Wellness Check: Eastwind Windham's Wooden Saunas in the Snow
Yes, I want to be in a Carhartt, bikini and winter boots.
Unsure if you’ve heard, but New Yorkers are in for a dreadfully cold winter. Happy New Year!
Of course, I highly recommend taking your talents to warmer climates, but when that isn’t an option please believe you are not optionless.
Around 2.5 hours away from New York City, Eastwind Hotels’ first location is in Windham, NY. The tiny town is 30 miles west from Hudson, NY. While you can Amtrak to Hudson, I highly recommend having a car for Eastwind. The area near the hotel isn’t super walkable (esp in the winter) or near anything, and the train only goes to Hudson. You’ll need to take a cab or drive yourself.
Up on a bit of a hill, the property overlooks slopes in Windham. There’s a bar and lounge in the main building open from 5 to 10 p, Friday to Sunday. Throughout the property there are multiple fire pits, and bikes and hammocks are available for nicer weather.
Room options include King-sized and Suites in the main building where check in and the bar are. The Bunk House (what they call the motel style rooms) are where the Writer’s Studio are available. And, they have Scandinavian style cabins, known as Lushnas, that sleep two or four.
I think the Lushna cabins afford optimal privacy and serenity. The motel-type rooms and suites are better for space, but I think it’s worth taking advantage of being a little further from others while you’re out in Windham. I’ve been both with a former boyfriend and with a group for a brand trip and stayed in a Lushna and a Writer’s Suite but also hung out in one of the larger Lushnas as well. (Pictured below.) According to friends and some reviews I read, you can hear everything from the neighboring rooms in the lodge. The cabins are really the experience you’re looking for.
Now, the reason: the saunas! There are winding pathways of cabins and each route has access to a wooden sauna. One is a barrel and the other is more of a cube, both wooden saunas.
The barrel sauna is beyond all the Lushnas in the lower section of the property, down a walkway lit with little globe lights in the evening — very, very winter wonderland in the snow. The other is up the hill behind the motel more and has more space for more bodies. Eastwind has Hunter boots and ponchos available to walk between the saunas and your room too. (Here’s a reel from the group trip I went on to Eastwind in November 2022.)
During the summer months, there are other properties I’d prob recommend, but it’s great for an escape during the winter to stay in one of the cabins, spend a lot of time in bed watching the snow fall and melt in the sauna — alone or with somebody you wanna be in bed with all day.
Looks really nice
these shots are stunning. maybe i'll take my partner up there this season. they're not a winter person like me so i'm sure they'll appreciate the views and sauna.