You Can Eat Fondue in a Heated Gondola Instead of Skiing This Winter

This winter you don’t need to travel to Europe to enjoy an authentic fondue dinner. At Ocean House in Rhode Island you can indulge in a multi-course dining extravaganza in a very unique location — a former ski gondola repurposed from the slopes into a private dining room. Appropriately named Fondue Express, this intimate boîte features plush seating, heated floors, and cute touches such as a cuckoo clock and a wooden toy cow. It seats up to four people and you can book the gondola for lunch or dinner.

While you wait to be escorted from the reception to the gondola, you can even request Columbia Titanium jackets to wear for the occasion. Part of their Extreme Eco down jacket line, they are extremely light and made with 100-percent recycled fabric from 27 plastic bottles.

Once you’re settled into the gondola, the dining begins. The first course is a meat plate of bresaola, Black Forest ham, cornichons, and vegetables. This is followed by a mâche salad or hearty Swiss barley soup. For the main course you can choose between fondue, raclette (cheese over potatoes), or veal sausage with rösti (similar to hash browns). For dessert there’s a Swiss plum tart with cinnamon ice cream and Swiss Christmas cookies. Diners have the option to pair each course with Veuve Clicquot champagne.

The Fondue Express can be booked from now until Feb. 14. It costs $300 (plus tax and gratuity) for up to four people and $460 (plus tax and gratuity) with the Veuve Clicquot Champagne pairing. If you don’t have Valentine’s Day plans yet, this alpine-themed gondola is the perfect date spot.