The Case for Visiting Vail Valley in Summer (and the Villas to Book for Post-Trail Rooftop Soaks)

Settling in before setting out

Photo: Aaron Theisen

Situated at the base of Beaver Creek Resort, the Sheraton Mountain Vista Villas provide ski-chalet charm and slopeside convenience, year-round. The activities don’t end after a day bagging peaks, either. The entertainment room, for example, packs in ping pong, pool tables, arcade machines, and the latest in gaming consoles; the fitness center features a steam room and rooftop hot tub in addition to one of the best weight-bench vistas around.

As part of the Marriott Vacation Club, the Sheraton Mountain Vista Villas feel like home (or at least a second home). Many of its units are owned as timeshares, backed by Marriott’s reputation and the freedom to visit other Vacation Club properties worldwide.

Of course, guests can also book a suite just like any other Marriott property for a high-altitude home base away from home. I’d come to the Vail Valley with my son to explore the valley’s outdoor adventures. With our adjacent, near-mirror suites (each of the 158 guest villas can be paired with a neighbor to double its capacity, making it perfect for families or friend groups), we could stretch out and stow bikes and backpacks between day-long adventures with all the comforts of a mountainside condo, including full kitchens, fireplaces, and sizable dining areas.

After a first evening unwinding from our travel day with a soak in the rooftop hot tub and some spirited ping pong in the entertainment room, we began the next day in the Vail Valley with a rugged, hour-long dirt-road drive to Piney Lake north of Vail.

Getting acquainted with the valley

Photo: Aaron Theisen

Piney Lake sits at the foot of a broad valley framed by a panorama of granite peaks, its waters a popular paddling and picnicking spot. We rented a canoe from the private ranch near the lake’s outlet and circumnavigated the shallow lakeshore, admiring the changing angles of the mountains, their reflections rippled by the wind.

But the peaks warranted a closer view. From the ranch, we set out on the Upper Piney River Trail, which follows its namesake waterway. Three miles in, after steeply switchbacking out of the river valley through stands of aspen, we arrived at Upper Piney River Falls, which sluices through a granite chute on its way toward the lake. That’s the point where we kept climbing above the valley and the part of the trail we had mostly to ourselves, wildlife notwithstanding.

Returning to Avon well after dark, we made dinner back at the suite; having access to a fully equipped kitchen allowed us to maximize our mountain time throughout our stay and not have to worry about missing a dinner reservation because we lingered too long at a lake.

A hanging valley, then a patio table

Photo: Aaron Theisen

The following day, fueled by tacos from hole-in-the-wall Taqueria No Se Hagan Bolas, we tackled another Vail Valley classic, the Pitkin Creek Trail. Beginning just outside Vail, the trail climbs 3,000 vertical feet in just over five miles, most of it in the first and last miles. We quickly traded the drone of I-70 traffic for the sigh of the breeze through aspen leaves and our own wind-sucking breaths. The scenery, and the promise of Pitkin Lake, spurred us on, and the effort was worth every false summit: far above Vail’s glamour, granite spires ringing a glacier-scoured hanging valley capped by a cold alpine lake — vistas paid for with burning lungs and legs.

Back at the trailhead after an equally steep descent, we raced the fading daylight and our growing appetites back to Avon and the Ticino Italian Restaurant. Recommended to us by several locals, Ticino serves up hearty, homestyle pizzas, pasta, and gnocchi in a casual setting; we enjoyed our slices on the patio, where in true Colorado fashion our sweat-soaked tees sat comfortably side by side with silk ties and diamonds.

From The Wall to the firepit

Photo: The Marriott Vacation Clubs

I began the following morning enjoying a ritual that had quickly become routine at the resort: refreshing my sore legs with morning coffee in my en suite soaking tub while the sun came over the peaks of Beaver Creek Resort. Muscles reset, we headed west, trading altitude for adrenaline with an afternoon whitewater rafting trip.

In the heart of Glenwood Canyon on the Colorado River, Shoshone Rapids is a classic stretch of Colorado whitewater. With our expert guides from Sage Outdoor Adventure, we put in at a section called Entrance Exam and immediately got tested with a mile of splashy class-III rapids of intermediate intensity, including The Wall and Tombstone, an angled slab of rock sticking up out of the middle of the river. Then, properly soaked, we settled into a more sedate stretch of the river, punctuated by swim stops and wildlife spotting. Paddle-splashing battles between boats made quick friends of guests who’d come from all corners of the country for a Colorado adventure.

We capped our last night at the resort with a few games of pool followed by poolside firepit s’mores courtesy of the hotel’s hand-assembled s’more-fixing kits. And when it was time for us to turn in, families were still out grilling on the gas stoves.

One last lap before checkout

Photo: Andriy Blokhin/Shutterstock

We greeted our final Vail Valley sunrise from singletrack at the West Avon Preserve trail system. We’d rented bikes the day before from Charter Sports, conveniently located just off the lobby of the hotel, and stashed them in our spacious, bike-friendly suites, allowing for a quick, hassle-free lap. A 15-minute bike-path pedal warmed us up for a steady, switchbacking ascent through sagebrush as the sun crested the summits to the east, then we descended the rollers and small rock drops of expert-rated Lee’s Way Down and were back in our suite before it had burned away the late-summer mountain chill.

We left the resort for home later that morning, satisfied we’d squeezed the most we could out of the summer daylight and alpine air — and thankful we had a basecamp where we could catch our breath in style.

Getting to Vail Valley

Photo: Cavan Images/Shutterstock

Although you can fly directly to Vail, summertime visitors should fly to Denver International Airport (DEN), two hours to the east on I-70, and rent a vehicle. In the winter, skiers could conceivably enjoy a car-free ski vacation between Vail and Beaver Creek resorts using the free shuttle system that connects Avon to Vail and points in between, but warm-weather wanderers will want a vehicle for trailhead access.