2014 Travel Awards: Best New Lodge
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Winner: Awasi Patagonia Lodge, Chile
It’s not hard to find a great lodge near Torres del Paine National Park and its larger-than-life scenery. It is tough to find your own private villa, though. The recently opened Awasi Patagonia Lodge has 12 of them, each equipped with a hot tub overlooking Laguna Sarmiento and the Sierra Contreras mountains. The modern glass-and-wood villas come with a 4×4 and a guide to help you explore the 600,000-acre park however you choose, be it on a rigorous hike to look for a nandu (an ostrich-like bird) or a horseback ride through the park’s rugged hills. Come home to feast on scallop carpaccio or salmon with vanilla oil. From $2,100 for three nights, all-inclusive; awasipatagonia.com
Runner-Up: Mallard Mountain Lodge, British Columbia
The sweetest lodges are remote yet right on top of great adventure. The Mallard, reached by a 25-minute helicopter flight over four roadless valleys in the Canadian Rockies, is a prime example. The solar-powered wooden hut sleeps eight in summer (seven in winter) and provides easy access to high-alpine trekking through meadows and across mountain streams. In winter, the eastern slopes fill up with powder for backcountry skiing along the lonely Alberta border. From US$1,700 for four days, a guide, and all meals; canadianadventurecompany.com