Osprey at Beaver Creek

Forget Colorado kitsch. The Osprey—a 45-room boutique hotel nestled at the base of sprawling ski resort Beaver Creek—is pure modern elegance. Renovated to the tune of $7 million in 2008, the former condo hotel now boasts a warm mountain aesthetic: textures of locally sourced birch and onyx mingle throughout the high-ceilinged, firelit guest rooms, while oversize couches swathed in rustic leather semicircle a large limestone fireplace in the property’s namesake lounge, creating the ideal setting for après ski cocktails and craft beers. Ski-sore guests will love plush touches like Simmons Beautyrest pillow-top mattresses (replete with seven-foot chocolate leather headboards), oversize marble showers with rainfall showerheads, and a heated outdoor pool, but it’s the property’s unparalleled proximity to the slopes (the high-speed Strawberry Park Express is a mere pole-push away) that earns The Osprey top marks among hard-core schussers as well as “closest ski-in/ski-out hotel in North America” honors.