We are always looking at Hotels.com for the best deals in the area for our New England travel destinations. One week in August we were searching for a weekend destination. Sick and tired of the same old area, we felt a weekend a little further away would be fun. That’s when we happened upon a hidden gem, The Upper Pass Lodge in Southern Vermont.
This was quite the drive to get to this location, that quite truly is in the middle of nowhere. Located a the base of Magic Mountain I bet this place is a happening spot in the winter season. While we did feel like we were in the middle of nowhere, the people here are so sweet.
We felt very welcomed, and almost like we were staying at someone’s home. Magic Mountain is just beyond the woods. Visible behind the beautiful trees on the property. Magic Mountain does have a lounge open with live music and a bar for you to walk over and enjoy a drink.
The Upper Pass Lodge also has a restaurant inside their lodge. This was perfect since the closest civilization is about half an hour in each direction. We looked up the pricing for The Red Slate Restaurant located at The Upper Pass Lodge and felt it was pretty reasonable.
The cool thing about The Red Slate Restaurant is that you can reserve a table on their website whether you’re a lodge guest or not! Yes, the restaurant inside The Upper Pass Lodge is open the public. We decided to reserve a table for dinner and loved how quaint the little restaurant is.
Around the corner from the dining room is a bar where we noticed many locals coming in to have a drink and socialize. Beyond the bar is a little living room type area with couches, a piano and even some board games that the kids could play, should they choose to enjoy a little family game night.
The Room at The Upper Pass Lodge
One thing that had us interested in this location is that it had a bedroom. We love the idea of trying to get the kids separated from the adults since it seems sharing a hotel room for days on end seems to have the youngest child thinking he’s one of the adults.
The room for the kids had a cute little bunkbed, perhaps a little small for our sons. As you can see, the youngest boy wasn’t too impressed with the top bunk. A little moving of the mattress, and voila! He was just fine and his brother slept on the bottom bunk without any issues.
The bathroom was a reasonable size, and the two double beds in the main room were comfortable for a good night’s sleep. Although this was a little cramped, as we were envisioning a larger room, we slept comfortably and enjoyed hanging out together for the weekend at The Upper Pass Lodge.
As you can see the bathroom is a bathroom. Not much to say about it. The guest shampoo and soap was cool looking, so I certainly had to take a photo of that beautiful display. You’ll also get plenty of bath towels, hand towels, and washcloths.
We got lucky during our time at The Upper Pass Lodge, they said it was one of their cheapest weekends. The weekend prior was the last day of summer season rates and the upcoming weekend was their Labor Day weekend rates, which were much higher than the deal we scored on Hotels.com.
Plus using Hotels.com means we were adding nights to our free night rewards we keep earning with that hotel booking site.
The television is clearly dated, and quite honestly this is a charming “dated” place that provides a bit of a rustic charm in Southern Vermont at the base of Magic Mountain. There is cable television though, so you can watch TV on this older style TV. We really did enjoy the atmosphere here, and the doors do lock at 9 pm, so you have to have a hotel key to get into the lodge after 9 pm, which is how we had to access our room. Other rooms had outside doors for access to their invidual rooms.
The WiFi is free, you’ll get the code to access it during check-in. There’s always someone nearby until about 9 pm or 10 pm as well as a phone number to call after hours. This was a pleasant place to stay for a weekend, the boys may not want to stay in the Family Deluxe room again, but the good news is, The Upper Pass Lodge does have other suites and rooms available for solo travelers or large family travelers.
Brandy Ellen has been a blogger since 2008 and enjoys spending her free time with her family and making the most out of every moment she has. Brandy enjoys sharing personal stories, tips, and other advice based on real-life & work from home experiences to help others live a fulfilling life.
