Scandi Catskills.
The Scandi Catskills aesthetic is the visual DNA of the 2014–2020 boutique revival up here. Scribner's started it, Graham & Co. made it affordable, Eastwind and Foxfire expanded the palette. Expect blonde pine, wool throws, black-steel hardware, mid-century silhouettes, and a sauna somewhere on property. It works because it's honest about materials — things look like what they are.
Eastwind Lake Placid
The Eastwind trio's Adirondack project — seventeen rooms in the main house, eight new-build cabins on the Chubb River.
Eastwind Oliverea Valley
The Eastwind family's newer, more polished sister. Still Scandi, now with a spa.
Eastwind Windham
Scandi-mid-century lodge plus Lushna glamping cabins, with a wood-barrel sauna.
Fireside Resort
25 architect-designed cabins between Jackson and Teton Village — each with a fireplace, deck, and creek view.
Graham & Co.
Reimagined Catskills motor lodge with a wood-fired sauna, lawn games, and a Pendleton-blanket aesthetic — 20 rooms in Phoenicia.
Scribner's Catskill Lodge
The original Catskills Scandi motor-lodge revival. On a hillside in Hunter.
Seesaw’s Lodge
A 1940s ski lodge above Peru, reopened as a Scandi-minimal retreat. Bromley across the road.
The Graham & Co.
The Catskills design-motel that started the whole thing.
The Landsby
Solvang's design-forward Scandi boutique — 41 rooms, Mad & Vin restaurant, contemporary Danish-modern.
The Leeway
Cabin-style suites on six riverfront acres in Mount Tremper. Full kitchens, private decks, Esopus Creek out the back door.
The Nordic Inn
Slope-side at Mt. Crested Butte — 27 ski-in rooms, family-owned for 50 years.
Glen Oaks Big Sur
A 1950s motor court reimagined in 2008 — 19 rooms with private fire pits, redwood-grove cabins.
Journey East Hampton
A minimalist motor-lodge revival between East Hampton and Amagansett, playing the Piaule role for the South Fork.
Marram Montauk
A modernist beachfront lodge on Montauk's old motel row. Creamy palette, dune-and-sea aesthetic, proper scale.
Piaule Catskill
Architect-designed cabins on 50 acres of Catskill forest — the quietest luxury in the region.
The Bend Resort
Five adults-only micro-suites on the river. Self-serve luxury.
The Lake House on Canandaigua
2020 new-build on Canandaigua Lake — the Finger Lakes' most ambitious design hotel, Condé Nast Hot List 2021.
Tourists
A 1960s motel reimagined by Wilco's bassist and a Brooklyn design crew. Sea Ranch on the Hoosic River.
Woodstock Way Hotel
Creekside cabins built from scratch in 2018 — Woodstock's quietest boutique, no bar, no restaurant, on purpose.
Camptown
From the Rivertown Lodge owners — new-build cabins and lodge rooms in Leeds. Michelin Key.
INNESS
225 acres where design, farming, and dinner are the same project.
Silver Sands
A rejuvenated beachfront motel with 1,400 feet of private sand. Condé Nast Readers' Choice 2024.
The Scandi Catskills aesthetic is the visual DNA of the 2014–2020 boutique revival in upstate New York. Scribner's started it in Hunter, Graham & Co. made it affordable, Eastwind and Foxfire expanded the palette. Expect blonde pine, wool throws, black-steel hardware, mid-century silhouettes, and a sauna somewhere on property. It works because it's honest about materials — things look like what they are.
What this looks like
Floors are pale oak or pine. Beds sit low on platforms with wool blankets folded at the foot. Lighting is matte black, often Schoolhouse or a close cousin. Wood-burning stoves, not gas inserts. The bar program tends toward natural wine and amaro rather than craft cocktails with infused everything. Towels are linen-waffle. There's almost always a record player.
The architecture is a mix — restored mid-century motor lodges (the Catskills had hundreds of them), new-build cabins, occasionally an old farmhouse stripped back to studs. What unites them is restraint and material honesty. No fake beams. No reclaimed-wood-look paneling. If a wall is plywood, it reads as plywood and looks better for it.
The standouts
- Scribner's Catskill Lodge (Hunter, NY) — the original. A 1960s motor lodge on a hillside, the template the rest of the region copied.
- INNESS (Accord, NY) — 225 acres where design, farming, and dinner are the same project. The genre at scale.
- Piaule Catskill (Catskill, NY) — 24 architect-designed cabins on 50 acres. The most rigorous version.
- Tourists (North Adams, MA) — a 1960s motel reimagined by Wilco's bassist and a Brooklyn design crew. Sea Ranch on the Hoosic.
- Journey East Hampton (East Hampton, NY) — minimalist motor-lodge revival playing the Piaule role on the South Fork.
- Eastwind Lake Placid (Lake Placid, NY) — the Eastwind trio's Adirondack project, seventeen rooms plus new-build cabins on the Chubb.
- Silver Sands (Greenport, NY) — a beachfront motel rejuvenated with 1,400 feet of private sand. Same vocabulary, North Fork accent.
When to come / who it's for
Late September through early November is when these hotels look the most like themselves — saturated foliage, wood-stove weather, the sauna actually feels like a reward. February works for the snow-and-fire register. May–June is also strong; high summer is fine but the aesthetic was designed for cool weather.
Who finds it compelling: people who've spent enough time in old farmhouses or cabins to find them charming-but-cold, and want the same vocabulary done with insulation, mattresses, and a real shower. Who'd hate it: anyone who reads "minimal" as "missing something." There are no chandeliers.
Adjacent vibes
Scandi Catskills overlaps with Architectural Minimalist at the high end (Piaule, INNESS) and with Reimagined Motor Lodge as a structural origin (Scribner's, Graham & Co., Silver Sands). It's distinct from Refined Americana, which uses painted woodwork and historic American proportions rather than blonde pine and Nordic silhouettes.