves hiking, climbing, making fires and eating s’mores, and so do my wife and I, so being able to enjoy some of our fave activities in a place like this would be awesome. I need to go to this place for a weekend, it’s just too cool!
ALPINE A-FRAME
How cute is this?! This Airbnb listing is a little less than 3 hours from me, situated in Vermont. We’re actually used to driving 4 hours to Vermont almost every weekend during the winter because we are avid Killington skiers, so 3 hours is nothing for us! Being a ski family is actually one of the main reasons I chose this listing. As soon as I saw that it mentioned it was only 15 minutes away from Mount Snow, I was sold. I haven’t been to Mount Snow in years, but with a cozy cabin like this to stay in, I think it would make the experience so much more fun! I absolutely love the shape of this little cabin, especially with those lights running along the front of the frame – it just looks so cozy and cute! I love all of the wood grain inside and the wood burning fireplace and outdoor fire-pit. My family loves to sit around the fire when we do little getaways like this, so it’s kind of a must for me! Another reason why I chose this listing is because it mentioned that the house is only 5 minutes away from downtown, filled with boutique shops and restaurants – I’m sold! Cozy family vibes in a cute cabin, skiing, shopping and eating? This cute little A-frame has my name written all over it. We need to make the trip up to this place one weekend!
MODERN UPSTATE CABIN
So for this Airbnb listing, I was familiar with it before I even came across it on their site, because I actually follow the owner of this incredible cabin on Instagram! I’ve never actually been here before, but my eyes always pop open whenever I come across his posts of images of this place. It’s just incredible. And, the location, Red Hook, NY, is only about 45 minutes from me! Modern design in the middle of the woods gets me every time. The decor of this place is just so minimal and modern, but still has cozy vibes – it’s the perfect blend. I’m obsessed with how they stacked all of that wood in the wall. I officially want to change out my pellet stove in my house to this orb fireplace…I mean how gorgeous is this?! The mod pool is year round and heated, so that alone sold me on this place. My family and I love swimming in the winter when we go to Killington, so I know we would have a blast having this place to ourselves one weekend. It also has a solarium cottage on the property (check it out). How cool?! Imagine falling asleep in here at night? Or waking up in this in the morning? Ahhhh, it would be such a cool experience with my family. I kind of want one for our backyard! haha Considering this place is so close to me, I really need to experience it one weekend. It’s just gorgeous.
CASA MINNEWASKA
Again, the first picture made me click! This place looks beautiful and is only about an hour and a half from me. Most New Yorkers have heard of Minnewaska State Park, and this cabin is only about 20 minutes from the “Gunks” (Shawangunk Mountains). I actually used to go there to rock climb years ago, so I’m somewhat familiar with the area, and my family and I love to do rock scrambles and explore the cute town up in New Paltz, so the fact that this cabin is so close to activities we love to do is the main reason why I chose this Airbnb listing! Whenever we’ve been up to New Paltz it’s always just for the day, so to be able to stay in a cool place like this and make a weekend out of it would make it feel like a little vacay for me. It’s always fun to go somewhere for the day, but when you get to stay over and make a small vacation out of it, it’s so much better! Click through and look at that aerial view – it just looks so beautiful in the middle of nowhere amongst all those trees! Indoor wood burning stove? Check. Hot Tub? Check. Firepit? Check. Incredible Views? Check. Secludedness while just being a short distance to hiking and a cute little town? Check. I could see me staying in a place like this with my family and another couple, or bringing the parents and mother-in-law along. There’s room for 10 guests so it would be a great place for a cozy weekend with family or friends, while still being able to enjoy some of our fave activities nearby. Honestly, this would’ve been perfect for my 40th birthday weekend that was back in September. Wish I would’ve thought of it then! Maybe the next one! 🙂
THE TREE HOUSE
Ok, so for this Airbnb listing, the second image (shown above) made me click! LOL I am a sucker for that retro decor! Honestly, right after I saw this listing it made me want to go buy some home decor haha. This Airbnb listing is in PA but is still less than 2 hours away from me! This place just looks so cool. Being a #plantdad, that cactus and those plants mixed in with that furniture kind of had me drooling. The shape of this cabin (click through to see) is so unique and I love all of the windows surrounding it. I don’t know why, but I just picture myself pulling up to this place in our ’64 T-Bird and then chilling inside with my wife while the Dirty Dancing soundtrack is playing. haha Although, Nate will be there too because we never like to go anywhere without him. 🙂 Besides this decor which I can’t stop obsessing over, it’s got all of my fireplace/firepit needs, is situated on 9 acres of private woods (perfect for family exploring which we love to do), and is only a 4 minute drive to Narrowsburg (which I’ve never heard of or been to, but since it mentions antique stores and local markets, it has me intrigued!) My family and I love exploring new local towns with vintage shopping, cute shops and yummy food, so I’m kind of wanting to venture here for a weekend. Being a content creator, honestly the decor alone has me wanting to go and just have a photoshoot! haha Actually, I believe PA has a lot of dirt bike trails, so I’d be curious if there is any nearby this place that we could take our dirt bikes to and have some fun outdoor adventure as well. I’ll have to look into that further! Either way, this place is just so cool. Did I mention that yet? 🙂
It was so hard to choose and narrow it down to just a few listings because there are just some many amazing and unique places to experience on Airbnb. Just go browse the site – you’d be surprised how many magazine-worthy locations are within driving distance from you! I am personally going to try and spend some more time looking for more listings that my family and I can enjoy during the winter months. Hoping that the ski season is not too heavily impacted with the pandemic, but if we must ski less this year due to less people being allowed on the mountains, I am going to make sure we make a week out of our trip or at least get the most out of the experience, by staying at a unique Airbnb listing that has a firepit, is close to a cute town, near skiing, and hopefully has a year-round pool or at least a hot tub. This sounds absolutely amazing to me and I need to get on it before all the weekends book up!
Which featured listing of mine was your favorite? I’m curious which one you would prefer to stay at if you had the choice. Comment here or on my Instagram post and let me know!