Austin Adventures has launched The Austin Collection, consisting of eight properties selected by Dan Austin, founder and president of Austin Adventures and his wife. The first eight properties in the collection were hand-picked by the pair based on their 40 years of international hosting experiences. These all-inclusive properties range from Alaska to Peru, and are often in off-the-beaten path locations.
The first group of properties for The Austin Collection include properties in the U.S. (Alaska, Arizona, and Montana), Canada (British Columbia), Chile and Peru. The accommodations in this collection are all in locations that are often isolated and remote; offer chef-prepared, fresh and locally sourced foods, plus wines of the region; offer high standards of housekeeping, service, and maintenance; allow guests to immerse themselves in the local cultures and traditions; and give clients a feeling of exclusivity with VIP pampering, services, and experiences.
Dan plans to add more properties to this collection in the upcoming months; and plans to grow the collection with the addition of one to two new offerings every year.
The fist eight properties are:
1. The Sheldon Chalet in Alaska
Guests will arrive by helicopter to the Denali National Park, where the Sheldon Chalet is located. Here, a 5-bedroom chalet, that can only accommodate up to 10 guests, and engineered on a nunatak (a glacier outcropping) at nearly 6,000 ft. awaits them. During their stay, guests can sled, ski tour and trek, go stargazing, take part in a guided mountaineering ropes course, and explore the crevasses, or they can opt to simply relax in a sauna. For more information, visit sheldonchalet.com.
2. Tanque Verde Ranch in Arizona
Surrounded by 60,000 acres of Sonoran Desert is the Tanque Verde Ranch, which has been around for 150 years. Just outside the Rincon Mountains, guests can enjoy Saguaro National Park and Coronado National Forest where they can go on a horseback ride, mountain bike, and hike. Guests can also experience leatherwork and silversmith workshops, as well as take part in kids’ programming. Plus, the onsite La Sonora Spa is ideal for a bit of quiet after a day of outdoor adventures.
For more information, visit tanqueverderanch.com.
3. The Resort at Paws Up in Montana
This 37,000-acre property welcomes guests in private homes or in a luxurious tented camp. During their stay, guests can explore on an ATV, go horseback riding on 100 miles of trails, go fly fishing, and learn to shoot sporting clays, plus go hiking, mountain biking, rafting, repelling, hot air ballooning, or paint balling. In the winter, guests can take up cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, dogsledding, and snowmobiling.
Rates start at $650 pp, per night. For more information visit, pawsup.com.
4. The Chilko Experience in British Columbia, Canada
Guests arrive by a chartered plane to this private estate featuring seven log homes that accommodate 12 guests weekly. Surrounded by five million acres of wilderness, Chilko River and Chilko Lake, guests can canoe, kayak, fly fish, go whitewater rafting, drive ATVs, go horseback riding and hiking. In the fall, watching for brown bears is popular, and guests can attempt axe throwing and blacksmithing. Onsite, guests have access to guides, a private chef, and a masseuse.
All-inclusive rates start at $1,000 pp per night; kids are half price. A 7-night package is $6,950. For more information, visit thechilkoexperience.com.
5. Nimmo Bay Wilderness Resort in British Columbia, Canada
The property, located in the Great Bear Rainforest, is only accessible by floatplane or helicopter and features 18 cabins, some built on stilts over the water at the base of 5,000-ft. Mt. Stephens. A waterfall runs through the resort, which supplies clean drinking water and energy. Guests can go kayaking while they look for the black bear, heli-hike mountain ridges, go on a whale watch on the Broughton Archipelago, and fish for wild Pacific Salmon.
All-inclusive rates start at $1,515.78 pp, per day. For more information, visit nimmobay.com.
6. explora Atacama in Chile
Near the sand dunes of the Atacama Desert and the volcanoes of the Andes highlands, guests find explore Atacama. During their stay, guests can go on horseback rides through red soil esplanades, go on hikes through stunning landscapes, and cycle over hills. When they’re ready to relax, guests can head for a dip in the Puritan hot springs, or enjoy stargazing through the telescope in a private observatory. Guests can also enjoy traditional barbeque, music, and dancing onsite.
For more information, visit explora.com/atacama-hotel.
7. explora Valle Sagrado in Peru
Here guests will be immersed in cultures of the past and present with more than 20 options for exploring the Inca ruins. In addition, guests can relax in a spa located in a 17th century colonial dwelling. Onsite traditional Peruvian cuisine is served; and guests can meet with local Quechua weavers, walk on glaciers outside of Cusco, go cycling along the Urubamba River, and visit Machu Picchu.
For more information, visit explora.com/atacama-hotel.
8. Hotel Sol y Luna in Peru
Guests stay in casitas built of indigenous stone in the Valley of the Incas, while at Hotel Sol y Luna. Onsite, guests can go trekking or paragliding, kayaking, and horseback riding on a Peruvian Paso horse, then complete their day with a 10-course dinner. Or, they can opt for a tour of the organic garden and enjoy a cooking class.
Rates start at $324 during the low season. For more information, visit hotelsolyluna.com.
For more information on the new Austin Collection, visit austinadventures.com/collection. And, don’t miss a few more dates left this year for travel to Montana with Austin Adventures.
