Back on my side of the river, Habitas-on-Hudson, in Staatsburg, just outside of Rhinebeck, is part of the worldwide Habitas resorts movement, the brainchild of three dudes who met at Burning Man. Set in a 1700s mansion overlooking the river (alas, a highway runs between it and the property), Habitas may be the coolest of the hotels I’ve visited. Its goal, according to the young woman who checked me in, is to “bring out the inner child in people,” which for me takes all of a few minutes. Before I’ve even settled in, Victoria Messinger, the resident food and beverage manager—who, despite her youth, has already mixed coupe-size sips of heaven on both sides of the Hudson—is teaching me how to make a Naked and Famous cocktail. It’s equal parts yellow chartreuse, mezcal, Aperol, and lime juice, and did you know that a coupe glass supposedly gets its shape from Marie Antoinette’s breast? The house is a maze of nooks and crannies, with good literature scattered about and the constant promise of a stiff drink from the gorgeous wood-paneled bar. Dinner thrills with local blue oyster mushroom lettuce cups and a smashed-cucumber salad zinging with carrot ginger purée and salsa macho.
This part of the valley offers amazing hiking at Mills Mansion; the trails hang above the Hudson and are ridged with rocks like a stegosaurus’s back. I’ve never considered nearby Rhinebeck to be the most exciting of towns—I have no idea what most of its shops, aside from the excellent Oblong Books, are even trying to sell—but the dining-and-imbibing scene has been heating up. In addition to the always-pleasing pastas of Mill Street restaurant, newcomer Café con Leche offers juicy mounds of Puerto Rican pernil. Meanwhile, Pretty to Think So (love the name) is raising the roof on craft cocktails in a space where distinctive patrons like the Vogue contributing editor Lynn Yaeger can be spotted having a ball.
My final hotel destination takes me to the exact area where I spent those summer vacations at the Russian bungalow colony. Inness is a newish retreat in the town of Accord, cradled between the Catskills and the Gunks, with pastoral views of both alongside endless fields flanking farmhouses, pools, a tennis court, and a nine-hole golf course. The restaurant is a dream, with fresh mint-arugula salads, boquerones with spring garlic and salsa verde, and cauliflower brought to life with a combination of vadouvan and tahini. It’s strange to think that in the 1980s we paid as much money for the entire summer season as some of the hotels I have stayed in cost per night. (Granted, we did not have a golf course, only a tiny pool.) But nonetheless there is a strong bungalow vibe at Inness, with people relaxing on the porches of the Scandinavian-style cabins and playing with their dogs. Instead of Russian, though, I hear Spanish, Chinese, and Hebrew.
I decide to drive down to Ellenville to see what’s left of the bungalow colony. The buildings are barely standing, and the pool has been properly trashed, but I can still hear all those young immigrant voices chattering away in a combination of Russian and English, being chased by their babushkas with plates of kasha. Ellenville itself used to be a gloomy town, but the theater where I saw Octopussy (my first encounter with James Bond) still stands. There are also new tapas bars and the almost two-decade-old Aroma Thyme Café, where I perused a menu that includes $65 strong Belgian ales and ordered a juicy melt-in-the-mouth slow-cooked smoked brisket.
But the past has not been entirely erased. I pass the edifice of a building that purports to be the future home of the Catskill Borscht Belt Museum and realize the circular journey I have taken, having traveled to this vibrant and creative new Eden by way of the old.
Gary Shteyngart is the author of Our Country Friends: A Novel.
This article appeared in the September/October 2023 issue of Condé Nast Traveler. Subscribe to the magazine here.
