Eastwind Oliverea Valley
The Eastwind family's newer, more polished sister. Still Scandi, now with a spa.
Eastwind Oliverea Valley is the second, more polished sibling in the small Eastwind family — a new-build property tucked into the Oliverea Valley at the foot of Slide Mountain, opened in 2022 with the same Scandi-Catskills idea as the original Windham hotel but with better insulation, a real spa, and a noticeably higher rate.
It's a 19-room compound of A-frame cabins, suites, and a main lodge, scattered along a creek with the Burroughs and Slide trails a short drive away. The aesthetic — pale wood, wool, black metal, wood-burning stoves — is consistent enough across the rooms that the place reads as a single design idea rather than a portfolio of them. Rates start around $395.
The setting
Oliverea is a small Catskills hamlet off Route 28, tucked into the valley between Slide Mountain and Belleayre Ridge. The drive in narrows from highway to county road to a creekside lane that follows the Esopus tributaries up the mountain. There's no town to speak of — a couple of houses, a working farm, the trailhead. Phoenicia is fifteen minutes east; Margaretville and the Pepacton Reservoir thirty west.
The valley is one of the quieter corners of the Catskills, which is the point. Belleayre and Hunter are within a half-hour for skiing. The Burroughs Range — Slide, Wittenberg, Cornell — is the headline hiking, and the trailhead is a few minutes from the property.
The building
New construction, finished 2022, designed to read like a contemporary Scandinavian camp dropped into the Catskills. A main lodge handles check-in, the bar, and the dining room. Lukan A-frame cabins, larger lodge suites, and "haven" cottages are spread across the property along the creek. Materials are concrete, glass, timber, with pale wood interiors, wool textiles, leather details, and large windows aimed at the trees.
The rooms
Three categories, roughly: the Lukan A-frames (two-story, sleep two-to-four, the most photogenic), the Catskill suites in the main lodge, and stand-alone Haven cottages with their own porches. Most rooms have wood-burning stoves; bathrooms are generous; a few have soaking tubs with a view of the woods. There are no televisions in most categories by design.
Food & drink
The lodge's restaurant runs a seasonal Catskills menu — vegetable-forward, with a real wine list, focused on dinner and weekend brunch. The bar is open to non-guests; the dining room is small and weekends book out. Breakfast is a guests-only ritual in the lodge.
On the property
The spa is the differentiator from the original Windham property — full treatment rooms, a Nordic-style sauna circuit, and outdoor cold plunge.
- Spa with sauna and cold plunge
- Outdoor heated pool
- Wood-burning stoves in most rooms
- Creek access, hammocks, fire pits
- Hiking from the property — Slide, Wittenberg, Cornell
- Open year-round; rate sheet shifts seasonally
Who it's for
- Couples who liked Eastwind Windham and now want the version with a spa
- Hikers willing to trade walkable-town access for trailhead proximity
- Skiers using Belleayre or Plattekill as a home mountain
- Photographers who already own a wool blanket
Who it's not for
- Travelers who need a town within walking distance
- Big groups — the property is intimate by design
- Anyone hoping for a real bargain; this is the higher-priced sibling, not the lower
Nearby
Phoenicia Diner, fifteen minutes east, is the obvious breakfast detour. Peekamoose, in West Shokan, is the regional dinner play. Belleayre Mountain for skiing or the Belleayre Beach loop in summer. Margaretville for the farmer's market and the Catskill Mountain Country Store. Slide Mountain, the highest peak in the Catskills, has its trailhead practically on the way in.
