13 Reasons to Try a Top Value Mountain Resort in Summer

Ski mountain resorts offer great summer values at rental condos, which also make a cozy home away from home. Just select your destination resort carefully. Summer vacation is the longest school break for the kids so you want everyone to have plenty of fun and enriching activities.

After a tough year, a few resorts like Colorado’s Arapahoe Basin and California’s Palisades Tahoe are extending their snowsports season till June. Those extra weeks of spring skiing are a real bonus since you’ll need enough activities to occupy all ages. Yet most of these resorts strive to entertain local residents year-round as well.

Here are 13 reasons that make a summer mountain resort rental worthwhile in the heat of summer.

1. Time in Nature Is Rejuvenating

Envious of friends or relatives who live in the woods? Looking for healing outdoor activities in nature? Active families with school-age kids will find time for tranquil contemplation and relaxation together. Escape from everyday chores and ordinary activities and experience life with altitude.

2. Mountain Resorts Off Season are Less Crowded

There’s the winter high season, of course, followed by the yuck of mud season, as the spring snowmelt weeks are fondly known. Take advantage of summer before the glories of changing fall foliage begin and rates rise again for leaf-peeking packages.

3. Affordability and Spacious Accommodations

When the snow melts, look for the best values in a fun-packed, eco-conscious and enlightening mountain vacation. Off-season, mountain resort rental rates are 40%-60% less than for comparable units in the winter primetime season.

4. Comfortable Weather and Fresh, Pure Air

Expect warm days and cool nights. Remote mountain trails where you won’t have to wear a mask. Need we say more?

5. Privacy for You and Independence for the Kids

Multi-bedroom units provide space for every family member. Self-contained mountain resort base villages offer safe, car-free play areas for children. Our son, for example, roamed Mont Tremblant’s base village daily to bring home fresh croissants for breakfast.

6. Healing With Mother Nature

Mountain vistas are majestic and inspiring. While the national parks fill up with families on road trips, you’ll be hiking between roaring rivers. Snow-capped peaks frame the rugged beauty, instilling an appreciation of nature and environmental awareness in all ages.

7. Mountain Resorts Promote Green Travel

Many mountain resorts pride themselves on their environimental practices and use of wind energy and renewables. Your family can spend the summer relying on pedal or foot power. There’s no need for a car because everything is within walking or biking distance.

8. Outdoors Adventures

Choose from a variety of family activities. Intermediate blue ski slopes become great biking and hiking trails. At many resorts, ice skating rinks turn into town fishing ponds. At others, ski gondolas provide mountain bike transport and a magnificent view from the mountain tops. And there’s always golf.

9. Weatherproof Fun

Weather is one of Mother Nature’s greatest tricks. Rainy days or any day, visit area museums, art galleries, and elegant concert halls for a taste of world-class culture and learning.

10. Dining Pleasures

Whether you prefer to picnic or eat on the deck, when you support the local restaurants you’ll be in for a treat. Tempt your family to a diverse culinary feast by trying new recipes in your condo. Shop the local farmer’s markets, small farms and purveyors and make all-natural mountain picnics from their bounty.

11. Personal Wellness

Check out the town’s health spas, yoga classes and local gyms for drop-in programs or virtual classes. Make over the whole family’s look with unique styles available at area boutiques and local shops.

12. Engaging All Ages

Many resort areas offer an entertaining line-up of free concerts, themed festivals and local celebrations. Summer typically brings area marathons, bike races, golf tournaments, fishing hallenges, photo contests and more to allow everyone to be a participant or spectator.

13. Extend Your Comfort Zone

Expand your family’s traditions by choosing mountain bliss over the same old beach vacation. At top condo resorts like Antlers at Vail, many multigenerational families stay “more than 30 days to partake of the property’s home-like, studio-to-four-bedroom units, picturesque pool and hot tub and complimentary perks,” according to Mountain Living magazine. That sounds like an ideal WFH getaway to us.

Trip Planning Details for a Mountain Getaway

Check out your options at Destination Hotels, a Hyatt brand comprised of a distinct group of properties that provide a four-season retreat in Aspen, Snowmass, and Vail, Colorado; Lake Tahoe, California; Stowe, Vermont; and Sunriver, Oregon. They have a large inventory of rental units and seasonal incentives for families to make sure that everything stays rented.

To learn more about an area’s activities, childcare options, recreation programs, restaurants, and other establishments, check out that region’s local tourist office website. You’ll find many helpful pages on local activities and recommended outfitters for river trips, mountain bike rentals and more at the tourism websites for Califoria, Colorado, Oregon, Utah and Vermont.