On a recent Wednesday, I enjoyed an early-morning coffee over views of a gondola arching steeply up a forested mountainside, a meandering stream crawling through the field between my hotel and the gondola’s base. A row of flashy white in-pool loungers lined the sparkling blue water below my balcony. All was silent, except for the stream’s low gurgle and the chirp of a few mountain chickadees fluttering near the water. You’d expect to find this scene in Vail or Breckenridge, but I was in Keystone, just across Lake Dillon from the latter. Here, the amenities of a world-class ski and summer resort come with fewer crowds and, as my four-year-old daughter Olivia found atop her beloved bicycle, more space for families to spread out and explore.
Photo: Kindred Resort
Keystone, Long a Ski and Bike Hub, Finally Has a Hotel Worth Bragging About
Inside Keystone’s first luxury stay
Photo: Kindred Resort
We stayed at Kindred Resort, just opened in May 2026 and Keystone’s first full-service luxury hotel, roughly 70 miles from Denver. Rooms start at $183 a night and range from standard queens and kings to luxury residences, with 202 total keys on property. Rates climb fast in ski season, so summer is the value play here.
It’s right at the base of the River Run Gondola, which in summer services Keystone’s renowned mountain bike park, hiking trails, and kids’ adventure park. Olivia and I were in a Queen/Queen Alpine Premier room on the fifth floor, overlooking the pool and gondola. With a work desk and luggage rack, the room had room for us to settle in and unpack.
A door closes the water closet off from the shower and vanity, a nice touch when multiple people are staying in the room. Italian robes hang ready in the closet. The star, though, are the pillowtop beds. When a young child compliments the softness first thing, you know you’re in a good spot.
Another solid indicator of pack-worthy prowess is the fact that Olivia ordered the same breakfast (pancakes) two days in a row at the hotel’s lobby restaurant, Lula’s. Not only that, but after the first experience (I had the avocado toast, also exceptional) she mentioned no less than four times throughout the day that she was going to have pancakes again the next morning. As for myself, I shuffled to the muesli, refreshingly light but enough to satiate until a late lunch.
In the evenings we dined at The Goodz Tavern, located in the hotel’s west wing directly across from the gondola. The menu is elevated Americana – I had Faroe Island Salmon on night one, and the Slow Roasted Brick Chicken on night two – with a diverse cocktail list and beers from across Colorado and beyond. Having a pub like this right across from the gondola will surely revolutionize the apres-ski scene in Keystone come winter, as it wouldn’t be hard to ski right onto the patio here.
A car-free village built for wobbly bike laps
Olivia pedaled the entirety of the village on repeat. Photo: Tim Wenger
Keystone village is small, and its shop-and-patio-lined avenues are refreshingly free of cars. I felt completely safe letting my daughter pedal away in circles across the village as I trailed behind her, starting at our hotel and with obligatory stops at each of the two playgrounds along the route. I rented a bike from Epic Mountain Sports, located on Kindred’s property near the gondola, and hit the Keystone Bike Park one morning. I’ve ridden several downhill bike parks across Colorado and two things stood out to me about Keystone’s. First, trails across various difficulty levels frequently intersect, which made it easy to warm up on a green and then hop onto a blue trail once I had my legs under me. Second, trails that are particularly technical – with berms, rollers, or rocky terrain – are noted as such. I don’t mind a few bumps in the road, but 16 years of typing for a living have left my wrists quite sensitive. It’s nice to know what I’m getting into before I drop in. With nearly 30 trails accessed via the gondola and adjacent Summit Express lift, I found no lift line and wide open space on the trail, which I appreciated because I don’t love it when gnarly downhillers are constantly rumbling up behind me and I have to constantly pull over to let them pass.
Olivia and I spent the evenings in the hotel courtyard with 7:30 nightcaps from the lobby bar, Kindred Spirits (beer for me, soda water for her). S’mores to roast on the patio fireplaces were available, and during these times we became quite fond of the lifesize chess board and cornhole. The staff were friendly, storing her bike in the bike storage area and the valet team charged my Chevy Bolt on the property’s EV charger overnight. By the second time we’d walked through the lobby, they remembered us by name, something Olivia pointed out right away. As we departed the property after checking out, I asked Olivia how Kindred compares to other hotels we’ve stayed at. Being the daughter of a travel editor, she’s seen some nice ones in her not-quite-five years.
“When can we come back here again?” was her response. 